Marathon Weekend 2020

[rteetz]

why do you - or why do you want to - runDisney?

It’s an excuse for a vacation, it’s what got me into running, and I’ve developed so many awesome friendships from it now.

 

[CDKG]

Anyway, let's start off with an easy one ... why? As in, why do runDisney? This is easily one of the most common responses I (and a lot of you, I imagine) get when I talk about doing marathon weekend? Why run on vacation? Why get up so early? Why pay that much for a race? Why run four races in a row?

So why do you - or why do you want to - runDisney?

runDisney is why I started running, for the first time in my life, 6 years ago. I had heard how much fun runDisney races were, and being Food & Wine festival obsessed, I really wanted to run Wine & Dine! I loved the idea of a night race, through three WDW theme parks (and the Osborne Family lights) with a finish line party at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival until the wee hours of the morning! I was an avid walker at the time, but knew I could not maintain a sub-16 min/mile pace for 13.1 miles walking alone. So, I decided to do half and half (1:1 min intervals - Thank you Jeff Galloway!)

I continue to runDisney because of the magic! The courses are magical, running through my favorite Disney theme parks with Disney characters and enthusiastic CM support along the way! Non runDisney races just can’t compare. I also find runDisney weekends magical! There is just something special about thousands of runners spending a weekend at the parks for a common interest. It’s a proven fact that runDisney runners are the friendliest runners out there!

runDisney is an addiction, but a healthy one!

 

[broadsheet]

SAFD: I am slow and still have a hard time thinking of myself as a runner. Disney is appealing because it’s not intimidating for people like me. Plus, any excuse to plan a vacation ...

 

[Bree]

SAFD: I love Disney. Movies, parks, merchandise....and the races! The 2015 Princess 10K got me back into running. I find that there’s just a different type of runner energy at these races versus the handful of non-Disney races I’ve run. The course support is incredible, some entertainment on those long stretches of highway are a huge help and they have great medals. If they could just find an alternative to Carissa it would make it even that much better. 2019 has been my favorite race weekend so far. It was awesome to hang out with my Dis running friends. I’m gonna miss that for Princess in two weeks!

 

[Professor_Cookie]

SAFD: After the unhappiness with the organization of my first/only full marathon, I saw something about the W&D half which looked fun for this alleged chef, so I decided to do it since I hadn’t been to WDW in a minute.

This was back in the golden years when W&D was at night and through the Osborne Lights, which was really damn neat. Since then I’ve ran a couple of RD races, but haven’t made it to one in a while. I missed the final Avengers half due to injury, and then missed the Star Wars last spring due to surprise baby.

 

[SheHulk]

SAFD: I sometimes think I should run a marathon other than at Disney World, but I don't know if I ever will. 1) It's always over my winter break so it's convenient. 2) a January race means I'm not marathon training over the summer. I hate training in the heat. 3) I used to have a real possibility of coming in last if I ran a local marathon. Even after speeding up a bit I would come in way at the back in a smaller local marathon at least, and I hate that feeling of people standing around at a finish line waiting for me. In the Disney Marathon I come in around the middle of the pack. 4) I could never run one of those races that have little crowd support for miles or that have nothing to look at for miles on end. I'm fine for a half or shorter but for a marathon I need to be distracted. Often. 5) Buses sitting right there near the finish line to take you back to the hotel. I have had so many conversations with people who have run NYC and one thing that always comes up is how long you have to walk to get to transportation after finishing! It's an overlooked perk to just walk onto a bus sitting there waiting.

I'm running my first runDisney race at a distance other than a marathon at Star Wars weekend (doing the challenge) and now I really feel sucked in. Again it's the entertainment factor. I run multiple local halfs over the year but sometimes you have to throw something super-fun in to keep it interesting. Also as much as DH and older DS fight it we are a Disney family. Younger DS and I have APs and we visit multiple times a year. We just really enjoy it there.

 

[SheHulk]

SAFD: I missed the final Avengers half due to injury, and then missed the Star Wars last spring due to surprise baby.

Surprise baby!!!!! The best kind of surprise. I hope you weren't on that show I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant.

 

[kirstie101]

SAFD: I love Disney. Disneyland is my happy place. The Tinkerbell Half was the entire reason I took the plunge and started running Half’s. Getting to run through Disneyland and backstage is just magical for me. The race support is amazing and the vibe in race weekends is awesome! While they were having the runs in Disneyland I loved making it a family affair! My kids have done the kids races and my daughter even joined me for her first 10K at the last Light Side race weekend. Local races just do not compare to Disney runs at all. (The Nike Women’s Half in SF was the most unorganized run ever!) When they stopped having the races at Disneyland I lost all motivation to run anything over a 10K. A part of me always knew that if I was ever going to run a full marathon it would be at Walt Disney World. That’s going to become a reality in 2020! I can’t wait!

