Disney World Half Marathon–Race Report

The fireworks went off and it was time to get going on this half marathon! 

I tried a couple of new things in this race.  I wore my Garmin on my left wrist and my Timex on my right wrist.  I had the Timex set to beep 4:1 intervals as I knew that would be my key to get through the race.  I also decided to wear my iPod.  I haven’t raced or even ran with music since…oh…2006?  But I figured the music might be helpful if the going got tough.

I wanted to make it my goal to get as many pictures with characters as possible, so I was pretty delighted when I spotted Eeyore and Tigger on the side of the road.  I shoulder checked, ran across to the other side of the road and nabbed a picture.  Eeyore is my favourite Disney character ever, so I was happy that he was the first character I saw.I was feeling pretty warm so I had tied my heavier top around my waist.  As I ran toward the Transportation and Ticket Center I hoped that I’d see my parents so I could pass it off.  I also knew that my friend Maddy would be around there too, but I didn’t manage to spot anyone I knew there.  Gotta love running through there though as there are so many people and it is so loud!  You also don’t have to far to go to the Magic Kingdom either.  Which…I probably should have remembered for the next day, but oops…

I was keeping on schedule with my walk breaks and taking in GUs every 45 minutes and I was feeling good.  On to Main Street!  I was again trying to scour the crowd for my folks here but no dice.  I remember running down Main Street and Christmas carols were playing.  A lady in front of me complained, “Why do they have to be playing my least favourite carol as I run down the street?  I hate I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas!”

On to Future World and there was Buzz Lightyear!  Also one of the best things about arriving in Future World is the opportunity for a real bathroom with flushing toilets and running water.  Yeah, I stopped – thumbs up for bathrooms!I then had my first character picture fail as I missed the Alice in Wonderland folks by the Tea Cups!  The line was long and I didn’t realize it was a line up for characters until it was too late.  Oh well, on to the next folks – Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook and Smee!Then around the corner where there was a lot of action by the castle.  The Fairy Godmother!The Trumpets!The Ugly Stepsisters!  I’m so sad that this picture is out of focus. I think it was one of my favourites from the day.And finally, Cinderella and Prince Charming!  And then it was time for the highlight of the race – running through the castle!Then I spotted my parents.  Let’s run over and say hello!Oh, and I can pass my long sleeve top off as well!Then the woman in front of my parents was telling me to move out of the way since I was apparently blocking a picture for her.OK, pass the top off, time to get going again!Ah yes, I did just post a serious of rather unflattering pictures just for your enjoyment!  Time for more character pictures.  I’m going to guess that is Tiana and Prince Naveen along with Louis the Alligator from Princess and the Frog.  I haven’t seen the movie yet (although I do own it on Blu-Ray) so yes, I had to google those character names just now.Now on to Frontierland and a couple of characters from the Country Bear Jamboree.  I totally felt like how they looked…Then on the way out of the Magic Kingdom I paused for a seat on the front of the train.Time for the hard part!  After you leave the Magic Kingdom it gets a bit tough.  You are on such a high running through the park and now you are on a pretty darn boring road running past the the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian.  I had another character fail as I ran past Mary Poppins.  I was on the wrong side of the road and it was just too crowded to cross.  Luckily I had plenty of time to spot Donald and Goofy up ahead though.Somewhere after here I was starting to hurt.  My legs were saying, “Yeah, you remember all of those long runs that we DIDN’T do?  Yeah, we aren’t so happy anymore.”  My quads were feeling pretty stiff.  As we made our way back on to the highway the sights were becoming few and far between.  This hot air balloon shaped like Epcot was pretty cool though!And the green soldier from Toy Story was a hoot as he tried to motivate the us as we ran past in his own unique way.Mile 11 – guys on stilts!  No clue where these guys are from, but I was hurting (and mostly walking by now) so I was happy to stop for a picture.And the last characters on the course!  Guess what, I have NO IDEA who they are!  I just really wanted an excuse to stop forward motion for a bit.  I’m pretty sure they must be friends with Tinkerbell but that’s about it.Finally, mile 12 just before we entered Epcot.  By this point in time I was not only dealing with tired and hurting legs but I had hot spots on both of my feet.  Sure, maybe I could walk the marathon with sore and tired legs but those hot spots were completely unpleasant.  There was no way I would attempt the full marathon if I wasn’t going to have fun so I knew in my heart of hearts that this was it for racing.I attempted to run a bit more as we entered Epcot and then finally, the finish line was in sight.  I high fived Goofy and then finally…I was done!I managed to set a new Personal Worst as I clocked in at 3:15:57.  BUT I did manage to get a lot of pictures with characters and I did have fun.  That being said, next time I will definitely make sure I train for something like this.  Bad Leana for falling off the bandwagon so badly this fall.

Anyhow, stay tuned because the stories aren’t over yet.  I have one heck of a dramatic spectator report for my mom’s marathon. 

It involves a plan, a major math error, transportation malfunctions, beer and a black eye.  Really!

I’m also hoping my mom might write a guest post with her marathon race experience for me too.  Plus I have so much to talk about what I’ve been up to lately and where I’m going this year!

