Poor Unfortunate Soles: A 2013 Marathon Weekend (5K, Half and Full Marathon) Trip Report!

Another Marathon Weekend at Disney has come to a close. Let me tell you about it!

The cast includes me (Shannon, 28), my husband Will (27), my brother Craig (aka Princess Craiggy, 26), my mom, Kriss, my aunt Laurie, and my mom’s childhood best friend Barb. I got no photo of all 6 of us, and in fact have no photos at all of my mom, aunt or Barb (not my choice). Le sigh.

Anyhoo, as the title of this report suggests, this year I participated in the 5K, half marathon and full marathon (unofficially known as the Dopey Challenge) during Disney’s Marathon Weekend. Originally this trip was strictly for the Goofy Challenge (the half and full), but the idea of the 5K had been in the back of my mind for a while...eventually I pulled the trigger and signed up in August.

In my previous race reports (for the 2011 Princess Half and the 2012 WDW Full) I rambled on quite a bit about training. This time around I’m going to restrain myself. I actually did document my training on a different message board (not sure why I didn’t do it here…I guess I wanted it to be somewhere where I felt more “anonymous.” I’m weird), so if anyone is interested in reading about that, shoot me a PM and I’ll send you the link. Or if anyone wants the Cliff’s Notes version I can post that here too. I will say that I am extremely Type A and was very, very diligent when it came to preparing for these races. I should also warn you that you won’t find any speedy fast times here, but if you’re looking for a somewhat detailed play-by-play of all 3 races with lots of character pictures, you’ve come to the right place.

4 parks. 3 races. 42.4 miles. Let’s do this!

 

[Ariel484]

Seriously, love the title. So clever! I'm very excited to read the rest of your report as I just cannot fathom running that much in one weekend. I am already impressed and you haven't even posted that part yet

Also, I love the pattern of your Dooney! I am usually very conflicted about the other patterns because I have a hard time picturing myself carrying one around daily, but I really like your limited-edition one. Very classy.

Haha, thanks! I must admit...not to be self-congratulatory...but I am quite proud of the title.

I love the Dooney too! I have a sketch tote that I carry around a lot, and I actually do get quite a few compliments on it. I know people say that all the time...but it's true!

LOVING IT SO FAR! I can totally see why you would be a little bit razzled with all of the running around and things you needed to accomplish on the first day! But I'm glad that you calmed down because like you said, you were in Disney World! Haha Love the TR title, very clever! Can't wait to read more! I'm hooked!

Yeah, I mean, I put that all on myself because I am the "planner" of the group...but it was a busy morning!

They have actually been doing race vinyls for a few years now. I believe the first was for the 2010. They had typically done 3" for the half and full, with a 9" for the Goofy. And they did 2010, 2011 3" for the DLR 1/2. But nothing at DLR this past year. However, I think this release was a bit of a cop out. Since the vinyls had started selling a bit less each year (you could often get them for half price on disneystore.com) they seem to just be releasing the 1 Mickey vinyl for all 2013 running events. If you look at Mickey and the box, I don't believe there is anything on it that is specific for the marathon weekend. They have confirmed that they will be selling the same "medals" for the Tinkerbell and the Princess 1/2s see here -> http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...rchandise-for-rundisney-events-in-early-2013/ So it sounds like they may also make "medals" for the W&D and ToT races as well. Not to steal your TR, but you could end up with a Mickey vinyl with a neck full of bling by the end of the year.....

Gotcha. I never realized that about the vinyls, I guess because I just wasn't interested or something? I did see the blog post you linked to before race weekend though and thought the medals were cute, so I was planning on getting it this time (sidenote: my dog definitely thinks it's a new chew toy...so vinyl Mickey is hiding way up out of reach ). That would be really funny to get one with all the medals!

Your room is to die for... that is so much space and I love the little alcove seating area.

Also, from the pre-sale photos of the Dooney I didn't love the pattern but now that I have a good look at it thanks to your picture I really like it.

I know, I LOOOOOVE that room. I was so sad to check out.

