My wife and I ran the 2002 Disney Marathon (umm, she ran, I walked 20 miles of it). We had the time of our lives. This is going to be long, so get settled.
Friday,
We arrived and got our race number from the sport complex. We walked around and looked at all of the vendors, got a lot of "freebies" and bought socks. We went back to my parents house (2 hours away), when my back went out. I fell asleep with the heating pad on....
Saturday,
We went back and check into our cabin (Fort Wilderness cabin), That was great, we had a stove, and refridgerator. We kept all of our stuff (green tea, power bars) in the fridge. We went back to the sports complex and listened to some of the lectures. We took pictures with John "The Pengiun" Bingham. He was very funny.
After a while we went back to the cabin and relaxed. In the evening we went to Epcot for the "pasta diner", which was great, except the buss driver got lost going to Epcot.....We were the only two on the bus.
We "tried" to sleep.
Sunday,
We awoke at 2:30am ish. got showers, and got ready for the race. We met our bus by 3:30 am, and we were on our way to Epcot again. Everyone on the bus was cheery and friendly (for that time of the morning). Plus it was very cool (45 F). We were on the way to Epcot when a car cut the bus off and the driver had to slam on the brakes...I slammed my knee into the seat in front of me...Remember one thing, bring "disposable" swweat shirts/pants. It's cool in the AM, but you can discard them once you get warmed up (and the clothes collected, go to needy people). We checked in our stuff (clothes and stuff we bought) and then got ready to go to the starting line. If this is your first marathon, be prepared to be shocked. People have spent the last few days getting hydrated for the race, now it has to come out. They have hundreds of porta-potties, and trees. People are going everywhere. We line up based on our finish times, and wait for the start of the race. Mickey and Donald come down and start the race, with fireworks..Then the race starts. We waited 10 minutes before we moved, as the 18,000 people started. Within the first 1 mile, there was a DJ playing music with the giant Mickey hands, waving at everyone. The 2002 theme was the villans, so we saw Hades, The Queen of Hearts, a dinasaur....I had not trained for the marathon, so I ran the first 6 miles, and then walked the last 20. I thought I was going to be bored, between the parks.....But I was soo wrong. There were 4 DJ's out that I remember, Sound systems every couple of miles. Volenteers cheering you on. Then you get into the parks. First park was Epcot. You only get to see a little of entrance, plus it was dark. Then you went towards MK. The worst thing about being in the parks, is that they started cooking breakfast....ooooh, the smells.... Cinamon rolls, bacon...oh, ummm, ok.
Once you left the MK, then the long trek to AK. Half way to AK is the finish to the 1/2 marathon....that was tough, people are all excited about finishing, and you are only 1/2 way. Being on the roads were fun, because you get to wave at all the people watching you (Becareful, your arms get real tired). Around mile 18 it started to rain, hard. It was still 50F out and the wind was blowing at 10 miles an hour. I was blue, like Genie. Got to AK and has a cast member walk with me almost to the entrance of AK (You come in the back side, by the stables, pwheeew). Then you go up Osceola Parkway, buy Blizzard beach, and that DARN McDonalds.....Around by Wide World of Sports, and then back towards MGM. Remember one thing, on all of the exit and entrance ramps, there is a slope. Either run on the grass on the inside of the curve, or have strong ankles....The grass is flat on the inside of the curves....You come into the back entrance of MGM, but TOT...very cool. The parks will be open (unless you are really fast), then you have people cheering you on, that are visiting the parks. Out of MGM and back towards Epcot. You go through the countries in Epcot, which all the cast memebers are out cheering you on. Then the fihish....I did something really stupid. I sprinted the last 10 yards..I was so sore....
We went back to our cabin and rested....then that night we went to Ohana's for diner.
My back hurt so bad, that I barely slept Sunday night, I curled up on the murphy bed sometime in the middle of the night.
We has such a good time, we were going to do it again, but We had a little boy in October (yes, he's our Marathon present.) We will be there in 2005 though..
I hope this helps.
Here's my home page...Click on the Disney Marathon link on the left.
http://home.mindspring.com/~tmeitz/
Blue.
