Town of Celebration Marathon

Published January 28, 2018

EPCOT, is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a utopian city of the future planned by Walt Disney, often interchanging “city” and “community.”

The model community of Celebration, Florida has been mentioned as a realization of Disney’s original vision, but Celebration is based on concepts of new urbanism — radically different from Disney’s modernist & futurist visions.

Early start Sunday, missed bib pick-up the day before (EPCOT day 🙂 ). 5:30am meet-up in Celebration Park, race start an hour-half later. Humid Florida morning – expecting showers Sunday 2^nd half. Magic Kingdom ‘Poncho’ day.

Flat 2-lap course. Crowded start, 80% of participants running the Half. National Anthem. Ready ready to run.

Bunched around the 4:30 pace group. I always go out fast, then nothing in the tank later. Maybe if I force myself slow, I’ll finish with a smile. Worth a try. Short on my miles past 2 weeks, I’ll take a slower/happy finish – FAMILY in Magic Kingdom later.

Work/life struggle all month, no consistency since Hawaii. Lotta livin’ 1^st Half, lotta workin’ 2^nd Half. Notta lotta balance.

Digged hangin’ with a Pace Group. Easy 8 miles. Ran ahead of Pacer Dave, hit miles 12 & 13 hard, 2:02 first Half. “Made haste for the waste“, a much-needed porta-potty stop. 10 minutes ahead: expected to see my clique soon after.

Miles 14, 15, 16: no familiar faces. Ho, hum. Started to drag, put on some tunes. Mile 18. Still no rain, hyper-sweating in the tropics. Saw three folks from my 4:30 group dragging the sign. Pacer Dave had dropped. How often does that happen?

Wiped, lack of energy. Stopped to snap shots of my Florida journey. Drop, drop, drop – more sweat. Ran into my eyes, burned.

Thick muggy air, warm drizzle, high HUMIDITY. Slow-walked, just didn’t have it in me. Combination of hearty ‘Disney Plan’ meals & yesterday’s EPCOT walkathon. Heard the announcer. Day’s Finish across the Lake, 2 more miles. Felt like it’d never end 🙁

Blood pressure: 80 over 50. Spent my post-Finish with EMTs in the medic tent. Dehydrated (puking since mile 22).

Car, shower, shuttle bus, amusement park. Quick turnaround. Arrived 20 minutes before our all-American Liberty Tree Tavern lunch reservation. Would rain the remainder of my last Disney day. Spent 3 hours shuffling between indoor venues: the Hall of Presidents, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Pirates of Caribbean, Under the Sea (Little Mermaid) & the Haunted Mansion.

Monday morning: Orlando, Florida. Work afternoon: Boulder, Colorado. Crazy fast-paced world. #noregretlife

CELEBRATION MARATHON & HALF MARATHON

Celebration, Florida

Sunday, January 28, 2018

MARATHON RESULTS

238 K R Haga Louisville CO 5:15:34