I know what you mean about the Dooney! I LIKED the pattern in the photos but didn't love it...it looks much better in person. I think they could have used better photos to advertise the bags, but that's just me.

Not to kill your wallet, but that same link I posted earlier about the vinyls also shows the patterns for the Tinkerbell and Princess bags....

Hahaha! I bet there are people out there that buy every bag...I think the Tink and Princess bags are the same as ast year though, right? Except for the commemorative leather tags...

 

[Ariel484]

After lugging the gear bags, my merchandise and camera bag around all day, the last thing I felt like doing was making the trek back to the lobby to retrieve my giant carry-on (which contained all of my race gear along with lots of other crap) – please note that this “trek” would have taken 3-5 minutes. I decided to be supremely lazy and call the front desk to ask bell services to deliver the bag to me...if I were smarter I would have just grabbed it when I checked in. An older CM appeared with my bag about 10 minutes later and talked to me about the races. He told me he’d met another Perfectly Goofy runner that was in his 70s and wanted to be “the last Perfectly Goofy standing.” The runner asked the CM to trip any other Perfectly Goofy runners he happened to come across…haha! Anyway, this was ANOTHER awesome CM and by now I was super impressed. After my hit-or-miss morning with CMs it felt wonderful to be treated so nicely.

I quickly unpacked and organized my race stuff into neat little piles…the less thinking I had to do on the mornings of the races, the better.

The gear bags actually included STUFF this year, not just the iGiftBag (which is pretty lame in my opinion)…a 20th anniversary pin and shoelaces!

Not a ton of STUFF by any means, but better than last year.

I also attempted to get a decent mirror shot…something that seems to be a WDWMagic Trip Report tradition. I was definitely becoming loopy by now and I probably attempted this picture 10-15 times…yep, I’m a cool kid. It got frustrating.

Oh hey, I did it!

I'm normally not into the "selfies" but I'm posting the above pictures because they are some of the only ones from the weekend where I'm not drenched in sweat. They are definitely the last ones of me after a full night of sleep. Seriously, as the weekend progressed I feel like I looked like a walking zombie at certain points.

By now it was about 6:15 and I still wanted that chocolate beer cupcake, so I headed out to the boat dock.

Looking down at Conch Key’s “lobby”:

Hidden Mickey Wallpaper in the hallway!

Elevator mirror shot

Outside of Conch Key…our room is on the top floor of the portion of the building that juts out with the red pointy area of the roof:

From the front of Conch Key…I spy a castle in the distance!

 

[Ariel484]

First I headed to the boat dock to wait, but there was no boat in sight. I got impatient after one whole minute of waiting and headed to the lobby to catch the monorail.

Time to jam!

A monorail pulled up right as I got to the station (did I mention that I had weirdly good luck with transportation on this trip? Because I did ) and two stops later I was at the Polynesian!

I got the last chocolate beer cupcake – success! – walked around the Poly a bit, took some awful nighttime pictures, and headed back to the monorail station.

Okay, Avengerail…take me back to the Grand Floridian!

I rode the resort loop all the way around (the Contemporary still had the giant Mickey wreath up, but I never got a good picture) and got back to the Grand at about 7PM. After walking through the shops I headed to Gaspirilla Island and ordered the club sandwich – no tomatoes, no sauce – with a side of the homemade chips and a bottle of water (hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!). I originally planned on eating this out on the Gaspirilla patio, but a lady sat at the table next to me and lit up a cigarette…errrm no thanks. So I scooped up my food and headed back to the room at about 8 (tossed the cupcake in the fridge for later in the weekend).

Will and I chatted on the phone for about 40 minutes and afterward I just sort of putzed around the room – finished unpacking, double-checked my stuff for the next morning, ate my sandwich/chips, etc. Around 9:15 I heard some very loud music outside…

It was the Electrical Water Pageant! Neat.

After the pageant I knew it was time to go to sleep, but I had trouble tearing myself away from the ESPN WWoS channel on TV. This was (I think) channel 25 and it played an endless loop with information about the runDisney races. It was fun to watch, but the content was mostly ads for the other races…very little of the loop was dedicated to information about the actual races taking place this weekend. Dennis Marsico, the runDisney TV host, was featured a lot…he’s incredibly cheesy but I’d jump at the chance to have his job.

