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!

 

[Kristia]

I am glad we were renting points so that the poor maids didn't have to deal with our stinky clothes. Our room seriously looked like it was hit by a bomb most of the time. Probably because we knew no one would be coming in till our 4th day! It also helped having a balcony to hang some of our clothes outside to dry!

We are staying at WL in Aug and I am so going to try those Bananas Foster Waffles!!!
Nice Mickey pics!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Mmmmm, the waffles...

I just hopped back on because I forgot to mention how cute the characters were at WS during the 5K and to tell you that you are looking awesome! I can tell you have been doing a lot of running, you have toned up!

Downside being less time in the parks...I never thought of that. But I see what you mean. Between the Expo, getting up early and trying not to wear yourself out, it does seem like you couldn't go nuts touring parks. Good to keep in mind! So if you want park time, plan on it starting on Monday or Tuesday after all the race craziness is finished!

 

[dreamfinder]

That very well could have contributed to the longer lines. What did you think of them having corrals this year? I thought it was kind of dumb to do it just based off of when people signed up.

Well, I personally like the effort to at least self seed. They just needed to make the space between the signs larger. Making corral placement based solely off of registration time make as much sense as requiring proof of time for the half/full, and then not verifying it. Yes, it's supposed to be a fun run with no timing. However, getting placed in corral "D" and planning to run/jog it, but getting stuck behind 7,500 other people (going off the 4 corrals and their announced 10k registered) of which a few thousand are there to walk it/see characters doesn't make for a fun run. Bobbing and weaving around 5,000 runners during a 5k isn't my idea of fun. At least the self seed lets the slower joggers/walkers go to the back, lets them have their fun at their pace, while still letting the faster runners have their fun going at their pace. If they want to do corrals, fine, but at least try to seed people.

I am glad we were renting points so that the poor maids didn't have to deal with our stinky clothes.

My DW doesn't let it get to that point. I walk back in the room, take my shoes off, and get in the shower. It's really weird getting in the shower fully clothed, but it helps. Also, if you rent points again, you can do laundry for free..... Just use some of the shower gel or dish soap if you didn't bring laundry detergent.

 

[Ariel484]

I am glad we were renting points so that the poor maids didn't have to deal with our stinky clothes. Our room seriously looked like it was hit by a bomb most of the time. Probably because we knew no one would be coming in till our 4th day! It also helped having a balcony to hang some of our clothes outside to dry!

I tried to keep mine confined to the bathroom area...I kept apologizing to Will but he just shrugged and said it wasn't any different than what I do at home. LOL!

We are staying at WL in Aug and I am so going to try those Bananas Foster Waffles!!!
Nice Mickey pics!

We're hoping to stay in VWL in December! The waffles are a good deal...you could also get the kids portion if you want (2 waffles instead of 3 and comes with bacon/applesauce I think). But I wanted the 3rd waffle!

Mmmmm, the waffles...

I just hopped back on because I forgot to mention how cute the characters were at WS during the 5K and to tell you that you are looking awesome! I can tell you have been doing a lot of running, you have toned up!

I really was not expecting those characters out during the 5K...I have seen pictures from the 5K during the Princess Half and it just looked like the normal character set you'd see at the World Showcase on any given day...so I'm not sure if I just didn't see recent pictures or if this was special for the 20th anniversary and to go with the finisher medallion. ??

And THANKS for noticing!! Much easier to run after losing some weight, who would've thought?!

Downside being less time in the parks...I never thought of that. But I see what you mean. Between the Expo, getting up early and trying not to wear yourself out, it does seem like you couldn't go nuts touring parks. Good to keep in mind! So if you want park time, plan on it starting on Monday or Tuesday after all the race craziness is finished!

Yeah, it wasn't so bad in the past on trips with one race...doing multiple races makes it totally different. Between, like you said, the expo, the early wake-up times, recovery from the races and then the inevitable nap I wanted later we really weren't in the parks much. I'd agree with your strategy that planning the significant park time for AFTER the races is the way to go...unfortunately we can't ever do that due to Will's work schedule. It's funny you mention that because the significant park time I DID get over the weekend really had an effect on me during the races...

Well, I personally like the effort to at least self seed. They just needed to make the space between the signs larger. Making corral placement based solely off of registration time make as much sense as requiring proof of time for the half/full, and then not verifying it. Yes, it's supposed to be a fun run with no timing. However, getting placed in corral "D" and planning to run/jog it, but getting stuck behind 7,500 other people (going off the 4 corrals and their announced 10k registered) of which a few thousand are there to walk it/see characters doesn't make for a fun run. Bobbing and weaving around 5,000 runners during a 5k isn't my idea of fun. At least the self seed lets the slower joggers/walkers go to the back, lets them have their fun at their pace, while still letting the faster runners have their fun going at their pace. If they want to do corrals, fine, but at least try to seed people.

