WDW Tower of Terror Flashback #3

It was a dreary night in late October of last year. I left my room at Disney's Beach club and walked along the scary path that would take me to Hollywood Studios for the Tower of Terror 13K race. I have walked this path several times, mostly because my lovely bride and children force me to come to "The Rats Kingdom" seemingly every month. But on this night the path seemed different. Dare I say haunted??? Seriously??? The only scary thing about Disney is the outrageous ticket prices and ridiculous amount of people that visit everyday. To think, if you found a rodent in your house the first thing that you would do is put some cheese in a trap and try to snap Mickey's little neck. Well turn around is fair play people and Walt Disney World is one big trap full of cheese for humans. I Digress...

I arrived at the race around 8:00 P.M. and joined the crowd for the first ever Tower of Terror run, which was scheduled to begin at 9:00. Being so close to Halloween there were some very interesting costumes among the running crowd. Some of my favorites include, several men dressed as various princesses, Super USF Women (outfit included green tights and even a cape USF was 8-0 last year at this time), and one guy dressed as King Leonidas from the movie 300. This guy was true to character wearing only a sword, shield, loin cloth, and of course the ever so popular in 480 B.C. running shoes. They even called Leonidas up to the stage to give his "Lets all die for Sparta" speech before the start of the race. If I had the physique that this guy had I would had done away with the sword, shield, and loin cloth and ran the race totally nude. However, I remained covered up to avoid any harpooning.

The race finally started and I have to give Disney credit, that rat knows how to entertain. Along the 8.1 mile run there were people dressed in all white and looked as if they have just escaped from an insane asylum. It made the race a bit more comical and helped keep my mind off running. This was my first race that I actually had a plan and that I truly was in shape for. I had been running and walking for about 4 months before this race. My plan was to walk through the water stations, since the mileage fit in with what I was doing during my normal weekly running. Like the two half marathons I ran in previously I got a little caught up in the pre-race hype and went out a little fast. But, unlike those first two experiences I now had the fitness to overcome my fast start. About half way I noticed two women that were going about my pace, maybe a little faster. I remember reading that if you can pick something along the run to focus on and keep that focus it would make the miles go by faster and also keep you on pace. Well call me a sexist, but being 10:00 at night and a little lonely:-), I could think of nothing better to concentrate on than the two ladies running in front of me backsides, if you will. Say what you want, this definitely kept me going. When their asses sped up, and they did, my ass sped up too. I used this concentration technique for about three miles. The last mile I passed my focal points and gave it everything I had crossing the finish line. I finished in a respectable 1 hour 24 minutes and for the first time felt like I left it all out on the race course.

After the race the park is open for the runners and family, that purchased tickets, until 2:00 A.M. I stayed and rode The Tower of Terror, and Aerosmiths roller coaster then returned to the room to check on my sick wife. I think she was suffering from pre-race jitters and came down with something the day of the race. She was scheduled to do the Tower of Terror half that went off at the same time. Secretly I think she faked an illness so she could keep her record of signing up for races and no showing intact. We will see, she has under a month to go until her first race of the year, the second running of the Tower of Terror 13K. Stay Tuned. Peace Out!!!

Thursday 5 miles 48 minutes 838 calories 9:36 pace