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!

 

[The Empress Lilly]

'Poor Unfortunate Soles' - an instant classic!

 

[Ariel484]

'Poor Unfortunate Soles' - an instant classic!

Thanks! You're too kind.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 1: Thursday, January 10, 2013

(Not very many pictures in this one...sorry!)

This trip was structured a bit differently than my other race trips. In 2011 (with Will) and 2012 (without Will at the last minute due to some health problems) I flew down to Disney on a Friday and back home on a Monday to accommodate Will’s work schedule, which isn’t as flexible as mine. This set-up was fine for those trips – both times I was able to visit the race expo on Saturday and be ready for the race on Sunday. Signing up for the Goofy Challenge, and thus committing to running a race on Saturday, meant that I’d need to be at the expo before Saturday. So it made the most sense for me to fly down myself on Thursday to have a day to settle in, hit the expo early and have Will meet me in Disney on Friday. Hear that? That’s the sound of me NOT complaining about this arrangement one bit!

Wednesday night is the first time I recall feeling nervous about what I'd signed up for, and I woke up at about 5AM on Thursday feeling even more jittery. I hopped in the shower, pack up my toiletries, said good-bye to the monster-pup and was on the road by about 5:45.

Obligatory monster-pup photo, dressed as Harry Potter for Halloween:

I died when I saw this. DIED.

Anyway, Will dropped me off at the airport at about 7AM and I was checked in and through security by 7:10 with almost 2 hours to kill before my flight. Armed with a Bruegger’s breakfast bagel and Dunkin Donut coffee I headed to my gate and started to mess around on my phone to kill time.

After a few minutes, someone asked me if I was participating in any of the races this weekend...HOW DID THEY KNOW? Duh, I was wearing a shirt from a local half marathon I’d completed in May 2012. Turns out almost the entire plane was full of Marathon Weekend participants and their family members. I thought this was pretty cool at first – it was easy to pick out the runners as they were wearing their running shoes or race t-shirts like I was - but quickly changed my mind when everyone began to talk about the weather. You see, the Orlando area was forecasted to have higher-than-normal temperatures for this time of year: highs in the low 80s with full sun. Great for a regular vacation, not-so-great for a marathon. I was already nervous enough about tackling the races, and nothing could be done about the weather beyond being smart about hydration (I’d been drinking water like crazy in the week leading up to the races), so the last thing I wanted was to hear constant chatter about how hot and miserable it was going to be. I was thisclose to putting my fingers in my ears and singing LALALALA. I freely admit that I was being a giant baby, but I just didn’t want to hear it.

We began to board and I met a Perfectly Goofy runner in line, meaning he’d run all 7 Goofy Challenges and was about to attempt his eighth! Isn’t that amazing? He totally didn’t make a big deal out of his accomplishment…just told me to enjoy myself and take lots of pictures. I actually ended up seated next to another Perfectly Goofy runner, and she wanted EVERYONE to know about it. She went on and on about how awful the heat was going to be and was acting like a complete expert when it came to all things running. Look lady, OF COURSE it’s impressive that you’re Perfectly Goofy…but shut up! When a gentleman asked me if I could switch seats so that his young daughters could sit together, I practically jumped at the opportunity (later the flight attendant told me that the man told her that he’d pay for whatever snacks I wanted on the flight as a thank you…so nice! I didn’t take advantage). I swear I'm not normally this crabby, but it was early and I was nervous. Now I was next to a mom and her 5-year-old…the mom was going Goofy and the 5-year-old was participating in a kids race. She was super adorable, and the mom offered me donuts. SEATING UPGRADE!

I read The Hunger Games on my iPad and the flight went by super quickly…we landed in Orlando at about 11. I made a bathroom stop, changed into shorts, and managed to make it to the Magical Express area without getting lost. Quite an accomplishment for me!

Okay, who wants to play "guess the resort"??

I got in line at about 11:20 and was on a bus heading to WDW by 11:40. I always try to sit right up front so I can get a great WDW Entrance Gate shot and frolick off the bus as quickly as possible, but it wasn't meant to be today. Sadness.

