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!

 

[Katherine]

Yeah it's always so hard to stay off your feet while at Disney. It's no fun.

I also usually just skim the food pictures but that S'more cupcake looks like heaven! OMG! That fudge center was more than my mental taste buds could handle!

 

[Ariel484]

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!

Sorry mom

...

*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?

That is TOTALLY nuts about the Dumbo Double Dare. There were lots of ways to pre-register for it though...people did it at the WDW Marathon Expo (and I'm assuming the Tinkerbell Half expo) AND I got an email a couple of weeks ago that I could register early since I have a Disney Visa. I bet there were barely any spots left by the time registration *actually* opened. That stinks that you didn't get in.

No Disneyland Half for me this year, unfortunately. I really want to do it one day (and get that C2C medal - I was so tempted with the Dumbo Double Dare because that would have given me 8 total runDisney medals for the year from the 2 race weekends ) but we already have the cruise in September and I'm traveling for work that month too. Plus I don't know how it would work with Will's school schedule...it would either have to be a solo trip for me or a long weekend and a long weekend seems more daunting when it's flying from Ohio to California. But I WILL do it one day! Mark my words!!!

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!

Good call! That is definitely the way to go.

Yeah it's always so hard to stay off your feet while at Disney. It's no fun.

I also usually just skim the food pictures but that S'more cupcake looks like heaven! OMG! That fudge center was more than my mental taste buds could handle!

Yeah...my hat's off to people that actually had the discipline to take it easy ahead of time, because I certainly couldn't do it.
If you like chocolate you would LOVE that s'mores cupcake!

 

[Kristia]

No Disneyland Half for me this year, unfortunately. I really want to do it one day (and get that C2C medal - I was so tempted with the Dumbo Double Dare because that would have given me 8 total runDisney medals for the year from the 2 race weekends ) but we already have the cruise in September and I'm traveling for work that month too. Plus I don't know how it would work with Will's school schedule...it would either have to be a solo trip for me or a long weekend and a long weekend seems more daunting when it's flying from Ohio to California. But I WILL do it one day! Mark my words!!!

I so wanted to do the Disneyland Half or DDD but not in the cards $$$ this year! I am planning on 2016 since my sis wants to do the marathon for her 40th bday. Plenty of time to save some cash to get to CA!

 

[Ariel484]

I so wanted to do the Disneyland Half or DDD but not in the cards $$$ this year! I am planning on 2016 since my sis wants to do the marathon for her 40th bday. Plenty of time to save some cash to get to CA!

I know...so much bling! I'm trying to look on the bright side though...it's the first year of the 10K so at least they will have worked out all the kinks by the time we run it. PLUS hopefully they will realize that it's popular and open up more spots for it in the future.

Doing the marathon with your sister sounds like fun! Would Dan run it too?

 

[Ariel484]

Day 3: Saturday, January 12, 2013

No waking up early this time…I slept like a ROCK.

Technically this was my first time running the WDW Half Marathon, but I have run this course before…it’s exactly the same as the course used during the Princess Half Marathon. I leapt out of bed at 2:45, turned off the iHome, grabbed the room wake-up call and did the same as the previous morning – coffee, sunscreen, camera battery check , etc. After saying good-bye to a completely dead-asleep Will, I headed out of the room at about 3:20 with a bit more stuff than I had with me for the 5K – Gu chomps for fuel during the run, breakfast for Princess C, my phone wrapped in a paper towel and secured in a baggie – you’ll see me holding it in pictures, a small pack of tissues (sole purpose – in case I happened upon a porta-potty with no toilet paper! ) and completely pointless throwaway clothes. With the long wait in the starting corrals runners bring old clothes to wear to keep warm, which Disney picks up, cleans and donates to charity. This was the first year I’d actually remembered to bring clothes, and of course I totally didn’t need them – temperatures were already in the mid-60s with 100% humidity at 4AM.

