Well,
This is going to be long so I will break it into 2 parts....I hope some of you read this part because what happened this weekend is something I just have to share.
I have been at every Disney Marathon for the past decade and I can safely say this one was the most memorable. I thought it might be cool to allow a space and individual thread for those wanting to specifically talk about this past year.
The 5k and 10k went off relatively well and the "mini-waves" (something new they tried, by breaking up corals into four distinct starts 2 minutes a part) seemed to help space out the runners, at least where I was. But like I said those two races were not very eventful, little did I know.....
I got the news via a text at around 8:00 on Friday Night that the Half had been cancelled. This started about a five hour process for me of checking rundisney.com, facebook, and then twitter repeatedly. My wife was sound asleep (after spending about 30 minutes fussing at the weather). As far as I was concerned I really thought it was one big joke, like they would reconsider, especially since all the weather reports I had seen were showing lower chances of storms every time I checked.
I could not believe they had made the decision so early. In my mind knowing the Florida weather that was a heck of a risk calling the race so early. I did not think it would have hurt anything to just make sure the system came through that morning. Rumor has it (from a really good source) that they actually called the race around 3:00 pm that day. They were just getting things in place. Hindsight, of course they made the right call. A sign actually went up in the AKL lobby announcing cancellation an hour earlier than intended causing quite the stir.
At 8:00pm they also sent a text saying they would have more info at 10:00pm. With so many wanting to switch their registration, or simply blow up twitter with complaints this caused quite a stir, especially since they did not actually announce anything till almost 11:00pm. The #grumpychallenge movement got a little traction on social media. I for one thought Disney should have embraced it and brought out Grumpy, but I digress...
They gave the runners four options as most of you know, which I thought was gracious. Although it took a while for them to clarify what Goofy and Dopey participants could do.
But that next morning I woke up to the sound of cheering. At first I was hazy, I wondered "did they decide to run the half?" Then I looked out our window.
First I saw lightning in the distance....so good call Disney. The race would have been cancelled regardless, although the lightening that I saw throughout the day was never close. I was kind of relieved for Disney's sake after reading all the nasty tweets. (I will say a vast majority of the runners were supportive of the decision though)
Second I saw runners, Yes on the Boardwalk at 5:00 am. I was still a little bleary eyed so I wondered if I had dreamed the half was cancelled and I was missing it. Then I jumped on twitter and started reading about all these "unofficial half's".
There was video from Coronado Springs, which was from what I understand the base for many of the charity runners. So they had hundreds of people running there as early as the night before. There was an unofficial half that drew tons of runners at Art/Pop. I heard about runners running around the Seven Seas Lagoon, the stories just kept coming and honestly it was the most inspiring thing I have seen in a long time, people wanting to earn those medals.
Those people were not going to take a free medal, they were going to earn it and it was darned near the coolest thing I have ever seen in the running community.
So I let my wife sleep a little longer then dropped the news on her that I was running. I was earning my Dopey. She was irritated honestly, she did not understand. So I hit the Boardwalk by myself and was blown away, it was around 9:00 am and there had to have been at least 50 folks running with their bibs and costumes on. I ran around the Boardwalk doing the mile circuit and came around a corner and there was my wife, in her running gear. She said after I left she decided I was right. I was all sorts of "more inspired" at this point and for the next couple of hours I had the best run of my life with my best friend. We toured Disney, from Fantasia Gardens, Beach Club, the Swan and Dolphin, the Reedy Creek Fire Station, DHS, Epcot, we saw wildlife without running through AK (saw a wild turkey and some squirrels). There were people cheering all over the place, there were makeshift water stations in front of the Beach Club and ESPN Club. We even stopped for some characters (runners in costume). We really made it one of the best days ever. At one point running on the trail between DHS and Epcot I counted 40 runners just there within view. It was really awesome. I think the zenith was probably around 10:00 am when people who resisted at first were inspired like I was, at that point I would say there was well over 100 hundred people just in the Boardwalk area alone running. We happily ran through rain and wind. Although we took it very easy and did an incredibly slow pace, I think it was the fastest race of my life.
I finished my 13.1 at Epcot at the International Gateway, Amanda polished off her 13.1 at the Boardwalk Bakery.
We lumbered up to the room feeling better about ourselves and sharing an incredible run. I looked out our window and people were still running. All day people decided to do their 13.1.
Of course I would pay for that the next morning
.....