Here's something fun that I did on the bus though...I texted with @Kristia ! We'd been hoping to meet up at the expo...unfortunately she and her husband Dan were at the expo right at that moment, whereas I was still magically, expressly making my way to my resort. No way we'd get to meet up. Boo! I got dropped off at my resort around 12:30 and practically THREW my bags at bell services without even checking in (really, I couldn't yet...I was booked under and AP discount and didn't have the actual pass yet). It was probably better this way...I had a race expo to get to!

 

[sam_disney]

I'm ready and awaiting the next installment

 

[LindsayLoves]

Shannon-
1. Your dog is adorable, my dog would have lasted about 1 second with those glasses on before throwing them off.
2. I love the name of this report. I was singing that song all week thanks to the lovely undersea adventure in new Fantasyland because the Ursula part was amazing.
3. I also can't wait to hear about your stay at GF!

 

[Ariel484]

I'm ready and awaiting the next installment

Welcome, welcome!

Shannon-
1. Your dog is adorable, my dog would have lasted about 1 second with those glasses on before throwing them off.
2. I love the name of this report. I was singing that song all week thanks to the lovely undersea adventure in new Fantasyland because the Ursula part was amazing.
3. I also can't wait to hear about your stay at GF!

Lindsay!!

1. Why thank you The dog camp he goes to did the photo, and I don't know how they got him to do that. I'm guessing some delicious treats were involved...
2. Thanks! OMG, the Ursula part was AWESOME in that ride. Great AA!
3. It was fabulous! I'm so sad I'm not there anymore.

 

[Kristia]

Yay for being so motivated to start your trip report!! Hope to start mine tonight. Love your trip report title! I am so jealous of all the great titles. Can't wait for the rest!

 

[Ariel484]

This first day of the trip was super hectic. Travel days are always crazy enough, but I also had two very important things that HAD to be done this day: get things squared away at the expo and get my annual pass/Tables in Wonderland card. The expo was my first stop…I wanted to get that over with as soon as possible. Disney sets up special transportation that runs all weekend whenever a race is happening, and that includes buses to and from the race expo. The buses sometimes run from the regular park bus stops and sometimes from the convention area of the resort (which is what happened in my case).

I was on the bus by about 12:40…we made one other stop at another resort and were en route to the Wide World of Sports.

I didn’t pay attention to what time I arrived at the Wide World of Sports…maybe 1PM? One thing I do remember is that they didn’t drop us off at the same area as last year and we had a pretty long walk – maybe 10 minutes or so? – to the expo itself. Boo to that.

I definitely went into powerwalk mode as I made my way through WWoS. These expos can get insanely crowded and overwhelming, so I wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible and get on with my day.

My first stop was the HP Field House for bib pick-up. Goofy and 5K runners were directed one way, half and full runners went the other way.

The bib pick-up area was nice and relaxed…ahhhh.

Super nice volunteers here. I picked up my 5K and Goofy bib as well as my brother’s Goofy bib. I also changed his starting corral from H to B. This was funny to me…I’d used an old race time of his that just barely made Disney’s cut-off (July 2011 I think), and he’d barely trained for this race weekend at all. No way did he belong in B…and that’s not me being a jerk. He totally agreed. At any rate I was in Corral C, so he was going to drop back and run with me anyway.

The rest of the room…there was a special pick-up area for the ninety-five Perfect 19s (those that had run all 19 WDW Marathons and were now attempting to become Perfect 20s…can you imagine???). I think Disney was (rightfully) giving them special gifts.

 

[Ariel484]

Yay for being so motivated to start your trip report!! Hope to start mine tonight. Love your trip report title! I am so jealous of all the great titles. Can't wait for the rest!

LOL! I got back and couldn't WAIT to start it. And I really want to make sure I don't forget anything.

Have a good one, fellow Goofy friend!!

 

[Ariel484]

I sped out of the bib pick-up area and found myself among the official race weekend merchandise. Shoppinnnnngggggg!

