Race Recap: WDW Princess Half Marathon Weekend, Pre-race

5K Race Day: Saturday, February 23, 2013 @ 6:30am
Half Marathon: Sunday , February 24, 2013 @ 5:45am
Location: Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL

Travel Day - Thursday, February 21, 2013
Well, it really starts the day before travel day. I had decided at about 8:30am not to drive to Albuquerque to stay overnight before my flight because a friend I was supposed to meet had her new grand daughter born the day before. I knew bad weather was coming in due to a winter storm watch/advisory but it looked like the storm was tracking north of us so I didn't give it much concern and went about my normal pre-race/pre-trip cleanup. At about 5pm I saw that the weather had worsened and I began panicking that I would miss my flight, so I decided to go ahead and drive up and just find a hotel when I got up there (had already canceled my previous reservation). So I get on the road shortly after 6pm and immediately ran into severely, thick fog...much like what can appear in the California Central Valley. I ended up having a minor anxiety attack on the road and ended up returning home instead.

The next morning I woke up at 3am to check the forecast and now the last half of the trip was "snow packed and icy." Great! I was out the door by 4am and was not happy to be hit with fresh snow and small hail before even getting out of town! I managed to make my way through somewhat icy roads to the next town over after which the roads became almost totally clear until I reached I-40. After traveling about 25 miles west on the interstate, the roads became slushy but were well sanded/salted and relatively easy to drive on. Once I hit the mountains just east of Albuquerque portions of the interstate were not as well maintained and travel slowed to about 5-10 mph below the speed limit. This slow moving traffic continued even into Albuquerque where the Interstate was mostly clear...go figure. Since I had made the trip just about 20 minutes longer than I normally would have on clear roads I had arrived early enough to stop for breakfast at Denny's before heading to the Sunport (the name of Albuquerque's airport). As I sat there getting ready to eat I received a notification text from Southwest Airlines with the ominous words..."flight has been canceled." Really?? Did I just drive nearly 4 hours over questionable roads and weather to catch a flight that was no longer going to happen? I immediately called SWA to try to reschedule the flight. I had two choices...a mid-afternoon flight with a long layover somewhere or a 6:25pm flight with one stop but no plane change. I went with the latter. When I posted on Facebook the time of my flight I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my running friend/Tink sister, Kathleen, was catching the same flight as a connection from SeaTac. This is the same woman who walked with me so that I could finish the TinkerBell Half Marathon last month! It was pure serendipity that we would be together for the trip to our next race! :D

So, now I had time to kill. I loitered in Denny's for about an hour after I had finished eating then headed over to Barnes and Noble's to loiter there for awhile! Thankfully I managed to walk out of there purchasing only 2 magazines...that store is one of my shopping weaknesses. Since it was just after 11am I went to watch Les Miserables which was just totally fantastic! That will be a definite purchase when it comes out on DVD/BlueRay. By the time the  movie was over it was about 3pm. I made a quick trip to Party City to find a tiara to wear during the weekend then stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch before heading to the airport to check myself and my bags in.

As I made my way to the gate, I met two girls from NorCal who were running the Princess HM as their first Disney race. The dead giveaway was the tutu that they were bedazzling at one of the tables near the gate. We chatted for awhile and I showed them some of the Facebook groups pertaining to the race and costumes. Finally it was after 5:20pm and the plane from Seattle had landed and I waited for Kat to come through the gate (being sure to wear my tiara). There were some muffled squeals of excitement and big hugs going on when she finally appeared! I introduced her to the new girls and we just hung out for about an hour before boarding began. It turned out that the lady who completed our row of seats was also going to run the race. All in all I counted about a dozen Princesses on board.

Run Kat and I reunited at the Albuquerque Sunport
for the first time since the TinkerBell HM.

Once we landed in Orlando after a fairly uneventful flight, we grabbed out bags and headed in the direction that we thought the WDW Magical Express shuttle was. Unfortunately, even though we both had used the service before we forgot that it was located on the other side of the airport. So, after we finally got directions we made our way there along with other runners who also had gotten lost! It was at this point that we had to separate due to being at different Disney properties.

I finally arrived at the All Star Sports resort where my room mates, Dianne and Chris, had already checked in. After unpacking what needed to be hung up and my toiletries it was bedtime according to EST as it was something like 1am and I had an early day planned.

