Race for the Taste

Savitre has gone 101!!! :o(

(just found out that 101 is Disney's code for attraction down)

This was one of the two reasons why I'm still here in Orlando. I couldn't wait to do another Disney race. I remember my first race during the Goofy Challenge. The expo was huge, the weather was perfect, Savitre had an "A" day/weekend. :o)

This race, however, was much MUCH different. The expo was a huge let down. I thought I had gone on the wrong day to pick up my packet. No one was around and there was only one rack put up to sell the race day tee shirt. SELL?!??! Usually we got a race tee shirt with our packets....what was going on here? Instead, we received a pint glass with our packets.

It's all good. I still ended up buying the tee shirt. *guilty grin*

On race day, I got up, got dressed, and proudly pinned on my bib number (#101). I headed out the door to Wide World of Sports. Parking was plentiful. I guess everyone wanted to park at Epcot so that after the race they didn't have to shuttle back to their cars.

Music was blaring, the humidity died down tons from the previous night, and everyone seemed chipper. Aaahh...it felt so good to be lining up with a bunch of Disney racers again!

The Star Spangle Banner played, fireworks lit the sky, and we were off. Well, everyone but Savitre was off and running. I, however, encountered many technical difficulties at the start of the race.

Just as I was crossing the starting line, my iPod started to flicker. Before I knew it, it went to the black screen of death! NOOOOooooooo!!! I simply CANNOT run without my iPod!! Curse the storm from Expedition Everest! Ever since that race, my iPod has not been functioning normally. Lucky for me, I knew how to reboot it. I continued to walk the first mile as it slowly rebooted. YAY!!! It was finally working again.

Did problems end there? No no no...of course not! I decided to carry a camera during the race. However, this was a new pocket camera that I had purchased. The only problem was that I didn't know how to use it. Ooopsie! So, as I tried to take pics of anything along the way, all my photos were coming out blurry. Gosh darn it, I thought!! I continued to mess with the settings until I got it to where I thought the pics were decent. Ahhh...2 miles later, I finally decided to start running!!

I was finally back in business after all my technological issues. However, now I was starting to suffer from severe respiratory issues. It wasn't the humidity. I'm not quite sure what it was. I felt like I couldn't take full breaths in. WHAT THE HECK?!?! Today was definitely NOT an "A" day. If there were a Double "Z" day (make that triple "z"), today was that day! I give up *throws hands up in the air* :o(

Mile 3 (half way through the race), I was ready to call it quits. I just wanted to hitch a ride back to my car, crawl into bed, and wake up and believe that the REAL race had not started yet and that this was just one bad nightmare! NOPE, this was as real as it got!!! *sigh*

I didn't quit though. I decided to enjoy my moments through Disney and just take in the scenery, enjoy being amongst other runners, and cherish the reason I was still in Orlando. All I could think about was "as long as you finish Savitre, you'll get a medal...not ONE but TWO....so keep moving little one". :o)

Before I knew it, the finish line appeared! PHEW!!! That was pure torture!!! Of course, Disney does not fail to put on a fun post race party! We had three snack tickets to sample some of the food from Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. Of course I did not skip out on this opportunity.

Characters were out and about for photo ops...and no matter how bad it gets, Goofy ALWAYS makes me smile!!!

One down, one to go....my next (and last for this year) Disney race is the Tower of Terror 13K on October 24th. Hopefully that race won't be as scary as this one and NO MORE Savitre going 101!!! Hahaha :o)

PROST!!

It's the day before the BIG race!

After all that trash talking, it was time to meet up with "The Other Team".

Ha! You've been spotted

(and by a trash can nonetheless)!! *laughs* :o)

We headed out to Disney's Wide World of Sports to pick up our race packet.

I was a little bummed that the expo wasn't exciting. Out on the lawn in front of the complex, people walked around aimlessly trying to find their race packets and t-shirts. While the pre-race talk was being held on the stage, I wandered over to a GINORMOUS board to sign our team name. Go Siamese Twins!!

Check out the RED writing to the bottom right of us...

WHAT IS THAT?!?!? *wink wink* :o)

We then headed over to the Biergarten Restaurant at Epcot's Germany Pavillion.

While dining, we were entertained with some live music, fun entertainment, and pre-race goodies. I can't say I've had German food before, but boy oh boy was it goooood! *rubs belly* :o)

We even saw the Ricola people! *giggles*

After all the good eats, we went our separate ways!

Have no fear...I'm sure we'll see them again somewhere!

It was now time to hit up Epcot's Food and Wine Festival.

But not before long, we ran into some friendly faces! :o)

One would think that eating at the German buffet was enough, but not for us! We couldn't help ourselves but be tempted by all the goodies from around the world. While running around the World with our Kim Possible "Kimmunicator" and activating all the hidden gems at Epcot (which I HIGHLY recommend you try because this was one of the neatest things I've seen Disney do), we managed to pit stop at some of the international huts and grab some grub along the way.

Epcot's Food and Wine Festival is definitely not cheap (big price, small portion). However, it is always fun to try food from around the world. I can't wait to go back and try food from all the other countries! YAY season pass!! :o)

Enough fun for one day...time to get the A-Game on!!!