welovedis
Disneyland here we come!
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2000
- Messages
- 3,440
Well, here is more insight into our first marathon weekend trip to WDW. My previous report talked about some pre-race info and the expo on Friday. We ended up at MK to watch Wishes Fri night and then off to bed for an early start on Saturday.
We got up around 5am and DH got ready for his 5K. We boarded a shuttle bus at BWI (down at the conference center) and it took us directly to the Epcot parking lot. The 5K race started and finished in that area. DH had his bib number from the expo and wore some warmer clothes since we pretty much stood around for over an hour in the pretty cold temperature! There were some concessions available so we got some hot chocolate to warm up and waited for the fun to begin. There was a guy trying to entertain the crowd with some HUGE mickey hands gloves and the a Mickey hand hat too. He was on a small stage and was pretty funny, but everyone there was freezing.
To kick off the 5K, the bears from the movie Brother Bear were near the start and then the blast went off with confetti flying and the runners taking off. The just asked that the runners head to the front of the corral before the race with the walkers near the back. DH did a run/walk and finished in 33:07-not too bad for his first 5K!
The finish line was in the same parking lot, with some bleachers (wet) right near it. DS & I stood at the chain link fence and watched the runners cross the line. Some fell pretty hard since the mat where they crossed was soaking wet but the volunteers did a great job of wiping it off and yelling to the runners to slow down. It was hard to see one of the first female runners to finish hit the ground in pain after falling. Hopefully she was ok
As the runners went thru the course, there was a photography outfit taking pictures (called Action Sports International) and they were really good about getting the pictures up on the website. Just type in the bib number of a runner and they will all come up. Plus we found more pics in the "lost & found" area of their site--this where the pics are located when they can't read the person's bib number.
When DH finished he exited the chute area and we headed over to another section of the parking lot to line up for our son's 400 yard dash. They had the area seperated into different categories based on age and sex. The 7-8 yo boys ran first, followed by the 7-8 yo girls, etc... down to the diaper dash.
My son wore his bib number on his sweatshirt and when it was time to line up, I had to walk to the end of the dash--parents aren't allowed to go with the 7-8 year olds, but 1 parent is allowed with the other aged children throughout the entire course. I entered the corral for the kids by showing my son's claim portion of his bib and we watched him finish running and get his medal ( rubber brother bear finsher's medal). Then we got seperated by a fence for a bit and couldn't see him, but we did meet up near the snack table. According to the volunteers, they wouldn't let a child leave that area unless their parent or person with them had the corresponding claim portion of the bib number. I hope so!
We found our shuttle bus in the lot, but had to have a CM bang on the door to wake the driver (lol) and told him we were going to the BWI. Since we were the only people on the bus after 15 minutes he started driving and said "Beach Club, right" and I told him BWI. A couple minutes later he drove past the BWI entrance and I said, "BWI, remember" and he said "Oh I though you said Yacht Club". He drove up to the entrance of BWI, but used the car entrance-not the bus entrance. You should have seen the valets when he tried to turn the bus in the entrance. They were mortified! At least we got off safely and never looked back, it was too funny!
After a short rest, everyone was ready to go again. We had a reaxing day in preparation for the marathon!
We got up around 5am and DH got ready for his 5K. We boarded a shuttle bus at BWI (down at the conference center) and it took us directly to the Epcot parking lot. The 5K race started and finished in that area. DH had his bib number from the expo and wore some warmer clothes since we pretty much stood around for over an hour in the pretty cold temperature! There were some concessions available so we got some hot chocolate to warm up and waited for the fun to begin. There was a guy trying to entertain the crowd with some HUGE mickey hands gloves and the a Mickey hand hat too. He was on a small stage and was pretty funny, but everyone there was freezing.
To kick off the 5K, the bears from the movie Brother Bear were near the start and then the blast went off with confetti flying and the runners taking off. The just asked that the runners head to the front of the corral before the race with the walkers near the back. DH did a run/walk and finished in 33:07-not too bad for his first 5K!
The finish line was in the same parking lot, with some bleachers (wet) right near it. DS & I stood at the chain link fence and watched the runners cross the line. Some fell pretty hard since the mat where they crossed was soaking wet but the volunteers did a great job of wiping it off and yelling to the runners to slow down. It was hard to see one of the first female runners to finish hit the ground in pain after falling. Hopefully she was ok
As the runners went thru the course, there was a photography outfit taking pictures (called Action Sports International) and they were really good about getting the pictures up on the website. Just type in the bib number of a runner and they will all come up. Plus we found more pics in the "lost & found" area of their site--this where the pics are located when they can't read the person's bib number.
When DH finished he exited the chute area and we headed over to another section of the parking lot to line up for our son's 400 yard dash. They had the area seperated into different categories based on age and sex. The 7-8 yo boys ran first, followed by the 7-8 yo girls, etc... down to the diaper dash.
My son wore his bib number on his sweatshirt and when it was time to line up, I had to walk to the end of the dash--parents aren't allowed to go with the 7-8 year olds, but 1 parent is allowed with the other aged children throughout the entire course. I entered the corral for the kids by showing my son's claim portion of his bib and we watched him finish running and get his medal ( rubber brother bear finsher's medal). Then we got seperated by a fence for a bit and couldn't see him, but we did meet up near the snack table. According to the volunteers, they wouldn't let a child leave that area unless their parent or person with them had the corresponding claim portion of the bib number. I hope so!
We found our shuttle bus in the lot, but had to have a CM bang on the door to wake the driver (lol) and told him we were going to the BWI. Since we were the only people on the bus after 15 minutes he started driving and said "Beach Club, right" and I told him BWI. A couple minutes later he drove past the BWI entrance and I said, "BWI, remember" and he said "Oh I though you said Yacht Club". He drove up to the entrance of BWI, but used the car entrance-not the bus entrance. You should have seen the valets when he tried to turn the bus in the entrance. They were mortified! At least we got off safely and never looked back, it was too funny!
After a short rest, everyone was ready to go again. We had a reaxing day in preparation for the marathon!