Fit for a Princess Race Expo - Friday, February 22, 2013

All Star Sports Resort pre-Expo breakfast meetup.
Dianne was our Perfect Princes...5 year Legacy Runner, the rest of us were PHM newbies.
(L to R: Eric, Dianne, me & Sandy)

I had arranged a breakfast meetup for any of the Disney's Princess Half Marathon Facebook page that were staying at the same resort. At first we thought no one was showing up until a young man sat down at the end of the table. I knew that there had been a male who was looking to meet other runners and I had invited him to join us if he was at the resort, but I wasn't sure if it was him or not. I asked if he was Eric, the guy I had invited and indeed he was! We had him move over by us, I think I promised that we wouldn't bite, and introduced ourselves. He was from Minnesota and this was his first Disney race. Then another lady, Sandy, stopped by the table asking if we were from the group and she joined us as well. We sat there talking and eating until about 8am when we split up to get ready to catch the first shuttle to the expo at 8:30.

Dianne and I at the Expo...
the volunteer taking the pic was a little shaky!

A little Princess nuttiness at the New Balance booth at the Expo! LOL!

Dianne and I got into the line at about 8:20 or so and were able to get on the first bus that was running about 15 minutes late. By the time we got to the Coronado Springs resort the line to get into the expo was probably close to a couple of hundred people deep already. Once we got in, we walked around the vendors area for a while to see what there was then headed to the runDisney Official Merchandise store. That was pure craziness! The line to get in wound in different directions outside the entry way to the booth. Once we got in it was literally packed like sardines, trying to get to items on either side was near impossible because the line to pay for items was winding around inside the sales area. I knew what I was getting so I got my stuff and got into line since it would take awhile Dianne grabbed some last items then joined me in line.

For some reason I had the bright idea to have my debit card ready to go even though we would be in line for at least another 20 minutes. At some point while in line I dropped it and didn't notice. When I did notice, I went walking up and down the massive line looking on the floor to see if I could find it. After a couple times doing this I finally went down the line literally yelling over the din for people to look at their feet to see if they could see a lost debit card on the ground...yes, it was that packed there was no way that I could see all of the floor so I enlisted the help of the people in line. When that failed I asked Dianne if she could cover my purchase for me while I called the bank to make other arrangements. I stopped at the registers to see if anyone had dropped off the card with no luck, I then went to the lost and found booth and they didn't have it either. I called the bank and suspended the card and found out that they couldn't get me a new card until Monday...not good since I didn't have any cash. I told them to hold off on canceling the card and I went back to the booth and asked again at the entrance (they were restricting access by then) and the lady came back with my card in her hand. Talk about a sense of relief!! I then went in search of Dianne who was unable to print up her 5K waiver so while she went to the runner's service booth I picked up my race packets for both the half marathon and 5k. We finally got back together and had an animated gif photo shoot done then headed over to join the DPHM Facebook group's meetup. We met a few of the other members and then went back into the vendors area one last time before heading back to the resort.

Race packet swag and Expo purchases.

When we went out to the shuttle pickup area, I noticed that there was a shuttle to the military resort, Shades of Green. I had planned to go there to do some basic grocery shopping because the prices in their c-store were more like normal off resort prices plus I needed to get my military special park ticket. So we hopped on the bus and were whisked away straight to SoG. We both got some stuff in the c-store and I purchased my ticket and we caught the next shuttle back to the expo. Since the c-store didn't have fresh fruit/vegetables we briefly went back into the expo to get some bananas from the Chiquita banana booth. This was the first time I actually had to play a game of Plinko in order to get a banana! Usually you can just go up and ask for them. Anyway, I actually won 2 bananas and a cheap pair of sunglasses...just the perfect number of bananas to get me through until race day.

After the expo, which was strictly for the bananas, we got on the bus back to the resort and Dianne and Chris headed out to Downtown Disney to eat. I wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom but was so tired that I decided to take a nap. I ended up sleeping for 3 hours.When I finally awoke I ate some dinner and caught the shuttle to the Magic Kingdom. It was overcast and humid and I arrived at the park literally at the tail end of the Light Parade. I made my way to Thunder Mountain Railroad, It's a Small World (a ride I hadn't been on since my kids were little), Under the Sea, Space Mountain, Space Ranger Spin, Stitch's Great Escape, the Haunted Mansion and lastly Pirates of the Caribbean. My waits for any of the rides was no more than 15 minutes and just before I went to the Haunted Mansion it began sprinkling and by the time I came out a full blown tropical rain had started and most people were trying to stay out of the rain and I ended up basically walking right onto Pirates of the Caribbean.

Arrived just in time to catch the end of the Electrical Light Parade...

Thunder Mountain Railroad...my second fave ride behind
Space Mountain. Yes, I do love roller coasters!

The fireworks started right as I got onto TMR.

Woot! First time on It's A Small World in probably over 15 years!

