By the time we got into our room (upgraded to a Princess Suite! Woohoo!) and I got to take a look at my chairs, Phil's tire was flat. The one I just got fixed a couple days before we left. And the pump I brought wasn't working. In the morning, I walked over to the bike rental in the hopes they had a pump that would work. They didn't. And it seemed that none of them knew anything about road tires. So after the expo, we took a taxi to a nearby bike shop. After some confusion and extra exploring, the bike guy found a teeny tiny hole in the tube and proclaimed I had just gotten a bad tube. I'm pretty sure I heard Phil chuckle at that. They fixed my tire once again, got me a new pump, and sent us on our way back to the taxi with Phil's most expensive tube yet. It's time I learn how to change road tires myself.....
The Tower of Terror event is a 5K in the morning and a 10 miler at night.. and of course we signed up for both! The 5K is a trail run and I had been wondering how I would do it from the moment I signed up. By the week before we left it had come down to Phil was not a possibility, Saber was a big maybe for fear I would wear out my arms for later, and the cane was looking better and better. I finally decided the night before that I was least afraid of running with my cane... at least I wouldn't need my legs later. So I taped up my hip, knee, and ankle (I couldn't even imagine using my giant brace in the humidity!) and headed out with my cane. I must have given them my wheelchair time because I ended up in the first corral with my Rabbit friend. She had a 1st place finish to defend, so she headed up front, while I stayed to the back so I wouldn't get in anyone's way. The Headless Horseman came out of the trees to signal the start of the race and we were off... heading into the trees he had gone back into. I ran small bits when I could, got some thumbs up, and some surprised/impressed comments about being out there with a cane. Around mile 2, I could hear the announcers from the finish line say #3 (Rabbit) had won!! Shortly after that, I got a text asking where I was so she could come find me.. I had just made it out of the trees and was going onto the track. I found her in the field just after that and she jumped back onto the course to walk with me until I headed into the finisher chute, where I ran in with a wave of surprised cheering and a high five from Goofy.
After a relaxing afternoon, lunch, and a nap, we went to the 10 miler start. I had been told to go to the information booth, where there would be people to take care of Saber while I ran. I got to meet the other wheelchair racer, a gentleman doing his first race, then we were led to the corrals. The man leading us kept calling out to make a path for the wheelchairs and at some point everyone began standing up and clapping for us as we came through.. It was a bit overwhelming and I was glad to get to the empty side of the corrals for a moment. We took some pictures and talked until the race director came over to lead us to the start.... then we took more pictures and talked some more ;) My Rabbit friend had to go into the corral, then we met our bike escorts. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear much of the announcements because the speakers were facing the other way, but all of a sudden it got very clear and we stopped our conversation mid-sentence as we heard "wheelchairs get set...!" Apparently I take off like a shot when something like that happens...
My bike escort was happy to talk, and give me warnings about the course, and play in the fog by the characters, and encourage me up the four hills that make up the first 3 miles of the course.... and mock the repeated trail announcements ("I think there might be a speed bump coming up" and "Sounds like the dirt trail is a scary one!"). There was an out-and-back section during the hills where the people going the other way kept raising up cheers for me, including some friends we had made over the last couple days. Somewhere on the trail into ESPN, I made the comment that my bike escort's headlight was giving off an excellent, giant shadow of me and he decided turning to strobe would be even more impressive. I spent pretty much the rest of the race this way.
As we started to head out of ESPN, right about the 10K mark again, a Rabbit came up behind me. I lost her on the uphill I was struggling up, but caught up again when it went back down. We leapfrogged again for the next few miles. My bike escort was sure to tell me whenever she was catching up again, and was excited to see our future sprint to see who got to the finish first. I took my last lesson of drifting a bit farther on this race.... I was going pretty fast down into a hairpin turn, called out a warning to the other runners, including the Rabbit, and pretty much whipped around the turn by hanging on to one wheel and letting the other one keep its momentum. I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be able to repeat that one, but I hear it was quite impressive!