Yeah, I like that it was spaced out but I was surprised to see younger kiddos staring back at me from Corral A when we were waiting to start. Not that I was running it for time, but still...I could totally understand the frustration of wanting to run and not being able to due to bottlenecking. And on another note with corrals...nothing against people that did the RW Challenge, of course, but I REALLY don't like the added perk that they got into Corral B as a perk of joining the Challenge. Why have the rest of us submit times if they'll let people pony up the cash to move up?

My DW doesn't let it get to that point. I walk back in the room, take my shoes off, and get in the shower. It's really weird getting in the shower fully clothed, but it helps. Also, if you rent points again, you can do laundry for free..... Just use some of the shower gel or dish soap if you didn't bring laundry detergent.

That's hilarious! I never thought of that. If the GF Pool was open I definitely would have been tempted to jump in after the half/full...

 

[Sumrdog]

I am loving your trip report! Your getting me all psyched for my first Princess Half Marathon next month. I just read your other trip reports. You do such an good job of describing things and taking photos of all the little details that type A Disney super planners, like myself want to see; for example the inside of the post race snack box...

So I entered the Princess half when it was 99% full and I had no current proof of time, so I am guessing I am going to be in a start corral in the very back. At least I won't have to worry about getting trampled ...Do you know if its possible to change corrals with an older time? I ran a full marathon in 2010 and did the first half in 2:35 (the second half took me a bit longer). I was wondering if I just talk to the people at the packet pick up if they might be more flexible. Either way I am just so excited to be there!

Anyway I am looking forward to reading about how your other two runs go!

 

[Ariel484]

I am loving your trip report! Your getting me all psyched for my first Princess Half Marathon next month. I just read your other trip reports. You do such an good job of describing things and taking photos of all the little details that type A Disney super planners, like myself want to see; for example the inside of the post race snack box...

Oh man...you will LOVE the Princess Half Marathon. It's such a fun race! I hope you have a wonderful time. And I'm glad you appreciated my picture of the snack box. From reading other race recaps/blogs I think all that same stuff has been in those boxes for awhile now.

So I entered the Princess half when it was 99% full and I had no current proof of time, so I am guessing I am going to be in a start corral in the very back. At least I won't have to worry about getting trampled ...Do you know if its possible to change corrals with an older time? I ran a full marathon in 2010 and did the first half in 2:35 (the second half took me a bit longer). I was wondering if I just talk to the people at the packet pick up if they might be more flexible. Either way I am just so excited to be there!

Anyway I am looking forward to reading about how your other two runs go!

Do you remember what you put as your estimated time when you registered? The way they do the corrals is totally different than how they did the 5K. I THINK your time from 2010 may be too old (I searched around on the runDisney page and can't find the cut-off, but I know for Marathon Weekend they said they weren't taking times older than July 2011)...but what I would do is print out results from that race with your marathon time, the distance of that race, your name, the name of the race and the date. After you pick up your bib at the expo, take that time print-out to the Runner Relations booth (which is right by the bib pick-up area) and see if they can move you up to a different corral based on that time that you bring. If they move you up they'll slap a new sticker on your race bib. This is what I did for my brother and they were (I thought) extremely generous in moving him from H to B. I have heard from other people who also thought that Runners Relations was being generous with corral placement at the expo. Like I said, a time from 2010 may be too old but they may not care. If you have any newer time that is from a 10K race or longer, bring that with you.

Lately they have been releasing the corral placements ahead of time...they'll probably put up a link to race waivers for the Princes Half sometime next week, so you can get your bib number and then check to see where your corral is. They have been doing this by putting up a link to a PDF file on the runDisney page with corral placement. Good luck!

 

[Sumrdog]

Excellent! Thanks for the info. I am so excited!!

 

[Tiggerish]

Love the action shot with Mickey! Very cute, glad he was in the spirit this year

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

YAY for the 5k!! Love the medal!!! I think I'm going to do the 5k when we do the Princess Half in 2014!!

And I LOVE your room at GF. GF is such a gorgeous resort. We ate at Narcoossee's in the fall and it was really nice.

 

[Ariel484]

Excellent! Thanks for the info. I am so excited!!

You're welcome...just over a month left until your race, yay!