By now it was just about closing time, 11pm, and I decided that I wanted to get a churro as I left the park but because it was so late all the vendors had already packed up. So the back up plan was going to Downtown Disney to get a sundae at Ghiradelli's which meant taking the shuttle back to the resort and catching a shuttle from there to DTD. I arrived back at All Star Sports just around 11:15pm and had to wait a few minutes for the next shuttle to DTD to arrive. It finally got there at about 11:30pm and left about 5 minutes later to make the rounds at the rest of the All Star resorts. I had begun to watch the time because while I was waiting I had looked up Ghiradelli's hours and found that they closed at midnight.  This literally had to be the slowest shuttle ride I've ever had at WDW!! It seemed like other shuttles were zooming by us as I watched the minutes tick away.We finally arrived at DTD I headed at a pretty fast, but not running clip to Ghiradelli. I was happy to see that it wasn't shut down yet and that there were still people in line...but I walked up to pull the doors open and...LOCKED! I looked at my phone and I had missed getting into the store by 4 minutes...four lousy minutes!!

Since I still had that craving for sweets I walked all over DTD looking for somewhere that had sundaes. The only two places were the bowling alley and I think House of Blues where it was a 2 person sundae...didn't need one that big for myself. So I headed to the bowling alley restaurant only to find out that the only thing they were serving were pizzas. Really, you can't make an ice cream sundae? Sheesh!! Luckily I remembered that I had a Snickers in my purse so I had to settle for that to quench my sweet tooth as I headed back to the resort after my epic fail for a Ghiradelli Treasure Island Sundae (warm brownie hot fudge sundae). I decided that it would definitely happen the next day.

When I got back to the resort I pretty much just got ready for bed since it was about 1am since we had to be at the Mickey & Minnie Royal Family 5K at something like 5:30am which meant a 3am alarm to wake up to...the story of my no sleep nights prior to a race! lol!

Race Recap: TinkerBell HM 2013, Part 2: Race Day & Beyond

So...where did I leave off...oh yes, we're moving into race day.
Second part of a two part post. See Part 1 here.

Race Day (Sunday, January 20, 2013)

Minnie themed race outfit.

The day started much as any race day would...except with four women in a room! lol! Woke up early, showered, dressed and made sure everything I needed was in my gear check bag. We made our way over to the corrals I think a little after 4:30am. Settled everything that we needed to like checking our bags, last minute nature breaks, etc. then headed to our assigned corrals. We made our way into the corrals and looked for others that we knew. Then came the waiting. I wasn't quite as excited as last year, but still the energy was there. I ended up moving a little further away from the group since I decided that I would just go my own pace rather than stay with a pacer. I think it's just because I've done so many of my races alone that it's just instinct for me now to do my own thing. As the start drew near I made sure my music was on and that I was as warmed up as I was ever going to get. Finally our corral was moved to the starting line and then...GO!!

I tried to start out slow, but the energy caught up with me and I was going at a faster pace than I should have. The first 5K or so wasn't bad as we ran through the parks first off compared to finishing in the parks last year. I was feeling pretty good but early at some point the "plague" of runners hit me...not bad, but bad enough to cause me several stops in the ladies room before we even left the parks. Thankfully, things seemed to settle down a bit although I did notice that my footing wasn't very sure and I stumbled several times luckily being able to catch myself on a fence or wall without going down to the ground. I just ignored it and kept going doing my run/walk/run, standing totally upright and smiling (or trying to) for the photographers on the course.

Proofs I used to demonstrate to doc the nearly
7-10° lean that eventually developed.
 First pic early in the race and totally upright;
2nd pic towards finish trying to remind myself to stand upright (FAIL)
and finally coming across the finish at full lean.

As I neared the 10K mark, I noticed that my upper body was leaning to the left. Not a muscular based leaning over...it was just I could not stand up straight to save my life! By the time I actually hit the 10K mark I couldn't stand upright at all without really working on doing so. I also noticed a slight headache that came and went plus more stumbling. The panic started to set in...was I having a TIA (more commonly referred to as a mini-stroke)?? I texted to the group I was with at the start to see where they were because at this point I had become afraid to complete the race by myself. As luck would have it, they weren't too far behind me so I waited until they reached me. By that time I was near, if not in, tears from the sheer anxiety...but still I refused to stop. One of my Tink friends, Kat, stopped her race to walk the remainder of the race with me to make sure nothing happened and so that I'd have a safety net. For the next approximately 6.5 miles she encouraged me, listened to my panic and fears, whining and tears! It was slow going and she made sure I was aware of any changes in the road so that I wouldn't stumble/trip over them.

As we passed medical tents and photographers I did my best to stand up straight and used my left hand to remind me to try to get upright. By the last few miles of the race I had pretty much given up on doing that...it just wasn't working. Once we crossed the finish and got our medals Kat ushered me into the medical tent where they started a neurological evaluation and eventually transported me to a nearby emergency room. Thanks to Kat she was able to get my gear bag and get it to my roomies who had long since finished the race.

