The Official 2013 Wine and Dine Half Marathon Thread

[capeseal]

I ran it solo last year as the DH came down with a last minute cold and had to bail at the last minute . The only time I hated was waiting in the last corral waiting for the start. It seemed like EVERYONE was running with someone and I felt SO lonely . So you can bet this year, if I see someone with that lost look on their face, I will DEFINITELY strike up a conversation ! Of course, with all the W.I.S.H.'ers, I doubt anyone will have to worry about that !

The race itself was fun, except for the crowded sections through AK, but all the volunteers and characters did a great job to keep things lively!

One suggestions for this year's W.I.S.H. meetup - as far away from the stage as possible. I couldn't hear a thing anybody was saying !!

I was lonely too! I ran ToT last year and my DH and I were in coral B (though he qualified for A he was nice enough to wait with me.) Then he ran the first mile with me before taking off so I had nine lonely miles. I felt too shy to start a conversation with one of the people that I found myself running near and it seemed like everyone else was running in a pair or in groups and I was on my own. I am hoping that if I do Wine & Dine I can run with a friend because 13+ miles alone seems like it would be pretty boring.

 

[smileyk8]

I can definitely say that WISHers will chat to you! I almost ran the whole marathon in 2010 with another WISHer (optimator/mike) after I had started the run alone. It was brilliant and made the run sooooo much easier. Perhaps we could have pace groups to try to gather some support? I'm a little shy so wouldn't necessarily strike up a chat with someone, but was thrilled that others did

 

[bellanotte10]

I'll be running alone! Just yell my user name and I'll say hi! Haha

 

[zgirls]

Great idea for the pace groups, it would be fun to run with somebody. I run all my events alone, DW will be there for the parks days before an after and of course the after party. She just started running so maybe a 5k with her.
I will come up with an outfit, just ran Tink with red wings and a shirt honoring Mom in heaven as my angel.

 

[the antifanatic]

add me to the list!

 

[LWQuestie]

My husband and I will be running Wine & Dine in 2013! Just booked our room at SSR.

W&D '12 was our first half, we ran Tink '13 last week and this will be our C2C! We're also planning to run the Castaway Cay 5K in May and a local 10K in September.

My husband is a much faster runner than I am, so I was running alone last year. We walked the Tink together and I ended up taking about 17 minutes off my time from W&D '12. Looking forward to seeing how I improve at the end of the year!

 

[lerxst]

For those concerned about running alone, do not fear. I ran W&D last year and Marathon couple weeks ago solo. So many people to chill and hang out with.

Every one I met were super friendly and conversations with complete strangers popped up effortlessly. Before and After races are a lot of fun. During run, I just focused on what I had to do, and still struck up tons of conversations during both events.

If you have never done it before, you would be surprised how chatty fellow runners can be.

 

[smileyk8]

They've finally updated the date on rundisney. 8-9th November wine and dine wknd. They haven't changed any other info though... Ah it's really happening

 

[bellanotte10]

For those concerned about running alone, do not fear. I ran W&D last year and Marathon couple weeks ago solo. So many people to chill and hang out with.

Every one I met were super friendly and conversations with complete strangers popped up effortlessly. Before and After races are a lot of fun. During run, I just focused on what I had to do, and still struck up tons of conversations during both events.

If you have never done it before, you would be surprised how chatty fellow runners can be.

I did a 10k on NYD and was surprised with how friendly the people were I was running with, especially being a Boston based runner I would ask a question, my friends wouldn't know, so someone next to me would answer. Also some people joked about cold, etc. it made me happy. I think runners so far are just friendly people haha.

 

[rebapple]

What is the weather like usually for this race? Doing DDD and finishing up with w&d for c2c.

 

[fozziepitysthefool]

If I recall from last year, the Friday before the race was the first Very Merry Christmas. We went to MK the weekend before (for Fantasyland preview) and it was all Halloween, when went back the following week for W&D it was all Christmas.

That's great! I really hope to be able to do the same!

 

[fozziepitysthefool]

As for package vs hold out for free dining....I think it depends on what is important to you. Choice of resort? "Value" of money paid to Disney? I went with free dining last year. I could have gotten a better deal if I booked room only and paid OOP for food, but I was splurging for my birthday and spent the extra $30 to have set plans and stuff prepaid (if I have a TS credit and an ADR, I am far more likely to sit and enjoy a nice meal than if I were just walking around the park and wanted to eat.). I am also a huge fan of renting DVC points if you are not a DVC member.

