Day before the race - things to do and things to eat

Today was packet pickup day for probably more than half the runners. And how many runners are there? you ask..... over 10,000! Yup. That's right, tomorrow night's race is completely sold out and I have no idea how I will spot hubby in the crowd as he cruises around the course :)

We woke up about 10 am when the phone rang and then took our time getting up and ready to go. 

The first order of business today was getting a rain layer for our runner.... just in case. With the following criteria... layer must meet the needs of the runner, but be disposable - so if said runner doesn't want it anymore... they can drop it along the way. All items of clothing left on the course are collected, laundered and given to charity. So, it took us a while to find just the right thing... but we did and set course for Disney's Wide World of Sports complex. 

Oops, I guess it's now ESPN Wide World of Sports complex

This is where final waivers are turned in and packet pickup takes place. All participants get a bib and bib number, a bag to "check" at the time of the race, their free event t-shirt and final race instructions. This is also where the EXPO is... a large room full of race related vendors.

You need anything from shoes to pain relief, sweat bands (cute ones, with lots of sparkle) to running skirts - this is the place to look. Lots of gear and the place to get your commemorative t-shirts etc. 

Expo

They also have a number of speakers over the weekend and this is where they present. From what I can tell, all races like this have a beneficiary - this race, it's Autism Speaks. I popped by their booth and got a couple fun flashing wrist bands for the kids. But we are getting hungry so its time to move on.

Food and Wine Festival here we come!

Oh, yummmy - Once we got into Epcot we hit the Info pavilion before hitting the food. We also picked up a guide so we could read about what each booth had to offer. Our first food was the Terra booth, which is new for this year's fest... it's a vegan booth and both hubby and I really enjoyed it. He got a Chili Colorado and I had a Chicken Curry with rice. These were probably our favorites of the savory foods we ate today. We hit about half the booths open, sampling food from Argentina, Mexico, Australia  China, South Africa, Germany and Ireland. Plus we hit the Cheese booth :) Ymmm. 

Lamingtons... yummy, who knew? 

The Cheese Booth offered a trio of cheeses and a fondue... yum

Our timing was almost perfect - we finished world showcase (and were full) just about the time the rain started. We hurried over to Spaceship Earth and missed the heaviest part of the storm.

Hubby and I haven't ridden this together since they added the interactive part so I had to get a picture. 

Us, in the future! 

Well the rain wasn't quite done, but we were - we wandered out of the park and headed back to our room for a break. Mostly just to get off our feet. They will be used plenty tomorrow, might as well give them a break today.

Can you see the full rainbow? As we walked to the car to leave Epcot... pretty cool.