Marathon Weekend 2024

[nancipants]

SAFD: My origin story is still very new. I always hated running. I did sports as a kid (dance, then soccer, basketball, and softball) and was FAST. As in, hit the ball back to the pitcher and still make it safe on base. (Hitting lefty also helped.) I did soccer and track my freshman year of high school (100m and 4 x 100 relay starter), but then quit sports to focus on drama club. When I started working, the building had jazzercise classes so I started that. I kept it up for 3 years until I moved and couldn’t find new classes near me. I went to the gym on and off with my ex, did home exercises, but nothing really stuck. I still hated running.

i did the first Star Wars 5k because Star Wars, but that was that. In 2022 my friends asked me to do the Princess 5k with them, so I said yes, because I was a new-ish mom and having non-kid time is always appreciated. To my surprise I really enjoyed it. My friend and I decided to try for the 10k at Marathon Weekend 2023 for Chip and Dale, but we got shut out, so went for Princess instead. I knew I actually had to train to complete the race without dying and/or getting swept, so I started the Galloway method. And I had so much fun at the race, even running by myself! (My friend was feeling nauseous during the race so we ran our own paces.) I kept it up afterward and decided to do the Princess half in 2024 (already signed up through a charity). I signed up for the Marathon Weekend 10k since I’ll be training for Princess. I’m also doing a 5k at the end of September and am aiming for a PR with a @DopeyBadger plan!

Why running? I had a baby in 2019 and the stress of a newborn, pandemic, and then switching jobs in 2021 caught up to me. I didn’t start running to lose weight specifically, but to feel better about myself and my body. The stress relief and time to myself help immensely even if I don’t end up losing one pound.

 

[MissLiss279]

SAFD:
I ran track in junior high. I though track meets were fun, but in general I hated running. But track was what you did in the off season of basketball. I wasn’t fast enough to run short distances, and nobody wanted to run the mile, so that’s what I did and I still always came in last! I decided after 8th grade, I was done with track.
I pretty much hated running unless it was a part of another sport. So fast forward until about 10 years after college, a friend of mine was training for a half marathon. So I would occasionally go outside and try to run, and always came to the conclusion after a couple times, that I hated it, and wondered why was I doing it!?!? So, I would stop. Probably 6 months later before the next half marathon/5k race in town, I found a couch to 5k app, and used it, but as the running intervals got longer, I really struggled and repeated some weeks. I think I ran a 5k and did one of the run/walk sessions (way before I ever heard of anyone actually using run/walk as a running method). That spring I found another app, that would tell me to ‘Slow Down’ with audio cues (based on info that I had put in the app), and that was a game changer!!! This would have been spring of 2014. When I learned to slow down, I realized that I could run, and that I didn’t hate it! Every time I tried to run before, it was pretty much an all out (or at least really hard effort). I couldn’t breathe, and it was awful. Slow/easy running for the win!!
I ran my first half marathon in the fall of 2014, my first runDisney Half during Marathon Weekend 2015, and my first Marathon in the fall of 2015. Now 35 marathons later, I really like long distances as long as I don’t have to run them hard!

 

[The Expert]

I'm sure many of you know my origin story, but I'll share again for the new folks. (Stealing this from my training journal intro.)

tl;dr I saw the bling in 2015, got FOMO, did the 2016 Princess 5K cluelessly, and was hooked!

I was one of those kids who avoided running and hated that time of year in PE when we had to do track. I was active, played softball, did dance and cheerleading, but never had any interest in running. I vaguely knew about the rD races as we visited WDW over the years, but I wasn't a runner so I never bothered to find out any details. Fast forward to spring of 2015, wandering around MK and seeing all these women (mostly) with race shirts and medals getting photos all over the place. Cool!
We decided we liked visiting that time of year, so when our 11 month DVC window opened we booked that same week. A few months later, I discovered that the last full day of our trip was going to coincide with the 2016 Princess 5K. I popped in here and discovered you could WALK the 3 miles -- that was just a park day! So, I figured why not do one of the few Disney things I had never done before? Plus COSTUMES?! Okay, I'm in. I managed to sign up, found a cheap tutu on Amazon and a Tink-themed tank top. I didn't train at all and pretty much didn't think about the race again until it was time to pack.

We hit the expo the afternoon before the race, and when I found out how early I was going to have to get up, I nearly bailed. In fact, I almost turned the alarm off the night before, but something told me to just go for it. So I got up, ate half a bowl of leftover mac and cheese (carb loading, I thought LOL) and went to the bus. I was by myself, but among new friends. Everybody was so happy and excited, and the atmosphere was so much fun! I got so caught up in the whole thing that I ran probably half the race, and I know my etiquette was horrible. (Sorry if you were there!) The only disappointment was that dumb plastic medal we got at the end. Knowing what the other bling was, I decided then and there that I needed to get a "real" medal. On the trip home, I discovered the Kessel Run and that was it. I HAD to have that Millennium Falcon medal!

