2013 Walt Disney World Half Marathon! Final Thoughts
NOTE: This is long...oops!
1. First of all...you'll notice that I didn't mention running into any spectators during this race. From the beginning I made it clear to our fellow travelers that I didn't expect people to try to spectate during the half for a few reasons:
- The biggest reason...running is not a great spectator sport in my opinion. You see your runner for a few seconds and they're gone, just like that. Yawn.
- There aren't many great spectator areas along the half course, so they could have seen us twice, maybe, if they were really diligent.
- From running the Princess Half in 2011 I knew we'd finish right around 9AM...after Will's long day of working and traveling I absolutely did not expect him to get up at the crack of down to wave at me for a minute as I ran past.
- My mom and aunt don't know their way around property very well, so asking them to navigate Disney transportation on race morning just seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth.
2. You'll also notice that I don't have any official race pictures or videos in this report. Last year I bought the marathon package because there were lots of great pictures, including a decent number of me crossing the finish line. This year: lots of finish line pictures from the 5K, no finish line pictures at all from the half or full. NONE.
Well, that's not true you can see half of me crossing the half marathon in a couple. There were just a lot less photos overall...I'm not impressed. Just didn't seem worth the money this year.
3. I'm not sure what was going on, but getting people to the starting corrals seemed a little disorganized this year. We were there early and had a long wait before we could start walking to the corrals, yet we only arrived about 15 minutes before the official start of the race. Lots of other people were sprinting to their corrals to start on time. It was weird.
4. I have read before that this race is one of the biggest that Disney puts on (they kept saying 27,000 runners and the results list a little over 21,000 finishers...I wonder how many actually started?), yet I could NOT believe how crowded it was, especially during the couple of miles where we were entering/leaving the Magic Kingdom. It even seemed like the character lines were longer this year than in the past. I don't see them lowering the cap (the number of people that can participate in the race) because it's a proven money-maker and I sure hope they don't increase it. It was almost too much to handle at times and may have even bordered on being unsafe for runners.
5. Along with the crowds (Disney's fault), my other big issue with the race was runner etiquette...or lack thereof. This isn't Disneys fault, of course. They post guidelines in the final race instructions, which is probably all they can do. Like I said earlier, I am NOT complaining about people walking on the race course, but I had problems with people walking in the middle of the course (walk to the side! ), starting to walk in the middle of the course unexpectedly (put up a hand or something! Otherwise I will probably run into you ), and walking 4-5 people abreast and totally blocking the way (Disney suggests no more than 2 abreast ). It was incredibly frustrating.
6. Now, despite my above complaints, I did think that this was a GREAT race overall.
Except for the hiccup with the starting corrals and some places where the course could have been lit a little better (Contemporary water bridge, I'm looking at you), I liked it. It was (for the most part) well-organized, there were lots of full-stocked water stops (which also had Powerade), lots of porta-potties, and, as always, AMAZING volunteers.
Crowd support was great so fun to run into the Magic Kingdom and toward the finish line while tons of people cheer! And most importantly, we got some great character pictures, the highlight for me being Jack and Sally.
7. Just a random thought...this was my first time running the WDW Half, but second time running on the course as it's the same course as the Princess Half. I was surprised at how much of the course I remembered (course narrows and spreads out over the first 2 miles, overpass after mile 10, look out for sloped roads, etc.) and how much having run it before helped.
I hate to say this because I know this is a goal race for a lot of people...but of the 5 Disney races I've run I think this is the most frustrating race experience I've had, and that is completely because of how crowded it was and the lack of runner etiquette on the course. It really makes me wonder how much bigger this race can get, and makes me hope that the Princess Half (which I know grows each year) won't get as crowded as this race was. I would still, of course, whole-heartedly recommend this race to anyone that wants to participate - we still had a great time despite the above issues - just be aware that it's CROWDED!
Continued in Next Post
Sounds crowded! And you guys were in corral C - probably only got worse for the people behind you. 
How are we even related????
).
We looked down in pity at all of the runners behind/below us before moving on.
Yes! After last year's marathon I really wanted a picture of Mickey and Minnie in their track suits, so now I was halfway there! 
If I had been there with my camera we totally would have gotten a picture. This is what I get for ditching Princess C at mile 12. Bad sister! 
)
The worst parts were really going down Main Street and coming out of the castle...but hey, at least we were in the Magic Kingdom! 
I roll my eyes, but I'm not-so-secretly jealous. I'm sad to have missed Drew too! I must have ran right past him and not even noticed...or I was distracted by Mickey in his track suit. 
. What a perfect movie. 
Who knows.
