Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

Texas, you didn't miss much. I got a good view as I walked through trying to stretch out my cramping legs. Just some giant characters operated by a puppeteer.

We finished the marathon. It was a grueling test for botg my wife and I. I've never felt more proud of myself or her. When we got to the resort, i took a shower, got dressed, and fell asleep on our bed. My wife said I was cute because as I slept, i clutched the medal that was laying on my chest.

Congratulations to all our Magic runners for all your hard work in training for and running this event. And those of you who did the Goofy challenge, extra (but gentle) pats on the back to you!

I just want in on this thread, I just started running again after many many many years and want to set a goal for next year. Good luck to everyone.

Well I did it, I ran my very first marathon and I couldn't be prouder. I almost cried when I saw my hubby waiting to cheer me on around mile 18. But I wouldn't say that I ever really hit a wall but I think it is mostly because I took it nice and slow knowing that my training had been less than stellar. But it is done now and I am looking forward to doing it again. Yes that's right, I wasn't so discouraged that I have put the thought of next year out of my mind.
Congrats to everyone!!!

Weather sucked, way to hot and humid. Mile 20 "spectacular" seemed to go the way most runDisney "surprises" go, a total letdown. Feel sorry for anyone who didn't get to the Expo Thursday, went back Friday and the merch area was demolished....

Totally agree about Mile 20...you'd think I would have learned not to get super excited for their big announcements after the way they hyped up the Tinkerbell Half.

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Finished all 3 races, and I don't think I would do all 3 in one weekend again but am glad I did it once. Full trip report with lots of character pictures in the works.

Also, loved meeting up with @LindsayLoves, @Texas84 and @Mad Stitch before the marathon, as well as @Texas84 cousin and @LindsayLoves brother before the marathon (and thanks for letting me hang out with you guys in the corrals). i have a picture i will post today or tomorrow. Ran into @Kristia on the half course in Fantasyland!

I can't remember...did you run the Tinkerbell Half or are you referring to the media blitz and guessing game that ended up with another half marathon?

I CAN'T WAIT TO READ ABOUT IT!!

In a nutshell...did the races go well? Better than your last ones? Or at least better than you expected?

There's nothing like a first marathon finish! Congratulations! To you and all the finishers.

Bring on the pics!

Before they announced the Tinkerbell race they did a social media thing where they dropped clues and stuff. Except the clues made no sense, even after they explained them. And then they stretched out the 20th medal release for awhile with their "Find Donald" thing.

Few other thoughts on the weekend. Saw @Donald Duck in the line for pictures with Scrooge after the half. At least it looked like him. Some badass dressed all in black, with tons of gear.

runDisney needs to get their act in gear with regards to merchandise. They did make a few changes this year that I liked, the framed medal/poster was cool (didn't ask the price though), as was the pin set ($90 was way too much), but need some variety. It's basically been the same stuff just with different logos at every race for the last few years. And bring back an event specific polo already damn it. Also, they need to figure out demand. They should not be like 95% sold out of Goofy merch Friday morning. And even worse, when I was there at 10ish on Thursday, and the one item I did buy, they were completely sold out of my size in one merch area, and the other only had 4-5 left. Is it seriously that hard for them to setup a table/tent/kiosk/whatever with examples of the merch, sizes to try on, and then just ship it to you afterwards? The same way they have done for the t shirts at the recent anniversary events?

Crowd at the expo was nuts. Friday the line to get in wrapped all the way around one of the soccer fields.

5k, liked the characters in their country specific costumes, not something you normally see. Wasn't a fan of the corrals, seeding people based solely on when you registered leads to chaos.

Half, good as normal. No real complaints.

Full, lets skip the speedway next year, m'k? Doesn't bring much to the table, and that down/up to get in was tough, wonder if anyone wiped out on the way down. And then lets get rid of WWoS. Way to much meandering for my liking. And as I said, the mile 20 spectacular sucked. Except those looked like new puppet things. Like tapestry of nations, but with the animated characters. Anyone ever see those before? Wonder if they were from a new parade/show. Still love the enthusiasm from the CMs and spectators, always great to see. And the bling was awesome......

