HOW Cold??? - Celebration Half-Marathon Race Report 2022

Last year, Celebration was cancelled, due to the ongoing bullshit (I refuse to even say it anymore, because it wasn't one). 

But because of lots of requests, they did choose to have a virtual option. 

All you got was a tech tee (in bright orange, for some reason), and your $25 went toward supporting local charities. I signed up for it, but I just realized that I never even completed this virtual race (whoops!). Virtuals suck anyway, they aren't real races. 

But I was happy to hear that 2022 was going to be "a return to normalcy," so I registered immediately. 

Fast forward to this weekend, where I got stuck working the Reception Desk on both Thursday and Friday afternoons - which is typically when I do planning and packing - so I had to do all of it last minute on Friday night and Saturday morning before we left. 

I was up around 8, hopped in the shower, then chilled out with Twitter and OJ. I packed a little bit, wasted time on Facebook for while, then finished packing. We left around 11, stopping for lunch at Arby's. The drive was busy, but uneventful. 

Packet pickup this year was outside, near the lake, instead of at the Town Hall (for Covid safety reasons, I would assume). This also meant there was no expo, which I was okay with because I never really get anything at the expo anyway. Having it here meant there was plenty of room for parking, and plenty of room to have an Expo in the future, if they wanted to, along the streets. 

The view from our parking space at Celebration

I left hubby in the car and went to Packet Pickup alone, and it was very easy. Got my bib, got my bag, shirt, and blanket, and then I was done! Probably in and out in 20 minutes. 

No Lines, No Waiting

Blanket swag (Photo from Celebration Marathon Facebook page)

Once back in the car, we headed over to the hotel. This year, I decided to splurge on Fairfield Inn, right across US-192, near the Publix. It would allow hubby to walk back to the hotel and be comfortable for the majority of the race. And because we always stay an extra day, on the day of the race, it's nice to have a fancy hotel, instead of a trashy Motel 6. 

King Room

Check in was easy since we were there before official check-in time, and we scored a room on the 1st floor! Usually it wouldn't be a big deal, but not having to wait for an elevator when I get back with my medal means less time on my aching feet and legs. 

We unpacked and I laid out all my stuff for tomorrow, then just relaxed for a while. It was only 3:30, so plenty of time to enjoy each other and relax. 

Around dinner time, we walked across the street to pick up some OJ, chocolate milk and some cupcakes, brought them back to our room, then went next door for dinner at Golden Corral. Yeah, you read that right... Golden Corral. Judge me, I don't care! It was super busy and super loud... and super expensive! Seriously, it was thirty-five bucks for the two of us! Luckily, no fights broke out over steak, so we were able to eat our substandard, institutional food in peace, then headed back to our hotel to turn in for the night. 

Sunday morning dawned cold as hell. No, seriously. The Feels Like temp was 27º. No thank you, I live in Florida! If there's any silver lining, it's that the humidity is low, no rain is expected, and there won't be any clouds to block the sunshine. 

Feels Like 27º at Start and 42º at Finish!

As usual, I dealt with a tumultuous stomach and unhappy colon. Because of that, we didn't get out of the room until about 6:15am. I was hoping I could score a bottle of water from the breakfast buffet, but they didn't have any. I drove over to CVS, and they were closed (when did drugstores stop being 24/7?) Because we were running so late, I was stressing about parking, and we eventually found an on-road spot near Celebration School. I made it to the Start Line with only a few minutes to spare (so stressful!). For this race, I used Garmin LiveTrack, to allow hubby to follow my progress (so he knew about what time to leave the hotel and come to the finish line) - this is a great app! Everyone should use it if you have someone spectating or waiting for you. 

I had no camera for this race since my little Canon was still missing (RIP, little man, I miss you!), and I didn't want to deal with using my cell phone a lot, plus I was buried in layers which would make using it really difficult. Today, I was wearing a sports bra, a long sleeve base layer, a long sleeve running tee, a quarter-zip, a throwaway sweatshirt, undies, tights, Zensahs, and a Sparkle Skirt. Plus gloves, two buffs (one as a balaclava, one around my neck), a beanie, and a pair of earmuffs. With all of these layers, I was warm enough. I hated breathing through the buff, though... so moist. 

Tell Cersei... I want her to know it was me

I didn't run very much at all. Yes, I know if I run more, I finish quicker, which means less time outside in the cold. But I am highly out of shape and undertrained for this. 

I caught up with Hubs at the corner (around Mile 2) and gave him my quarter-zip and the unopened Hot Hands packages that I had. I kept all of the other layers. We walked together until we got to the intersection for Publix, where he would go back to the hotel. 

