So when we left off at part one, Sara and I were back at the room and asleep (or at least resting) by 8pm. Which is good. Because this race was moved up 30 minutes and we had to be on the bus by 3:30 at the latest. So yeah, that’s 3:30 IN THE MORNING.

But when the alarm went off I wasn’t even tired! Well, I was a little tired. But I was mostly excited. I love any race morning, and a Disney race morning is especially exciting!

I am a race morning JUNKIE. I love the excitement, the “what the heck was I thinking?” and yes, even the pre-race nerves. It’s THE BEST.

Note: you’re not wrong. I am wearing a dress. And I LOVED it. Full review of my Skirt Sports running dress coming soon but spoiler: it was AWESOME.

At the race start we met up with our friends! I LOVE seeing my RunDisney peeps from all over! Darcie and Tim and their daughter, Kelsey, all the way from Bigger, Saskatchewan, Steven from Tyler, TX and Kathy and her daughter, Ali, from Utah. We were still laughing about our bad service from the night before at Morimoto. “Would you like this on one check or would you like me to split it?” Us “Can you split it?” Him: Well, I CAN . . . . (you have to hear that in person to get the full impact). Btw, Darcie, in her sweet Canadian way, decided that Jordan the Server must have had terrible news about his mom in the hospital while waiting on us and that’s why he was so rude. We have no evidence of this. Darcie is just that nice.

While we waited they played some Star Wars clips on big screens. But I have to say, the pre-race entertainment was . . . BORING. I’m sorry, it just was. I need stuff to pump me up and watching movie clips just doesn’t do that for me. I needed Mickey and Minnie dressed in their Star Wars gear. Or Darth with an encouraging breath or two. SOMETHING. Nope. Just movie clips.

National Anthem was amazing (always brings a tear) and we were off, one corral at a time.

Again, did I mention how great the weather was? Yes, very humid, but it is Florida. But honestly, could have been so much worse! Sara’s IT band has been an ongoing issue and we knew going in she may need to walk at some point. What we didn’t know is that she was also getting sick!

Poor girl – looking back I’m really shocked at how hard she worked and what a great attitude she had in spite of it all. Going through Epcot first was SO FUN and really woke me up. I honestly didn’t feel like it was too crowded and the lanterns and all the lights on the water were just wow. Oh, and Star Wars music, of course. But only the bad guy stuff;).

It was fun running the reverse of most courses: down past BC and YC, up the hill and along the river to Hollywood Studios. Running down the main drag and towards Tower of Terror was so fun and I was really enjoying myself!

By this time we had stopped for a couple of potty stops and picture ops and made the joint decision to just enjoy the race and not worry about pace or time. Personally, that’s how I love to run all Disney races so I was great with that!

After exiting DHS, we had a LONG stretch towards Animal Kingdom but I loved how wide the road was and there was a cool breeze at this point, so no problem.

I lOVE running through Animal Kingdom! Great music and that’s where all the Cosplay people were hanging out! So glad to see them as they had been the highlight of the Star Wars Half at Disneyland.

We exited AK and headed back toward Wide World of Sports where i was SO GLAD we only ran a bit. Not round and around like the marathon course used to be. AND it was shaded! I’ll take it!

And then we were done. The miles really did fly by. Except for maybe 9 – 11. They almost never fly by.

So grateful for a great friend to run with and a body that can move! As always, I am awed and inspired by all the runners around me. Many of whom are cancer survivors, running to raise money for a great cause, or coming back from major injuries and trauma. To me there is no greater testimony of the human spirit than a road race where people of all shapes, sizes and abilities gather together to achieve a goal! So sappy  . . .but so true!

After we got our medals we had MAJOR BUS KARMA and literally walked right onto the bus for POFQ. This was RARE, I would find out later as others had much different bus experiences.

We showered and then headed right back out to Epcot to celebrate! Whoops, this is getting a little long. I feel a part 3 coming . . . .Up next: where all the best half marathoners go for good tequila at Epcot .