Life’s A Beach, And Then You Run: A 2012 Marathon Weekend Trip Report!

Hello friends! Welcome to the story of my Marathon Weekend.

The Cast (the only picture of the 3 of us from the entire weekend):

That would be mom (Kriss), my brother (Craig, aka Princes Craiggy, 25) and me (Shannon, 27).

This was my 6th trip to WDW, and 3rd trip in the last 12 months…lucky me! :sohappy:

Past trips include…

August 1995 (All-Star Sports)
May 2009 (Honeymoon at Boardwalk Inn)
November 2009 (Boardwalk Inn)
February 2011 (Princess Half Marathon/Port Orleans Riverside)
June 2011 (Split-stay: Animal Kingdom Lodge and Boardwalk Villas)

There’s not really much to say in regards to how this trip came to be…basically before the Princess Half in 2011, Princess Craiggy and I agreed that if we made it out of the half alive, we’d sign up for the 2012 Marathon. And here we are! Yay! :sohappy:

 

[Kristia]

Girl I am hoping I can do it.... One thing has me on the edge. We leave for Disney the Friday after the race and I scared to death!!! I can do it though Right???




Really!!! It's May 6th this year right?

Yep, it is May 6th! Think of Disney as a big after race reward! The scary thing for me is we have a cruise on the Disney Magic a bit more than a week before the race. I hope I don't eat myself silly the week before the run! I plan on doing the Castaway Cay 5k for some exercise :lol: The registration for the BSR opens on Feb 15th. Register right away as I hear it sells out fast! Are you running with buddies? PM me if you want to meet up to run with us. I am not a super fast runner though. My sis, my husband and I are doing this. One of my other friends is doing it too but she is speedy and probably won't stick with us!

 

[diddy_mouse]

Ooh! This was updated since I last read it.

I loved the character interactions you had -- and the Queen 'o Hearts totally stole the show! (along with your medal!) :lol: Speaking of characters, I really need to track down Frontier Donald when I go back. He's just too darn cute with his coonskin cap.

Aww that's too bad that Mickey wasn't as playful but I'm sure you were just beaming showing off that awesome medal. :king:

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Poor Mickey But like Courtney said I think he was just jealous

and 591 days to be exact...590 once midnight hits! hahaha not that I'm counting or anything

 

[Ariel484]

18 more days! First time in four years going, so the wait is killing me.

I can't even imagine what it's like to be there in the midst of decorations, music, and the food. I think it would ruin Christmas at home for me... Disney and only Disney after that.

I went 14 years in between visits (1995 vs. 2009)...I feel your pain.

Ooh! This was updated since I last read it.

I loved the character interactions you had -- and the Queen 'o Hearts totally stole the show! (along with your medal!) Speaking of characters, I really need to track down Frontier Donald when I go back. He's just too darn cute with his coonskin cap.

Aww that's too bad that Mickey wasn't as playful but I'm sure you were just beaming showing off that awesome medal.

Yeah, the Queen of Hearts was really good! :king: Even though some characters were less than enthusiastic, the ones that played along more than made up for it.

Poor Mickey But like Courtney said I think he was just jealous

and 591 days to be exact...590 once midnight hits! hahaha not that I'm counting or anything

Um, I'm not counting either...it's not like I don't have a live countdown on my phone or anything...:lookaroun Oh wait, I totally do.

 

[Blueskyze]

Congrats!! That is an amazing accomplishment! I've enjoyed reading your report, and I'm seriously jealous of all your character pics - especially the villians! Too cool. We were there during that same time, so it's really cool to get to see everything from the perspective of a runner. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Ariel484]

Congrats!! That is an amazing accomplishment! I've enjoyed reading your report, and I'm seriously jealous of all your character pics - especially the villians! Too cool. We were there during that same time, so it's really cool to get to see everything from the perspective of a runner. Thanks for sharing!!

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the report!