 

[Neon Cactus]

RunDisney got me into running. I’ve been a Disney fan so the opportunity to run through the parks got me off the couch. I can combine that with being at my favorite place. The people I’ve met on these boards are so supportive, inspirational and fun to hang out with and the on course support, the volunteers and the people holding signs, bringing food and cheering us on make RD much more special than other races I’ve done.

 

[camaker]

SAFD: I’m a lifelong Disney fan and the prospect of running at Disney spurred me to shift from Ultimate Frisbee to distance running as my sport of choice. After that entry got me well and truly hooked on running, the presence of this community and the wide variety of running experience that its members represent have provided an invaluable resource that isn’t available in my local circle.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

Surprise baby!!!!! The best kind of surprise. I hope you weren't on that show I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant.

No, but we didn’t know we were both about to become 39 year old first time parents. Baby was born on April Fools Day 11 weeks premature. It’s a long story, but baby is totally healthy. She had an ultrasound on her head last week because her doctor was worried about her head growth and possibly having hydrocephalus, but it turns out she just has a big healthy brain.

Last week vs the day she graduated nicu at 2 months old.

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: runDisney is the reason I started running for the first time in my life -- at 45 years old! My husband and I were experimenting with times to move our spring DVC trip to when May started getting crowded. In 2014, we were there in February the week after the Princess and I remember all the people with medals and shirts wandering around the parks. I had heard of the runs, but dismissed them since I wasn't a runner. We booked our spring 2015 DVC trip without realizing it was overlapping the beginning of Princess weekend. When I realized we'd be there for the 5K on the last full day of our trip, I thought... What the hell? I'll sign up. I can walk a 5K and it's one of the few Disney things I've never experienced. TBH, I nearly didn't do it when I found out how early I'd have to get up at the end of a trip with a lot of walking, but my husband convinced me that I'd regret it if I was there, signed up, and just didn't go. So, by myself, I got up and got on that bus and participated and HAD A BLAST!

That was the last year of the rubber medals for the 5Ks, and I coveted the "real" medals everyone else had. I'd had such a good time that by the time I flew home the next day, I had talked myself into doing the 10K the next year. Then I found out about the Kessel Run medal. That sealed it. I was going to work up to a Half -- yikes! Then my family (Florida locals) decided they wanted to try it too, and before I knew it I was signing up for all three Princess races in 2016!! My mom, aunt and mother-in-law did the 5K with me. My aunt and I did the 10K and my nephew did the Half. Everyone was hooked, including me. In 2016 I also did the Tink challenge AND the Disneyland Paris challenge, so I got my C2C AND Castle to Chateau.

It was an exhausting year of training and I burned myself out, but I HAD TO HAVE that Kessel Run medal so I had planned to sign up for Star Wars Light Side and Dark Side in 2017. When DL races were put on hold, I was CRUSHED. I had already signed up for the Dark Side challenge and booked the trip, so when they announced the virtual Half and a chance to get my KR after all, I jumped on it. And I'm doing Star Wars again this year just to keep my training up (and I love SW).

Really, it's the accessibility that drew me in. I knew I wasn't a runner. I knew I would be slow (and still am), but I also knew I could do it and wouldn't be judged. I truly thank rD for opening up the whole world of running as a possibility for me even as I run 12-14 minute miles. So, what's the next challenge in the rD world? The - gulp - FULL marathon. I admit, I'm terrified. I have let my training slack and I'm basically starting over. But if it takes me all 8 hours, I am going to do it!

 

[PCFriar80]

SAFD: The overall atmosphere! Runners are great people to be around. Not to mention that each marathon weekend that I've run seems to offer a new and different experience. As far as the peripherals? The training reports, the waiver drop predictions, medals, corral placements, weather reports, which resort, shirt colors, and more weather reports! To me it's a great vacation with an excuse to run...or is it the other way around? Yeah, maybe a great race with an excuse to vacation!! Let me see, an 8 night stay for 2 days of running! Seems right.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Summer of 2011 my sister was a few months after having her second child and had a friend who had run a half marathon at Disney a couple years prior. I knew nothing of this, had not been to Disney since I was a kid (the parks in full since the early 90's, I went to AK in the late 90's on a one day ticket but remember almost nothing other than the safari) and was an incredibly unhealthy 260-ish pounds (scales were not my friend, I have no idea of the actual, sad tally). Anyway, needless to say neither running nor Disney were on my radar. At a family golf outing she was floating the idea of running the 2012 WDW Half Marathon during Marathon Weekend and looking for someone to go with her. She, and the rest of my extended family, just about fell over when I was the person who said it sounded like fun. For me, as the obese kid who turned into an obese adult, it represented a final opportunity to try to get things with my health headed in the right direction. Also, I was of the opinion the Disney wasn't for people my age (hence the long absence) but I remembered how much I loved going as a kid and I wasn't going to miss my 2.5 year-old nephew's first trip.