Didn't participate and forgot this was going on, but went to DHS on Sunday with the boyfriend and spectated for a bit. It was pretty awesome and a huge congratulations to everybody who participated.

I'm just glad I survived the full. Way too hot, I was an hour slower than last year. Didn't really find mile 20 that spectacular. Raceway was OK but I could really do without ever running through WWOS again (didn't like it at TOT either).

I am with you guys on the track and Wide World of Sports. It was cool to see the track, but I think I'm good now. I've had bad experiences at Wide World of Sports for both the Tower of Terror and now the marathon, so if we don't go through there again I'd be perfectly fine with it. Aside from the weather and the major cramping, I enjoyed the run.

I also agree that Disney should cut back on the all out marketing blitzes. All they do is set themselves and the runners up for disappointment. If they are going to do something out of the ordinary, let it be a surprise.

Ha! We went Saturday and it looked like a bomb hit!

I have a few pics I'll try to post tomorrow. Just finished the 6-hour drive back and I'm beat. Brain no function very good.

Haha! Yeah that was me. You should have said hello. But I would have made you do push ups with me! That's what I made this guy do that I ran with for a bit during the full. After we saw each other after a 03:44 finish, I said, pushups now! It was done.

I was going to, but when I got out of line, you were gone. : ( So not only are you a machine, you are a ninja as well...... That explains the black.

And in case anyone is unaware, marathonfoto has some of the race pictures posted. (5K is just listed as Family Fun 5k if you can't find it)

The media blitz, as @dreamfinder said. Although I did think that the 20th medal was worth the hype.

In an nutshell...

The 5K was fun, but I agree that the corrals were stupid. I was at the front of corral B and could see lots of young kids in A. At least the starts were pretty-well spaced out. LOVED the characters but all of the lines were HUGE - biggest I'd seen at a Disney race at that point. I only waited in one and I think it was a 10-15 minute line, and the picture didn't even come out.

The half was SOOOOO crowded. It's the same course as the Princess Half (which I ran in 2011) and I couldn't believe how congested it was. I guess that's what 10,000 extra people will do. Traffic completely stopped on Main Street and coming out of the castle, and leaving MK was tough. Good race though, and some GREAT characters - waited in the longest line of the weekend during this race and it was totally worth it (shameless plug: pic to come in my trip report).

The full was really challenging. The first 7-8 miles were the same as the half course, which was good because I remembered where the mile markers were from the previous day, but a lot of the characters were the same. Waited in the second longest line of the race in the MK (always my longest mile) - again, totally worth it. I started struggling around the halfway point, not with the heat though - my feet were killing me. The sun was rough, but the humidity didn't both me on portions of the course where we could spread out more and in the shaded portions it felt quite nice out...even breezy. I wasn't excited about the course changes when they were posted, as the morning loop through Epcot was my favorite part of last year's race, and I still feel the same - the old course was better. Car racing doesn't do much for me so I can definitely take or leave the loop around the WDW Speedway (Cars characters out here). There was a very steep down/uphill to get into the track, didn't like that so much...and no shade, of coruse. WWoS went on FOREVER - hated that part. There were lots of real bathrooms, but I didn't stop because by then I had a sort-of goal I wanted to attain and all the lines were out the doors. Not a lot of shade here either, and Mile 20 was a letdown. I can post pictures if anyone is interested. I think I read part of it is props from World of Color at DCA...I would have thought it was neat if it hadn't been hyped up so much. At some point I figured out that if I took longer walk breaks it was way too hard to start running again, and I ended up with a negative split (second half 9-10 minutes faster than the first...of course the character lines weren't as long by then, so that helped too ).

Walked around like a grandma yesterday and am feeling MUCH better today. Still not sure if I would do it again...although the 10th Anniversary of the Goofy Challenge in 2015 will be mighty tempting.

Yeah...no finish line photos for me...? Time for you to update your avatar?

No props involved in WoC. They may have made some for a special showing, but the entire show is water/lights/projection based. No actual performers. At least not from the videos I have seen and when I saw it after the DLR 1/2.

Ayup. Most certainly. Hopefully in the next few days. : )