I had never even tried to run, so how did I know I couldn't do it? I started C25K two weeks later and morphed that into the Galloway training plan, did a couple of local races and ended up doing ALL THREE Princess runs in 2017, including my first Half! I've since done all the races you see in my signature, plus several non-rD 5Ks, 10Ks and Halfs. And yes, I DID get that Kessel Run medal!

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Tell us your running origin story.

I started in 2014-ish leading up to my first race in 2015 the Walt Disney World 10K. I was never a runner. I played football in high school. I saw a relative had been doing runDisney races and the crazy person I am thought huh, I can do that. So the 2015 10K was my gateway. 2016 was the 5K and Half and then I have been Dopey since. Here we are in 2023 with 50+ Disney races under my belt, one world major and one more later this year.

 

[Jennx36]

I started running cross country in middle school because a friend talked me into it. I became anxious and felt sick to my stomach before every event and hated every step of every run that season. A few years later, I joined the military and found a new reason to dislike running when we were awoken at 4:30 am, put into ability groups, and made to run in tight formations. Wildly inappropriate cadence songs are still seared into my brain! I promised myself once I left active duty I would never have to run again or wake up at 4:30 am again to work out. I gave up running for a while only to discover it had provided a great way to stay in shape and deal with anxiety. I picked it back up again but on my terms, no forced distances, no 4:30 am wake ups. Ten days after giving birth to my first child, I began running again after taking a break during pregnancy. Not only did it help me get back into shape, but it made a ton of difference with providing relief from mild post partum depression. Repeat for baby number two, only this time I continued to run throughout my pregnancy. I ran my first half marathon in 2019 convinced by friends that it would be fun. Turns out, it was! I wanted to do at least one full marathon, and I figured if I'm only going to do one, what better one to do than the Disney marathon. I talked DH into running it with me, and we both completed the 2023 WDW marathon. A month later, another friend convinced me to do the Bataan Death March, 26.2 miles through the desert at White Sands Missile Range. Then another friend convinced me to do the Dopey Challenge next year. Basically, I have my friends and the Army to thank for my running journey so far. I have no set goals beyond the races I've already signed up for. My main focus is to stay injury free and have fun! Also, I still wake up around 4:30 am to work out almost every morning. Some habits are hard to break!

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: I’m not sure I really have a running origin story, and many of you have heard bits and pieces of my history too many times, so I’ll try to change it up a bit this time…

I grew up in the ballet in the 70s/80s - when ballet masters still believed that running would cause “big thighs,” so running was strictly forbidden. BUT I really loved to run, from as early as I can recall - that being the time I sprinted from a neighbor’s house around age 4, straight into our huge rose bush. Even a bunch of thorns impaling my skin wasn’t enough to dissuade me, though - I ran when playing tag and hide-and-go-seek with friends, in gym classes, and around our neighborhood with my mom or our dog when Jogging became the really hip thing to do and Nike was THE hottest thing in footwear. (If anyone wants to have a talk about First Pair of Running Shoes, I am SO in!)

After realizing I’d never be tall enough to be a professional ballerina, I took up soccer and field hockey in high school - in both endeavors I was pretty useless with a ball, but could run fast and that was my favorite part of the sports, anyway. I never had any endurance, though: even in ballet, I was 100x better at the short, fast, intricate variations than the long, slow adagios, and I was always bringing up the rear in those stupid fitness tests that made us run long until we puked. Much later in life, I learned I had exercise-induced asthma and need an inhaler.

As an adult, I‘ve run and walked regularly for fitness - so, 30+ years. Racing wasn’t something I even knew ordinary people could or would do until I met my now-ex husband, who was an amateur triathlete. I still had no interest in races myself, though. That changed when I happened to be at WDW during MW one year and saw the back of the pack going through DHS. It was all “normal” looking people, not just finely tuned athletes! And some of them looked like they were really enjoying themselves! So I looked into things, found rD, signed up for the Princess 5K the following month, and the rest is history!