We've been to Disney 5 times; four were at ASMu and once at AKL (that was a splurge!). This time I think we are aiming for CBR... We're not really looking for table dining, we found it hard to have to be somewhere at an exact time. I just pay OOP for a sit down meal or two (usually at AMC lol). I can't see the run Disney room/ticket package being cheaper than FD. I haven't looked into DVC yet for fear my brain may explode - seems so complicated!

 

[schoonersky]

I haven't looked into DVC yet for fear my brain may explode - seems so complicated!

I used David's DVC to rent points way back on December 8th and was able to book a villa at the Boardwalk. Great deal really, I think it was about $750 for four nights. We are going to add dining plan, love booking my ADRs and looking forward to them. We have done Pop Century, Port Orleans Riverside and the Contemporary (conference rate! LOL) and enjoyed them all.

I was finally able to get flights with our aeroplan points yesterday after two months of watching the site daily!!! So excited about that! So now we land late Wednesday night. Might book a night at Art of Animation for a treat- this is DH and I doing our first trip without kids (they are 13 and 11) so we deserve a treat! ;-)

 

[lerxst]

What is the weather like usually for this race? Doing DDD and finishing up with w&d for c2c.

W&D was move into November last year to the end of Wine and Dine festival instead of the earlier October weekends closer to the beginning of the festival. Last year was nice weather...clear, no rain, right around 60 degrees at race time. Pleasant temps.

I don't remember being uncomfortable before or even after race.

 

[lerxst]

I used David's DVC to rent points way back on December 8th and was able to book a villa at the Boardwalk. Great deal really, I think it was about $750 for four nights. We are going to add dining plan, love booking my ADRs and looking forward to them. We have done Pop Century, Port Orleans Riverside and the Contemporary (conference rate! LOL) and enjoyed them all.

I was finally able to get flights with our aeroplan points yesterday after two months of watching the site daily!!! So excited about that! So now we land late Wednesday night. Might book a night at Art of Animation for a treat- this is DH and I doing our first trip without kids (they are 13 and 11) so we deserve a treat! ;-)

We stayed at AoA during marathon as booked through IRUN. Beautiful place (those the food court is kinda mediocre). As a runner the only problem I had were that the non-suite rooms were so far from the buses. It was such a painful walk from the bus stop to the King Triton building in the Little Mermaid area. We even ended up taking cab from building to dinner to avoid the lengthy walk (but that was after 26.2 miles).

 

[wdwpluto]

Count me in! I'm actually already registered because I had to defer my Donald entry due to injury.

 

[schoonersky]

We stayed at AoA during marathon as booked through IRUN. Beautiful place (those the food court is kinda mediocre). As a runner the only problem I had were that the non-suite rooms were so far from the buses. It was such a painful walk from the bus stop to the King Triton building in the Little Mermaid area. We even ended up taking cab from building to dinner to avoid the lengthy walk (but that was after 26.2 miles).

Might not be the best spot for a late arrival and early departure stay over. I just wanted to be able to take Magical Express to 'somewhere' and then move to the Boardwalk the next morning. I don't want to pay $300 for the pleasure of crashing at the Boardwalk that night, since we won't get there till 1am.

 

[bjakmom]

We're in - DH just ran the Goofy and we had such a great time he wanted to run the F&W 1/2 - so DGrD(9) and I decided to start training for our first 5K and do the Jungle Jingle
Booked AKV and made a new countdown - so it's official - let the training begin!

 

[fozziepitysthefool]

I was finally able to get flights with our aeroplan points yesterday after two months of watching the site daily!!! So excited about that! So now we land late Wednesday night. Might book a night at Art of Animation for a treat- this is DH and I doing our first trip without kids (they are 13 and 11) so we deserve a treat! ;-)

What better treat than Disney!

 

[MikeofRose&Mike]

DW will be there for the parks days before an after and of course the after party. She just started running so maybe a 5k with her.

Starting now should be plenty of time for her to get to 13.1 by november!

What is the weather like usually for this race? Doing DDD and finishing up with w&d for c2c.

For those not from the south it will be warm/humid, but no sun beating down on you.