Eventually I pulled myself away from the TV and made my final preparations for the first race of the weekend…checked my stack of stuff and my camera battery (!!!) again, laid out sunscreen and my contacts, got the coffee maker ready, and set 3 alarms: my phone for 4:30AM, a 4:40 wake-up call, and the room alarm clock for 4:45. I went to sleep at about 9:30…almost time for the first race!

 

[Kristia]

Love your night time GF shots! So pretty! I like the way your race piles seem to get bigger 5k to marathon! I am glad I wasn't the only one walking around like a zombie! We bought the pre-order photopass and didn't use it as much as we should have. I wanted to do a lot of shots with our medals but I looked like walking death on the days following the races!

 

[Kristia]

Oh and LOVE the view you had of the Water Parade from you room! Super cool!

 

[Tiggerish]

First I headed to the boat dock to wait, but there was no boat in sight. I got impatient after one whole minute of waiting and headed to the lobby to catch the monorail.

This made me laugh out loud.

(did I mention that I had weirdly good luck with transportation on this trip? Because I did )

Glad to hear it--something had to make up for those first few hours of your trip!!


I am so excited to see the inside of a GF room! That was some room, with the vaulted ceiling and the seating area...wow! All your GF photos look great.

And thanks for the treadmill link, I'll take a peek at that. Looking forward to more!

 

[Ariel484]

Love your night time GF shots! So pretty! I like the way your race piles seem to get bigger 5k to marathon! I am glad I wasn't the only one walking around like a zombie! We bought the pre-order photopass and didn't use it as much as we should have. I wanted to do a lot of shots with our medals but I looked like walking death on the days following the races!

Yes, prepping for a 5K is quite different than prepping for a marathon, as you know...LOL!

"Walking death" is the perfect way to describe it! I was really hoping to get more pictures of Will and I on this trip but I just didn't have the energy to insist on it quite as much as I normally would have. There's always next trip!

Oh and LOVE the view you had of the Water Parade from you room! Super cool!

I KNOW! The was one instance where I wish we had a balcony...it would have been so nice to sit out with a beer and watch.

This made me laugh out loud.

hehehe

Glad to hear it--something had to make up for those first few hours of your trip!!

Yeah, I feel like sometimes people have trips where the transportation is consistently awful or it's always right there when you need it...mine was definitely the latter this time around.

I am so excited to see the inside of a GF room! That was some room, with the vaulted ceiling and the seating area...wow! All your GF photos look great.

And thanks for the treadmill link, I'll take a peek at that. Looking forward to more!

Thanks! Isn't the room so pretty? We really loved it. Just so much SPACE!

 

[GatorAsh]

This is a beautiful shot, and makes me miss the GF. My favorite Deluxe for sure. So, well... GRAND! (when the construction isn't going on, at least...). I love getting a drink from Citrico's and sitting in the lobby listening to the band.

 

[Ariel484]

This is a beautiful shot, and makes me miss the GF. My favorite Deluxe for sure. So, well... GRAND! (when the construction isn't going on, at least...). I love getting a drink from Citrico's and sitting in the lobby listening to the band.

Thanks! Oh man, getting a drink and listening to the band sounds SO nice. I wish we had done that...definitely on the list for next time!

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Wow I am IN LOVE with your Grand Floridian room!!! I am loving that vaulted ceiling, and how it was cheaper than the Poly? We will have to make this work one day!

 

[diddy_mouse]

Beautiful GF pictures! DH and I had meandered around there on the last day of one of our trips to see the big gingerbread house. The Christmas decorations were so pretty and the GF definitely doesn't skimp on the "deluxe."

And nice job on the mirror shots.

Getting closer to the first race!

 

[Ariel484]

Wow I am IN LOVE with your Grand Floridian room!!! I am loving that vaulted ceiling, and how it was cheaper than the Poly? We will have to make this work one day!

