Well, my first 5K has come and gone! In some ways, I still can’t believe we did it! My official time was 32:16. Although my goal was to finish in 30 minuets, I am satisfied with my results. After all, it was my first 5K and I certainly don’t consider myself a “runner.” 
Here’s how our Saturday went down…
11:30am: I met Matt, Kasey, Rachel, Mark and Pam at the Wide World of Sports to pick up our packets. Things went smoothly, with one little bump in the road. Sweet Rachel left her photo ID in West Palm Beach. Thank to iPhones and quick-thinking minds, her Facebook profile page satisfied the photo ID necessity! Crisis averted.
We're official!
2:00pm: We checked out Yellow Dog Eats in Gotha for a pre-race lunch. What a great place! And such delicious food. If you live in the Orlando area and have never been, you should check it out. I’ve decided it’s the “local hot spot” to take all visiting out-of-towners from now on.
Pre-Race Lunch!
After lunch: We did some quick grocery shopping for dinner and then went back to the Ainsley’s to rest. Naps were supposed to be in order, but that didn’t really happen. No one could sleep. We just hung out, watched football and then started to get everything ready for the race.
Figuring out the "D Tags."
6:30pm: Kasey made a great pre-race dinner. Our friend from church, Anastasia, joined us for dinner and then we got everything all set to go. We left for the race around 8:00pm.
Pre-Race Dinner.
The 5K: The race started with a countdown and fireworks at 10:15pm. The beginning was kind of hard because of all the people. Somehow there were walkers mixed in at the beginning and also some kids. Maneuvering around everyone was difficult.
A little more than the first mile was outside of the park. I made it to the first mile marker at about 10 minutes, 30 seconds. When I saw that time, I had big hopes of finishing in 30 minutes. I picked up the pace a little, but I don’t think that lasted too long. I saw our faithful fan club (and official photographers) Mark and Pam cheering us on right inside the park gates. We ran through the center of the park, around the Muppet show and then back through the Lights Motor Action stunt show stage. We were disappointed because there wasn’t much music throughout the park and none of us brought our iPods.
The third mile seemed to last forever. Having not run the course before it was hard to gauge where you were at in relation to the finish. The last half mile had several little hills (killer!) and I was losing steam. Rachel came up behind me, coaching me through the hills. I was so ready to be done. When I saw the third mile marker and my time was at 31 minutes, I decided to walk. I was a little mad at myself for walking, but I just needed about 30 seconds to catch my breath. Right about then, we turned a corner and there was the finish line. I really kicked it into high gear then! And…I crossed the finish line at 32:16! Rachel, Kasey, Jenny and I finished together. Matt and Anastasia finished a couple minutes before us. We got our fun medals and then took some pictures.
Ready to go!
We did it!
After the race, we rode Toy Story twice. We also did Muppet Vision 3D, Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. There was hardly any wait for Toy Story, and we didn’t wait any longer than 15 minutes for any other ride.
I am proud of myself (and everyone else) for doing the race and finishing. Matt’s ready to make the next goal a 10K, but I’d like to try another 5K first. More pictures to come…
