Walt Disney World Marathon - RunMarathon

Ummm...did I mention how cold it was yet? It was freezing and there was wind! This was not exactly what I thought the weather would be like when I signed up for a marathon in Orlando in January.

The first 6 miles or so went by without even a thought. My race plan was to keep my miles within a 9:00-9:15 range until mile 20 and then see what I had left. I was surprised at how easy the pace felt for the first hour. Soon we were at the Magic Kingdom and that was cool. It was still pretty dark when we got there and it was neat to run through there in the moonlight. We exited the Magic Kingdom around Mile 11 and started the treck to the Animal Kingdom. Somewhere around Mile 13 I started to wonder if I could hold the 9:00ish pace I had held that point. My heart rate was slowly elevating to maintain the same pace but I just kept telling myself to hold the pace as long as possible.

I don't really remember much of being in the Animal Kingdom and then we were on to Hollywood Studios. At some point some guy came by me and asked me which 70.3 I did because I was wearing my Augusta visor. I told him Augusta and he said he did Timberman and then he gave me a fist bump and he was off. I picked people that looked like they were running my pace and told myself to stick with them. I realized by the time I got to Hollywood Studios that I was now in front of 2 of the people I was trying to use to pull me along. I remember coming up the highway ramp to go to Hollywood Studios and thinking that there was no way I could hold the 9:00ish pace for much longer. We wove through Hollywood Studios pretty quickly and then were on the last stretch to Epcot. We ran around 2 bodies of water back to Epcot and the wind coming off the water was brutal. This was about the last 2-3 miles and for the first time the entire race, my pace slowed a little bit, but I still managed 9:15 miles for 25 and 26. My Garmin had the course at 26.55 miles and I ran the last .55 miles at a 8:55 pace, which was my fastest pace the entire time. I gave it all I had to get to the finish line and crossed at 4:01:45. I was SO happy. I nailed my race plan and didn't walk a single step of that race, even though the urge to walk was strong towards the end. It really showed me that your brain will start to doubt your body's abilities when things get though but you really can push through that and keep going. I also got a huge boost from the crowds out there. I found that if you waved at people that they would all cheer for you, and I even ran down some of the lines of people and high-fived a bunch of people. It really picked me up when I was feeling tired.

Nothing. I executed my nutrition plan perfectly - 1 Roctane every 30 minutes and 15-20 oz of water every hour. The volunteers were so helpful in refilling my water bottle when I needed it.

I crossed the finish line and could hardly move forward. I was just SO tired. I slowly made my way to get my finisher's picture and then waited for my sister to finish. I stood for 40 minutes after the race waiting for her, which was not a smart move. My muscles really tightened up while I stood there and I was shivering in the cold. The shower at the hotel afterward felt amazing.


I only had about 2.5 months to train for this after Augusta 70.3 at the end of September. I am still very pleased with this as my first marathon performance.


The highlights of this race are running through all the Disney parks and the awesome volunteers and supporters out there. The downside includes having to be on a shuttle by 4am for a 5:40am start time and the expense. Nothing is free at Disney. I was surprised that we didn't even get a discount for a park ticket.