The OTHTC annual Pizza Party and business meeting was held January 6 at John's Pizza. About 50 OTHTC members attended to eat , drink , be merry , renew their membership, and plan the club's events for the next year. We elected "new" officers for 2001, and there wasn't anything new about it. By unanimous vote last years officer slate was reelected. Chris Rios will serve yet another term as president. Other officers are: Vice President-Rick Miller, Treasurer-Joe Oliver, Secretary-Diana Feist, Publicity Directors-Eric & Jo Kajiwara, Newsletter Editor-Chris Rios, Webmaster-Tom Rindt. Following this Chris led us  in putting together a race calendar for 2001. The new calendar will be posted here as soon as it's finalized.

In 1995, I participated in the one and only Disneyland marathon. This year, I decided to relive that experience by running in the Eighth Annual Walt Disney World Marathon in Florida. Florida had a cold spell in early January, and marathon day proved to be another cold morning. With temperatures below freezing at the start of the marathon, runners huddled to stay warm. We were herded like cattle to the start line. Following brief announcements and a short fireworks display, Mickey Mouse started the race.

The first four miles of the marathon had two routes to allow the runners to thin before we merged back together. Crowds were huge as we began by running into Epcot. The parks weren't open at the start, so cast members were there cheering us on.
The race went through all four parks--from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom to the Animal Kingdom to MGM and back to Epcot. Running through Magic Kingdom was a rush, especially going through Cinderella's castle. So many people were cheering us on that we couldn't help get caught up in the excitement and run faster.

Additional highlights of the marathon included slapping the hands of Mickey, Minnie, Tip, Dale, and Buzz Lightyear.

Across the finish line were golden Mickey Mouse Ears. People who ran the half-marathon were treated to Donald Duck medals. The day after the race, marathon certificates were handed out. My official place was 2701 out of 8012. My gender place was 815 out of 3973. My age division place was 172 out of 740. My net time was 4:26:42.