I made my way through Celebration for the next few miles. I drank Gatorade at every stop. I took a Honey Stinger Gel at Mile 6 (I truly suck at fueling at races!) after running the track, as well as taking a hit from my inhaler. The first marathoner passed me after I left the high school grounds. I know that I'm really close to the back of the pack at this point, but I give no shits. I want to quit. I'm so damn cold and so much in pain... I can't feel my quads because they're so damn cold. My feet are bricks of frozen pain. 

This is around Mile 4... we're all still so bundled up!

Don't run a half-marathon without actually training for it, kids... it's stupid. 

I love this family

Anyway, the boardwalk seemed to freakin' go on forever, but I made my way through it. I survived The Motherfucker Mile™. At the entrance to the first of the final boardwalk areas, I saw a marathoner just go down like a ton of bricks; apparently he had a cramp and his leg just gave out from under him. The poor teenage volunteers there had no idea what to do... one just kind of asked "hey, man, do you need some water?" I never saw him pass me, so I hope he was able to finish by walking (I'd be so pissed if I made it to Mile 24 and not be able to finish!). 

I made it to the final boardwalks and lakeside trail. I teared up - as I always do - and "ran" around the final turn to the finish line. 

I'm so thankful for the sun! It could have rained... 

I finished with a time of 4:15:48, which is absolutely horrendous, and the worst time I've recorded for this race. But I didn't care! I was expecting 4:45 at the least. I got my medal, granola bars, and a Diet Coke and went to a nearby table. I stripped off my shirts and put on a sweatshirt. I wanted to put on a pair of sweatpants, but I couldn't get them over my stupid sneakers, so that was a fail. I didn't stick around for a Finish Line Photo, and didn't even get any food - all I wanted was chowdah and OJ, but I couldn't find the tent for either one. I just wanted to be WARM! We just went back to the car and drove back to the hotel. 

My medal is the blue one (Photo courtesy of Celebration Marathon Facebook page)

Hubby helped undress me, which was lovely. Not in a sexy way, but in an "I'll take care of you, my love" way. I took a pathetic shower (because there was no bathtub, boooo), and climbed back in bed for an hour. I eventually ate a cupcake and drank some chocolate milk while I tweeted and chilled out. 

We had lunch at Cracker Barrel, which sadly was meh... I shouldn't stuck with pancakes instead of going for fried chicken breasts. We picked up "for later" snacks at Wawa and headed back to the hotel. Hubby had an online event, so I took some pain meds (again... don't do it, kids) and took a nap. 

I woke up around dinner time and we decided to adventure over to the new White Castle that has recently opened. It took about 45 minutes to get there, and it was busy! There was only one guy working a register, and tons of staff prepping orders. It took an hour to get our food! I ordered Chicken Sliders with fries and cheese for dipping. I wasn't impressed... the chicken was overcooked and the bun was too hard. Fries with cheese are good pretty much everywhere. While these types of restaurants are my favorite, if I have to go to one, I'll stick with Krystal (at least they have corndogs!)

Back at the hotel, I pulled out a cupcake to eat once dinner settled a little bit, but I was so tired, I ended up falling asleep instead. 

I woke up Monday after sleeping badly again. I don't know what kind of mattress they have, but it was very firm, so I woke up in the middle of the night repeatedly with a sore shoulder and hip, no matter which side I slept on. I was awake for good by 8, but relaxed in bed until 9. I still hurt, but not as bad as yesterday (though the crappy bed might have something to do with that...). Now I'm at "hey, I just ran a half-marathon" level of pain, and I took two Excedrin to knock out the last little bit of headache. We packed up and left, hitting up Celebration 7-ELEVEn and the McDonald's next door for sausage biscuits. Neither one of us could think of anything we wanted to do in town; we don't wanna do Disney World until we can do Disney again so we chose to just head home. 

Halfway home, we realized something we can do - Russel Stover!!! Hell yeah! They had leftover Christmas and Halloween candy. Between the two of us, we spent $150 on candy! (When we got home, I weighed my bag, and wow... it was 15.4 pounds of candy!!) 

Top Row: Candy Corn Taffy, Vanilla Caramels, Vanilla Creams, Peppermint Creams, Caramels
Center Row: Mint Dreams, Peppermint Bark Santas, Peppermints
Bottom Row: Caramel & Crispies, Maple Cream Santas, Caramels 

While we were shopping, we decided to detour through Ocala and have a grease-laden lunch at Long John Silvers. I love LJS, especially this one, because it's a stand-alone version (not a half-and-half like I've seen other places). We stuffed ourselves silly then took the backroads home. We were unpacked and chillin' by 3:30. Both of us retreated to our personal spaces and lost track of time in our own worlds. I ended up skipping dinner, choosing to eat a bag of chips and a cupcake in bed. (I run half-marathons, I'm so healthy!)