Poor Unfortunate Soles: Marathon Weekend 2013 (5K, Half and Full Marathon)-COMPLETE!!

[Ariel484]

Yeah, I said a little brief prayer for you. I ran in like 80 degree weather at 1 pm and had to stop after 3 miles. I could have kept going, but I was not well enough hydrated and came back and tried the next morning.

That's so sweet! Running in the heat is definitely tough.

I agree! I know its a hassle for Disney to have people swapping but I know everyone would really appreciate it. Maybe they could make a swapping window from the time that registration closes to shortly before the race? Who knows

I agree that it doesn't seem right to keep advertising that they let a celebrity skirt the rules, though!

Can't wait until you're off and running!

Yeah, I'm hoping they will move toward having bib transfer in the future...they let people defer registration to the next year if they need to, so why not bib transfer? Hmm.

Your photos really bring back the excitement of race morning and how surreal it all was...being up at 3 am with thousands of other people and all that nervous energy.
Seeing the castle all lit up when I ran into MK took me completely by surprise, and I teared up running down Main St. with that beautiful castle in front of me. Pure Disney magic and a moment I'll never forget! I hope it wasn't too ruined for you having seen it from the monorail!

Surreal is the perfect way to describe it! There were definitely moments where I would just suddenly think to myself "it's 4AM and I'm here with thousands of people about to run for hours...this is nuts!"

It wasn't totally ruined for me seeing the MK from the monorail...the Dreamlights weren't on so THAT was a surprise!

 

[Ariel484]

2013 Walt Disney World Half Marathon! Miles 1-3

The con-duck-tor counts down to Corral C's start at about 5:47AM...3 2 1 GOOO!

(Apologies for the shakiness. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1EdOoWWVMc

And we were off! All through this race I tried really hard to pay attention to our pace...not because I had a specific goal time in mind, but because keeping the marathon in mind I didn't want us to run the race too fast (and trash our legs) or too slow (and be on our feet for longer than necessary). I wanted us to run it juuuuust right...

...okay, I lied. I wanted us to beat our time from the Princess Half (3:02ish).

Ugh...please note the humidity on the Mile Marker 1 sign. Yuck!

I remember the first mile being very narrow and crowded. It was hard to run.

Cool flags!

I think we were able to spread out a bit by Mile Marker 2, if not right after. After passing this mile marker we each ate 4 Gu chomps (strawberry flavor, yum!). Craig wasn't a huge fan because they got stuck in his teeth.

And then we came up to the first character meet of the race: the pirate ship I'd seen from the monorail earlier that morning. We passed it up since the line was pretty big and we already have a picture with the exact same set-up from 2011.

Yo ho yo ho

Next we passed the photo-op screen I'd also seen earlier (I never did stop for a picture in front of this thing) before reaching the MK Entrance gates! LOTS of room to run by now, and if I remember correctly, we saw the lead wheelchair racers and runners pass us by on the other side of the median...they were already 9ish miles in! Wow.

The warning that plays over the speakers here was burned in my brain all weekend: "Caution runners. Road narrows, and speed bumps ahead." I bet despite the fact that I said it was burned in my brain I actually quoted it incorrectly just now. Despite the warning I was distracted by taking a video and managed to trip over a speed bump. Luckily I caught myself. Said video is linked below...not worth tripping for!

(This video is blurry and shaky and pretty awful in general...you've been warned!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnANSVVwF1o

Mile Marker 3 was just inside the gates.

At the 5K mark our first text/email alert was sent out: 5K in 38:18, a 12:19/mile pace. Estimated finish time of 2:41:35. Not bad, right?...

...then we came the first character meet we wanted to stop for. Bye-bye decent average pace!

By now we were outside the WDW Speedway and were both DRENCHED in sweat. Craig had to accept defeat, take off his long-sleeved pullover, and tie it around his waist. I voted for him wearing it around his shoulders Zack Morris-style but he vetoed that idea.

This line looked sort of long but only took 3-4 minutes...racing 'munks!

I must say, the bro was very good at spotting mile markers before I did (ahh, to be tall) and was all about the character pictures during this race. I don't know if it's because I've finally got him trained after our other race weekends, or if he was a fan of the more relaxed approach, or both. But it worked out well for me!

And it's a good thing too, because there was no way I was passing up the next photo-op. It was a long line (6-minute wait) but this is one of the rarer character meet-ups I've seen, so it was totally worth it.

.....how's that for a cliff-hanger??

Continued in Next Post

 

[Mrs Green]

I am loving your trip report...just read the whole thing and not happy with the cliffhanger!!!

