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!

 

[LindsayLoves]

Great poses with the Jack and Sally picture, I am fairly certain I am just grinning uncontrollably in my photo with them.

Soooo glad that we didn't run into that traffic on Main St the next day. People were pretty good about making it over to the side for their photo ops. But the castle all lite up in the morning really was a take your breath away moment.

 

[Tiggerish]

I think I've only seen NBC once, but thanks to "What's This?" being on one of the Disney music compilation CDs I keep in my car, I can sing along with it! It is a clever song. And a great photo of you guys with Jack and Sally.

I love the "Tomorrowland at sunrise" photo! And of course the one of you and @Kristia--how great that you ran into each other! (haha) Crazy crowds.

 

[Ariel484]

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!

Thanks! Did you think that the lines were longer this year? @Kristia and I both thought that they were. Those CMs are definitely under pressure to get people moving quickly...but it stinks when your pictures suffer as a result. I wasn't expecting greatness anyway since it was so dark out...

Great poses with the Jack and Sally picture, I am fairly certain I am just grinning uncontrollably in my photo with them.

Soooo glad that we didn't run into that traffic on Main St the next day. People were pretty good about making it over to the side for their photo ops. But the castle all lite up in the morning really was a take your breath away moment.

Don't worry, I definitely have the "uncontrollable grin" pose coming up. I think it was Craig's idea to act scared...as stupid as this sounds one of my "goals" was to pose differently with the characters during that weekend because I thought I looked so dumb in most of my marathon pictures from last year.

I don't know why there wasn't quite so much bottlenecking during the marathon on Main Street...the race had the same number of runners as the half. ??? But yeah, that was a relief. And I was SO glad to see the lights on the castle. With the marathon being a week earlier last year the Christmas decorations were still up, so I was disappointed they wouldn't be there this year...but the lights were awesome!

I think I've only seen NBC once, but thanks to "What's This?" being on one of the Disney music compilation CDs I keep in my car, I can sing along with it! It is a clever song. And a great photo of you guys with Jack and Sally.

I love the "Tomorrowland at sunrise" photo! And of course the one of you and @Kristia--how great that you ran into each other! (haha) Crazy crowds.

My husband's ringtone is "What's This?" and he doesn't even like NBC! Great song.

I was SO excited to see @Kristia ...I think I did a triple take and probably freaked her out with how excited I was. And then I made her take a picture with me to boot. I wish I had a better shot of just how crowded it was...it was nuts.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Oh yay!! Jack and Sally are SUPER rare!! That's exciting!!

And how awesome bumping into @Kristia during the race!! Love the pic! You both look like you've been running hard!!

 

[Kristia]

Haha! There's that picture again! Ahhhhh! You didn't freak me out lol! You surprised me though! Not often you hear your name at WDW! I wasn't even looking around, just trying to get a character pic without standing in line. It was great to meet you in person too! You were the only one I was able to catch up with. Yeah...so much for running through the castle. More like walk through the castle. We were a little later than you going through on marathon day and it was still bottlenecking, but not as bad. I felt like the last time we did the marathon, they gave you a little more room and the "run way" was wider? Not sure though. I thought the roads were more open back then too.

Bummed we didn't meet Jack and Sally. NBC is one of my faves! I had the What's This ringtone for a long time.

 

[Katherine]

Thanks! Did you think that the lines were longer this year? @Kristia and I both thought that they were. Those CMs are definitely under pressure to get people moving quickly...but it stinks when your pictures suffer as a result. I wasn't expecting greatness anyway since it was so dark out...

I totally thought the lines were longer than ever. I had never done the half marathon so I just assumed that that was the case for this race. The marathon character lines were more what I was use to but still long especially at the beginning of the race. I think the half has reached capacity. I felt crowded the whole race except when running on 4 lane roads (aka running into MK).

 

[enchanted_belle]

The day was looking up, but I was still in GO-GO-GO mode, i.e. still pretty frazzled. First stop in DtD was Team Mickey to hopefully run into @enchanted_belle. Unfortunately she wasn’t working that day. Probably for the best as I really could not calm myself down from the weird little frenzy I was in…I probably would have scared her away! Next I headed to Guest Services to get my (real) Annual Pass and Tables in Wonderland card. Then I looked around World of Disney for a bit before deciding that I needed some lunch…but first I had to stop for some coffee at Ghiradelli.

That was my traditions day!!! I had like one of my very first days in Team Mickey someone told me that I was asked for by a guest a few days ago... and I got weird looks like "People are asking for you already?!" and it made me giggle. Now I know who it was! Sad I missed you

 

[Ariel484]

Oh yay!! Jack and Sally are SUPER rare!! That's exciting!!

And how awesome bumping into @Kristia during the race!! Love the pic! You both look like you've been running hard!!

I know, I was so excited to see Jack and Sally! And heck yeah @Kristia and I were running hard!! (Is that just a nice way of saying we look sweaty and gross?? Haha!)

