geaux_half
Recovering 5 Moon Half Fanatic #137
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 319
Earlier this month, I completed my 5th marathon during Marathon Weekend at WDW. I was actually talked into doing the Goofy Challenge Marathon Weekend by 5 of my running buddies here in North Houston. We all signed up for the event way back in January 2009. At that point the fact that you actually have to train for these events and that you'll be running 13.1 and 26.2 miles on Saturday and Sunday wasn't a major concern as training wouldn't begin until September.
Lodging:
My initial plan on lodging was to rent DVC points and get a 2 or 3 bedroom villa for us to all stay in. The number of people that were going to make the trip kept fluctuating and no one really seemed too interested in getting a villa so we all booked separate rooms at All Star Music. Some of the other runners had family traveling with them and wanted to book a suite so we picked Music as its the only value resort with suites.
I was in one of the Rock n Roll buildings that seemed to be a mile away from the main building. The room was fine and the distance actually helped me to keep my legs moving after both races.
Dining:
All Disney restaurants were serving at least one pasta dish Marathon Weekend in order to accomodate the runners' carbo loading pre race needs. Our travel group settled in at 12 within a couple of weeks of the weekend. Once again, I couldn't get anyone to focus 90 days out on dining reservations when our ADR window opened. I was traveling the day my window opened; I called Disney Dining and booked Le Cellier for a party of 9 for the Sunday evening following the marathon as I knew from reading here that that would be a difficult ADR to get if I waited. For Friday and Saturday night/late afternoon dinners, I made ADR's at Planet Hollywood and Wolfgang Puck Cafe. Some in our party were on the dining plan while others did not have park tickets so I to go with dining plan restaurants in the downtown disney area.
Weather:
Like most races that I travel to I started watching the weather long range forecasts as soon as they became available. Rainy and cold conditions were out there from the long range forecast. The Saturday/Sunday rain forecast would vary but it looked rainy at some point over the weekend and cold. I've run at 3 other Disney marathon weekends and 2 of the prior 3 were warmer than my ideal running conditons. Much warmer. The other weekend was really cool in the 30s. I believe this years weather may have been the coldest on record for a Disney marathon weekend.
Travel:
I used reward miles to travel to Orlando; when I booked the travel in August, the last thing on my mind was that Atlanta (my connecting city) would be under a winter travel advisory. After stressing out and calling Continental to see if I could change my flights, I stuck with my original flight plans and got through Atlanta before any bad weather hit. I was stressing so much about the weather that I almost forgot to use the online checkin service that Disney offers.
I arrived in Orlando around 3:30, had a nice DME ride to ASM and then headed out to his DHS and Epcot for a few hours. DHS was really crowded; I'm not sure if its because of it being crowded on days that Fantasmic shows or it was just international tour group day. I ended up riding Rock n Roller Coaster in the single rider line that still took at least 30 minutes. By the time I rode, the early Fantasmic show was full so I just headed over to Epcot. I had a reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh in the Morocco pavilion. After dinner, I had a short wait for Illuminations. I didn't bring my hat or gloves and it was what I thought at the time to be pretty chilly so I headed back to the busses before Illuminations ended.
Marathon Expo:
Friday mornng I headed to the marathon expo right at 9 and picked up my 2 race packets and got my Goofy wristband that I had to wear until the finish of the 1/2 marathon Saturday morning. I didn't spend much time looking around at the exhibitor booths and took the expo bus back to ASM, dropped off my race stuff and then headed to Animal Kingdom.
At AK, I got a fastpass for Expedition Everest, then rode it using the single rider line. I then went to Legend of the Lion King. I then used my Expedition Everest fastpass. It was starting to drizzle my 2nd time on EE. It was around noon and I decided to head back to ASM to meet my friends that had just gotten into Orlando. I headed back to the expo with them to pickup their race packets. A couple of them ended up buying new shoes and then it was time for dinner. Past time actually; we had a 4:45 ADR for Planet Hollywood. The bus from ASM to DD seemed to take forever; I think we arrived around 5:45. We headed back to ASM (which seemed like a much faster ride) and headed to bed with alarms set for 3:00 to catch a 3:30 bus to the Epcot parking lot for the 1/2 marathon start.
Half Marathon:
I didn't sleep very well knowing that I'd be waking up at 3:00. The weather forecast called for rain and possible snow/sleet around the time that we would be running the 1/2 marathon. I woke up at 3:00; I had decided to wear compression socks without running tights and just running shorts. Standing in line at the expo Friday morning with northerners influenced my decision to pass on the tights. I did wear a long sleeve dri-fit running shirt as well as skullcap. I packed an old sweatshirt and a 45 gallon contractor size garbage bag. I only made a hole for my head; left my arms in to stay as warm as possible. With the weather being what it was Saturday, traffic was really backed up heading to Epcot at 3:45am. Our marathon bus dropped us off with at least an hour to go before the 5:40 race start. Keeping warm before the actual start was the toughest part about the entire weekend to me. Temps were in the 30s and it didn't seem all that cold with us all huddled together. About that time I noticed the first mist/sleet/flurry. The moisture was light for most of the morning; I didn't realize how wet I was until after the race was finished. After finishing, I got my Donald medal, stopped in the special Goofy tent and had my expo wristband removed and a different band put on and then headed to the busses to get back to warmth in my hotel room at ASM.