Like I said earlier, monorail resorts utilize the monorail for transportation to these morning races, which was really nice. The bus transportation I’ve had in the past (from Port Orleans Riverside in 2011 and Beach Club Villas in 2012) was totally fine, but I have heard horror stories of traffic jams and bus drivers getting lost. Taking the monorail just gave me an extra piece of mind that getting to the start would be smooth. I took very careful notes on how long everything took so I’d know what to do for the marathon, and this started when a monorail pulled right up to the station when I arrived at 3:28AM. We briefly stopped at the Magic Kingdom stop (the doors opened for a few seconds and then quickly shut again) and this is when I got my first course spoiler – the Magic Kingdom, including the castle, was all lit up! Woohoo!

We picked up some runners at the Contemporary before continuing on to the TTC. Everyone was very quiet, which was fine by me – I don’t do well with making small talk in general...chit chatting before I’ve had a sufficient amount of coffee is borderline impossible.

Our monorail arrived at the TTC at 3:36. We silently switched monorails and were en route to Epcot by 3:39. Everyone was still quiet and I could see more race “spoilers” along World Drive – Mile Marker 3, a screen with runner Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and the same pirate ship that had been out during the 2011 Princess Half Marathon. I don’t recall feeling very nervous…I think the 5K had allowed me shake out all of the nerves and now I was just looking forward to getting out there to run!

We arrived at the Epcot monorail station at 3:50AM. Coming down the ramp from the monorail station there were LOTS of Cast Members available to direct us either to the starting area or to the bathrooms under the monorail station. I, of course, went to the bathrooms…because they were REAL BATHROOMS! This is very rare on a race course.

After the bathroom stop I made my way toward the start. I have to say, the Cast Members I encountered that morning were AWESOME – they were all so nice and encouraging (lots of “good luck” and “have fun” wishes) and didn’t seem to mind that they were up so early just to tell us where the bathroom was. It was great that there were so many of them – there was absolutely no confusion on where to go. Lots of us runners made sure to thank them as we passed by.

Walking to the start…

LALALALALA *plugs ears*

Under the mouse ears and into the starting area!

 

[Ariel484]

The walk from the monorail station to the start area took longer than I expected, and as a result I was about 15 minutes late to meet Princess C. Oops! I also realized that “near the DJ” was definitely not a specific enough meeting place…I shouldn't even refer to it as a meeting place at all. Like I said before, way too vague. I don’t know how Craig spotted me because there were lots of people around and I couldn't see him at all…maybe he had an advantage because he’s tall. There are lettered tents in the “Family Reunion”/start area and we quickly decided to meet at one of those tents the next morning for the marathon.

We chatted a bit and by then I think I had already ditched my throwaway clothes – old sweatpants and a $4 fleece jacket from my local Goodwill – in a donation bin. Craig wasn’t wearing throwaway clothes, but he did have on a nice long-sleeved Nike running top. I asked him what he was planning to do with it because there was NO way he was going to survive with that and a t-shirt underneath for the entire race. Neither of us planned on checking bags so it looked like he’d be stuck carrying it at some point.

After heading through the no bag-check line we came to a stand-still and were stopped for a decent amount of time (15 minutes maybe?) before making the long walk from the holding area to the starting corrals. Per Disney race tradition people were already hopping off to the side of the roads for a bathroom break in the bushes – men AND women. I prefer to just keep walking…there are tons of porta-potties near the corrals, and the ones toward the end always have the shortest lines.

Anyway, after our long walk and a bathroom stop (NOT in the bushes) we reached our corral at about 5:15…not too long before the official start of the race.

After some bantering back and forth from the hosts/DJs and a few interviews (including one with Joey Fatone of *NSync, who seemed to be THE celebrity of the weekend) another Disney vocalist sang the National Anthem. Random thought about Joey Fatone (aka Fat One for anyone that watches Dancing With The Stars) – I thought it was weird how much they promoted that he was running Goofy purely because his wife had signed up and had to pull out…so he was running with her bib, even though us non-celebrities are NOT allowed to transfer bibs. Ooooookay.

