crewmatt
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
- Messages
- 868
Disney Marathon Trip Report
So yea, life has been interesting and busy since the marathon, certainly not enough running, so I apologize for the delay in this trip report.
So we arrived at Disney Wednesday AM and checked into AKV-Jambo - which by the way - easily the most amazing hotel ever. We were staying club level, so we were escorted up. Sat down, got checked in, apparently the KTTW are Gold for Club Level - I never knew . Apparently some Disney employees didnt either haha. So while we're checking in they had my last name wrong, haha, but that was easy enough to fix. The room was obviously not ready, so we grabbed a drink at lounge, checked our bags, and headed out to Animal Kingdom.
We get to Animal Kingdom, and wow, I swear I've never seen it that busy. It was 11 oclock or so and all of the fast passes were used up for Everest. The wait was like 2 hours, so we headed over to Dinosaur. Big wait there so we grabbed fast passes for that and walked around the park taking pictures/etc until our Yak and Yeti lunch. We werent too hungry so we got 2 appetizers - the lettuce wraps and fried green beans - they were amazing, and then split the Wonton dessert. I highly recommend it. The restaurant wasnt too crowded at all.
We hung out at Animal Kingdom and eventually did the Safari and a few other things, saw Festival of the Lion King - very good show. Dinner that night was at Hacienda in EPCOT, so we headed out early to get there. We get to EPCOT and the park was empty. The only ride with any sort of a significant line was Soarin, so we hit all of the other rides in the time we had left before our dinner reservation. I forgot how cool that boat ride in the Land Pavilion was. Loved all the interesting techniques they were testing there.
We checked in at Hacienda and they said 20 minutes or so, so onto the Ditch - I'm currently craving the Ditch!!. A couple Margarita's later we're brought in and sat in the back. No Illuminations view for us. The food was very good, I would certainly go back, wish we had gotten a better view. We would've ordered more food to stay longer in that case to see the fireworks, but we were tired so we headed back to the Lodge.
The next day we rope dropped Hollywood Studios. And by rope drop I mean we were there an hour early and were easily the first people waiting there. One guy was waiting with us in the last 20 minutes or so, and was really excited about trying for American Idol. Not my cup of tea, but a marathon is certainly not a lot of people's cup of tea, so I hope he did well. Obviously did the usual, TSM, R&R, so on. Unlike previous years we had to hop a bus to a hotel for packet pickup. Went to POP, then Packet Pickup and got all of the paperwork. Much better merchandise this year, but the lines were epic. Headed back to the hotel and got some food at the Mara, very good African Stew. Went back to DHS to see fantasmic and ride R&R another time. After that we headed back to AKL and went to Boma for dinner. It was very good, I enjoyed, but wow was it crowded and busy. Amazing soups if you ever go. The beef they were serving was pretty good. So far I think this was my favorite dinner buffet.
Friday was Magic Kingdom - grabbed breakfast in the loung, and onto rope drop again. We hit most of the rides we wanted to hit by lunch time, hit some basic CS stuff - Casey's and Cosmic Rays for lunch. Wow those little hot dog nuggets were good. Eventually headed out and back to the hotel. Decided seeing as we didnt have ADR's to walk around DTD and find food there. Went to Paradiso 37, which was quite good. Enjoyed a nice pitcher of sangria under the space heaters outside. I still can't believe Disney closed Pleasure Island, that place must have been hot and cold running $$ for Disney.
Saturday we took it easy, slept in, went to EPCOT and did world showcase. We ended up doing Kim Possible, which was actually a lot of fun. Our camera decided it didnt want to autofocus - it gets in these moods every so often. If anyone has a Nikon D3000 who has any idea why this happens, I'm all for advice. We switched lenses, cleaned contacts, etc.
Dinner that night was Il Mulino, and WOW it was spectacular. I'm already making reservations there for next year.
