Pluto’s 5K
The morning of this race was a little nerve racking, I hadn't done a race in over a year, my feet were tender and this was the start of a 48.6 mile journey. I got up at 1:30 am, dressed, made my coffee, drank my water, and waited until it was time to go to the bus stop for a ride to the start area and corrals. We had to be on the bus no later than 4:30 am. This race started 30 minutes later than the others due to it being a 5K. We left the resort, drove a mile to the next resort and Amy dropped me off at the bus stop and I hopped on the next bus to go to the start area. At this point I was getting excited and was happy to be on the bus and moving… I said Hello to the fellow runners, but they seemed sleepy or nervous, because not many responded. I found a seat, several more runners boarded and then we were off. As I exited the bus, I felt it and needed to find the port-a-potties, my bladder was full. I walked over to the bathroom area they had set up, got in line, did my business and then found a seat to wait until it was time to go to the corrals. I tried not to think about the race or my bladder or anything that would make me more nervous. I was trying to calm myself down and it worked for a while. I then had to pee again, when I was done I decided to go to the corrals and wait there. Over the course of 45 minutes I used the port-a-potty about another 3 times. I didn’t want to dehydrate myself so I drank enough water that I felt would replenish my nervous bladder. I knew I was going to the bathroom so much because I was nervous. I kept saying calm down, it’s just race one, it’s just 3.1 miles, easy peasy, you got this. I seemed to settle at that point and my corral started to move forward towards the start line. 
As we slowly advanced, Amy texted me that the first person had just crossed the finish line…. We were only 16 minutes into the freaking race… the woman next me just gapped at me, when I told her. We were slowly getting closer to the start line, I could feel my heart rate increase, I immediately told myself to calm down. As we approached the start line, I got my phone ready (I had to set my Road ID to let Amy know where I was on the course). I got my watch ready to track my time and distance, then they set the fireworks and we were off.
I started off to fast and was running an awesome 11:30 per mile pace. I felt really good until I realized I had a lot of more miles to go over the next 4 days and I didn’t want to over do it or injury anything. I slowed down to a 12:45 - 13:30 per mile pace, I felt much better and more comfortable at this speed. I settled in and enjoyed the run with all the sites, it was Disney World’s Epcot center and the staff put on a show for us. I didn’t stop for any pictures with characters but I did stop to do a couple of selfies and took pics of some Characters. Then just like that it was over, there was the 3 mile marker, then the run to the finish, I made sure I was enthusiastic when I crossed that line, I was going to have fun and enjoy these runs and look good in my race photos.
NEXT: KT Tape and Minnie’s 10K
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