I picked out the goods (pretty good selection…I hear pickens were slim by the next day) and went to check out. I told the Cast Member that I had an AP Voucher (which I'd bought from the Disney Store just before the price increase over the summer) but not the actual pass yet – could she still give me the AP Discount? She seemed less than enthusiastic in general but ran the voucher through the register and gave me the discount. If she hadn’t it would have been fine…I just would have used my Disney Visa discount, but this seemed to be okay.

And here are the goods…

Pins from each race…I’m not big on pin collecting but I do buy some occasionally (really only for resorts we stay at and special things we do at Disney, i.e. races and tours):

The marathon weekend Vinylmation…again, not something I normally buy but I couldn’t pass this little guy up:

(more on the plush in a moment.)

Medals for the Vinylmation:

T-shirts…WOMEN’S CUT T-SHIRTS! WOOHOO!

Back of the Goofy shirt…there was nothing on the back of the blue marathon shirt:

I also bought a coffee mug but forgot to get a picture…it’s similar to the blue t-shirt above. Also, I should note that, again, the AP discount was good here along with the Disney Visa discount, and I was able to use giftcards to buy the official merch.

 

[Ariel484]

Next stop was the Josten Center for the actual expo along with bag pick-up:

ACK. Look at those crowds…shudder.

LALALALALA *plugs ears*

I headed all the way to the verrrrry back of the expo (near the “200” sign in the above photo) to grab the race shirts! NOTE: All of these shirts are UNISEX shirts. I finally wised up this year and ordered smalls…they fit much better than last year’s shirt, which is a medium.

5K shirt (a t-shirt):

And the tech shirts from the longer races…LOVE these shirts.

Half Marathon:

20th anniversary of the full marathon:

And Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge:

Now, remember that cute little plush in the picture above with the Vinylmation? Well, I’d forgotten to grab him earlier, so rather than return to the first building I just headed to the official merch area in the expo (all the same stuff) and grabbed one there. Again, I asked about the AP Discount, letting the CM know that I knew it was a voucher, but could I get the discount? Here’s and idea of how the conversation went down:

Me: I don’t have the actual AP yet, but I have this voucher. Can I still get the discount?
CM: That’s not an actual AP.
Me: …right, I know. I still need to exchange it.
CM: That’s just from a Disney Store. You could have just picked that up without paying for it.
Me: ….what? The CM in the HP Field House said it was fine (NOTE: I hate when people do this – “but she said it was okay, wahh!” but I was seriously shocked at what the CM had said to me, so I just blurted this out)
CM: Well I don’t know who SHE is, but she shouldn’t do that.
Me: (realizing that I need to leave ASAP because I was starting to get pretty upset) You know what, nevermind. Can I use a Disney Visa discount?
CM: No, has to be more than $50.
Me: (big smile because what else is there do to?) Forget it. Here’s my card.

Look, I know I was not entitled to that discount, and CM #2 is most likely correct in saying that CM #1 shouldn’t have given it to me in the first place…but really, I could have taken the voucher from the Disney Store without paying for it?? REALLY?

So at this point I was carrying my camera bag, my bag of merchandise and the two bags with all of the race shirts. The expo was crowded and I was upset about the whole thing with the CM…so I just wanted to get OUT. I made my way to the exit and realized that I didn’t remember activating the tags on the Goofy bibs (no tag on the 5K bib as it is an un-timed fun run), meaning that the chips weren’t going to record our race times. So I headed back into the HP Field House, got the activation done, and then headed out, only to realize AGAIN that I’d forgotten to do something. runDisney has started offering free commemorative posters/art cards for each race, and I had printed out a voucher for mine. I had run right past the booth where the cards are picked up at the expo…there was no way I was passing that up, so back into the Jostens Center I went to get my card.

Finally, FINALLY, I left the expo. The volunteers at bib and t-shirt pick-up had been extremely nice, but the CMs at the registers had ranged from indifferent to downright mean (and I feel awful for saying that, because the expo was hectic and I’m sure it was stressful for them too). I’d gone to both buildings twice, and the expo was becoming more crowded by the second. This trip was hardly starting off on the right foot (pun intended!).