 

[Ariel484]

When I got back to the Beach Club I still had about 30 minutes before I was due to board the Magical Express, so I wandered around to get more pictures of the resort.

The Villas:

The Resort:

Back to the Villas again:

I headed back into the lobby and walked around Cape May Café on my way back out to the pool area. I was surprised – and slightly horrified – to hear Ke$ha playing (fun fact – before I knew how her name was actually pronounced I referred to her as “Key-money-ha.” Close enough). Apparently there was a wedding reception going on in Ariel’s that afternoon and that place about to blooooow-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!

And back out to Stormalong Bay:

I really regret that I didn’t use the pool at all during our stay. Maybe someday. I brought my swimsuit specifically for the hot tub, but it was closed all weekend. That would have been heavenly for my sore legs.

Still some work going on:

Where is everyone?

 

[Ariel484]

Crooked!

The crane again:

By now it was time to grab a snack and hop on the Magical Express. Marathon Weekend 2012 was officially over.

 

[Ariel484]

Final Thoughts (non-race)

Beach Club Villas: I’d like to give this place another shot someday. As I said before, I didn’t like the room I was given, but would have felt funny asking to be moved for a short weekend trip. Other than that, it was great. The location cannot be beat, my room was in a quiet area of the resort (though there was some noise being by the elevators), and I liked having a counter service place right inside the hotel. We’ll be back someday (either Beach or Yacht), preferably for a longer trip during warmer weather, as I didn’t get to use the pool at all.

Food: Beach Club Marketplace and Beaches and Cream were new to me on this trip. The Marketplace was good for a counter service place…more breakfast options would have been nice. Beaches and Cream was okay. Flame me all you want, but I found that (shockingly) I didn’t like eating at a table service where I hadn’t made an ADR. We had to wait 30-45 minutes for our table, where we waited less than 5 minutes to get seated at Via Napoli and ‘Ohana, thanks to our ADRs. I’m one of those crazies that doesn’t mind making ADRs, I think because I’m such an insane planner anyway. The rest of the places we ate at were old favorites of mine: Via Napoli, ‘Ohana and Kringla were all still great.

Merchandise: I had a couple of successes (love the new Boardwalk shirts) and a couple of misses (no Boardwalk or Beach Club coffee mugs…or any Beach Club merchandise really ) on this trip. There was plenty of generic DVC merchandise, which I wasn’t interested in since I’m not a member. Hopefully the trend of resort-specific merchandise coming back will continue.

The Parks: Loved seeing the Christmas decorations. I thought Hollywood Studios and Epcot looked great, but boy, were there a lot of walls up in the Magic Kingdom. I’m not complaining – I know it just means the park is getting some love – but it was jarring. No Animal Kingdom on this trip for me, except for during the race. At the time I didn’t miss it, but now that I’ve been home for a few weeks I regret not visiting that park. There’s always next time!

Disney in January: Beautiful weather, but more crowded than I expected…maybe because we weren’t far enough removed from New Year’s. What can ya do? :shrug:

Disney somewhat solo: Not for me. In case you haven’t picked it up, I really, really missed my husband that weekend. It just didn’t feel like Disney to me without him there.

 

[Ariel484]

Final Thoughts (race)

This was my second (and hopefully not last!) race at Disney. It was my 11th race overall, and first ever marathon. I am so addicted to doing these races at Disney it’s not even funny. If I had unlimited funds I would do them all.

Training: It was difficult at times, mostly due to other stuff going on. I didn’t follow the schedule perfectly but I did the best I could. I used the Hal Higdon Novice Supreme program, which I thought was great. Overall I felt good during the race, I recovered quickly (my legs felt completely normal by January 12), and I didn't feel like training took over my life.