My hardest earned medal so far,
harder even than Spartan Sprint!
Not even a picture of my own medal...no finisher pic this year.

As a nurse you'd think I could take this medical situation in stride. I was able to give a summary of what had happened and then I totally lost it. How stupid I felt.  Twenty two plus years as a nurse...I shouldn't be panicking like this! They finally got me to the ER by ambulance where I stayed for nearly 6 hours. They did a CT scan without IV contrast, a slew of labs, repeated neuro evaluations with the continued mild, intermittent headache, slightly blurred vision during these headaches and an ever so slight continuing leaning of my upper body even when laying back on the gurney.

After nearly 6 hours the labs and CT had all come back clean. The ER doc wanted to be admitted for 1-2 days for observation, but being the obstinant nurse/person that I am I signed out AMA (against medical advice) to arrange a flight home the next day instead of flying home on Tuesday. Partly because I didn't want to be hospitalized away from home, secondly because the cost of hospitalization even with TriCare benefits would have wiped us out!! No joke!!

By the time I got back to the room around 5pm or 6pm I ordered a pizza (hadn't eaten since 3:30am) and packed everything up. I also got on the phone and was able to arrange an early flight home the next morning. I think I actually only ate 2 pieces of the pizza once it arrived and I was probably asleep by 9pm.

Race Day +1

I awoke really early at around 4am to get ready to head out. It's still kind of a blur. I think I showered but I know I went to turn my key in and make sure all the costs were taken care of only to find that the desk clerk I had called the night before to let her know that we would be leaving a day early had actually checked us out the night before. Really not what I needed that early in the morning especially the way I was emotionally. After finally getting that straightened out, I waited for the Disneyland Resort Express to pick me up and take me to LAX.

I wasn't having any real issues other than being extremely fatigued with the occasional short, mild headache and accompanying blurred vision. Because of this I didn't trust myself walking around the terminal so I had arranged for a wheelchair at each stop. I felt a little stupid doing that but I just felt that it would be better to be safe than sorry.

The trip home was uneventful, but I did worry about the 1 1/2+ hour drive home. Luckily everything went smoothly and after I arrived home I pretty much walked up to my husband and began crying uncontrollably. I was so tired the next couple of days that I didn't finally make copies of my hospital paperwork to drop off at the VA clinic until Thursday or Friday after I got home. Luckily by then some of the proofs for the race pics were already online and I was able to include some of those to demonstrate the physical appearance of symptoms during the race.

The Aftermath

It's taken weeks to get a doctor's appointment which I finally had last Friday. I was cleared to begin running/exercising again (something that I had pretty much put a stop to myself with the exception of Spartan Sprint). I also have an MRI of the brain and lumbar spine scheduled tomorrow morning. So I'm only partially out of the woods right now. In talking with the doc there's a possibility of a labrynthitis (improper functioning of the balance mechanism in the ear)/Meinier's Disease probably the most viable diagnosis to be ruled out, an actual TIA, a mass or a multitude of other things. I probably won't know the final result of the MRI until Friday at which time I'll already be in Florida for the Princess Half Marathon at Walt Disney World. So as far as I'm concerned I'm finishing the Princess HM...it may be walking most if not all of it, but I will finish. And this time around I'm hitting as many of the parks as I can as well!!

So, until I find out the results of the MRIs and any limitations that they may place on me I consider myself somewhat ready to go and do what I need to do for my second Coast to Coast medal and 4th race of the year! :D  I will update the blog once I know the final results of the MRIs! :)

What I liked about this race:
The fact that I actually finished for one, but even more grateful for running friends like Kat who expressed concern, caring and encouragement during and after the race (there were several of you out there on the course asking if I was OK...I don't remember who you were but I'm thankful for your support) and in the days that have followed. I have a wonderful group of online running friends!! :D

What I did not like about this race:
The fact that this medical issue even happened. There was no warning...it just happened. I hate the fact that I slowed Kat down, even though I know she didn't mind. I tried to get her to leave me behind, but she wouldn't! Big, huge hugs Kat!! I hate the fact that it took nearly 4 hours to finish!! OMG!! But other than that...it was a great time before all the medical stuff started happening. I wouldn't change a thing.

Would I do this race again?
Hello?? Can you say 5 year legacy runner?!?! LOL!! I would have stopped if I didn't plan to do it again!! ;) So, as far as I'm concerned I'm in for 2014, 2015 and 2016!!

Official Time: 3:53:16
Gender: 10370/10553
Age Group: 960/985
Overall: 11729/11937

So much for being middle of the pack last year!! LOL!!