This is going to be long so I will break it into 2 parts....I hope some of you read this part because what happened this weekend is something I just have to share.
I have been at every Disney Marathon for the past decade and I can safely say this one was the most memorable. I thought it might be cool to allow a space and individual thread for those wanting to specifically talk about this past year.
The 5k and 10k went off relatively well and the "mini-waves" (something new they tried, by breaking up corals into four distinct starts 2 minutes a part) seemed to help space out the runners, at least where I was. But like I said those two races were not very eventful, little did I know.....
I got the news via a text at around 8:00 on Friday Night that the Half had been cancelled. This started about a five hour process for me of checking rundisney.com, facebook, and then twitter repeatedly. My wife was sound asleep (after spending about 30 minutes fussing at the weather). As far as I was concerned I really thought it was one big joke, like they would reconsider, especially since all the weather reports I had seen were showing lower chances of storms every time I checked.
I could not believe they had made the decision so early. In my mind knowing the Florida weather that was a heck of a risk calling the race so early. I did not think it would have hurt anything to just make sure the system came through that morning. Rumor has it (from a really good source) that they actually called the race around 3:00 pm that day. They were just getting things in place. Hindsight, of course they made the right call. A sign actually went up in the AKL lobby announcing cancellation an hour earlier than intended causing quite the stir.
At 8:00pm they also sent a text saying they would have more info at 10:00pm. With so many wanting to switch their registration, or simply blow up twitter with complaints this caused quite a stir, especially since they did not actually announce anything till almost 11:00pm. The #grumpychallenge movement got a little traction on social media. I for one thought Disney should have embraced it and brought out Grumpy, but I digress...
They gave the runners four options as most of you know, which I thought was gracious. Although it took a while for them to clarify what Goofy and Dopey participants could do.
But that next morning I woke up to the sound of cheering. At first I was hazy, I wondered "did they decide to run the half?" Then I looked out our window.
First I saw lightning in the distance....so good call Disney. The race would have been cancelled regardless, although the lightening that I saw throughout the day was never close. I was kind of relieved for Disney's sake after reading all the nasty tweets. (I will say a vast majority of the runners were supportive of the decision though)
Second I saw runners, Yes on the Boardwalk at 5:00 am. I was still a little bleary eyed so I wondered if I had dreamed the half was cancelled and I was missing it. Then I jumped on twitter and started reading about all these "unofficial half's".
There was video from Coronado Springs, which was from what I understand the base for many of the charity runners. So they had hundreds of people running there as early as the night before. There was an unofficial half that drew tons of runners at Art/Pop. I heard about runners running around the Seven Seas Lagoon, the stories just kept coming and honestly it was the most inspiring thing I have seen in a long time, people wanting to earn those medals.
Those people were not going to take a free medal, they were going to earn it and it was darned near the coolest thing I have ever seen in the running community.
So I let my wife sleep a little longer then dropped the news on her that I was running. I was earning my Dopey. She was irritated honestly, she did not understand. So I hit the Boardwalk by myself and was blown away, it was around 9:00 am and there had to have been at least 50 folks running with their bibs and costumes on. I ran around the Boardwalk doing the mile circuit and came around a corner and there was my wife, in her running gear. She said after I left she decided I was right. I was all sorts of "more inspired" at this point and for the next couple of hours I had the best run of my life with my best friend. We toured Disney, from Fantasia Gardens, Beach Club, the Swan and Dolphin, the Reedy Creek Fire Station, DHS, Epcot, we saw wildlife without running through AK (saw a wild turkey and some squirrels). There were people cheering all over the place, there were makeshift water stations in front of the Beach Club and ESPN Club. We even stopped for some characters (runners in costume). We really made it one of the best days ever. At one point running on the trail between DHS and Epcot I counted 40 runners just there within view. It was really awesome. I think the zenith was probably around 10:00 am when people who resisted at first were inspired like I was, at that point I would say there was well over 100 hundred people just in the Boardwalk area alone running. We happily ran through rain and wind. Although we took it very easy and did an incredibly slow pace, I think it was the fastest race of my life.
I finished my 13.1 at Epcot at the International Gateway, Amanda polished off her 13.1 at the Boardwalk Bakery.
We lumbered up to the room feeling better about ourselves and sharing an incredible run. I looked out our window and people were still running. All day people decided to do their 13.1.
Of course I would pay for that the next morning
.....
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