Disney World Half Marathon–Before the Race

Boy oh boy, Disney races start so early…  The half marathon was going to start around 5:35 I believe and they wanted you through bag check by 4:30.  Craziness!  I figured if we left the hotel at 3:50 I would be at bag check soon after 4 am, I could meet some blog buddies and then be in my corral in time for the start.

Um…yeah…that is not what happened.

We turned out of our hotel and made out way to the main highway to get to Epcot.  We ran into the most insane traffic I have ever seen.  We were barely moving.  I watched the clock tick.

4:30 came and went and I knew my blog buddies were now making their way to the start.  We were still really far away.  Inch, inch, inch towards Epcot.  Finally at about 5:15 we were on the edge of the parking lot.  Dad slowed to a stop and I jumped out of the car.  I left my sweats in the car, raced through bag check and hit the porta potties on the other side.  While I was in there the announcer was frantically telling us to get to the start as the race was about to start.  And oh yeah, I was supposed to be in the second wave so I was pretty sure I’d miss that opportunity.

From the porta potties I raced the long way to the start.  I found the final corral but I wanted to see how far up I could get.  The fireworks went off signalling the start for the first wave.  Crap!  I managed to make my way near the front and spied the B Corral.  I was able to make my way through to the back of the corral just a moment before we were supposed to start.

Alright, time to run a race I hadn’t really trained for…

By the way, I’m not sure if there were too many people on the road or what was going on, but I was quite disappointed that traffic control was not in place to help move traffic into Epcot before the start.  It shouldn’t have taken us over an hour to drive what normally takes less than 10 minutes.  My one gripe from the weekend.

Buzz & Woody’s Best Friends 5K

The alarm clock went off bright and early at 5 am on Friday morning.  It felt pretty chilly outside (even for this Albertan), so I dressed in capri tights, a long sleeve top and a midweight base layer.  My plan was to leave my top at the bag check, but the bag check was right after you got out of your car.  I wasn’t quite ready to give it up yet so I decided to race with it.  I hit the porta potties, started taking a couple of pictures, and then the announcer told us to start making our way into the corrals.

The corrals were crazy busy!  At first there was no getting in a corral as they were just too full.  Finally a barricade near the front was removed, a few people moved up and I was able to make my way in.  Yes, I was still cold…As the race drew closer Buzz and Woody came over to the start to cheer us on.  Then at 7 am we were off!  The course was so crowded to begin with.  This was a non-timed fun run, but you were asked to line up by pace.  A bunch of walkers set themselves up near the front of the race causing quite a bit of congestion for the runners around us that wanted to get by them.

We started through the parking lot and back lots of Epcot, then made our way into the park right by the Mexican pavilion.  There were several characters out along the way.  I saw Mulan in China and Minnie was waving to us from the Japanese pavilion.  My dad spotted Chip & Dale there when he went by.  When I saw Remy in France I had to stop for a quick picture.  I absolutely love running around World Showcase in Epcot so this was a pretty fun 5K for me.  Finally it was back towards Spaceship Earth, then out of the park, into the parking lot and on to the finish line.  I crossed the line in 35:47.  I got my first medal of the weekend and then waited for my mom and dad to cross the finish line.Once the race was done we figured we’d get an early jump start on the parks and head to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  We wanted to ride Toy Story Midway Mania before it got too busy.  Yes, I was that cold that I was wearing the many clothes while standing in line!  After two rides on the midway and a turn on Aerosmith’s Rock n Roller Coaster we had done everything at the park we were keen on.  We left for a quick lunch of fish and chips at Raglan Road, then back to the hotel where I wound up conking out for a 2 or 3 hour nap on the couch.  Half marathon tomorrow!!

WDW Marathon Weekend–The Prelude

Wow, the Disney Marathon weekend was last weekend and I’ve yet to write anything about it.  Time to get cracking!  Truthfully I wanted to enjoy the rest of my vacation so I didn’t write anything, then my computer died when I got back.  Now with a new HP laptop in hand it is recap time!

I was down in Orlando with my parents again.  All three of us were signed up for the Buzz & Woody’s Best Friends 5K on Friday, I was signed up for Goofy and my mom was registered for the marathon on Sunday. 

We hit up the expo on Thursday afternoon.  I grabbed all of my packets and looked at all of the gear for sale.

Ah yes, look at all of the Goofy gear.  I looked at it all and didn’t buy a thing.

CONFESSION: I hadn’t made up my mind on what I was going to do.  I had signed up for Goofy and I did NOT train for it.  I was going to run the half marathon for sure.  But a part of me thought that if I could run, walk or run/walk the full, have fun and not injure myself I might give the marathon a shot.  But I wasn’t going to make up my mind on that one until after the half marathon on Saturday.

So I looked at the gear but didn’t buy a thing as I didn’t want to have any “I Did It” shirts purchased before the fact since I think that is bad luck.  And on that note, I couldn’t believe the number of people wearing various “I Did It” shirts around the park before the races!!

Now, let the recaps begin!