During this time we marveled at the people who were just arriving at the starting corrals and were sprinting to make it to the A and B corrals on time…yikes. Glad we got there early!

Anyway, the wheelchair racers went first, followed by Corral A, then B. We inched closer to the start…

Mornin’, fellas.

The con-duck-tor counts down to Corral C’s start at about 5:47AM…3 2 1 GOOO!

(Apologies for the shakiness. )


And we were off! All through this race I tried really hard to pay attention to our pace…not because I had a specific goal time in mind, but because keeping the marathon in mind I didn’t want us to run the race too fast (and trash our legs) or too slow (and be on our feet for longer than necessary). I wanted us to run it juuuuust right…

…okay, I lied. I wanted us to beat our time from the Princess Half (3:02ish).

Ugh…please note the humidity on the Mile Marker 1 sign. Yuck!

I remember the first mile being very narrow and crowded. It was hard to run.

Cool flags!

I think we were able to spread out a bit by Mile Marker 2, if not right after. After passing this mile marker we each ate 4 Gu chomps (strawberry flavor, yum!). Craig wasn’t a huge fan because they got stuck in his teeth.

And then we came up to the first character meet of the race: the pirate ship I’d seen from the monorail earlier that morning. We passed it up since the line was pretty big and we already have a picture with the exact same set-up from 2011.

Yo ho yo ho

 

[Ariel484]

Next we passed the photo-op screen I’d also seen earlier (I never did stop for a picture in front of this thing) before reaching the MK Entrance gates! LOTS of room to run by now, and if I remember correctly, we saw the lead wheelchair racers and runners pass us by on the other side of the median…they were already 9ish miles in! Wow.

The warning that plays over the speakers here was burned in my brain all weekend: ”Caution runners. Road narrows, and speed bumps ahead.” I bet despite the fact that I said it was burned in my brain I actually quoted it incorrectly just now. Despite the warning I was distracted by taking a video and managed to trip over a speed bump. Luckily I caught myself. Said video is linked below...not worth tripping for!

(This video is blurry and shaky and pretty awful in general...you've been warned!)


Mile Marker 3 was just inside the gates.

At the 5K mark our first text/email alert was sent out: 5K in 38:18, a 12:19/mile pace. Estimated finish time of 2:41:35. Not bad, right?...

…then we came upon the first character meet we wanted to stop for. Bye-bye decent average pace!

By now we were outside the WDW Speedway and were both DRENCHED in sweat. Craig had to accept defeat, take off his long-sleeved pullover, and tie it around his waist. I voted for him wearing it around his shoulders Zack Morris-style but he vetoed that idea.

This line looked sort of long but only took 3-4 minutes…racing ‘munks!

I must say, the bro was very good at spotting mile markers before I did (ahh, to be tall) and was all about the character pictures during this race. I don’t know if it’s because I've finally got him trained after our other race weekends, or if he was a fan of the more relaxed approach, or both. But it worked out well for me!

And it's a good thing too, because there was no way I was passing up the next photo-op. It was a long line (6-minute wait) but this is one of the rarer character meet-ups I've seen, so it was totally worth it.

.....how's that for a cliff-hanger??

 

[Kristia]

I know...so much bling! I'm trying to look on the bright side though...it's the first year of the 10K so at least they will have worked out all the kinks by the time we run it. PLUS hopefully they will realize that it's popular and open up more spots for it in the future.

Doing the marathon with your sister sounds like fun! Would Dan run it too?

Dan would probably run it too. Now that I am back and not happy with how I did, I am considering Goofy again...What?! Did I just say that...someone smack me!!

 

[Ariel484]

Dan would probably run it too. Now that I am back and not happy with how I did, I am considering Goofy again...What?! Did I just say that...someone smack me!!

HA! I knew it!!! You need to change the title of your trip report!