 

[Ariel484]

But if there’s one thing that can make a girl feel better, it’s a pretty, pretty purse.

Disney started releasing limited-edition Dooney and Bourke bags for the TInkerbell and Princess Half marathons. Basically the bags would be available at the expo on a first come, first served basis. Inevitably the bags would sell out almost as soon as the expo opened and appear on eBay soon after – in other words, they weren’t being bought by runners, and those that couldn’t get to the expo until Friday or Saturday never had a chance to get a bag. So with Marathon Weekend runDisney made the bags available for pre-purchase so that everyone could have a fair shot. This was my last stop at WWoS…to get my bag. Very nice and calm experience here…the ladies running bag pick-up were extremely nice (I think they could tell I was totally frazzled) and one of them brought out about 5 bags for me to choose from.

And here’s the winner:

Close-up of the runner Mickeys:

Honestly, I need another bag like I need a hole in my head…but look at how pretty!

I had my bag at about 2:30 and began the long walk back to the buses.

My plan was to take care of a few things at Downtown Disney, so it made sense to get on the Saratoga Springs/Old Key West bus, get off at the first stop, and head Downtown from there. At the bus drop-off area the buses were in a huge circle…I was at one end of the circle and needed to go to the other end to get the Saratoga/OKW bus. Rather walk all the way around the circle I began to cut through and saw a gentleman approach me. I knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth: I needed to walk all the way back and around to get to my bus. He genuinely seemed like he felt bad for telling me to go back and I just told him not to worry, it was my mistake…and just the way my morning had been going. What a baby.

I made it to the correct bus stop (bus was there waiting) and the driver asked where I was going – Saratoga or OKW? I told him whichever one was first, and he guessed that I was headed to DtD. He told me to hold tight…he had a plan for me. The bus took off soon and we headed to OKW first, then Saratoga. The driver told me to stay on the bus and that he’d drop me off at a back entrance to Saratoga so that I could walk to Downtown Disney. Sidenote: I’ve never been to Saratoga before, and it’s BEAUTIFUL.

Anyway, he dropped me off at the entrance he’d described and told me how to walk to the Marketplace - just a 5-minute walk. I thanked him profusely…he was so nice to me after I’d had a somewhat crappy morning, and I was very grateful.

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.

Okay, are there any Simpsons fans out there? Because OMG, it’s a real-life Leftorium!

Anyhoo, I ordered an iced Caramel Latte at Ghiradelli and told the CM that I wasn’t sure if I had any money on the giftcard I was trying to pay with. The lady behind me offered to buy me my coffee in case the giftcard was empty. I told her it was fine, that I could pay for it…just wasn’t sure which card to use, but she kept insisting. Apparently I really looked like I could use a pick-me-up. I DID end up paying for the coffee myself and we had a nice chat…and I told myself to just calm the bleep down. I’d taken care of everything that needed to be done and was at Disney…my first day could get better if I decided to make it better. So with that I slapped a smile on my face and headed to Wolfgang Puck Express to order my lunch.

One 4-Cheese Pesto pizza, please!

Way too big for just me! Really, really good pizza, but I personally like the pepperoni better, I think.

I also made sure to get an ice water (hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!) and enjoyed my delicious coffee. Finally I was starting to relax…ahhhh.

(I thought I deserved the whipped cream.)

Lunch was lovely, and I boxed up a few slices of the pizza so that Will could have it as a late-night snack after his flight arrived the next day.

After lunch (as much as you can call a meal at 3:30PM “lunch”) I headed to the Christmas store to put in a couple of orders for personalized ornaments. The CM here was super nice too and reminded me that I could have the ornaments delivered to the resort rather than shipped home. I’d totally forgotten about this because I don’t think I’ve ever used the resort pick-up service before, so he saved me a few bucks!