Haha! There's that picture again! Ahhhhh! You didn't freak me out lol! You surprised me though! Not often you hear your name at WDW! I wasn't even looking around, just trying to get a character pic without standing in line. It was great to meet you in person too! You were the only one I was able to catch up with. Yeah...so much for running through the castle. More like walk through the castle. We were a little later than you going through on marathon day and it was still bottlenecking, but not as bad. I felt like the last time we did the marathon, they gave you a little more room and the "run way" was wider? Not sure though. I thought the roads were more open back then too.

Bummed we didn't meet Jack and Sally. NBC is one of my faves! I had the What's This ringtone for a long time.

The offer still stands, I can take the picture down if you want! I'm so glad we ran into each other!

The crowds in the Magic Kingdom were insaaaaaane. That's definitely the worst it's been in the races I've run through the MK.

I totally thought the lines were longer than ever. I had never done the half marathon so I just assumed that that was the case for this race. The marathon character lines were more what I was use to but still long especially at the beginning of the race. I think the half has reached capacity. I felt crowded the whole race except when running on 4 lane roads (aka running into MK).

YES, I totally agree with you about the half. I hope all of the races don't get to be as big...I know the Princess half grows a bit this year (in fact they have ALL the WDW resorts as host resorts this year for the first time). I felt the same way you did about the crowds...I knew this race was big but I really wasn't expecting it to be so cramped for some reason.

That was my traditions day!!! I had like one of my very first days in Team Mickey someone told me that I was asked for by a guest a few days ago... and I got weird looks like "People are asking for you already?!" and it made me giggle. Now I know who it was! Sad I missed you

WAHHHH. Yep, that was me asking for you...I asked like 4 of your fellow CMs! Haha! I'm so sad we missed each other And I don't think I'll be back in WDW before your CP ends...but we'll meet in person some day!!!

 

[enchanted_belle]

WAHHHH. Yep, that was me asking for you...I asked like 4 of your fellow CMs! Haha! I'm so sad we missed each other And I don't think I'll be back in WDW before your CP ends...but we'll meet in person some day!!!

psssh ENDS? Dan is thinking about moving down here so I won't have to leave!

 

[Ariel484]

psssh ENDS? Dan is thinking about moving down here so I won't have to leave!

Good, so I will definitely see you at some point then!

 

[Ariel484]

Belle (in yellow dress) was out with the Beast near the new walls in Fantasyland, but we passed them up and headed to the castle.

Waiting...

These guys provided some entertainment:

This was another long-ish line (5-6 minutes)...but when the race con-duck-tor is out for photos in his royal attire, you stop. You just do.

After meeting the duck we ran through the castle and came to another complete stop. There were tons of runners trying to get out of the castle to make the turn into Liberty Square, and people just were not moving. Other runners started to great frustrated and yelled "runners to the left, walkers to the right!"...nice try. We just sort of slowly trudged down to the street below.

Still can't get a decent picture despite the fact that I'm walking ever-so-slowly...

We bypassed the photo-op in front of the castle (lines seemed huge and I knew from last year it would be official photos only – they wouldn't take one with my camera) and headed toward Liberty Square.

We passed Tiana in Liberty Square and Jessie in Frontierland and finally found Mile Marker 6! (Ate 4 more Gu chomps here.)

Another 22-minute mile! Without fail getting through the Magic Kingdom is always the longest portion of these Disney races for me...

And now it was time to leave the MK and head back to Epcot. We went backstage and passed Prince Phillip and Aurora standing on one of the daytime parade floats (giant line) and came to yet another bottleneck in the course. The area we had to run in was extremely narrow, and by now quite a few people were walking...so it was hard to dodge around them. I have absolutely no problem with people walking during a race (I do it myself a lot!) but proper race etiquette was just out the door this morning. People were walking right in the middle of the course, giving no notice when they were going to start walking, and groups were walking 4-5 across. It was incredibly frustrating. And these times when all of the runners seemed to be walking in one giant clump of people were really the only times the weather bothered me during the half...the sun and temperatures weren't too high yet, but when all of the runners were so close together it felt incredibly hot and humid out. Whenever we had some space it felt quite pleasant.

Somewhere in here our second alert was sent out: 10K in 1:33:31, an average pace of...15:03! Estimated finish time of 3:17.17. That’s what a 22-minute mile in the Magic Kingdom will do to you.

 

[Ariel484]

Just before the Grand Floridian and Mile Marker 7, we passed a Reedy Creek fire truck.

We didn't stop for much over the next few miles...for whatever reason I had it in my head that I wanted us to finish in under 3 hours, and Craig was starting to struggle. We passed a couple of character meets - Mary and Bert outside of the Grand Floridian and Lilo and Stitch outside of the Polynesian - before finding Mile Marker 8.

We passed the WDW Speedway again (and the Genie) as well as Mile Marker 9.

The photo screen, pirate ship and pirates were still out...