Sunday morning I was up bright and early at 3 for the marathon. I had layed all of my stuff out the night before so I was ready to go. Took like 15 minutes to get ready adn get out the door. Got on the bus, obviously talked to people around me. It was a fairly uneventful trip to the runners village. Hung out there, no lines for the Porta Potties, so I was super impressed with that. I put on the throwaway sweatshirt as it was just a little chilly and I knew i had some time to go. Moved over to the starting line and stretched/warmed up a little there as it was still pretty empty. I really enjoyed those runDisney TV videos (I have to find them somewhere). It was really tongue and cheek and very entertaining. As the corral filled in I lined up with the 3:20 group. I wanted to make sure I started this one very easy and didnt overdo it as I hadn't been keeping up with those long runs. It turned out to be a very fun group, so I'm glad I stuck with them. The gun went off, tossed the sweatshirt, and we were gone. I had never done this side of the course so the first couple miles were new and different. One thing that was weird was that there were people who were clearly holding a 4 hour pace that had to have started at the very front, who were getting very angry and rude about the pace group running around them.
I loved the Main Street Electrical floats that were out at the entrance to futureworld. Really made my morning. The lights in EPCOT were beautiful, but I did miss the calm serene World Showcase Torches when running the Red Course last year. With the warmer temperatures I was able to focus a lot more on the fun parts of the course and appreciate it. It was cool getting to run under Test Track, and very fun when we came back around and caught the tail. Kept going, around the exit ramp, and settled in for the few miles of quiet. But wait, just as I grab a cup of water at a water stop, someone catches the back of my shoe, and it was gone. Turned around, hopped back, got shoe, and picked it up. Caught back up with very little fanfare. It was fun entering the TTC because I knew MK was getting close - and another pacer from the half marathon, who was on a morning run from POR caught joined us. Seemed nice, but was much quieter than our pace leader. It was still quite dark out at this point, but this time around I knew exactly where I was. Entering MK was even more fun then last year as the crowds were thicker and more excited. It was also really cool going through the park while it was still dark. I think disney is very nice during the day, but at night it really transforms.
After a gorgeous couple miles of MK, we cut backstage again, and out onto the roads. They had the signs out again, this year I could read them !!. Last year I remember feeling miserable at this point, but this year I was just cruising, having a fun time with the pace group. I didnt even realized we had passed the Floridian because the wedding singer was out and he had my attention for that section. As we passed the Poly we could see the folks running in the TTC with some waves and shouts of encouragement going both ways. We hit the turn at mile 14 - and onto AK. During that stretch our pace leader had to take a bathroom break, so he handed off the balloons to the other pacer who had joined us. Up until this point we had gradually been building a bank of like a minute, minute and change. He dropped the pace down into the 3:15-3:10 pace which was causing quite a lot of stress especially among the people who were risking it going for a 3:20. So go figure I end up leading the main pack of the pace group and basically let the balloons go. Thankfully I had a garmin which helped me stay on pace and not want to catch up to him. Eventually our pace leader came back, a few of us pushed ahead with him and closed the gap, got his balloons back, and then slowed to let the main body of runners catch back up. Once that was all said and done, and some fun comments were made we were passing the treatment plant and horticulture center, just starting to enter the back ends of AK. I didnt notice this last year but its cool when you cross the fence and are in AK, but not in the park itself. AK was fun, and that parking lot stretch wasnt nearly as painful as last year, mostly becaues we were all laughing and joking, keeping our spirits up.
As we rolled onto Osceola, we again focused on settling in and keeping it consistent. We ended up passing a pre-elite who the pace leader knew who was just coming apart, as well as starting to pick up people from the 3:10 group who were dropping back. The turnaround while annoying was again no where near as terrible as last year. I loved the Green Soldier at the "hill" of an exit ramp as we finished the switchback. As we headed into HS, we had used up most of our bank with that long parking lot stretch and Osceola. here's where our group started to thin out and it was all we could do to keep it together. Loved the candy again, for some reason Dark Chocolate just tastes so good after all those super sweet gelcubes. Throughout the race I had been eating more often, less than normal each time. So instead of like 2-3 gel cubes every 40 minutes I was doing 1-2 every 20. Felt much better IMO. As we were rounding the giant Hat, we were really starting to lose some folks. Here's where the pace leader was giving great advice, basically saying to run the last 3 miles with your arms. Focus on setting a cadence with the arms and your legs have no choice but to follow. I wasnt dying at all, but it was a good focus. As we got onto the trail to head to Boardwalk, I knew exactly where I was as I stayed at Beach Club and Boardwalk in October, and had run that section a lot. All through that area was just shouting back to the group to stay together. As we rounded the back into EPCOT the pace leader and me and another guy started really pushing the pace in excitement, but he then told the 2 of us to push ahead and go while he'd go get teh rest of the group. Entered EPCOT and loved every minute of it. I was feeling good and in control. Not falling apart, no muscles failing, sore yes, but not dying like MCM when I bonked and did a 3:21. We pushed the pace all for the last mile and crossed the line, it was an awesome race. With MCM and the NYC Triathlon I had crashes towards the end so I was really scared that I somehow broke something, like lost my mental toughness and wouldnt be able to get it back. This was a huge confidence booster to be able to enjoy the whole race and finish strong. Way more fun then if I started with the 3:10 group and died trying for that time.