I ran my first 5k last summer and would like to train for more races in the future...possibly the new 10k at DLR or the princess 5k. I am in awe of you running Goofy; it is beyond my comprehension but makes for interesting and inspiring reading! Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[camandjacksmom]

I know! I know!!! It was our favorite of the race!! I actually jumped up and down like a little kid!!!

 

[Ariel484]

I am loving your trip report...just read the whole thing and not happy with the cliffhanger!!!

I ran my first 5k last summer and would like to train for more races in the future...possibly the new 10k at DLR or the princess 5k. I am in awe of you running Goofy; it is beyond my comprehension but makes for interesting and inspiring reading! Thanks for sharing with us!

Haha, sorry for the cliff-hanger!

I'm glad Disney has added a 10K back into the mix...hopefully this will inspire them to add more. I'm sure lots of people want to run longer races after the 5K, but the jump from a 5K to a 10-miler or half marathon is quite a big one!

Thanks for reading!

I know! I know!!! It was our favorite of the race!! I actually jumped up and down like a little kid!!!

ME TOO! One of the best character meet-ups I've seen!

 

[croach]

If it's what I think it is then yes it was a great photo op. Didn't stop for photos during the half so I was sad not to see Chip & Dale out for the full. At least they weren't in the same spot as the half. Enjoying the trip report and hearing about your Goofy experience.

 

[emilyindisney]

Loving all the mile marker signs! I think I'd stop and use those as my photo-ops! Also love that you stopped for Chip and Dale. They're my favorite classic characters so I think they're worth the wait- glad yours was slow though.

What exactly was the pirate ship? Just something you could have your picture taken with? Or was there a character nearby?

Cannot wait to hear about rare character you caught up with next! I know they have a lot of characters reserved for only runDisney events these days!

 

[Ariel484]

If it's what I think it is then yes it was a great photo op. Didn't stop for photos during the half so I was sad not to see Chip & Dale out for the full. At least they weren't in the same spot as the half. Enjoying the trip report and hearing about your Goofy experience.

You're probably thinking of the right one! I'm sorry you missed the 'munks.

Loving all the mile marker signs! I think I'd stop and use those as my photo-ops! Also love that you stopped for Chip and Dale. They're my favorite classic characters so I think they're worth the wait- glad yours was slow though.

I saw the mile marker sign in a friend's trip report a few years back and I'm SO glad I did. It never would have occurred to me to take those pictures but I am so glad to have them!

For the most part my rule with not-so-rare characters (and I would put Chip and Dale in that category) is to only stop if they are wearing special outfits, so the 'munks made the cut with their hats.

What exactly was the pirate ship? Just something you could have your picture taken with? Or was there a character nearby?

I assumed it was this (from 2011 Princess Half):

I didn't stop for it though so I can't be sure.

Cannot wait to hear about rare character you caught up with next! I know they have a lot of characters reserved for only runDisney events these days!

Yeah, last week during the marathon I met the 3 Little Pigs and Ludwig Von Drake...those were good ones! Lots of good ones this year too!

 

[Ariel484]

2013 Walt Disney World Half Marathon! Magic Kingdom, Part 1

What's this? What's this?

It's Jack Skellington and Sally! One of my favorite character photos from the weekend.

The funniest part of the meet was when Jack put his arm out for me to grab and said, "Hello" in a super low, creepy voice. I had no idea he was a face character and wasn't expecting him to talk at all, so I had a mini-heart attack. But mostly I was just pumped to meet two awesome characters!

(Have you ever looked at the lyrics to "What's This?" So clever!)

By now we were at the TTC, and surprising to no one, mile 4 was a slow one (a little over 20 minutes long):

This is a notable area of the race because there is awesome spectator support here, as well as REAL bathrooms. Unfortunately the lines were out the door so we didn't stop. We headed under the water bridge near the Contemporary, and WOW was the course poorly lit here. Not cool.

Also notable about this part of the race? 8 minutes before we were at Mile Marker 4 the winner of the half marathon FINISHED THE RACE (1:05:26) - a new course record! Insanity.

Teeny little DJ with his cute little sign.

After the Contemporary we found ourselves at Mile Marker 5...

...and said good morning to Space Mountain!

We headed down a side road and finally hit our first park of the race.

All of us runners headed into the Magic Kingdom through a Cast Member-only entrance near The Chapeau and were met with lots of cheering spectators. We turned onto Main Street and found a cool surprise (well, the surprise I'd seen earlier from the monorail) - Christmas lights on the castle and a lit-up Main Street USA!

Traffic completely STOPPED on Main Street, and for the first time I realized how truly crowded this race was. I think there were 27,000 runners? This was quite different than what I'd experienced on this same course during the 2011 Princess Half, which had 14,000 finishers.

