Tower of Terror 7-miler?

So Disney running fans you know the warnings about pace requirements? Well they are real and unfortunately I had the great displeasure of being stopped at mile 7 at the Tower of Terror Ten Miler this Saturday. Your chance of falling behind the 16 minute mile "balloon ladies" depends on several factors; pace, corral placement, the pickup point, bathroom breaks, photo opportunities and accidents such as tripping and falling. 

I really expected to get picked up at the princess half marathon, my first 1/2 in February 2013 not my fourth RunDisney race overall. 

It was a combo of my lax training, poor corral placement, a bathroom break and Disney really enforcing the pace requirements at mile 7. At mile 8 we probably would have caught up after the bathroom break but didn't get the chance. Charter buses and FLORIDA highway patrol vehicles herded us to a halt promptly at mile 7 and at least three charter bus loads of people had their race cut short. These were not folks who were hurt or who gave up or who stopped moving, these were people who fell 30 seconds behind the 16 minute mile pace. We were transported to the finish area although we didn't cross the line. We did get our medal but I will likely not show off since I didn't complete the full distance. Lesson learned I have to prepare accurately for these races and I need to provide qualifying race times because corral placement is key. I'm not sure why Disney can't open the roads up and let us continue on protected shoulder but alas rules are rules. 

As far as life goes I keep learning that when something you dread happening happens you realize, you didn't die and you can learn something from the experience.

As far as the race goes I caught up with a great friend, I burned 1,400 calories and I still got my Mickey waffles.