After grabbing something to eat, I did
to get ready for Sunday's marathon.
Lodging:
My initial plan on lodging was to rent DVC points and get a 2 or 3 bedroom villa for us to all stay in. The number of people that were going to make the trip kept fluctuating and no one really seemed too interested in getting a villa so we all booked separate rooms at All Star Music. Some of the other runners had family traveling with them and wanted to book a suite so we picked Music as its the only value resort with suites.
I was in one of the Rock n Roll buildings that seemed to be a mile away from the main building. The room was fine and the distance actually helped me to keep my legs moving after both races.
Dining:
All Disney restaurants were serving at least one pasta dish Marathon Weekend in order to accomodate the runners' carbo loading pre race needs. Our travel group settled in at 12 within a couple of weeks of the weekend. Once again, I couldn't get anyone to focus 90 days out on dining reservations when our ADR window opened. I was traveling the day my window opened; I called Disney Dining and booked Le Cellier for a party of 9 for the Sunday evening following the marathon as I knew from reading here that that would be a difficult ADR to get if I waited. For Friday and Saturday night/late afternoon dinners, I made ADR's at Planet Hollywood and Wolfgang Puck Cafe. Some in our party were on the dining plan while others did not have park tickets so I to go with dining plan restaurants in the downtown disney area.
Weather:
Like most races that I travel to I started watching the weather long range forecasts as soon as they became available. Rainy and cold conditions were out there from the long range forecast. The Saturday/Sunday rain forecast would vary but it looked rainy at some point over the weekend and cold. I've run at 3 other Disney marathon weekends and 2 of the prior 3 were warmer than my ideal running conditons. Much warmer. The other weekend was really cool in the 30s. I believe this years weather may have been the coldest on record for a Disney marathon weekend.
Travel:
I used reward miles to travel to Orlando; when I booked the travel in August, the last thing on my mind was that Atlanta (my connecting city) would be under a winter travel advisory. After stressing out and calling Continental to see if I could change my flights, I stuck with my original flight plans and got through Atlanta before any bad weather hit. I was stressing so much about the weather that I almost forgot to use the online checkin service that Disney offers.
I arrived in Orlando around 3:30, had a nice DME ride to ASM and then headed out to his DHS and Epcot for a few hours. DHS was really crowded; I'm not sure if its because of it being crowded on days that Fantasmic shows or it was just international tour group day. I ended up riding Rock n Roller Coaster in the single rider line that still took at least 30 minutes. By the time I rode, the early Fantasmic show was full so I just headed over to Epcot. I had a reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh in the Morocco pavilion. After dinner, I had a short wait for Illuminations. I didn't bring my hat or gloves and it was what I thought at the time to be pretty chilly so I headed back to the busses before Illuminations ended.
Marathon Expo:
Friday mornng I headed to the marathon expo right at 9 and picked up my 2 race packets and got my Goofy wristband that I had to wear until the finish of the 1/2 marathon Saturday morning. I didn't spend much time looking around at the exhibitor booths and took the expo bus back to ASM, dropped off my race stuff and then headed to Animal Kingdom.
At AK, I got a fastpass for Expedition Everest, then rode it using the single rider line. I then went to Legend of the Lion King. I then used my Expedition Everest fastpass. It was starting to drizzle my 2nd time on EE. It was around noon and I decided to head back to ASM to meet my friends that had just gotten into Orlando. I headed back to the expo with them to pickup their race packets. A couple of them ended up buying new shoes and then it was time for dinner. Past time actually; we had a 4:45 ADR for Planet Hollywood. The bus from ASM to DD seemed to take forever; I think we arrived around 5:45. We headed back to ASM (which seemed like a much faster ride) and headed to bed with alarms set for 3:00 to catch a 3:30 bus to the Epcot parking lot for the 1/2 marathon start.
Half Marathon:
I didn't sleep very well knowing that I'd be waking up at 3:00. The weather forecast called for rain and possible snow/sleet around the time that we would be running the 1/2 marathon. I woke up at 3:00; I had decided to wear compression socks without running tights and just running shorts. Standing in line at the expo Friday morning with northerners influenced my decision to pass on the tights. I did wear a long sleeve dri-fit running shirt as well as skullcap. I packed an old sweatshirt and a 45 gallon contractor size garbage bag. I only made a hole for my head; left my arms in to stay as warm as possible. With the weather being what it was Saturday, traffic was really backed up heading to Epcot at 3:45am. Our marathon bus dropped us off with at least an hour to go before the 5:40 race start. Keeping warm before the actual start was the toughest part about the entire weekend to me. Temps were in the 30s and it didn't seem all that cold with us all huddled together. About that time I noticed the first mist/sleet/flurry. The moisture was light for most of the morning; I didn't realize how wet I was until after the race was finished. After finishing, I got my Donald medal, stopped in the special Goofy tent and had my expo wristband removed and a different band put on and then headed to the busses to get back to warmth in my hotel room at ASM.
After grabbing something to eat, I did
to get ready for Sunday's marathon.
Thank you for putting it up for us to share.