Love the action shot with Mickey! Very cute, glad he was in the spirit this year

He was a total all-star this year...it sounds silly but it really made my morning.

YAY for the 5k!! Love the medal!!! I think I'm going to do the 5k when we do the Princess Half in 2014!!

And I LOVE your room at GF. GF is such a gorgeous resort. We ate at Narcoossee's in the fall and it was really nice.

Yay, another Princess Half-er! You will love that race.
We originally had a reservation for Narcoossee's on the last night of this trip but ended up switching because we aren't big seafood fans, so we thought it would be lost on us. Maybe we'll get there someday.

 

[Ariel484]

Before I go any further I think I'll just say this once and get it out of the way. In some instances my family and I don't exactly jive when it comes to Disney - I think I alluded to this a bit in my other 2 race reports - and this trip was no exception. I am not exaggerating when I say that except for a few instances, they found something to complain about CONSTANTLY (except for my brother – I think he "gets" Disney - but he likes to tell gross nursing stores DURING MEALS so that's a whole other issue). In the past it's really bothered me, as I am the planner of the group and put a lot of thought into hotel/park/dining choices based on what I think people will like, but I've finally started to learn to tune it out and just enjoy myself. It took me awhile to get there though, and this combined with my crazy arrival day and general nerves for the upcoming races made the first couple of days of this trip pretty tense. This also contributed to why I have no pictures of any of our travel group except for me, Will and Craig, and why I have very few pictures from Friday afternoon. I'm not going to dwell on it throughout the report, but this is what went on the entire the the whole group was together.

ANYWAY...they arrived and we headed to my room for a quick tour. I also gave my brother his Christmas present (a Cleveland Browns tech shirt to wear for the race!) and his race shirts. Now, we were both signed up for Goofy...but while I'd been preparing for it basically all year and had officially started training in early September, for a variety of reasons Craig pretty much did not train AT ALL. As far as I know he basically ran a handful of 5- and 6-milers and nothing else. Before the trip he finally admitted that he was probably only going to run the half, but now that he was there I think he was getting caught up in the excitement and started talking like he was going to do both races. We'll see!

After the GF tour we piled into my brother's car to head to Caribbean Beach resort so that they could check in. Here's a tip from me to you – if you're planning on traveling to Disney for Marathon Weekend, don't wait until AFTER THANKSGIVING to book your room, because the only rooms that will be left will be CBR pirate rooms. I never actually got to see the room, but the reviews ranged from "it's fine" to "it sucks." Eh, whatever. The drive to CBR was tough because the GPS in my brother's car just could not make sense of Disney property and I never drive in Disney so I was pretty clueless. Eventually we made it to the resort and were told that the room wasn't ready, so we headed to Epcot to get lunch. We parked at the Boardwalk, got everyone's tickets squared away, and headed to France…bonjour, delicious food!

I think everyone else got some kind of sandwiches (croissants, baguettes, etc.)…I got the quiche Lorraine and some kind of chocolate mousse dome…and water, of course (hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!):

I had them toast the quiche so that it was hot and it was SOOOO good. Really creamy and the perfect temperature. The chocolate mousse was awesome – if I remember correctly it had a dark chocolate layer with a white chocolate layer inside. Very rich and oh so good.

Everyone was pretty happy with this meal overall, so we were off to a good start. I didn't take very good notes on this day (or many pictures, like I said before)...just wasn't in the mood.

After lunch I think we looked around France a bit and then headed to the UK pavilion, then Canada. We're all big Off Kilter fans but never managed to catch them on this trip, so that was sad. I pulled up the My Disney Experience App to check wait times in Future World and led everyone to Spaceship Earth.

Thumbs-up for a life of leisure in the future!

One thing I KNOW I kept doing was checking the wait times for Test Track...and there were no wait times because it was down all day. LAME. I was also occasionally checking the fastpass return time for Soarin' (wait time was 45-60 minutes...way too long) and at some point we grabbed fastpasses with a 6:50-7:50 return window and walked on to Living with the Land.

 

[Ariel484]

After frolicking in The Land we headed back to World Showcase to explore a bit more. Everyone was quite taken with Mexico but didn't want to go on the Grand Fiesta Tour...I think my aunt got a pair of earrings though.

Sup, bro.

Somewhere in here I got a text from Will that he was boarding his flight...yay!

Anyone got an extra $37,500 lying around??

Eventually we decided it was time to check in for our 5:45 dinner reservations.

I feel like people either love or hate Via Napoli...this was my 3rd time eating there and I LOVE it. My only complaint is that it is LOUD in there, but I guess that's just a function of how the space was constructed.

