Official WDW Marathon Weekend 2013 Thread-Part 2

[getgoofy]

I ran my first runDisney event last year (Goofy) and have been stalking the runDisney twitter and facebook pages today because I had such a good time and missed it. It's just such an amazing event.

Special shout-out to all the volunteers, because if they were even half as good as they were last year, then they're still the best in all the land.

Congratulations to all the finishers!

 

[dreams91]

Finished in 7:14. Wanted 6 max but it was hot so I decided to enjoy myself rather than be miserable. Took lots of pics and I also was extremely underwhelmed by the whole mile 20 thing. DH and I agree that WWoS dragged. I did love the funny sayings in the side if the road when we got out. Took my mind off my aching feet.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

We were close to each other! I finished in 7:11. It was brutally hot! Congrats

 

[dreams91]

Congrats everyone!!!
Sorry the weather wasn't optimal.

I'm sitting here in tears because:
A) I'm so proud of all of you
B) because I really really wanted to be there
C) because I promise I will be there for the 25th anniversary. That's my goal.

Hope to see you next time!

 

[dreams91]

I am at Epcot. Nauseaous but I think that I have sun poisoning. I have blisters on my heels too. Heading back to the room soon to pack and go to bed. I only cried for an hour about it. I'm still teary that I failed. Not sure what to do with my medal.

At this point I'm sad that I didn't finish but I'm not sure I EVER want to try again. I swear I was deleterious at one point. I fought the heat and the heat won.

So sorry. That heat was brutal tho. Many times I wanted to quit....esp when I figured out I could no longer bend my fingers.

 

[dreams91]

Congratulations to everyone!

It was a tough one out there today and there were tens of thousands of tough people out on the course giving it their all.

We were in World Showcase today, and had lunch in Moroccco. Right after lunch, I walked out to the course and had the privilege of seeing the last few racers run past that point on the course. This was right at 1:30PM - 8 hours after the start.

The last runner was a Goofy Challenge competitor and he had an escort of about a half dozen bicyclists.

A few yards behind them were the sweep carts and a few yards behind them were the Disney cast members picking up the yellow cones.

There were very few people left cheering in that section of the park except for a few Disney employees, but I cheered and yelled my head off for those runners. It was an honor to do so, and inspiring.

From looking through the results, I believe it took him another 20 minutes to cover the last mile from that point to the finish. Interestingly, he was last across the finish line, but not last in the standings. In his own division, there were 13 runners that took a longer elapsed time to finish the race.

I never really thought I would want to try Goofy, but today - after running the half yesterday - I actually felt like I could have gone out and run 13.1 again... if I felt like that, I can start to see a way to feel like I could run the Goofy. Maybe by the 25th anniversary race weekend, I'll be ready to try it.

Great job to everyone! You are all an inspiration to us newer runners.

Thanks for doing that! I passed there around 1. It was nice to see people cheering on those of us that were still out there. I was set for a better time, but the heat got the best of me. I was just happy to finish at that point. And there was a random stranger in Epcot that I nearly knocked out.... He said 'oh are you guys starting the cool down walk already'? Many people were struggling then...not what we needed to hear. I kept seeing people on the side of the road that needed medical, etc. true althetes to keep going despite the sun and length of time out there!

I cheered the end of the group of marathoners last year. It brought tears to my eyes to see their determination to stay ahead of sweepers. Hence, me signing up this year.

Again, thank you. It was my first (maybe last) full.

 

[Cruz91]

Random thoughts:

I am so proud I beat my last year's time by 30 minutes. Still over 6 hours, but a great accomplishment for me. I was hoping for (and know I was capable of) beating it by a full hour, but the heat...

Speaking of which- I ran into a Perfect 20 on a bus to MK after a nap and he said this was either the worst or the 2nd worst weather he's ever had, so that made me feel better.

Yes, the WWoS loop SUCKED!

Yes, mile 20 was a huge letdown!

And yes, I actually ran almost 27.5 miles! I need to be more mindful of tangents!

Great job everyone! That includes runners (and remember, DNF>DNS), spectators, and runners families for putting up with the long training hours and commitment a Marathon requires!

 

[cobbler]

I really enjoyed the weekend! It was fun. My only Disney control complaints - the boxes of stuff at the end. I don't mind the box itself, but the contents suck.
Not so much a complaint but more of a "that's it" mile 20 celebration thing.

Heard there was a huge hot air type balloon at mile 18.. I didn't see it so they must have deflated it early??

Hot yes! I normally like the heat because I'm always cold & even shivered at the start, but this was a bit much...

