Walt Disney World Marathon - RunMarathon

I started in corral D, the 4th wave after the weelchair group. After the 1st wave, each next wave is walked up to the start line and then counted down to their respective start. There's lots of motivational music before and fireworks at the "go". With 17000 or so runners, my guess is that each wave must have had around 2000 or so runners. It was certainly a crowded start. It would be difficult to hold a pace faster than 9min/mi at the start in this corral. One would need to be in corral A to get a good start faster than that or perhaps get right to the front of the corral I was in. My primary goal was to finish the course with no injuries. Secondary was to get under 4 hours. I was successful with the primary. Regarding the secondary, I held the right pace up through the halfway mark, but realized by that point that I couldn't hold that pace for another half. I just didn't have it in me. So, I decided to forget that goal and just enjoy the event. First, I took a bathroom break at mile 15 (more for comfort than necessity), then stopped a few times to take some character photos. I also started walking through the water stations more and more as the miles went by. By the end, I was walking 30 seconds or so through each water station. As I neared the finish line, I could clearly hear the crowds, the music, and the announcer. When the finish becomes visible, I could see the spectator grandstands full of people cheering. There was a gospel choir singing enthusiastically. I finished with a huge sense of accomplishment over having completed the Goofy Challenge. I finished 175 out of 503 of other male runners in my age group who did the Goofy Challenge.

Wear more layers of clothing and some gloves. I was very cold with the temps at 40 degrees. Hands were pretty numb. Also, hydrate a bit less in these temp conditons to avoid the need for a bathroom break. I was drinking 3 mouthfulls of Powerade every 10 min. Maybe I could have spaced it out longer or taken in a bit less.

Walk around for 10 or 15 minutes after the race. Eat, drink fluids incl my Endurox mix that I left in my bag check.


Having run the Half on Saturday.


Good race. Crowded at the start. Lots of water stations and volunteers.