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

SAFD: I would consider myself to be an "adult onset runner" as well. I played lots of sports growing up until music took over my life in middle school, but running was always my least favorite part. The concept of running for "fun" was completely lost on me. But in 2010, I decided to join the Navy as a French horn instrumentalist but I needed to lose about 25 pounds. So, I started running. I'll never forget my first 0.5 mile stretch of running and being completely miserable. But, it got easier and the pounds started falling off so I kept at it. Unsurprisingly, I ran a lot at boot camp but I was able to keep up with the "fast" group and it really pushed me. When I got done with training, I signed up for a local 5K turkey trot because it sounded like fun and that one race got me hooked. I started signing up for longer and longer races until I ran my first marathon in Austin in 2014. I kind of stopped running consistently after that and then I went to law school which killed most of my fitness efforts. When I started my first job as an attorney, one of my fellow associates said she wanted to run her first marathon at Disney World. I told her I would run it with her and help pace her, and we signed up for the 2021 marathon (womp womp). After it got cancelled, I lost all motivation to run until on a whim last year I decided to try for Dopey. I got locked out and managed to get a Goofy bib and actually started running again, but I was definitely undertrained. I finished but my left IT band was completely screwed up, so I haven't run since January. Softball season is ending so I will pick it back up next month as I am signed up for all three Wine & Dine races, Dopey, and the DL half. Here we go!

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD
I was never too active and still today joke that I’m more a jogger than a runner but in late 2014 I’d come home from a trip and saw there were employee discounts for the Gasparilla distance Classic and thought hey I walk 1.5 miles most days to the bus stop I can up things to 3.1 so the 2015 5k walk was my first ever race 2024 will be my 10th year and I’ve done all 4 distances at various points (5k/8k/15k/half ) with the 15k/8k challenge being my sweet spot currently

As far as RunDisney in spring 2016 we were with some of my sisters fiancé (now brother in laws) friend who were coaxing us into signing up for wine & dine… his friend’s SO just did fairytale challenge and they’d both been training for the inaugural dark side challenge at the time

We were like it’s crazy to try to go from a 5k to half in such a short time especially with said half two weeks before the wedding who wants a maid of honor and/or bride on crutches if we were injured and 5k still had rubber medals not worth the Disney $$ HOWEVER when they announced that year that the half was moving to a day race and they were adding the 10k & challenge we decided going from 3.1-6.2 is more doable than 3.1-13.3 so we signed up

Since than I’ve done:
7 Wine & Dine 10ks & 3 5ks (plus signed up for 5k & 10k in 2023 and plan to keep a perfect 10k streak as long as I can)
1 mw 10k
1 Star Wars 5k & 10k
2 SS 5k 1 10k 1 10M (probably will sign up for some distance in 24 pending themes)

 

[Bree]

SAFD: I am way too lazy to write it all out. It’s a very boring story so if you need to sleep just search my posts for previous answers. I’ve been running since junior high.

 

[dobball23]

Good Morning runDisney All-Stars! It’s time for Sunday’s Are For Disney. Today’s question: Tell us your running origin story.

My Answer: I grew up in a family of runners, all of them ran in high school and some in college, and I have lots of memories of going to races to watch family run. I never felt pressured to run, but by the time I was eight I was competing in club track. I then went on to run in junior high, high school and then in college. I was more of a long sprinter - 400 & 800 meters. After my competitive career I struggled without structure to really stick with running. I did run some 5ks and followed the typical “what is next” movement from 5k to marathons before I let life and other goals get in the way. Though I would run on and off, I stopped consistent running for far too long. I picked it up about 10 years ago. I remember I saw an article about runDIsney, annd immediately thought I want to do that! I ran my first runDisney race in 2015 (Goofy Challenge) and have never looked back. I have grown to love long distance running. I hope to keep the past 10 years of running going far into the future!

SAFD: I played baseball and basketball growing up. My mom purchased a treadmill early in my high school career and I tried it out. I enjoyed it as a nice way to stay in shape for my other sports and stay active. It quickly evolved where running 3, 4, 5, or 6 miles became a daily activity for me.

I continued my near daily treadmill running through high school and college and into my adult life. In 2014 and 2015, I started having knee issues that resulted in knee surgery to remove some cartilage. During this time when I wasn't running or being as active as I was used to, I watched a live stream of the Disney Marathon. I saw a bunch of people finishing in 4 hours. I set a goal for myself to run it when I was recovered. Fast forward a couple of years and I run my first Dopey Challenge in 2018, with most of my training on a treadmill. During the pandemic I moved to exclusive outside running and have continued to learn more and become a better runner. I've now completed three Dopeys, four marathons and keep setting PRs even though I'm in my early 40s.

I can't imagine going back to the treadmill now.

 

[pluto377]

SAFD: Also an "adult onset runner" here, lol. I was active as a kid- dancing and kickline mostly- but never did team sports. In 2001, I moved to a different state for grad school. I saw an ad on the subway for a charity marathon training program and thought it might be a good way to meet some new people. I think it was seriously a moment of insanity. But I signed up and 6 months later ran the 2001 Marine Corps Marathon. I've been a pretty consistent runner since then, doing races of all different distances and completing 3 subsequent marathons. The most time I took off was during pregnancy and after my babies were born. Until now, stupid ankle injury, waaaaaah

As for RunDisney, I ran the marathon in 2009 and I'm not sure how I heard about it, internet maybe? Ran it again in 2010. My first son was born 2011, so I had a long break from racing and RunDisney too. Came back for Princess weekend in 2017, just doing the 5K and I've done a RD weekend every year since!

