Walt Disney World Marathon - RunMarathon


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Orlando, Florida
United States
Walt Disney World Endurance Sports
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 15m 29s
Overall Rank = 14574/20680
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

While I originally had a registration for this race just in case, before it sold out, I had decided not to run it, because 1/13 was the start date for my 16 week 70.3 training plan and I figured a marathon would hinder those plans.

In fact, since completing the Marine Corps marathon 11 weeks earlier I had barely run at all. Two 6-mile training runs, and a 13.1 and two 5K races. I was undetrained... or overtapered.

I was supposed to "run 50 minutes" on January 13, actually. Well, going to the Expo with my wife (who was racing) and picking up bib and tshirt and goody bag, and getting that pre-race excitement and "good luck" comments from others.... made me decide to go ahead and start the thing. I figured I would run until I didn't want to run, and see how far I got, with the primary goal to avoid injury and to do nothing that would put my 70.3 in jeopardy.
Event warmup:

Woke up too early to get to start line, did the long walk to the start corrals, which is really an effective warmup. Except I knew I'd be walking most of the 26.2 and every extra step pre-race was added to my distance!
Run
  • 6h 15m 29s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 14m 20s  min/mile
Comments:

I started out keeping up with my wife, who was with the 5:00 pace group, for the first 2 miles, talking about the race and plans and helping fix Garmin issues. At the 2 mile marker I wished her good luck and took the first of many walk breaks. I walked until I was bored and ran until I was tired. The runs got shorter and the walks got longer. I managed to keep a sub-13 pace through about mile 20, but then my left knee started to be painful when I ran, and considering my goal to avoid injury, I decided to walk it in from there.
What would you do differently?:

Decide I was doing the race more than 48 hours in advance so I could properly train!
Post race
Warm down:

Limped back to my room through the Epcot resort, cheering on the runners finishing behind me.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Complete lack of training!

Event comments:

A great race, tons of volunteer support, great medals. 23 water stations in 26 miles. Expo was a bit crowded and sold out of a lot of things quickly. Course congestion can get a little bad in parts so don't plan on making this a PR race, but it's an absolutely awesome experience.




Last updated: 2013-01-17 12:00 AM
Running
06:15:29 | 26.2 miles | 14m 20s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/20680
Performance:
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Too much
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5