Looking back down Main Street:

I'm surprised my pictures came out so badly, because I honestly don't even remember being able to RUN down Main Street at all. Unless I'm exaggerating it in my mind we walked pretty much the entire way.

Next we turned right and headed into Tomorrowland.

Buzz Lightyear was out in front of the Lunching Pad, and we passed him up - not rare at all. We checked the lines for the bathrooms near Mickey's Star Traders (out the door) and saw people heading to the bathrooms by Space Mountain (eh, too lazy to go that far off the course). I gave up on the Tomorrowland bathrooms and we headed into Fantasyland. The Mad Tea Party was the site of our next meet-up.

It was off with our heads before continuing on through Fantasyland!

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

2013 Walt Disney World Half Marathon! Magic Kingdom, Part 2

Belle (in yellow dress) was out with the Beast near the new walls in Fantasyland, but we passed them up and headed to the castle.

Waiting...

These guys provided some entertainment:

This was another long-ish line (5-6 minutes)...but when the race con-duck-tor is out for photos in his royal attire, you stop. You just do.

After meeting the duck we ran through the castle and came to another complete stop. There were tons of runners trying to get out of the castle to make the turn into Liberty Square, and people just were not moving. Other runners started to great frustrated and yelled "runners to the left, walkers to the right!"...nice try. We just sort of slowly trudged down to the street below.

Still can't get a decent picture despite the fact that I'm walking ever-so-slowly...

We bypassed the photo-op in front of the castle (lines seemed huge and I knew from last year it would be official photos only - they wouldn't take one with my camera) and headed toward Liberty Square.

We passed Tiana in Liberty Square and Jessie in Frontierland and finally found Mile Marker 6! (Ate 4 more Gu chomps here.)

Another 22-minute mile! Without fail getting through the Magic Kingdom is always the longest portion of these Disney races for me...

And now it was time to leave the MK and head back to Epcot. We went backstage and passed Prince Phillip and Aurora standing on one of the daytime parade floats (giant line) and came to yet another bottleneck in the course. The area we had to run in was extremely narrow, and by now quite a few people were walking...so it was hard to dodge around them. I have absolutely no problem with people walking during a race (I do it myself a lot!) but proper race etiquette was just out the door this morning. People were walking right in the middle of the course, giving no notice when they were going to start walking, and groups were walking 4-5 across. It was incredibly frustrating. And these times when all of the runners seemed to be walking in one giant clump of people were really the only times the weather bothered me during the half...the sun and temperatures weren't too high yet, but when all of the runners were so close together it felt incredibly hot and humid out. Whenever we had some space it felt quite pleasant.

Somewhere in here our second alert was sent out: 10K in 1:33:31, an average pace of...15:03! Estimated finish time of 3:17.17. Thats what a 22-minute mile in the Magic Kingdom will do to you.

Continued in Next Post

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[Ariel484]

Great pics!

Thanks!

 

[ZellyB]

Great report! I remember the section you are talking about coming out of Magic Kingdom during the marathon. It was really tight and crowded. It was difficult to manage. My DH and I are run/walkers, so I was really paranoid about stopping to walk in these areas. We always made sure to position ourselves before slowing to be sure we weren't cutting anyone off and that we were out of the way as much as possible. But that was not the norm for a lot of runners a lot of the time.

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

I really appreciate all the details you're including about not just the course itself and characters but also the pace, how the crowds are, and race etiquette. I didn't know most of the stuff you mentioned and I'm so glad you are writing about it, it's a big help knowing what to expect next year. Even though it sounds very crowded and must have been frustrating I think the MK part of the course is going to be such a special experience!

Also, I talked to my sister last night and we decided to stay at the Grand!!!

Looking forward to more!

 

[steph0808]

I love reading your race reports!

I saw Jack and Sally during the marathon, but I didn't stop for them. I actually hate that movie with a passion (I watched it when I was like 7 and it came out and then I tried again this year and made it about halfway through - just not my cup of tea) so I skipped right by them!

I did get a rare character during the marathon (and from one of my favorite cartoons ever!). I won't say anything in case you got him too! He had absolutely no line - I don't think people realized who he was!

 

[dismagiclover]

Looks like they had some great characters this year! I've never seen Donald dressed like that! He looks great! I think this half has come pretty close to reaching its capacity limit. Each time I have run it, it seems to get more crowded. Makes corral placement even more important. Maybe I'll actually do some speed work and try to get a decent 10K time before next January.

 

[creativeamanda]

Proper race ettiquite is the one thing I'm trying to make sure I get right. For the Myrtle Beach mini, I ran almost 14 miles because I was weaving in and out of traffic. I'm certain that was frustrating for both you and your brother!