Expo: SO much better than the Princess Expo. I think there are a few reasons for this: I got there right when it opened, everything was spread out between 2 buildings, and by Saturday only non-Goofy marathoners and relay runners were attending, so the crowds were bound to be smaller. There was tons of runDisney merchandise, and I even got an annual pass discount on the runDisney stuff I bought and was able to use Disney giftcards to pay for it, which was a nice surprise. Best purchase of the expo was The Stick, which I know really helped my recovery a lot.

The race: It was SO fun…the last mile was slightly miserable, but other than that, I had a blast. I was slightly disappointed in the character turnout. There were a lot of them on the course, but I’d already met most during the Princess Half or in the parks. If I hadn’t run the Princess Half in 2011, I know I would have been much more pleased with the characters on the marathon course. Having said that, I did get some pictures that I'm really happy with (prime example being the villains photo-op). The on-course entertainment (characters, marching bands, etc.) was great, as were the spectators. The volunteers were amazing. The weather was perfect (just a little warm in the sun)…we really couldn’t have asked for a better day. Having said that…next time, I WILL bring throwaway clothes!

Post-race: Lots of food and water at the end, the finisher picture/medal distribution area was well-organized, and I found ice easily. I wish there had been more characters to meet.

Transportation: Excellent. No complaints from me.

Photos/Videos: The photo package I bought was ridiculously expensive, but I’m glad I got it. The videos were a nice surprise…I’m glad Will got to see a portion of the race this way (including me crossing the finish line!), even though he wasn’t actually there.

 

[Ariel484]

Future Trips

This is pretty up in the air right now…we’ve been floating a lot of possibilities and I think a few are much more concrete than others.

* If Will’s health issues are sorted out by then (knock on wood), he and I are hoping to run the inaugural Tower of Terror 10-Miler in September! Tower of Terror is our favorite ride and Will likes the idea of having something to look forward to, to celebrate regaining his health. :sohappy: I have no idea if this trip will happen, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much…but it’s hard not to. Will is definitely not a runner, but the promise of a cool Tower of Terror medal, along with the possibility of meeting Dr. Facilier somewhere on the race course, has lured him in! :sohappy:

* We’d been talking for awhile about taking a longer trip over Will’s Christmas break this year (he’s a teacher). This one seemed like a given until this past weekend…

* …because after having such a blast during the marathon, we’re going to return to WDW for Marathon Weekend in 2013!!! Craig mentioned wanting to do Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge a few times throughout Marathon Weekend 2012 and I kept giving him vague, non-committal responses, but as I sat in the airport waiting for my flight home I found myself googling Goofy training plans (I never actually found a free one that I liked, so I’m sort of making my own) and texting back and forth with him excitedly. Plus, it’ll be the 20th anniversary of the WDW Marathon, so there will surely be a sweet commemorative medal…so we’ve gotta at least do the marathon! :sohappy: We’re both pretty excited about it…if this trip happens, the Christmas trip will not. At least Will would get to see me finish a marathon.

* If we go to WDW for Marathon Weekend in 2013, and the Christmas 2012 trip doesn’t happen as a result, Will and I may look at a longer trip a few months later in the summer. If we do the race trips they’ll be short weekend trips, and I think by summer we’ll be ready for a long one, so that’s the only way this one would happen. The big hurdle here is the memory of how hot the weather was during our June 2011 trip. Somehow I think we’ll be able to get over that hurdle. If not, Christmas Break 2013 would be our next choice.

* And last but not least, I have the UnOfficial WDWMagic Girls Cruise in September 2013 to look forward to…BOOYAH! :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

You’ve all been so nice to me throughout the posting of this report…thank you for letting me share my experience, and thanks for reading! :wave: And if this report makes you want to get out there and run, DO IT! Maybe you’ll find you love it just as much as I do.

That’s all I’ve got for now, friends. I’ll see you all around on the boards. TTFN!!