Finished and stumbled over to the A-B tent (AS FAR AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE). These nice volunteers actually had a chair so I got to sit while one of them grabbed my bag. Met up with my wife, and we hopped on the Bus back to AKL. Showered, and went to Boma for breakfast. We ended up sitting next to the Hanson Brothers from Brooks Hansons Distance Project. We talked for a while, very nice guys. Good advice.
Lazied around for some of the day and went to AK to hit some of the rides and walk off the soreness. Got back to the lodge and hit Jiko for Dinner, YAY Filet + Mac&Cheese.
Monday we had breakfast at Crystal Palace followed by Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which was awesome, but wow that was a lot of standing and walking. The guide was very funny with us marathoners, joking about letting us use the elevator. We of course refused, something about pride.
Tuesday we did EPCOT again and did Soarin - love that ride, as well as most of the others. Tuesdays highlight was a dinner at Victoria and Alberts - and when I say I've never eaten that well ever I mean it. Just the breads alone were worth it.
Wednesday was departure day sadly, but such is any disney trip. With any luck I'll be doing both Wine and Dine this year as well as the Marathon in January. However we recently found out that my wife's job is relocating to Houston Texas (we're in DC now). Obviously its not the end of the world, I work for one of the big consulting firms so I could transfer with little fanfare, but we still haven't decided. Obviously any advice about that would be very appreciated.
So yea, life has been interesting and busy since the marathon, certainly not enough running, so I apologize for the delay in this trip report.
So we arrived at Disney Wednesday AM and checked into AKV-Jambo - which by the way - easily the most amazing hotel ever. We were staying club level, so we were escorted up. Sat down, got checked in, apparently the KTTW are Gold for Club Level - I never knew . Apparently some Disney employees didnt either haha. So while we're checking in they had my last name wrong, haha, but that was easy enough to fix. The room was obviously not ready, so we grabbed a drink at lounge, checked our bags, and headed out to Animal Kingdom.
We get to Animal Kingdom, and wow, I swear I've never seen it that busy. It was 11 oclock or so and all of the fast passes were used up for Everest. The wait was like 2 hours, so we headed over to Dinosaur. Big wait there so we grabbed fast passes for that and walked around the park taking pictures/etc until our Yak and Yeti lunch. We werent too hungry so we got 2 appetizers - the lettuce wraps and fried green beans - they were amazing, and then split the Wonton dessert. I highly recommend it. The restaurant wasnt too crowded at all.
We hung out at Animal Kingdom and eventually did the Safari and a few other things, saw Festival of the Lion King - very good show. Dinner that night was at Hacienda in EPCOT, so we headed out early to get there. We get to EPCOT and the park was empty. The only ride with any sort of a significant line was Soarin, so we hit all of the other rides in the time we had left before our dinner reservation. I forgot how cool that boat ride in the Land Pavilion was. Loved all the interesting techniques they were testing there.
We checked in at Hacienda and they said 20 minutes or so, so onto the Ditch - I'm currently craving the Ditch!!. A couple Margarita's later we're brought in and sat in the back. No Illuminations view for us. The food was very good, I would certainly go back, wish we had gotten a better view. We would've ordered more food to stay longer in that case to see the fireworks, but we were tired so we headed back to the Lodge.
The next day we rope dropped Hollywood Studios. And by rope drop I mean we were there an hour early and were easily the first people waiting there. One guy was waiting with us in the last 20 minutes or so, and was really excited about trying for American Idol. Not my cup of tea, but a marathon is certainly not a lot of people's cup of tea, so I hope he did well. Obviously did the usual, TSM, R&R, so on. Unlike previous years we had to hop a bus to a hotel for packet pickup. Went to POP, then Packet Pickup and got all of the paperwork. Much better merchandise this year, but the lines were epic. Headed back to the hotel and got some food at the Mara, very good African Stew. Went back to DHS to see fantasmic and ride R&R another time. After that we headed back to AKL and went to Boma for dinner. It was very good, I enjoyed, but wow was it crowded and busy. Amazing soups if you ever go. The beef they were serving was pretty good. So far I think this was my favorite dinner buffet.
