I already had Florida and didn’t think I’d ever go back to run another marathon.  But we had been talking about taking our son to Disney World, when my brother-in-law said he wanted to get Florida as a state and when he mentioned the date of the marathon, we decided that would be a good time to go. So lets go back to Florida. (By the way, this week was a perfect week to be in Disney World, the park was amazingly empty, we rode everything we wanted to by noon the first day.  The lines were great).  We turned it into a bug family vacation.  My wife, son and I flew to Florida with her brother and parents.  My parents and sister would join us later that evening.  We went to the expo which was kind of nice except for the fact they made you walk all over the building to get down to the expo and then thru everything to get packet picket, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Rome.  At the expo we found a booth selling photomosaic pictures of Mickey and Donald running using race photos as the source.  Scott and I signed up for it and expect to receive the photo in the next few weeks.  You are guaranteed to be in the picture at least once and up to 5 times.  Pretty interesting idea.   Race day we wake up hella-early (for me) about 4:30, as the race started at 6am to help avoid the heat, which I thought was a good idea (Of course Paul Williams would have already been at the starting line by 4:30, so I take solace in that fact).  When we step out of the hotel I know I’m going to be in trouble, at 5am its already 67 degrees and 94% humidity.  When it is humid, I suck.  I mentally add 30 minutes to the time I was going for and plan to phone it in.    We get to the race area, park, and head to the starting line.  We are greeted by the most porta-potties I have ever seen.  No one is waiting more than 2-3 deep.  Great logistics on this one.  While walking over Scott makes a joke about Weird Al, then we split up.  Right before the start, on huge video screens, they start playing “White and Nerdy” by Weird Al … they must have heard Scott. I get into my coral and meet up with a guy from Brooklyn he tells me he ran a 3:00:01 at Boston for his PR and all his friends keep telling him what a sissy he is.  I’d like to be that kind of sissy (although, come on, you didn’t have one more second in you?) =)   Mickey and crew come out and talk about how hard running a marathon is, and after about 2 minutes I can’t handle their voices.  Please start the race.  Then they light the fire:   http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_start.jpg http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_start2.jpg   And we are off.   Miles 1 – 5 are fairly uneventful, but I am working way too hard to be going at this speed.  The humidity is already getting to me.  It is going to be a loonnnnng day.  We run a loop past Epcot around the lake and back by the start.   0-1   6:57 1-2   7:10 2-3   6:49 3-4   6:51 4-5   7:13   Miles 5 -8 are pretty boring, we don’t really pass anything of interest,   5-6   7:31 6-7   7:47 7-8   8:07 8-9   8:15   At this point I know I am done for, its time to shift down and try to stay under 9 minute miles.  3:45 is now the official goal.  At mile 9 we pass the Polynesian Resort and head towards the contemporary resort (Disney loves its resorts).   Mile 10 and 11 are pretty cool, we are now in the magic kingdom, I run past the castle:   http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_fclcastle.jpg   And then head over to Everest:   http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_fcleverest.jpg   Mile 12 we pass yet another resort, the Grand Floridian, which I stayed in 14-15 years ago with my parents and I long for the amazing orange juice I remember from back then. Miles 13-16 are pretty uneventful as well, I am starting to slow down but the grounds are pretty and nice to look out:   9-10  8:15 10-11 8:21 11-12 8:34 12-13 8:35 13-14 8:41 14-15 8:46 15-16 9:02   My race will go downhill from here; it’s the first, but not the last, 9 minute mile.  Still planning on holding sub 3:45, but its now really warm and I am sweating like a pig.  Mile 16 has us heading into the animal kingdom and the really cool tree in the middle:   http://www.livaudais.net/vacations/disney07/ak/giantree.jpg   I’m ready to be done and start riding some rides instead of running past them.  We cruise on thru to mile 20 where I see a dreaded out and back; I think about just running straight and saving a mile, I hope there is a timing mat, otherwise it would have been a good idea.   16-17 8:57 17-18 8:57 18-19 9:00 19-20 9:16 20-21 9:13 21-22 9:21 22-23 8:58   We are approaching Epcot again, and I see Mickey’s magic hat and I know I will soon be done.   http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_fclhat.jpg   I am no longer really sweating that much, I feel really dehydrated and wish Mickey would turn down the heat and humidity.  The finish is kind of nice running back thru a nice road and seeing those stupid chimpmunks and the end, never could remember their names.   23-24 8:58 24-25 9:05   Okay mile 25, let’s get it over with.   25-26 7:34 26.2  1:20 =============== 3:37:42   http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_fclfinish1.jpg http://livaudais.net/img/run/disney_fclfinish2.jpg   After the finish I run into Jim Cleary who ran the Goofy challenge and came pretty close to 3:00 running a 3:01:33 according to the race results.  Amazing.  I also ran into Meg who was only a couple minutes behind me.  It was pretty funny to see two people from Austin in a race that size.   I enjoyed this race and think if you got good weather it could be a screamer of a course.  The worst part for me was on Wednesday, the weather was sub 50, and about 50% humidity.  I wish we would have left before I would have found out how close we came to ideal weather for running.