 

[Kristia]

Future Trips* …because after having such a blast during the marathon, we’re going to return to WDW for Marathon Weekend in 2013!!! Craig mentioned wanting to do Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge a few times throughout Marathon Weekend 2012 and I kept giving him vague, non-committal responses, but as I sat in the airport waiting for my flight home I found myself googling Goofy training plans (I never actually found a free one that I liked, so I’m sort of making my own) and texting back and forth with him excitedly. Plus, it’ll be the 20th anniversary of the WDW Marathon, so there will surely be a sweet commemorative medal…so we’ve gotta at least do the marathon! :sohappy: We’re both pretty excited about it…if this trip happens, the Christmas trip will not. At least Will would get to see me finish a marathon.

Loved your report! I have been considering the Goofy challenge for 2013 but both Dan and I would want to do it and that would be sooooo costly. Not sure we can swing that! Hope to see you in 2013! Going out running today!:sohappy:

 

[BiggerTigger]

Awesome report. I don't usually read through the whole thing, but your's was great. Thank you for the step by step stories and pictures. I hope to run a Marathon someday at WDW. Now I just need to get off my duff and start training.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Awesome trip report lady!!! The Tinkerbell Half kicked off early this morning...I'm so itching to do a RunDisney event...I totally get the addiction!! I'm really hoping to do the Disneyland Half! It is hard to know for sure what we will be doing and you have to register fairly early because it sells out fast! I hope I get to!!:sohappy:

 

[Ariel484]

Loved your report! I have been considering the Goofy challenge for 2013 but both Dan and I would want to do it and that would be sooooo costly. Not sure we can swing that! Hope to see you in 2013! Going out running today!

You're totally right about the cost...I'm counting it as my birthday/Christmas gift for 2012 (and probably 2013 as well). :lookaroun

See you and Dan in 2013 for sure!! :wave:

Awesome report. I don't usually read through the whole thing, but your's was great. Thank you for the step by step stories and pictures. I hope to run a Marathon someday at WDW. Now I just need to get off my duff and start training.

Thanks for reading my report, BiggerTigger! I hope you get the run the WDW Marathon (or any other race at WDW) someday. No time like the present to start running! :animwink:

Awesome trip report lady!!! The Tinkerbell Half kicked off early this morning...I'm so itching to do a RunDisney event...I totally get the addiction!! I'm really hoping to do the Disneyland Half! It is hard to know for sure what we will be doing and you have to register fairly early because it sells out fast! I hope I get to!!

Thanks Melanee! I read great things about the Tinkerbell Half...sounds like it was a great race. I an glad that you get the addition, and I hope you get to do another Disney race soon. You're totally right that the Disneyland Half sells out quickly...makes sense to me since it's just one of two Disney races on the West coast. I just looked on the runDisney website and it is already 51% full!

By the way, loved your blog post the other day ("If you run...you are a runner. Period."). VERY well said. :sohappy:

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Excellent, excellent report! And huge congrats again for finishing the race! I hope you're able to work out your race trips next year. Your report has kicked off serious discussion in our house about doing our first Disney race....probably in 2014! (nex year is our 10 yr. anniversary so we're planning a big WDW trip and cruise!
Hoping Will is feeling better. Now...I need to get moving on my report!:ROFLOL:

 

[HopLow]

Such a great TR and I'm so bummed it's over! Man...

Congrats on finishing!!! I am so in awe of runners. I really wish that I could do it, but running has always been tough for me. I got to WDW the day after the marathon and I was sooooo jealous of everyone walking around wearing their medals. I saw an older-ish couple on our bus one day wearing the Goofy medals and shirts and just thought they were awesome. If you and Craig do the Goofy next year, I will really be looking forward to a play-by-play of how it all goes.

I am with you on the resort merch. Only the deluxe resorts have their own merchandise? Doesn't that seem a bit elitist??? I'm surprised BC didn't have anything. I got some Poly stuff on my trip, but I was hoping for some POFQ t shirts or mugs or SOMETHING. I asked the CM in the shop and she said they used to carry those things, but they've stopped producing them in recent years. This is a good reminder for me - I think I'll write a note to Guest Services about it.