Our third text split was sent out somewhere during this mile...15K in 2:12:33, an average pace of 14:13/mile (hey, getting better!). Estimated finish time of 3:06:27.

And now we were in double digitland (ate my last Gu chomps here...I think Craig gave up on them because he was sick of getting them stuck in his teeth).

Throughout the race I'd stop to take my mile marker pictures, Craig would walk up ahead, and I would run to catch up with him. Since we'd run this course before, I knew what was coming after Mile Marker 10 – the one overpass of the race we would need to conquer. Craig was really starting to struggle now, so I tried to get him pumped up with a "Let’s make this overpass our *****!" He just sort of weakly laughed in response, but together we took off. I felt pretty fantastic at this point - drenched in sweat, sure, but not at all sore or tired. It was great but probably shouldn't have been all that surprising considering that I was in marathon shape and was running a very relaxed pace (and stopping a lot! ).

Almost all of the other runners were walking up the overpass. We weaved around them and tried our best to find the flattest parts of the road (mostly we stayed near the top of the road)...the slope can really do a number on one's knees. Partway through we stopped to show just how strong we were! *flex* Craig claimed he was posing like he was holding a gun, but to me it looks like he's playing air guitar...

And we conquered the overpass, running almost the entire way! Woohoo! We looked down in pity at all of the runners behind/below us before moving on.

 

[enchanted_belle]

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.

I was next in line to get on Test Track when it broke down that day... just saying, we were in EPCOT at the same time.

 

[Ariel484]

I was next in line to get on Test Track when it broke down that day... just saying, we were in EPCOT at the same time.

WHYYYYYYY. I bet we walked right past each other at one point...

 

[LindsayLoves]

proper race etiquette was just out the door this morning. People were walking right in the middle of the course, giving no notice when they were going to start walking, and groups were walking 4-5 across. It was incredibly frustrating. And these times when all of the runners seemed to be walking in one giant clump of people were really the only times the weather bothered me during the half...the sun and temperatures weren't too high yet, but when all of the runners were so close together it felt incredibly hot and humid out. Whenever we had some space it felt quite pleasant.

Oh my word the poor race etiquette was everywhere. One woman leading a run/walk group of about 5-6 people literally and I quote said "We're just going to walk in the middle and let all the runners go around us" at some point past the Grand Floridian where it was pretty narrow. My brother loudly said "Did she REALLY just say that?" and lots of other runners started laughing but she didn't take the hint and move over. Big props to the awesome run/walkers who would signal with hands and vocally (and most importantly make sure no one was right behind them) that they were going to move over and walk.

but to me it looks like he's playing air guitar...

I agree with you on the air guitar part that must have been his exhaustion showing through, no fun poses when you are wiped out.

 

[Ariel484]

Oh my word the poor race etiquette was everywhere. One woman leading a run/walk group of about 5-6 people literally and I quote said "We're just going to walk in the middle and let all the runners go around us" at some point past the Grand Floridian where it was pretty narrow. My brother loudly said "Did she REALLY just say that?" and lots of other runners started laughing but she didn't take the hint and move over. Big props to the awesome run/walkers who would signal with hands and vocally (and most importantly make sure no one was right behind them) that they were going to move over and walk.

How annoying of that pace group leader! That's exactly the opposite of what you're supposed to do, lady! Your brother is so funny

I agree with you on the air guitar part that must have been his exhaustion showing through, no fun poses when you are wiped out.

Yeah, haha...if you look at his face there I wouldn't say he looks particularly thrilled.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Sorry mom
...

...or maybe it's the nurse in me?

LOVING the report! Too many things I love to comment on each thing! Except I will say it is definitely my guilty pleasure right now...I have studying to do, but I like to take a break to check out the status of this race report! You've got me pumped to go for my daily runs latey!

 

[Ariel484]

...or maybe it's the nurse in me?

LOVING the report! Too many things I love to comment on each thing! Except I will say it is definitely my guilty pleasure right now...I have studying to do, but I like to take a break to check out the status of this race report! You've got me pumped to go for my daily runs latey!

Nurse + mom! That's probably it.

Thanks for reading...and HEY, nothing guilty about it! I'm still faithfully reading your blog, I hope your week gets better!!

 

[CinderellyKelly]

I'm loving your report!!!! That stinks that it was so crowded through the Mk. My hubby and I did the half in 2011 and didn't have a while lot of congestion there. Way more on the road to Mk. But we were at a slower pace so maybe it has thinned out by the time we got there!! Lol!

 

[Ariel484]

I'm loving your report!!!! That stinks that it was so crowded through the Mk. My hubby and I did the half in 2011 and didn't have a while lot of congestion there. Way more on the road to Mk. But we were at a slower pace so maybe it has thinned out by the time we got there!! Lol!

Thanks! Yeah, I was expecting lots of people but I really wasn't prepared to just come to a complete stop in some areas. Not cool! And it's not like I was trying to break any speed records either with all my picture stops...LOL!