 

[GreatLakes]

I should ask this question in the Photopass section but before I do I figured someone here might know.

A friend's family is doing MW in addition to ours and we are going to buy a length of stay memory maker. We are already friends and share in MDE so that part is handled. They are going to be arriving a day before us and going to a park. I believe from past experience that one party can stay later and still get pictures even if they are not the purchaser? If I am the buyer that shares with them will they lose the pictures from their first day? If so I'll make sure they buy instead of me.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

I should ask this question in the Photopass section but before I do I figured someone here might know.

A friend's family is doing MW in addition to ours and we are going to buy a length of stay memory maker. We are already friends and share in MDE so that part is handled. They are going to be arriving a day before us and going to a park. I believe from past experience that one party can stay later and still get pictures even if they are not the purchaser? If I am the buyer that shares with them will they lose the pictures from their first day? If so I'll make sure they buy instead of me.

No they won't lose their photos. Whoever is the "non-buyer" may see a water mark on their photo. The buyer can download them and send them to you though no problem.

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: First, I want to say how disappointing it is (judging by some of the stories here) that running seems to be introduced to kids in a way that turns them off until later life. So many stories of "I hated running as a kid--they made us do it." Seems a shame.

Anyhow, I took up running--and racing-- the year I turned 50. Just wanted to improve my fitness and--at the time--keep having an excuse to go to Disney, since by then my kids were college/late HS age. Signed up for Minnie 15k and progressed through all the Disney races over the course of a few years. It was satisfying to achieve goals in an area that I wouldn't have thought I was capable. It took me til that point in life to want to try, and that's okay.

And now that I really have lost the desire to race, I'll just do what I can to keep running for as long as possible.

 

[Jason Bryer]

SAFD: I tried running since my early 20s and was proud when I could get to 5k. That was the longest I did until I was 39 where I managed (on a random run) to go further. I think I hit 5 miles or so and thought "that wasn't so bad." Did that a few more times and decided this was my chance to run one of our local half marathons. Once I was training I thought this was my chance, turning 40, to check marathon of my list. I looked around and Disney was the only marathon that fit my schedule. I had no idea about runDisney before then. My first marathon was a mixed bag but by the end I was hooked. I have now done 9 marathons since that first one in 2018 with #10 (Berlin) and #11 (MW 2024 Dopey) already scheduled. I keep running for my health, both mental and physical.

 

[GreatLakes]

No they won't lose their photos. Whoever is the "non-buyer" may see a water mark on their photo. The buyer can download them and send them to you though no problem.

Even though they arrive a day before me their pictures from that day will be there? That is what I'm worried about, that since I will buy them and arrive a day later their first day won't be there.

Thanks for the info.

 

[GollyGadget]

Even though they arrive a day before me their pictures from that day will be there? That is what I'm worried about, that since I will buy them and arrive a day later their first day won't be there.

Thanks for the info.

Yes. You will still have access to download them. I’m not an expert on this topic but my brother has been buying MM for our trips the last two years and even though I show up early, he still gets the photos. I’m sure there’s a time window but it’s at least a few days.

 

[cburnett11]

My kids ran in middle and high school. The varsity coach loved running so much that I wanted to run. So I lost about 60 pounds in 2011 (before running) and decided to give it a go. Started running in Spring of 2012 by doing couch25k on my phone. Within 18 months I had run my first half and was seemingly content to doing halves. Never even considered a full even though friends asked me when/if I'd ever do one. I just couldn't get my head around running that far.

Fast forward to January 2015. My DD had a long break between semesters in college and we decided to do a January trip to celebrate how well school was going. We were standing at HS entrance for rope drop and I could see some of the marathon leaders running through and out of the park. I get the idea.... "If I was ever going to do ONE marathon, I guess this would be the place to do it". So I signed up and did my first marathon January 2016. I've now done 17 fulls, with 6 of them being WDW. They are always fun.

 

[cburnett11]

Marathon weekend goal: I’m doing Dopey and at this time my goal is to stop at every available character stop for all 4 races. I did it this year for the marathon and Princess challenge. I have a couple marathons before January, so depending on how those go it’s possible this goa could shift to time-based. It will be a blast either way.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Even though they arrive a day before me their pictures from that day will be there? That is what I'm worried about, that since I will buy them and arrive a day later their first day won't be there.

Thanks for the info.

Photopass photos are always there in the app. Its just whether they have a watermark or not. If purchased they will have no watermark and free to download. If not purchased they will have a watermark and you cannot download. So if you are the buyer, you have to download the photos from that day and send them to them.

After the trip is over, photos won't expire right away either.