We DID IT!!! Again...

Wow, that's all I can say. I think we jinx'd the race with all of this talk about "Hoth"....cause Hoth visited Orlando today. Freezing cold pre-race (windy as well) and then some sleet starts to fall to top it off. Headed down toward the corral area, gave my wife a kiss for good luck as she went to hers and then took a 3/4 mile warm up and stretch. Ran into Mr. Mike-Speed himself along the warm up path. Then it was time, so I wished Mike-Speed good luck, told him to break a leg (or at least tweak an ankle enough for me to catch up to him ;-)) and settled into my own corral...C....but Chris, you say, weren't you in B last year? Why yes, yes I was, thank you for reminding me... Not sure what the deal was, but with the same exact qual time I was bumped back to wave 2. No worries, met some outstanding people in the corral. An Army vet who just returned from a tour in Afganistan and was running the Goofy. Great guy, wish I had more time to talk to him, but I thanked him for his service, shook his hand and move up a bit for the wave 2 start.

5...4...3...2..1...GO TIME!!! This year I was alone, so no talky-talky and I kept on pace pretty well. 25:09 5k split, which was interesting to see as I had a ton of traffic to weave through, even ran in a ditch for the better part of the first mile...yep, same as last year... 10k a little bit slower, but clocked in at 50:46...15k 1:16:21 (very close to 10k speed). Just prior to entering Epcot I notice two familiar folks all decked out in yellow shirts...I was psyched to see them (Rae and Eric) that I ran over an slapped them five which juiced me up a bit for a good finish (thanks guys!!!)...Finally, I see the finish, which is good cause my quads have been burning for the past two miles! So, the goal was sub 1:50...and I got there...1:48:52....8:18 mile pace (35 seconds off last years pace)... 1027 overall and 810 among the men. At least, this is the unofficial results, but I'm positive it's correct. So yeah me!

After the race was done for me, THAT'S when it started to get cold. All the sweat on my body began to freeze and a thin layer of Reynolds Wrap wasn't going to keep me warm. I walked all over the place trying to find a spot to see my wife finish, but couldn't....funny story...as I walked in front of the TV cameras filming, the news guy asked if he could talk with me. Sure, why not. So I got interviewed on the local news, LOL. Of course my brain and lips were frozen, so people watching must be like "why did they pick this idiot!". Anyhoo, my 2 minutes of fame... Anyhoo, I finally headed back to the family reunion area to see if I could see my wife (Lorraine) finish on one of the big screens. And sure enough, right at the time I calculated her to finish (which was faster than she was predicting mind you...) there she was! I was so proud of her for battling the injuries these past two years only to be greeted by sleet and freezing cold temps...but she did it! right around 2:15:00 or 2:17:00 as the site has her time all funkified. I think the 5k checkpoint didn't get picked up on the D-Tag, but the other splits looked fine. Hopefully they'll correct it for her so she doesn't have to start in Corral G next time! :-)

What a long post...sorry folks, typing this while I'm in my room icing my knee so I figured I'd get it all out now before I forget!

Congratulations to all the Team Voice folks out there that braved the elements to complete this run! Mike, Amanda, Jeff, Matt, Goofstin, Trace, Lisa, Rae and Eric's son (I'm totally spacing on his name...but he did awesome! 10 min miles for a 17 year old and I think he's going out for the full tomorrow? Holy Cats Indeed!)

Best of Luck to Rae, Eric, Goofstin, and Bryan in the full tomorrow, I know you'll all do great!