Anyway, totally loved every minute of your report. Best wishes for Will's recovery and good luck at the TOT race!! :wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I'm hoping I can make it to the marathon in 2014!! I'm doing the Couch to 5k to get ready for the ToT race and I'm really enjoying running. It's a great stress relief for me!!! haha... But whenever you two decide to go back, you will have a blast!
The Beach Club looks really nice. I'm not too into the Yacht Club, but BC might be an option for us in the future. We're hoping actually for the Boardwalk Villas for the ToT weekend. Fingers crossed!!!! lol See you there (hopefully!!) :wave:

 

[Ariel484]

Excellent, excellent report! And huge congrats again for finishing the race! I hope you're able to work out your race trips next year. Your report has kicked off serious discussion in our house about doing our first Disney race....probably in 2014! (nex year is our 10 yr. anniversary so we're planning a big WDW trip and cruise!
Hoping Will is feeling better. Now...I need to get moving on my report!

Thanks Mike! At this point I think the Goofy trip will definitely be a go...still not sure about ToT. Will IS doing better - thanks for asking! - so we've talked about the ToT race a little more seriously over the past few days. We're both hopeful!

10 years - way to go! A big trip and cruise sound fabulous...you'll have such a great time! Add a 2014 race to that and you've got some really great Disney stuff coming up over the next couple of years. Yay!

Such a great TR and I'm so bummed it's over! Man...

Congrats on finishing!!! I am so in awe of runners. I really wish that I could do it, but running has always been tough for me. I got to WDW the day after the marathon and I was sooooo jealous of everyone walking around wearing their medals. I saw an older-ish couple on our bus one day wearing the Goofy medals and shirts and just thought they were awesome. If you and Craig do the Goofy next year, I will really be looking forward to a play-by-play of how it all goes.

Thanks, glad you liked the report! Like I said to Mike above, I'm pretty sure we'll be there for the Goofy Challenge - 2 race reports! :sohappy:

I am with you on the resort merch. Only the deluxe resorts have their own merchandise? Doesn't that seem a bit elitist??? I'm surprised BC didn't have anything. I got some Poly stuff on my trip, but I was hoping for some POFQ t shirts or mugs or SOMETHING. I asked the CM in the shop and she said they used to carry those things, but they've stopped producing them in recent years. This is a good reminder for me - I think I'll write a note to Guest Services about it.

Anyway, totally loved every minute of your report. Best wishes for Will's recovery and good luck at the TOT race!!

Yeah, I'm not on board with the lack of resort merch. I looked for PORS stuff in February 2011 and came up empty, and the same thing happened in June 2011 at the Boardwalk and now at the Beach Club...bummer. I did get some Boardwalk stuff during this trip, so hopefully they are phasing the resort stuff back in. I think there's definitely a market for that.

Thanks very much for the get-well wishes for Will! I will be sure to pass them along!

I'm hoping I can make it to the marathon in 2014!! I'm doing the Couch to 5k to get ready for the ToT race and I'm really enjoying running. It's a great stress relief for me!!! haha... But whenever you two decide to go back, you will have a blast!
The Beach Club looks really nice. I'm not too into the Yacht Club, but BC might be an option for us in the future. We're hoping actually for the Boardwalk Villas for the ToT weekend. Fingers crossed!!!! lol See you there (hopefully!!)

Glad you're enjoying Couch-to-5K, Darolyn! It's a good program, I think...it worked for me.

I hope you get to stay at the Boardwalk for ToT weekend...we LOVE it there. It's our favorite resort by far. I sort of felt like I was cheating on it by staying at Beach. :lol: Happy running!

 

[enchanted_belle]

Awwww it's over already! And I missed getting to read the end when it happened.

I'm glad you had fun, and I think we've all got fingers crossed for that ToT trip!!