I know! The vaulted ceiling just made it feel so much bigger. After I read your comment I realized that I didn't explain the room situation 100% correctly (so I need to go back and edit that)...there WERE discounted rooms at the Polynesian, but they were themepark-view rooms only, and those were more expensive than both the original room we'd booked at the Polynesian and the discounted room we booked at the Grand Floridian (which was a courtyard/lagoon-view room, I think...the cheapest category room at the GF). Hope that makes sense!

Beautiful GF pictures! DH and I had meandered around there on the last day of one of our trips to see the big gingerbread house. The Christmas decorations were so pretty and the GF definitely doesn't skimp on the "deluxe."

And nice job on the mirror shots.

Getting closer to the first race!

We haven't seen the Christmas decorations at the GF yet, but it's on our list for later this year!

Haha, glad you like the mirror shots.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Great report thus far! I'm totally stoked to read about the races. So...you arrived on Thursday and the Expo was already up and running? Or am I reading wrong? My head is a bit fuzzy because I woke up yesterday with the flu...but your report is definitely cheering me up! I love your race kits complete with baggies with food and such, great idea! And...all of your race merch is so cute, I love that the Vinylmation has its own medals Your room is so gorgeous too! I love the Grand Floridian

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Oh one last thing...the Goofy Challenge 10-year anniversary in 2015? I am SO IN! The timing of it sounds perfect! I will finally be done with nursing school, we'll be moved to our new duty station (San Diego, woop-woop!) and life will hopefully allow me to make the trip!

 

[Ariel484]

Great report thus far! I'm totally stoked to read about the races. So...you arrived on Thursday and the Expo was already up and running? Or am I reading wrong? My head is a bit fuzzy because I woke up yesterday with the flu...but your report is definitely cheering me up! I love your race kits complete with baggies with food and such, great idea! And...all of your race merch is so cute, I love that the Vinylmation has its own medals Your room is so gorgeous too! I love the Grand Floridian

Hi Melanee!! Yes, the expo opens on Thursday. I'm sorry you have the flu, I hope you feel better soon! And I'm glad you appreciate my race baggies...

Oh one last thing...the Goofy Challenge 10-year anniversary in 2015? I am SO IN! The timing of it sounds perfect! I will finally be done with nursing school, we'll be moved to our new duty station (San Diego, woop-woop!) and life will hopefully allow me to make the trip!

Yep, I've already mentioned to my husband that I am thinking about going back for Goofy and he hasn't said much...haha! Wow, San Diego sounds NICE! I hope you get to do Goofy someday, you would love it!

 

[Ariel484]

Day 2: Friday, January 11, 2013

This weekend was originally supposed to be strictly Goofy…so why sign up for the 5K? 2 reasons:
1. The super-cute finisher medallion, of course! (Picture to follow.)
2. The promise of an early-morning run through Epcot, which was missing from this year’s marathon course.

I must say, I had a LOT of trouble finding information on the 5K. When I was planning for my other race trips, I had Holly/ @HollyBelle 's 2009 marathon report to use as a sort of reference and it helped me SO much to read someone’s firsthand account of what a race weekend at Disney was really like. I knew what to expect for transportation, what the start area was like, etc. (thanks Holly!). It was weird to go to the 5K not really knowing anything beyond what was on runDisney.com (which wasn’t much).

Anyway, I woke up that morning at about 4AM and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was so nervous (not for the 5K itself, just for the overall weekend, I think). I hate when that happens! I finally gave up at about 4:30 and got out of bed…made coffee, got dressed, put on sunscreen, etc. I didn’t take much with me to this race – my breakfast (a bagel and peanut butter I’d brought from home), some cash, my room key and my Annual Pass. And of course, my fully charged camera.

For the longer races, resorts on the monorail don’t have the option of bus transportation to the races – it’s monorail or nothing. But the monorails weren’t available for the 5K, so I headed to the convention area of the resort to catch the bus (which is also the bus stop for buses to and from the expo) at about 4:50. 5K transportation ran from 4:30-5:30, I think. Had a nice chat with the poor Mears employee that was manning our stop (Disney contracts out extra buses to cover the increased need during the races) and was on a bus by about 5. I ended up sitting next to a nice lady wearing a Disneyland Half marathon shirt. She’d done a lot of half marathons and this was her first Disney 5K…her daughter was here to run the marathon and the woman was taking care of the grandkids during the longer races. Cute!