 

[rocio]

I did it! I am a marathoner!!! A very slow marathoner, but a marathoner nonetheless. That was brutal. I was thinking we would finish in a bit after 5 hours...5 1/2 at the most. I was able to do my 20 miler in 4 hours so it seemed do-able. Ah the heat! And the character stops. But the awesome thing was that I was able to do most of race and crossed the finish line with my two training partners. The women who I have experienced so much with in the last year and a half. Through all kinds of weather and different injuries. We agreed to run our own race and I am ecstatic that it was the same race. I was so emotional crossing that finish line hand in hand!

WWOS dragged. Agree that the 20 mile spectacular was a huge letsdown. It would have been fine if they hadn't built it up so much.

We walked most of the last 6miles as our faster runner was in a lot of pain. But we all had our moments of being down and moments of being a cheerleader for those having a thought time. Mine came around mile 12 when I realized we were on pace to finish in 6 hours. What?!? How could we be going so slow. Looking back it was a dumb thing to get me down but it messed with my head.

We finished in 6:22. Did not expect that but as has been said the heat was bad and I probably spent at least 30 minutes on pictures.

It was a great but horrid time. Difficult, exhilarating, challenging, emotional, empowering. There is not one word that can capture this experience.

Thanks for all the support here. Thanks Maura and Charles and everybody else for your encouragement. Especially when I was sidelined with my sprain. It helped a ton!

Oh and I did see Prmamidedos in the first mile! Yay!

 

[wdwpluto]

I am at Epcot. Nauseaous but I think that I have sun poisoning. I have blisters on my heels too. Heading back to the room soon to pack and go to bed. I only cried for an hour about it. I'm still teary that I failed. Not sure what to do with my medal.

At this point I'm sad that I didn't finish but I'm not sure I EVER want to try again. I swear I was deleterious at one point. I fought the heat and the heat won.

Big hugs! Think about how much you did accomplish! So many people never even make it off the couch, much less as far as you did! We've had a horribly hot winter here in Florida and had it not been for that, I'm sure you would have crossed that finish line!

 

[Bephus]

Congratulations to all the finishers!!!

I knew that I was going to need to slow down for this one and when I was sweating in the corrals I completely backed off! My mission was to get lots of character pictures and that exactly what I did. I also slowed my pace down quite a bit to be mindful of the heat. There were some times after the sun came up when I had to take extra walk breaks because of nausea (stupid sports drinks!!) but overall I had a great time.
I too was pretty underwhelmed by the WWoS area and kept expecting some big surprise around the corner.
I actually thought the racetrack was super cool. I loved the cars and really liked running on the track as that was a bucket-list item for me. Very nice.
Overall, I liked the new course.
I finished an hour slower than normal so my feet are KILLING me, but it was so worth it for all the fun.
Next, on to Princess and then DDD for C2C!! Yay!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[tedhowe]

And there was a random stranger in Epcot that I nearly knocked out.... He said 'oh are you guys starting the cool down walk already'?

That sounds really obnoxious... Ad no one who is a runner would have thought any worse of you if you had done just that.

My wife (who is not a runner) was cheering on the racers going through the U.K. Pavilion right at 11 a.m. She thought she was being supportive by saying "Come on runners... Pick up the pace!"

I asked her to come up with something else because the last thing that people who've been out there for 6 hours and already run 25 miles want to hear is that they need to pick up the pace.

Se switched into Dori mode and yelled "Just keep running." Or "Just keep moving." Which I thought would go over better.

Ted

 

[Disneyland_emily]

That was an evil race.. Finished far beyond my hope time but did finish.. The heat was brutal my feet were done by mile 12 kept a decent walk pace till the dizziness started at mile 24 but finished. Now just nursing bright red skin and very sore legs and feet..

 

[jimandami]

Finally back from celebrating at Epcot and watching all the inspirational people finishing in the heat.

I went with the full Peter Pan, with tights and hat. My hammy was gimpy from the Donald at the start, but loosened up after mile 3. It was still week and my quads were tired. Ran the first mile slow then slowly sped up. Stopped for about 4 character pics, and was glad to see Hook. Felt solid at half way and ended up with a 20 second negative split. Was underwhelmed by mile 20, which was just the Disneyland Half stadium routine. Nice, but not worth hyping. I think I ended up as second costume finisher behind a Tink. Ended up with 3:19, which I was very happy with considering my good Donald result.

I did pray for all the WISHers out there finishing after me as it was warming up.

Nice job Reep! I saw a guy in full Peter costume both before and after the race and thought it might be you. Almost came up to say hi and congrats on your Donald award, but then he had a Corral B bib on so I had second thoughts!