...in all seriousness though, 2015 will be the 10th Goofy, sooooo.....

 

[Kristia]

HA! I knew it!!! You need to change the title of your trip report!

...in all seriousness though, 2015 will be the 10th Goofy, sooooo.....

I would love to do the 10th, but that would be our 20th anniverary year so we may plan to do a relaxing trip that year. I think it will have to wait till 2016!

I was wondering how much easier it was with the monorails. We only ran into a bit of a snafu on half marathon morning but it wasn't too bad. More to come on that in my trip report. It is a bit of a walk though which we found out when trying to make our Kona reservations that morning.

I saw those people running to their corrals (A&B) and thought they were crazy! Was it really that important that you would run and then keep running as they started. Just hop into a later corral. Unless I was meeting people or trying to stick with a group, I would want a much more relaxed start!

Yeah...the Joey Fatone thing was pretty ridiculous. I guess "celebrities" are above the law!

Looking for myself in your pics! We must have been running pretty close to each other since I ran into you at Alice! You probably passed us standing in the long Pirates line.

 

[Ariel484]

I would love to do the 10th, but that would be our 20th anniverary year so we may plan to do a relaxing trip that year. I think it will have to wait till 2016!

I can understand NOT wanting to cram your anniversary weekend full of races, for sure.

I was wondering how much easier it was with the monorails. We only ran into a bit of a snafu on half marathon morning but it wasn't too bad. More to come on that in my trip report. It is a bit of a walk though which we found out when trying to make our Kona reservations that morning.

I would say it wasn't any easier than taking the buses. I feel like people make SUCH a big deal out of taking the buses to the starting area (to the point where I find it a little annoying), and the 2 years I took buses it was totally fine. HOWEVER, I know that the half is a huge race so it was just nice to have the piece of mind.

I saw those people running to their corrals (A&B) and thought they were crazy! Was it really that important that you would run and then keep running as they started. Just hop into a later corral. Unless I was meeting people or trying to stick with a group, I would want a much more relaxed start!

Was it just me or did it seem like everything the morning of the half was cutting it a little close? I too was wondering why they didn't just join us in Corral C...as the host said, "C is for Courageous!" after all.

Yeah...the Joey Fatone thing was pretty ridiculous. I guess "celebrities" are above the law!

So lame. A few of their planned celebrities pulled out at the last minute I guess...I got SO sick of hearing about Joey by the end of the weekend!

Looking for myself in your pics! We must have been running pretty close to each other since I ran into you at Alice! You probably passed us standing in the long Pirates line.

Yay! I will have to look for Princess C and I in your pics! How long did you stand in the Pirates line? That's a popular one.

 

[Kristia]

It did seem to cut it close on half marathon day. They did a much better job on Sunday, calling for corrals a couple at a time. Seemed to work out much better. We waited for 8 minutes in the Pirates line. I blamed Dan for that and because we waited so long, I just missed Bullseye!

 

[Ariel484]

It did seem to cut it close on half marathon day. They did a much better job on Sunday, calling for corrals a couple at a time. Seemed to work out much better. We waited for 8 minutes in the Pirates line. I blamed Dan for that and because we waited so long, I just missed Bullseye!

That's a long line! Yowza. I'm sorry you missed Bullseye I had a list of pictures I really wanted this year and he was definitely on it. He's just so darn cute.

 

[Tiggerish]

Cute chipmunk pic!

Hanging off cliff...

 

[Ariel484]

Cute chipmunk pic!

Hanging off cliff...

Yeah, I like their little hats!

 

[Ariel484]

FYI, awful videos added to above posts...

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Ugh, way to leave us hanging!!! haha.

Reading about the race is brining me back to the ToT 10 Miler... I was so nervous waiting for the race to start!! I feel you on the humidity part though cause when the race started at 10pm it was 85% humidity. Being up here in Maine, we never get that humid so we had never run in anything like that. It was crazy.