I'll freely admit, the decision to run the Half Marathon was 90% going to Disney World/10% Half Marathon (or maybe 99.9/0.1) and my lack of training reflected the dichotomy. I was terrified for the last couple weeks before the trip, completely unsure of whether I'd be able to finish. The trip finally came and Disney and the Half Marathon exceeded all my expectations. The run (walk) was a painful, miserable, self-doubting, awful experience; but it was also amazing and everything i never dreamed it could be. I finished, with blisters instead of feet by the time I did, and even though I was ashamed of my training and in horrific pain I knew this wasn't my last race at Disney. I needed to do it better. Unsurprisingly, my sister had the same feeling (absent the training shame, she'd actually done the work). The next day was the portion where Disney exceeded my expectations. We were rank amateurs at Disney, had no idea what we were doing, just had one day tickets to Magic Kingdom, and probably only hit 4-5 attractions in an entire day. But we had an absolute blast and the magic hit all of us adults just the same as my nephew.

We met many full marathon runners that day in MK and realized 2013 would be all about taking the step up and running a full marathon. From there we were determined to run Goofy, which quickly became Dopey when it was announced there was going to be a challenge beyond Goofy. We wanted to be in on the ground floor and we are both perfect through the first 6 Dopey Challenges. I've had a crisis of confidence the last few years, but I still love Marathon Weekend and am determined to get back to doing it the right way rather than just struggling through. I plan on keeping my Perfect Dopey as long as I possibly can and the same with our family tradition of Marathon Weekend.

The thing I love about RunDisney and that keeps me coming back, as @The Expert pointed out, is the accessibility and atmosphere. I am incredibly introverted, painfully so. Social interactions are incredibly difficult for me and I am very easily embarrassed. RunDisney is the one place where I could have run that first race and not felt as though I was being judged. It remains the one place where I can feel my own disappointment at not being trained the way I want, but still get out on the course and not feel the judgment from others that would cause me to avoid so many other running events. Without that type of atmosphere I probably would have given up on getting back to the fitness level I want but, as it stands, Marathon Weekend is what keeps me motivated and excited about running and doing better for myself.

 

[drummerwife]

SAFD: The awesome support you get from the volunteers and CM no matter how slow you may be!

I’m a walker due to arthritis in my ankle and big toe and can walk a 12:45 to 14:00 minute mile depending on distance. I’ve walked all distances at Disney (including Dopey twice) and never felt like I didn’t belong on the course. I’ve done other races where I’ve been mocked by so called “fans” and have gotten the feeling from the course support people that they just wished the slower people would either not sign up or quit so they could go home. It’s because of those incidents that I’ll happily pay the premium that rD charges. I’ve never felt happier running a race then I do at Disney!

 

[lhermiston]

Summer of 2011 my sister was a few months after having her second child and had a friend who had run a half marathon at Disney a couple years prior. I knew nothing of this, had not been to Disney since I was a kid (the parks in full since the early 90's, I went to AK in the late 90's on a one day ticket but remember almost nothing other than the safari) and was an incredibly unhealthy 260-ish pounds (scales were not my friend, I have no idea of the actual, sad tally). Anyway, needless to say neither running nor Disney were on my radar. At a family golf outing she was floating the idea of running the 2012 WDW Half Marathon during Marathon Weekend and looking for someone to go with her. She, and the rest of my extended family, just about fell over when I was the person who said it sounded like fun. For me, as the obese kid who turned into an obese adult, it represented a final opportunity to try to get things with my health headed in the right direction. Also, I was of the opinion the Disney wasn't for people my age (hence the long absence) but I remembered how much I loved going as a kid and I wasn't going to miss my 2.5 year-old nephew's first trip.