We made one stop at Shades of Green (from what I could see from the bus their lobby was still decorated for Christmas) and were dropped off at the starting area in one of the Epcot parking lots at about 5:25.

I don’t know what the issue was, but I could not for the life of me get that bagel down. I don’t know if it was nerves or what…but I ended up throwing half of it away. Definitely regretted that later.

 

[Ariel484]

I really think the 5K races are great for new runners. Everything is just much…less. Less distance, less pressure (the runs are not timed, so no worries about falling off pace), and less to navigate at the starting area (picture below):

Above you can see a line of porta-potties to the right…we were dropped off from the bus right behind the porta-potties and it was just a short five-minute walk to the starting area (the starting line itself is straight ahead in the above picture – the tall sort of purple thing - starting corrals up and to the left). Much less of a process compared to the longer races, which I’ll talk about later.

One other thing visible in the above picture on the left side is the grandstand, where spectators can wait at the finish line…so really the start and finish lines were very close to one another.

Essentially all we needed to do was walk straight ahead to get to the corrals. Mickey and Minnie were set up for pictures near the start (in their classic outfits) but I bypassed them because their lines were HUGE.

Starting line to the right:

Corrals to the left:

The above picture is actually the BACK of the starting corrals…you can see the fence separating Corral A and Corral B. For this race there were 4 corrals (A, B, C and D) and technically 6 starts – the lone wheelchair racer, A, B, C, D, and the stroller division. I guess the corrals were assigned based on when people signed up? Not sure about this…essentially it was just a way for them to space us out a bit, I think.

In this picture I’m actually IN the back of the corral (volunteers are very strict about this – you have to show the printed letter on your bib)…Corral A is to my right.

Before I went into the corral I asked the volunteer coordinator about a rumor I’d heard, that there’s a secret packet pick-up the morning of the 5K. He said there is, but it’s mostly for people that picked up the bib earlier and then lost it. If people use the pick-up that morning they can get their BIBS ONLY - they have to go to the expo to get their race shirts. He seemed utterly perplexed as to why someone would do this morning packet pick-up…I could definitely see it being an option if someone’s flight was delayed or they couldn't get to the expo on Thursday.

It was funny to be at the 5K start…this was MUCH different than the longer races. Lots more costumes and lots more kids who did NOT enjoy waiting around (“When is it going to start?”, “I’m hot,” “I’m tired,” etc…made me think of Russell from Up! ). There was a DJ trying to get everyone excited by playing a variety of music – the Cuban Shuffle, ACDC, and the Chicken Dance (which REALLY bummed me out ) for example. My favorite part, though (and I forget the exact context), was when the DJ/host definitely said the words, “JUST a 5K.” Really dude, you just said that?! He quickly figured out his mistake and sort of stumbled over his words to try to make up for it…oops.

Eventually everyone figured out that we needed to turn around and move to the other side of the corrals, so we all started cramming in. Here’s the whole set-up…me in Corral B, starting line to the left, Corral A directly in front of me, finish line to the right:

 

[Katherine]

I'm enjoying reading a fellow Dopey's trip report! It's fun seeing how other people experienced the weekend!

 

[JillC LI]

Hey Shannon - great race weekend report so far! Great title. Great resort pics and room. Great tees and souvenirs from the Expo. Really enjoying reading it and seeing the photos. Keep it up!

 

[Ariel484]

I'm enjoying reading a fellow Dopey's trip report! It's fun seeing how other people experienced the weekend!

Thanks Katherine! I like reading other reports too! Do you think you'll go Dopey again?

Hey Shannon - great race weekend report so far! Great title. Great resort pics and room. Great tees and souvenirs from the Expo. Really enjoying reading it and seeing the photos. Keep it up!

Hi Jill! Thanks for reading so far!