Friday was Magic Kingdom - grabbed breakfast in the loung, and onto rope drop again. We hit most of the rides we wanted to hit by lunch time, hit some basic CS stuff - Casey's and Cosmic Rays for lunch. Wow those little hot dog nuggets were good. Eventually headed out and back to the hotel. Decided seeing as we didnt have ADR's to walk around DTD and find food there. Went to Paradiso 37, which was quite good. Enjoyed a nice pitcher of sangria under the space heaters outside. I still can't believe Disney closed Pleasure Island, that place must have been hot and cold running $$ for Disney.
Saturday we took it easy, slept in, went to EPCOT and did world showcase. We ended up doing Kim Possible, which was actually a lot of fun. Our camera decided it didnt want to autofocus - it gets in these moods every so often. If anyone has a Nikon D3000 who has any idea why this happens, I'm all for advice. We switched lenses, cleaned contacts, etc.
Dinner that night was Il Mulino, and WOW it was spectacular. I'm already making reservations there for next year.
Sunday morning I was up bright and early at 3 for the marathon. I had layed all of my stuff out the night before so I was ready to go. Took like 15 minutes to get ready adn get out the door. Got on the bus, obviously talked to people around me. It was a fairly uneventful trip to the runners village. Hung out there, no lines for the Porta Potties, so I was super impressed with that. I put on the throwaway sweatshirt as it was just a little chilly and I knew i had some time to go. Moved over to the starting line and stretched/warmed up a little there as it was still pretty empty. I really enjoyed those runDisney TV videos (I have to find them somewhere). It was really tongue and cheek and very entertaining. As the corral filled in I lined up with the 3:20 group. I wanted to make sure I started this one very easy and didnt overdo it as I hadn't been keeping up with those long runs. It turned out to be a very fun group, so I'm glad I stuck with them. The gun went off, tossed the sweatshirt, and we were gone. I had never done this side of the course so the first couple miles were new and different. One thing that was weird was that there were people who were clearly holding a 4 hour pace that had to have started at the very front, who were getting very angry and rude about the pace group running around them.
I loved the Main Street Electrical floats that were out at the entrance to futureworld. Really made my morning. The lights in EPCOT were beautiful, but I did miss the calm serene World Showcase Torches when running the Red Course last year. With the warmer temperatures I was able to focus a lot more on the fun parts of the course and appreciate it. It was cool getting to run under Test Track, and very fun when we came back around and caught the tail. Kept going, around the exit ramp, and settled in for the few miles of quiet. But wait, just as I grab a cup of water at a water stop, someone catches the back of my shoe, and it was gone. Turned around, hopped back, got shoe, and picked it up. Caught back up with very little fanfare. It was fun entering the TTC because I knew MK was getting close - and another pacer from the half marathon, who was on a morning run from POR caught joined us. Seemed nice, but was much quieter than our pace leader. It was still quite dark out at this point, but this time around I knew exactly where I was. Entering MK was even more fun then last year as the crowds were thicker and more excited. It was also really cool going through the park while it was still dark. I think disney is very nice during the day, but at night it really transforms.
After a gorgeous couple miles of MK, we cut backstage again, and out onto the roads. They had the signs out again, this year I could read them !!. Last year I remember feeling miserable at this point, but this year I was just cruising, having a fun time with the pace group. I didnt even realized we had passed the Floridian because the wedding singer was out and he had my attention for that section. As we passed the Poly we could see the folks running in the TTC with some waves and shouts of encouragement going both ways. We hit the turn at mile 14 - and onto AK. During that stretch our pace leader had to take a bathroom break, so he handed off the balloons to the other pacer who had joined us. Up until this point we had gradually been building a bank of like a minute, minute and change. He dropped the pace down into the 3:15-3:10 pace which was causing quite a lot of stress especially among the people who were risking it going for a 3:20. So go figure I end up leading the main pack of the pace group and basically let the balloons go. Thankfully I had a garmin which helped me stay on pace and not want to catch up to him. Eventually our pace leader came back, a few of us pushed ahead with him and closed the gap, got his balloons back, and then slowed to let the main body of runners catch back up. Once that was all said and done, and some fun comments were made we were passing the treatment plant and horticulture center, just starting to enter the back ends of AK. I didnt notice this last year but its cool when you cross the fence and are in AK, but not in the park itself. AK was fun, and that parking lot stretch wasnt nearly as painful as last year, mostly becaues we were all laughing and joking, keeping our spirits up.