After that, all we had to do was get through Hollywood Studios to the Tower of Terror... I pulled ahead when my bike escort peeled away as I made the last turn towards the finish, then pushed with whatever I had left in me to make it across. The guy that led us to the start appeared next to me and gave me information I couldn't hear and pointed me towards the woman that had Saber, a woman from Autism Speaks gave me my medal, another woman gave me a card that turned out to be my invitation to the awards ceremony.. I finally made it over to Saber and took a breath. The woman with Saber gave me a high five for following her earlier instructions to "beat the boy", then was ready to catch me when I decided I needed to stretch my body before settling comfortably into Saber. We stayed there until I felt ready to move, but we only made it a couple feet when they announced the other wheelchair was coming in, so we turned right back to cheer for him. The woman taking care of us let me take his medal to him; I also got a hug and reassurance that he would be back for another race.
We headed out to get our drop bags so we could change into dry clothes and go into the after party. However, my body had other ideas... we changed, went to the awards ceremony (where they loaded me down with my award, Tower of Terror ears, a glass, and a RunDisney bib belt), got food, and in there somewhere my energy just crashed. We rode the Tower of Terror to christen our medals, then picked up Phil so we could go back to the hotel.
Me and my Rabbit.. who seems to like chasing me down
Wheelchairs at the Start!
My bike escort was happy to talk, and give me warnings about the course, and play in the fog by the characters, and encourage me up the four hills that make up the first 3 miles of the course.... and mock the repeated trail announcements ("I think there might be a speed bump coming up" and "Sounds like the dirt trail is a scary one!"). There was an out-and-back section during the hills where the people going the other way kept raising up cheers for me, including some friends we had made over the last couple days. Somewhere on the trail into ESPN, I made the comment that my bike escort's headlight was giving off an excellent, giant shadow of me and he decided turning to strobe would be even more impressive. I spent pretty much the rest of the race this way.
As we started to head out of ESPN, right about the 10K mark again, a Rabbit came up behind me. I lost her on the uphill I was struggling up, but caught up again when it went back down. We leapfrogged again for the next few miles. My bike escort was sure to tell me whenever she was catching up again, and was excited to see our future sprint to see who got to the finish first. I took my last lesson of drifting a bit farther on this race.... I was going pretty fast down into a hairpin turn, called out a warning to the other runners, including the Rabbit, and pretty much whipped around the turn by hanging on to one wheel and letting the other one keep its momentum. I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be able to repeat that one, but I hear it was quite impressive!
After that, all we had to do was get through Hollywood Studios to the Tower of Terror... I pulled ahead when my bike escort peeled away as I made the last turn towards the finish, then pushed with whatever I had left in me to make it across. The guy that led us to the start appeared next to me and gave me information I couldn't hear and pointed me towards the woman that had Saber, a woman from Autism Speaks gave me my medal, another woman gave me a card that turned out to be my invitation to the awards ceremony.. I finally made it over to Saber and took a breath. The woman with Saber gave me a high five for following her earlier instructions to "beat the boy", then was ready to catch me when I decided I needed to stretch my body before settling comfortably into Saber. We stayed there until I felt ready to move, but we only made it a couple feet when they announced the other wheelchair was coming in, so we turned right back to cheer for him. The woman taking care of us let me take his medal to him; I also got a hug and reassurance that he would be back for another race.
We headed out to get our drop bags so we could change into dry clothes and go into the after party. However, my body had other ideas... we changed, went to the awards ceremony (where they loaded me down with my award, Tower of Terror ears, a glass, and a RunDisney bib belt), got food, and in there somewhere my energy just crashed. We rode the Tower of Terror to christen our medals, then picked up Phil so we could go back to the hotel.
Female Wheelchair Champion!
It was a fun and fast weekend that seemed to not stop for long at any point, except when stuck on an airplane, and I'm glad I was able to go again for the second year in a row. It's one of Disney's smaller events and I really like that... and hey, the medal is the Tower of Terror. Can't beat that!