My last stop was Cookes of Dublin, where I’d hoped to get the chocolate beer cupcake I’d read about on the Disney Food Blog. The CMs had no idea what I was talking about, so I gave up and headed to the bus stop. Once on the bus to my resort I opened up the blog to find that, DUH, the cupcake was at Captain Cooks at the Polynesian, not Cookes of Dublin. D’OH!

With that, I finally hopped on a bus back to my resort. Check-in coming up next!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

I can't wait to read more!

 

[LizC]

Huge Simpsons fan! Love that other people's minds work that way too.

Great TR so far, looking forward to the rest.

 

[6laurac]

I love this TR!!! My three favorite things-Shopping, Running and Disney. I love your pictures of the Dooney BTW. I want to do the 1/2 when my DD is 5 or 6 so give me a few years and I may be out there with you .

 

[TheMouseFan]

Great start! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Kristia]

So glad to see you took a lot of pics! I am afraid my trip report (especially the races) will be sadly lacking on the picture front. I just wasn't feelin' it especially for the marathon. I knew I would be mad at myself when I got back, but I think I was just in survival mode!

I got the marathon vinylmation too! It was my first vinylmation purchase ever. I didn't get any medals for it. I think I saw them but didn't realize what they were for until later that night. Agreed that the walk from the bus area to entrance of WWoS was crazy long! They dropped us nearly at the entrance last time.

When I went back to the expo on Friday it was even more busy. The line to get in the building wrapped around the sidewalk that outlines the field next to the expo building. Wish I had had my camera with me that day!

Sorry to hear that you had such a stressful morning! All the cashiers I dealt with were nice but I just paid with cash so nothing to "taxing" for them!

Yay for the Leftorium!

 

[Ariel484]

I can't wait to read more!

Woohoo! More coming soon!

Huge Simpsons fan! Love that other people's minds work that way too.

Great TR so far, looking forward to the rest.

Oooh yeah. I saw that left-handed shop and definitely let out a little yelp...texted it to my husband and he was pretty pumped too! Thanks for reading so far.

I love this TR!!! My three favorite things-Shopping, Running and Disney. I love your pictures of the Dooney BTW. I want to do the 1/2 when my DD is 5 or 6 so give me a few years and I may be out there with you .

What do you know, those are 3 of my favorite things too...great minds think alike!

The half is really a great goal...I hope you get to do it some day!

Great start! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks!

So glad to see you took a lot of pics! I am afraid my trip report (especially the races) will be sadly lacking on the picture front. I just wasn't feelin' it especially for the marathon. I knew I would be mad at myself when I got back, but I think I was just in survival mode!

I TOTALLY know what you mean about survival mode...no worries. I didn't take very many pictures on day 2 of my trip...just doesn't happen sometimes.

I got the marathon vinylmation too! It was my first vinylmation purchase ever. I didn't get any medals for it. I think I saw them but didn't realize what they were for until later that night. Agreed that the walk from the bus area to entrance of WWoS was crazy long! They dropped us nearly at the entrance last time.

He's a cute little guy, isn't he? I don't think I would have known about the medals if I hadn't read about it on the Disney Parks Blog a couple of weeks ago. And yeah, what was up with the bus drop-off at WWoS? Maybe it made traffic flow easier or something...

When I went back to the expo on Friday it was even more busy. The line to get in the building wrapped around the sidewalk that outlines the field next to the expo building. Wish I had had my camera with me that day!

Yuck, I heard about that! Speaking of going back to the expo, how did the new shorts work out?

Sorry to hear that you had such a stressful morning! All the cashiers I dealt with were nice but I just paid with cash so nothing to "taxing" for them!

Yay for the Leftorium!

I know, I felt like such a baby...maybe I was taking things a little too personally because I was trying to just get out of there ASAP!

Yay for the Leftorium indeed! We had a weekend full of Simpsons quotes (lots of fun with the monorail).

 

[imagination30]

shannon - i really like the half yellow tech shirt!, and giving the motivstion to se what it looks like for next year!.... , Most tech shirts i get from races i do tend to wear more than other , just bc i like the design... and what not..