As we rolled onto Osceola, we again focused on settling in and keeping it consistent. We ended up passing a pre-elite who the pace leader knew who was just coming apart, as well as starting to pick up people from the 3:10 group who were dropping back. The turnaround while annoying was again no where near as terrible as last year. I loved the Green Soldier at the "hill" of an exit ramp as we finished the switchback. As we headed into HS, we had used up most of our bank with that long parking lot stretch and Osceola. here's where our group started to thin out and it was all we could do to keep it together. Loved the candy again, for some reason Dark Chocolate just tastes so good after all those super sweet gelcubes. Throughout the race I had been eating more often, less than normal each time. So instead of like 2-3 gel cubes every 40 minutes I was doing 1-2 every 20. Felt much better IMO. As we were rounding the giant Hat, we were really starting to lose some folks. Here's where the pace leader was giving great advice, basically saying to run the last 3 miles with your arms. Focus on setting a cadence with the arms and your legs have no choice but to follow. I wasnt dying at all, but it was a good focus. As we got onto the trail to head to Boardwalk, I knew exactly where I was as I stayed at Beach Club and Boardwalk in October, and had run that section a lot. All through that area was just shouting back to the group to stay together. As we rounded the back into EPCOT the pace leader and me and another guy started really pushing the pace in excitement, but he then told the 2 of us to push ahead and go while he'd go get teh rest of the group. Entered EPCOT and loved every minute of it. I was feeling good and in control. Not falling apart, no muscles failing, sore yes, but not dying like MCM when I bonked and did a 3:21. We pushed the pace all for the last mile and crossed the line, it was an awesome race. With MCM and the NYC Triathlon I had crashes towards the end so I was really scared that I somehow broke something, like lost my mental toughness and wouldnt be able to get it back. This was a huge confidence booster to be able to enjoy the whole race and finish strong. Way more fun then if I started with the 3:10 group and died trying for that time.
Finished and stumbled over to the A-B tent (AS FAR AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE). These nice volunteers actually had a chair so I got to sit while one of them grabbed my bag. Met up with my wife, and we hopped on the Bus back to AKL. Showered, and went to Boma for breakfast. We ended up sitting next to the Hanson Brothers from Brooks Hansons Distance Project. We talked for a while, very nice guys. Good advice.
Lazied around for some of the day and went to AK to hit some of the rides and walk off the soreness. Got back to the lodge and hit Jiko for Dinner, YAY Filet + Mac&Cheese.
Monday we had breakfast at Crystal Palace followed by Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which was awesome, but wow that was a lot of standing and walking. The guide was very funny with us marathoners, joking about letting us use the elevator. We of course refused, something about pride.
Tuesday we did EPCOT again and did Soarin - love that ride, as well as most of the others. Tuesdays highlight was a dinner at Victoria and Alberts - and when I say I've never eaten that well ever I mean it. Just the breads alone were worth it.
Wednesday was departure day sadly, but such is any disney trip. With any luck I'll be doing both Wine and Dine this year as well as the Marathon in January. However we recently found out that my wife's job is relocating to Houston Texas (we're in DC now). Obviously its not the end of the world, I work for one of the big consulting firms so I could transfer with little fanfare, but we still haven't decided. Obviously any advice about that would be very appreciated.
I am thinking about running the Princess in 2012. 
haven't ran all month.. I swear this weather is KILLING me! I need to move back to Florida.. I told myself no more excuses.. back at it on Monday.. 
So, I may not have the time to train. I really, really, really wanted a sub 4 hour marathon. I guess I'll just have to see how much time classes and studying really take. One of my classes is actually running awareness, which just cracks me up. I had to take a health class and thought, why not? It's either an easy A or I'll learn something that will help me out. As my final exam, I'll be making my own training plan for a race and then, run the race. So, why not the marathon? 