My mom and aunt split a medium-sized pizza (a white pizza, I think - it was HUGE)...actually, this is one other small issue I had with Via Napoli on this trip. Craig and I got our pizzas (individual-sized pepperoni for me, individual-sized mushroom for bro) about 5-10 minutes before the white pizza came out. No one else seemed to mind (bizarre considering the other stuff they moaned about...but I digress). I think I was actually the only one that was perturbed by that.

The kid is trained now. I pointed my camera toward his pizza and without saying anything he instinctively threw his arms up. Good boy!

I need to note that last year Craig got some kind of pasta with clams that he liked, but not as much as he liked the bites of pizza he tried from me and mom. When we were going to order he asked me if I remembered what he had last year and I relayed the info. He was much happier with his pizza this year...hooray for trip reporting and taking pictures of food!

I think this is a great pre-race meal because it's not too heavy thanks to the thin crust and light cheese. I'm normally not a huge fan of pizza sauce, but I like what they use here. It's a little...sweeter than other pizza sauce, I think? Whatever it is, it's delicious.

 

[Ariel484]

After dinner we headed back to The Land to use our Soarin' fastpasses (thumbs up all around...but COME ON Disney, clean the film up already!) and I had to call it a night. I'd been up since 4AM and did have a race to run the next day, after all...plus I just needed alone time. I gave everyone instructions on how to get back to the car, set up a meeting time with Craig for the next morning (4AM "near the DJ"...my idea. Way too vague) and made my way to the monorail station.

If I could go back in time there are a few things I'd change about the weekend, but the biggest would be to go slap my Friday-afternoon-self silly and say, "STAY OFF YOUR FEET, DUMMY!" That afternoon/evening of walking around in Epcot was WAY too much before the races, enough that my feet felt a little achy by the time I got back to the Grand Floridian. I know everyone always says that runners need to stay off their feet before a race, and Disney runners will sort of half-heartedly nod while thinking, "yeah, but the parks are RIGHT THERE..." but seriously, this was a mistake. It honestly never occurred to me that I'd walked around too much until my feet started bugging me. DUMB!

Back at the resort I made a stop at Gaspirilla Island for cupcake #2 of the weekend (cupcakes cure all!) and got back to the room at 8:15. I was very surprised to see that we’d gotten turndown service. Nice!

The rest of the evening was just re-checking everything for the half, waiting for Will to arrive and stuffing my face with cupcake.

S’mores Cupcake from Gaspirilla Island:

Some kind of fudge on the inside:

This was good, but nothing super special. I think I like the s’mores cupcake from the Boardwalk Bakery better. I ate half of it and shoved the rest in the fridge for Will to have later (he never actually ate it).

Will's flight was due to land at MCO at about 9:50 (he'd connected in Nashville...long travel day after a full work day!), meaning that he wouldn't be at the hotel until about 11:30. There was no way I was going to make it until 11:30, so I sent him a message to just keep me updated (he argued against it since I needed to go to sleep but I said it was fine) and went to sleep at 9:30. About 5 minutes later I got the message that he'd landed early! Yay! I went back to sleep pretty easily and he sent me a message to let me know he was at the resort at about 11:15. I rolled out of bed, met him in the lobby and gave him a quick tour before we got back to our room. I think I was back to bed at about 11:30 with my usual 3 alarms set – my phone at 2:45, a wake-up call for 2:55, and the iHome for 3AM. Race #2 coming up!

 

[LindsayLoves]

If I could go back in time there are a few things I'd change about the weekend, but the biggest would be to go slap my Friday-afternoon'self silly and say, "STAY OFF YOUR FEET, DUMMY!" That afternoon/evening of walking around in Epcot was WAY too much before the races, enough that my feet felt a little achy by the time I got back to the Grand Floridian. I know everyone always says that runners need to stay off their feet before a race, and Disney runners will sort of half-heartedly nod while thinking, "yeah, but the parks are RIGHT THERE..." but seriously, this was a mistake. It honestly never occurred to me that I'd walked around too much until my feet started bugging me. DUMB!

!

You and me both! My brother and I got there on Tuesday night and spent almost all of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday running around in the parks. My legs were a mess by Saturday so I took a mid-day siesta back at the hotel which was too little too late. If time allows for a nice extended vacation next time I will be staying longer after the race instead of coming in so early, my legs will thank me for it.