 

[dana211]

Long time stalker, first time poster. First I wanted to say congratulations to everyone who ran this weekend. Even if you didn't finish you at least tried and that's a lot more than a lot of other people can say.

I ran in my first half marathon ever this past weekend and finished in 1:57. 3 mins under my goal of 2 hrs. Doing this at disney made this such an amazing experience for me and I absolutely cannot wait to do this again and get to know everyone here this time!

Am I crazy for already being completely excited for next year and already planning for my first Goofy Challenge attempt?!

 

[Terapin]

Congrats to all the finishers! We DID IT!

 

[Terapin]

I am at Epcot. Nauseaous but I think that I have sun poisoning. I have blisters on my heels too. Heading back to the room soon to pack and go to bed. I only cried for an hour about it. I'm still teary that I failed. Not sure what to do with my medal.

At this point I'm sad that I didn't finish but I'm not sure I EVER want to try again. I swear I was deleterious at one point. I fought the heat and the heat won.

I'm really sorry - that just totally sucks.

 

[kmg148]

I did it! I am a marathoner!!! A very slow marathoner, but a marathoner nonetheless. That was brutal. I was thinking we would finish in a bit after 5 hours...5 1/2 at the most. I was able to do my 20 miler in 4 hours so it seemed do-able. Ah the heat! And the character stops. But the awesome thing was that I was able to do most of race and crossed the finish line with my two training partners. The women who I have experienced so much with in the last year and a half. Through all kinds of weather and different injuries. We agreed to run our own race and I am ecstatic that it was the same race. I was so emotional crossing that finish line hand in hand!

WWOS dragged. Agree that the 20 mile spectacular was a huge letsdown. It would have been fine if they hadn't built it up so much.

We walked most of the last 6miles as our faster runner was in a lot of pain. But we all had our moments of being down and moments of being a cheerleader for those having a thought time. Mine came around mile 12 when I realized we were on pace to finish in 6 hours. What?!? How could we be going so slow. Looking back it was a dumb thing to get me down but it messed with my head.

We finished in 6:22. Did not expect that but as has been said the heat was bad and I probably spent at least 30 minutes on pictures.

It was a great but horrid time. Difficult, exhilarating, challenging, emotional, empowering. There is not one word that can capture this experience.

Thanks for all the support here. Thanks Maura and Charles and everybody else for your encouragement. Especially when I was sidelined with my sprain. It helped a ton!

Oh and I did see Prmamidedos in the first mile! Yay!

We must have been right near each other! I crossed at 6:22 too!

 

[Terapin]

I am quite surprised by how much fluids, electrolytes and gels I needed to keep going in the heat yesterday.

I brought a hydration pack with 1.5L of e-Load. Drained it all by mile 22. I took 2 cups of powerade at each station. I took 2 salt tablets every hour, and 2 extra in the last hour as my fingers were all sausage-y (16 caps in total). I took a gel every 45 minutes, and ate the bananas on the course. I was able to void twice on the course, and it wasn't too dark, and back in the room I was able to void again a small amount as soon as we returned. Even with all the fluid I was not over-hydrated, but nor was I much dehydrated.

I kept the wet sponge and rewetted it and used it on my face and arms on walk breaks, and then stuck it in the top of my shirt to cool by evaporation (it worked and was nice and cool on the outside-side). I used the water at some stations to pour over my head.

I just posted this to say that it was super hard work to stay on top of the miserable heat and humidity. I finished in 7:08:13 - more than an hour slower than my training pace. My feet felt swollen, acutely painful and hobbling at the end. However, I felt great metabolically. I got my medals, pics, my food and drink and headed straight for the bus - it was the best seat around!!! I was back in our room within 45 minutes of race end. I couldn't wait to be out of the heat.

How did others manage the heat and humidity?

 

[liznboys]

I'm sitting at my gate at MCO and reflecting on the weekend. To sum it up in one word: WOW.

I completed my first Full/Goofy/Dopey and it was quite an experience. I am feeling proud and sad that it is already over. I am so glad I went for the whole shebang.

My goals for the Full were to #1 survive lol, #2 finish in the allotted 7 hour time and #3 finish in my personal goal of under 6 hours. When I got to the point where I realized that even if I walked the rest of the way and could finish in under 6 I was so excited. My time was 5:55:07. I am thrilled!!!

Yesterday I was saying never again (for a full). Today, maybe...

 

[JENR]

I Did it. This wast first marathon. My time was 4:40. My goal was 5:00 so I am happy. Struggled during the wwos section but all the cheering people and the chocolate in HS and Epcot really helped to get back on track. It was a cool experience but I think I am 1 and done lol.