Minnie’s 10K
When I crossed the finished line of Pluto’s 5K and met up with my wife, we walked to the car, I said I think I need tape for my feet, they were hurting but I felt if I wrapped them they would be ok. So we headed to Walgreens to find some tape for feet. I knew there was tape for other parts of the body, not knowing that there was a specific tape for athletes for the entire body, we found KT Tape. We looked on YouTube for videos on how to tape the feet for my particular soreness. It was magical, the pain was gone and I could walk normally again. We headed out to the Animal Kingdom park for a day of fun.
When the day was over and I was ready to go to bed, we didn’t realize I should have worn socks over the tape to keep it from rolling. So the next morning we had to replace some pieces. Once we got that fixed I got my running socks on and my shoes, my feet felt good.
Amy drove me over to the runner drop off, she then went to the parking lot and slept in the car until race time so she would have a parking place and not have to worry about getting back into Epcot parking lot.
I met some really awesome people as we walked to the entrance staging area. I met group of Dopey runners from the UK, this was the second Dopey and the Lady I was speaking with she had foot surgery just 8 months prior. She had pain in her foot before last year’s Dopey, her doctor said it was not so bad she couldn’t tape it and run, but after she would need the surgery. She had it and recovered well then trained and came across the pond for this year’s Dopey. She gave me hope that I could finish this race with the pain in my feet by taping them. As we approached the entrance, I said Goodbye and Good luck to them, they had bags to check, I did not, they wished me Good Luck as well.
I entered the start area and continued on to the corrals, I was ready and I wanted to warm up. I was more calm this day than the day before. My nervous bladder was gone, I used the Porter-Potty only twice this day, once when I arrived and once right before the first corral left to go run. I warmed up, I stayed calm and my feet felt really good. Then our corral started to move towards the start line. I tried to take in all the wonderful costumes the runners were wearing, their creativity in how they put them together was really interesting.
Then we arrived at the start and we were off, I remained calmed this run and started off slow and steady, I didn’t rush or run to fast, I was going to keep a steady pace the entire race.
Spaceship Earth was our destination for the finish, but with 3 extra miles to add on to Epcot we had to run down the road, turn and go up an on ramp (a long incline UGGGGG!) to come around behind Epcot so we could enter on the back side to go around to Disney’s Boardwalk resort then reenter into Epcot for the finish. This was interested because the Boardwalk was wet and slippery, we had to be very carefully running as not to slip and bust our butts.
As we were finishing the Boardwalk run and about to enter back into Epcot I saw her, it was like a life like doll had come to life. As I passed this runner I was taken aback, her costume was awesome, I stopped and went back to talk to her. She was The Little Mermaid! She had the red hair, the purple shells, and green scale leggings. I gushed over her outfit and asked for a selfie with her. She was gracious and agreed to the pics, but when we looked at them, she was not pleased. She said, “Oh NO! We must do that again and get my Purple Boob Shells in the picture”. So we did another selfie and got the shot. She was so sweet and that made the race for me. I love these races for this reason, the people are nice and have fun with their costumes. I continued on, leaving Ariel and her running partner (Eric, he wasn’t please to be in costume) as I passed costumed runners I complimented them on their hard work putting the costumes together. My feet forgotten, I was taking in all I could during this run, I was enjoying it to the fullest. As we came into view of Spaceship Earth there was a picture station to have your photo in front of Spaceship Earth, the line was short so I stopped. I was going to do as many race photos as I could to commemorate this achievement I had trained a year for. If I could find character photos where the lines were not long I would stop for those too, but that did not happen during the Minnie.
After my Spaceship Earth photo, I continued on to the finish, I was running on air and happiness this was my race to finish, this was my goal to accomplish, two down and two to go. I was on my runner’s high and I was loving every minute of it. As I came into the final stretch to the finish I had worries or concerns I just ran to cross the finish line. What a feeling, it was only 6.2 miles, but for me it was months of going to bed early, getting up early and running when everyone else was asleep. Not going out with friends, not spending quality time with my understanding and supportive wife. Giving up certain foods, feeling like I couldn’t have “fun”. But I know now and I did at the time it was for a greater good. I feel better, I am healthier and I have energy I didn’t have a year prior. I learned a lot about myself during this training season and that’s something no one can take away from me. I love running.
NEXT: Donald's Half & God's Gift to my Feet