We did Via Napoli on Saturday night and had pizza as our pre-race meal. My brother and I both really liked it. It was super yummy and I think I will go that route pre-race again in the future. Plus sharing a pizza definitely made it one of the most cost effective dinners on our trip. Luckily we were right next to the little patio area so the noise wasn't too much of a problem for us but I did note going through the main dining room how loud it was.

 

[Kristia]

We tried to not go crazy in the parks on Thursday and Friday but we still probably did a little too much. How can you stay off your feet while in Disney? I wish we could have gotten there on Fri but I was afraid the merchandise would be gone (and it was) if we waited. Also didn't want to be traveling the day before a race. Your pizza looks so good! We ate one there once and it was great! I also really need to eat at the cafe in France. I wanted to on our last day, but Dan wasn't that hungry. Boo! I didn't even get any cupcakes this trip. Whatever cold bug we caught kind of messed with our appetites. I would be hungry, order something and then only be able to eat half. Hoping I can make up for it on our August trip!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I could see how adults traveling without children wouldn't enjoy the CBR pirate rooms. We were there in December with my 4 year old son and he absolutely loved it! That quiche looks delicious! I may have to make a point to try that next time!

 

[Mad Stitch]

Yay for the Cleveland Marathon shirt.

 

[Ariel484]

You and me both! My brother and I got there on Tuesday night and spent almost all of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday running around in the parks. My legs were a mess by Saturday so I took a mid-day siesta back at the hotel which was too little too late. If time allows for a nice extended vacation next time I will be staying longer after the race instead of coming in so early, my legs will thank me for it.

I don't know if anyone ever actually follows that advice...
Ideally I'd do what you're suggesting: get to Disney for the expo, do the race(s) and then stay a few days afterward. That would be awesome.

We did Via Napoli on Saturday night and had pizza as our pre-race meal. My brother and I both really liked it. It was super yummy and I think I will go that route pre-race again in the future. Plus sharing a pizza definitely made it one of the most cost effective dinners on our trip. Luckily we were right next to the little patio area so the noise wasn't too much of a problem for us but I did note going through the main dining room how loud it was.

Via Napoli is definitely my top pre-race pick (we ate there last year before the marathon as well). The big key for me is that both bro and I have eaten there and not gotten sick...!

We tried to not go crazy in the parks on Thursday and Friday but we still probably did a little too much. How can you stay off your feet while in Disney? I wish we could have gotten there on Fri but I was afraid the merchandise would be gone (and it was) if we waited. Also didn't want to be traveling the day before a race. Your pizza looks so good! We ate one there once and it was great! I also really need to eat at the cafe in France. I wanted to on our last day, but Dan wasn't that hungry. Boo! I didn't even get any cupcakes this trip. Whatever cold bug we caught kind of messed with our appetites. I would be hungry, order something and then only be able to eat half. Hoping I can make up for it on our August trip!

Seriously with the lack of merchandise after Thursday...why can't they make it available online after the races? I know some stuff is in Team Mickey now, but not all of us can just hop on over to DtD!
I wish I had taken a picture of the cafe in France...it's soooo different now. Obviously since it's in a totally different location...I was really surprised!
I'm sorry you didn't get any cupcakes this time around. Add it to your to-do/eat list for August!

I could see how adults traveling without children wouldn't enjoy the CBR pirate rooms. We were there in December with my 4 year old son and he absolutely loved it! That quiche looks delicious! I may have to make a point to try that next time!

I totally get that about the pirate rooms too. They wanted to rent points at BCV or BWV...but this was right after Thanksgiving when they finally decided to try to book and DVC was totally booked up. Technically there WERE other rooms available - a king bed room at Coronado. That would have been awkward.

Yay for the Cleveland Marathon shirt.

You know it! I think you'll like my brother's outfit for the half marathon.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Can't wait to hear about the half! The mother in me is very aware of how little sleep you got young lady! Wowzers, you were up for something like 18-19 hours and on your feet! You must have been exhausted. I still can't wait to hear about the half though!

*Off topic* I got an e-mail from runDisney today about the Disneyland Half Marathon and the new 10K and the combined effort called the Dumbo Dare...I was all over it! I e-mailed DH and started the ball rolling. Went to register...and it's already friggin' sold out! I've been so busy I missed the registration! *duh*!! The DHM is still open for registration though and we'll most likely be in the area this year too...I had better decide fast-registration is already 75%!

For that matter, you should decide too...btw had you decided to go for the Coast to Coast this year?

 

[imagination30]

shannon - ive done told my parents we are going for the expo then the races , but No Parks until after the weekend .. so thats our plan... to do business first then fun later on ... i tend to read tips on the forum about the little things haha!