I love your polka dot running skirt! (Or is it shorts?) Either way, love it!! And I wish I could just run, ya know, 5 or 6 miles and then be ready for a race like your brother! Sheesh

 

[Ariel484]

Ugh, way to leave us hanging!!! haha.

Reading about the race is brining me back to the ToT 10 Miler... I was so nervous waiting for the race to start!! I feel you on the humidity part though cause when the race started at 10pm it was 85% humidity. Being up here in Maine, we never get that humid so we had never run in anything like that. It was crazy.

I love your polka dot running skirt! (Or is it shorts?) Either way, love it!! And I wish I could just run, ya know, 5 or 6 miles and then be ready for a race like your brother! Sheesh

Oooh yeah, I remember reading about the weather for the 10-miler! We don't get humid weather like that in Ohio either. I felt it as soon as I got off of DME the day I checked into the resort...my hair and skin immediately felt it.

Thanks! It's a skirt that has built-in compression shorts underneath. Love it! And trust me, my brother was HURTING later on in the race...but he did finish. I'm not sure I would have if I'd had so little training...BOYS.

 

[Ariel484]

What's this? What's this?

It's Jack Skellington and Sally! One of my favorite character photos from the weekend.

The funniest part of the meet was when Jack put his arm out for me to grab and said, "Hello" in a super low, creepy voice. I had no idea he was a face character and wasn't expecting him to talk at all, so I had a mini-heart attack. But mostly I was just pumped to meet two awesome characters!

(Have you ever looked at the lyrics to "What's This?" So clever!)

By now we were at the TTC, and surprising to no one, mile 4 was a slow one (a little over 20 minutes long):

This is a notable area of the race because there is awesome spectator support here, as well as REAL bathrooms. Unfortunately the lines were out the door so we didn't stop. We headed under the water bridge near the Contemporary, and WOW was the course poorly lit here. Not cool.

Also notable about this part of the race? 8 minutes before we were at Mile Marker 4 the winner of the half marathon FINISHED THE RACE (1:05:26) - a new course record! Insanity.

Teeny little DJ with his cute little sign.

After the Contemporary we found ourselves at Mile Marker 5...

...and said good morning to Space Mountain!

We headed down a side road and finally hit our first park of the race.

All of us runners headed into the Magic Kingdom through a Cast Member-only entrance near The Chapeau and were met with lots of cheering spectators. We turned onto Main Street and found a cool surprise (well, the surprise I'd seen earlier from the monorail) - Christmas lights on the castle and a lit-up Main Street USA!

Traffic completely STOPPED on Main Street, and for the first time I realized how truly crowded this race was. I think there were 27,000 runners? This was quite different than what I'd experienced on this same course during the 2011 Princess Half, which had 14,000 finishers.

Looking back down Main Street:

I'm surprised my pictures came out so badly, because I honestly don't even remember being able to RUN down Main Street at all. Unless I'm exaggerating it in my mind we walked pretty much the entire way.

Next we turned right and headed into Tomorrowland.

Buzz Lightyear was out in front of the Lunching Pad, and we passed him up - not rare at all. We checked the lines for the bathrooms near Mickey's Star Traders (out the door) and saw people heading to the bathrooms by Space Mountain (eh, too lazy to go that far off the course). I gave up on the Tomorrowland bathrooms and we headed into Fantasyland. The Mad Tea Party was the sight of our next meet-up.

We were right at the front of our character line when I looked to my right and saw...

... @Kristia ! What are the chances?? Nice to meet you and Dan in person, friend!

And then, it was off with our heads before continuing on through Fantasyland!

 

[Katherine]

Another awesome update! I took a pic with Jack and Sally too but it didn't turn out very good. Yours is much better. This was actually one of biggest complaints, several times I stopped for pics and since the cast members were so nervous about getting people through quickly they didn't wait for the camera to focus properly. Oh well, life goes on.

Loving the trip report!