I'll freely admit, the decision to run the Half Marathon was 90% going to Disney World/10% Half Marathon (or maybe 99.9/0.1) and my lack of training reflected the dichotomy. I was terrified for the last couple weeks before the trip, completely unsure of whether I'd be able to finish. The trip finally came and Disney and the Half Marathon exceeded all my expectations. The run (walk) was a painful, miserable, self-doubting, awful experience; but it was also amazing and everything i never dreamed it could be. I finished, with blisters instead of feet by the time I did, and even though I was ashamed of my training and in horrific pain I knew this wasn't my last race at Disney. I needed to do it better. Unsurprisingly, my sister had the same feeling (absent the training shame, she'd actually done the work). The next day was the portion where Disney exceeded my expectations. We were rank amateurs at Disney, had no idea what we were doing, just had one day tickets to Magic Kingdom, and probably only hit 4-5 attractions in an entire day. But we had an absolute blast and the magic hit all of us adults just the same as my nephew.

We met many full marathon runners that day in MK and realized 2013 would be all about taking the step up and running a full marathon. From there we were determined to run Goofy, which quickly became Dopey when it was announced there was going to be a challenge beyond Goofy. We wanted to be in on the ground floor and we are both perfect through the first 6 Dopey Challenges. I've had a crisis of confidence the last few years, but I still love Marathon Weekend and am determined to get back to doing it the right way rather than just struggling through. I plan on keeping my Perfect Dopey as long as I possibly can and the same with our family tradition of Marathon Weekend.

The thing I love about RunDisney and that keeps me coming back, as @The Expert pointed out, is the accessibility and atmosphere. I am incredibly introverted, painfully so. Social interactions are incredibly difficult for me and I am very easily embarrassed. RunDisney is the one place where I could have run that first race and not felt as though I was being judged. It remains the one place where I can feel my own disappointment at not being trained the way I want, but still get out on the course and not feel the judgment from others that would cause me to avoid so many other running events. Without that type of atmosphere I probably would have given up on getting back to the fitness level I want but, as it stands, Marathon Weekend is what keeps me motivated and excited about running and doing better for myself.

I love all of this.

 

[Disney at Heart]

SAFD: Disney! Fun! DisBoard meetups/friends! Course Support! Transportation! Disney! Family vacation fun! Accessibility for all (young, old; male, female; fast, slow; able-bodied, disabled; etc.)! Disney! Entertainment! Volunteers! DJ's! Character stops! Pixie Dust! World Showcase before dawn with torches lit! Hallelujah Choir (Am I about to finish? or Did I die and go to heaven?)! Disney! Medals and shirts! Real bathrooms and port-o-potties in a pinch! Costumes/ Disney bounding! Swag! Rides and shows! Expo and merchandise! Disney! Party atmosphere! Comradery! Running through the castle, through Pandora, around the baseball stadium, past Spaceship Earth, and (fingers crossed for future) Galaxy's Edge! Main Street with Cinderella Castle lit up! Disney! Inspiring and encouraging stories! Atmosphere of excitement! Crossing the finish line! Music and video all along the route! Photo Pass! Disney! Memories! Bragging rights! Eating at great restaurants to celebrate! Wide World of Sports (kind of)! Sarge! Food boxes and bananas! Being congratulated in the parks by CMs and guests! And did I say, DISNEY!!!

Not so magical: getting up so early/ water treatment plant, but DISNEY!

 

[cavepig]

I grew up Disney and ran since I was 13, I don't know why it took me so long (2014 Everest) to sign up for a Disney race, it was like the perfect match. Winter flights was the big hold back for January, but now it's like I can't think of not running a Disney race. Doing local ones is still fun, but for me nothing beats the magic of running through the parks. Like others, I've met some amazing friends because of Run Disney.

 

[michigandergirl]

SAFD: Florida is warm when Michigan is not! I love the energy of Marathon weekend. I love the entertainment on the course. I love the challenges and bling.

@Professor_Cookie What a cutie you have there! My oldest son was born 16 weeks premature, so I know what you're going through. I'm glad to hear she's healthy!

 

[GuinnessRunner]

SAFD: Disney has always been a magical place for me and my family and we are lucky enough to usually go at least once a year. I had been running off and on for a couple years and it occurred to me (finally) that when I had races on the calendar, I stayed motivated. After 3 years of 5-Ks, 10-Ks and a few halves, I decided I wanted to give a marathon a try. I convinced one of my older brothers, who was the one who got me running in the first place, to do it with me. I assumed it would be a one-time event, so thought what better place than Disney. That way the whole family could come down for vacation, cheer us on, and be there when I collapsed and died (which I was sure would happen ). What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the energy and fun of marathon weekend. Have now completed 4 marathons, and all of them were at Disney World. While things have definitely changed with the races since my first one back in 2008 (wow was it really that long ago?) and costs keep going up, there is something about that magic and energy I feel walking into the runner village at o'gawd early that puts a smile on my face. As others have said, the feeling of turning down Main Street just amplifies it! Add to it some great people I have met over the years that share the love of the place and the races and it puts it over the top.