 

[Ariel484]

Great report! I remember the section you are talking about coming out of Magic Kingdom during the marathon. It was really tight and crowded. It was difficult to manage. My DH and I are run/walkers, so I was really paranoid about stopping to walk in these areas. We always made sure to position ourselves before slowing to be sure we weren't cutting anyone off and that we were out of the way as much as possible. But that was not the norm for a lot of runners a lot of the time.

Thanks! Yeah, am I right in remembering that during that post-MK section we had ONE LANE to run in? That can't be right, can it??

It was just such a mixed bag...proper race etiquette and improper race etiquette here and there. That and course crowding were really my only complaints about the race.

I really appreciate all the details you're including about not just the course itself and characters but also the pace, how the crowds are, and race etiquette. I didn't know most of the stuff you mentioned and I'm so glad you are writing about it, it's a big help knowing what to expect next year. Even though it sounds very crowded and must have been frustrating I think the MK part of the course is going to be such a special experience!

Also, I talked to my sister last night and we decided to stay at the Grand!!!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks! So are you planning on running the half next year? They do publish this stuff in the final race instructions, but my guess is that for many people this is their very first BIG RACE, and they have possibly missed the instructions or, like you, just never heard of this before.

But you are right that there is nothing quite like running in the Magic Kingdom. Cramped or not, it's really an incredible experience. You and your sister will love it.

THE GRAND...you'll love that too! I actually decided to stop being lazy and tried to figure out how to edit my photos over the weekend, so my room pictures are looking a lot less yellow...if you haven't go back and look again. That should give you a better idea of what the room was like.

I love reading your race reports!

I saw Jack and Sally during the marathon, but I didn't stop for them. I actually hate that movie with a passion (I watched it when I was like 7 and it came out and then I tried again this year and made it about halfway through - just not my cup of tea) so I skipped right by them!

I did get a rare character during the marathon (and from one of my favorite cartoons ever!). I won't say anything in case you got him too! He had absolutely no line - I don't think people realized who he was!

Thanks!! I think NBC is a love-it-or-hate-it movie. I love it, my husband hates it...even though he had a "What's This?" ringtone for a few months.

Now I'm trying to figure out your rare character...! You'll have to let me know if I got him! Are you going to post a race report to your blog?

Looks like they had some great characters this year! I've never seen Donald dressed like that! He looks great! I think this half has come pretty close to reaching its capacity limit. Each time I have run it, it seems to get more crowded. Makes corral placement even more important. Maybe I'll actually do some speed work and try to get a decent 10K time before next January.

They really did have some great characters this year! I was pretty happy with the turnout overall.

AMEN on the half getting close to capacity. If they start letting more people in I feel like it might become a safety issue. It was just such a different experience compared to when we ran the Princess Half and there were 10,000 less people...

Proper race ettiquite is the one thing I'm trying to make sure I get right. For the Myrtle Beach mini, I ran almost 14 miles because I was weaving in and out of traffic. I'm certain that was frustrating for both you and your brother!

I totally hear you on weaving and adding extra mileage...that's the worst! For last year's marathon my total mileage was 26.88...! For the half this year it was 13.42 (not awful, I guess)...he knew I had the Garmin on and was asking me where we were, and when I admitted to him that we were ahead of the mile markers due to weaving, etc. he was not a happy camper. This year I did a teeny bit better with the marathon (26.85). Unfortunately the weaving is unavoidable sometimes...

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Thanks! So are you planning on running the half next year? They do publish this stuff in the final race instructions, but my guess is that for many people this is their very first BIG RACE, and they have possibly missed the instructions or, like you, just never heard of this before.

But you are right that there is nothing quite like running in the Magic Kingdom. Cramped or not, it's really an incredible experience. You and your sister will love it.

THE GRAND...you'll love that too! I actually decided to stop being lazy and tried to figure out how to edit my photos over the weekend, so my room pictures are looking a lot less yellow...if you haven't go back and look again. That should give you a better idea of what the room was like.

This is my first big race. This summer I will be running a Tough Turtle (5K obstacle course), another 5K and in November the Turkey Trot 10K in preparation for next year's half. I know nothing about race etiquette or what to expect, so getting some exposure soon will be really helpful.

I'm so excited for The Grand! My first choice was actually Beach Club, but my sis doesn't go to WDW was often as I do so GFlo was her request and I am happy to oblige. I'm just psyched out of my mind we're staying Deluxe! I'm a value person, so this will be the first time at some place so swanky and I can't wait!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I LOVE Nightmare and listen to many of the songs. A lot of the lyrics are so clever, and I'm jealous people got to meet Jack and Sally.