WDW Half Marathon (Goofy Challenge, Part 1) - Race Recap

Saturday, January 12
Orlando, FL
Half Marathon #74
Florida Half Marathon #2
Weather - Hot and Humid

We originally booked our airfare for the WDW Marathon weekend so that we would arrive late Thursday, with the possibility of running the 5K on Friday morning. Then Frontier (continuously, like for weeks) jacked up our flights and we ended up not being able to leave until Friday morning.

Friday

Our flight out of Denver was at some obscene hour, like 7:30, so we had to be up and out the door by 4:45. Nothing interesting/catastrophic happened on our flight, with the exception of my tv going out, even AFTER I paid $7.99 for it. Luckily, I'm a complainer, so I got a voucher from Frontier for my next flight's tv to be comped.

We arrived in Orlando around 12:30. It was officially a hundred billion degrees there. We grabbed lunch at Quizno's, and headed to the Magical Express lines. The line was pretty long, but I bet we waited less than 10-15 minutes. We were dropped off around 2 at our hotel - All Star Sports. After dropping off our luggage, we immediately headed to the expo. It didn't take that long to get there, but it was really crowded. The nice thing about doing the Goofy Challenge was the lines to get our stuff was really short!

We had to go to a completely different building to get to the actual expo, which was mildly annoying. The expo was CROWDED. I visited InkNBurn, where I got one of the new magical thumb hole long sleeve pullovers, and the dragonfly cami. We were there probably about an hour before we decided to head back to the hotel. The drive back took FOREVER. 45 minutes just to get off the street leading to ESPN.

We ended up having pizza (instead of pasta) for dinner. Heather arrived (finally) around 8. We got everything ready and set our alarms for 3:03 am. THAT IS THE EARLIEST EVER.

Mmmmm Pizza....

Saturday

Sure enough, 3:03 really IS the earliest ever. We got ready and walked to the lobby to catch our bus. We were loaded on around 3:40 and dropped off... 4:15? I don't remember.

The start area was insanely crowded and we got stuck heading towards the corral. Nice thing was that everyone was anxious to get in their corrals, so we were able to get in and out of the bathrooms with no line. We were spotted in line by... SILLY GIRL RUNNING! She had an amazing costume on, and somewhere, there is a picture of me, her and Heather.

We lined up in corral D, and spend the next 45 minutes or so people watching and standing around. I guess we must have finally crossed the start line at least 15 minutes after the gun? We really had no goals, other than to take it easy and not get swept off the course. We also had plans to stop for each and EVERY photo opportunity.

We had to wait until almost mile 2 for our first one, and it would turn out to be the longest line of the day - waiting for Jack Sparrow and his pirate ship. A girl in front of us ACTUALLY RAN WITH AN AUTOGRAPH BOOK AND PEN. Honestly. I know it is a "for fun" race, but get your picture and go, do not hold up the line more than you need to. While we were waiting, the fasties were already heading in toward mile 10. So. Yeah.

While in line at the Nightmare Before Christmas, I complemented a girl on her awesome Donald costume. I told her how LAME mine was going to be. She offered to give me the giant red bow off her costume, and all I would need to do is stop by the front desk to get it. Thanks, Lynn!

I think the sun was already starting to come up by the time we got to the Magic Kingdom. It was hot. We stopped a lot for pictures - final count, according to my camera, 16 stops. We also took it at a slowish and easy pace. I did not wear my Garmin and I did not use mapmyrun on my phone.

One of my favorite pics from the day

IT'S DONALD!! HE IS MY FAVORITE!! 

Running with L and Heather is the most fun ever.

As you can see, there was a LOT of stopping for pictures. Apparently there was some running happening, since we obviously did get from point A to point B. I didn't feel horrible, I didn't feel great. I also was pretty weak by the end and didn't really have it in me to sprint through the night.

Official Time - 3:36:25 (New PW!!)
Official 5K - 47:48
Official 10K - 2:05:58
Official 15K - 2:50:23
Overall - 21880/23126
Gender - 12217/13128

• I love Disney. Running their races are FUN.
• I love that I can run with my own camera, get tons of pictures and not have to pay a huge premium for them. The races are already expensive enough!
• Aid stations - we were at the back of the pack (obviously) and there was water and Powerade at all stations. However, the Clif station was EMPTY when we got there. Bring your own gel if you are slower.
• Costumes are the most fun EVER. I cannot believe how much work some people put into their costumes! Ours are/were LAME in comparison.
• It was really really really hot. Not Disney's fault.
• Finish line food is good. Box of goodies including chocolate, crackers, cheese, trail mix and of course water and Powerade.
• Transportation provided by Disney is excellent. The start time is early, but honestly, with as hot as it was this year, that was ok. We just went to bed earlier.

To be continued...