Walt Disney World Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Orlando, Florida
United States
Disney World of Sports
45F / 7C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 09m 59s
Overall Rank = 5206/21953
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 610/1568
Pre-race routine:

Went to bed around 8pm. Woke up at 2:30 am. Ate some mixed fruit and drank water. Got dressed and relaxed a bit before leaving. Left for Monorail to Epcot at 3:45. Runners are advised to get to monorail by 4am. Arrived at Epcot and made my way to the bag check area. Took off my sweats and checked in my bag. I wore shorts, underarmor long sleeve with windbreaker over it. Made my way to the staging area where people were waiting to be allowed to go to the corrals. It's about a 15 min walk from that first area to the corrals. I waited for about 40 minutes in the corral. If I had known better, I'd have waited much longer in my warm sweats before checking my bag and heading to the corrals. So without hindsight, I sat and waited in the cold for 40 min.
Event warmup:

No major warmup except the walk over to the corral and some jumping up and down in the crowd as we waited for the start. I was in corral B (Wave 2) that started a few minutes after the official start at 5:35. I had my water bottle strapped on me filled with Powerade. Drank about 1/3 of it just before the start.
Run
  • 2h 09m 59s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 55s  min/mile
Comments:

I needed to go easy on this race to leave enough for the marathon the next day. My race pace would be around 8:25/mi, but I decided to run this at 10:00/mi. I had to keep checking my Garmin to keep myself at that pace. My legs wanted to go faster, but I kept putting on the brakes. I was doing this for most of the run, but in the last final mile, I just couldn't help it and let go a lot and ran 8:00/mi to the finish. I wore my gymboss to ring every 10 minutes as a reminder to drink. The only thing that I did different from my training was drink 2 sips instead of 3. I figured that the colder temps and slower pace would allow me to drink less, but in the end, I think I was too dehydrated as I got a headache a couple hours after the race. This happens to me when I haven't taken in enough water. In the end, I felt strong and ready for the marathon the next day.
What would you do differently?:

Hydrate more during the run. Leave later or wait longer before checking my bag and heading to the staging area/corrals. Incidentally, this is what I did for the marathon on Sunday and it worked great.
Post race
Warm down:

Walk around the finish and family reunion areas for 10 min or so and then head back to the hotel. Drink my Endurox ASAP which I had in my bag and continue to sip water for rest of the day. Make another Endurox shake when got back to hotel. Soak legs in cool tap water for 15 minutes. Walk around the parks for the rest of the day with my family.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nothing. Wasn't going for a fast time on this one.

Event comments:

Great race. It's very crowded at that beginning and would be tough to try to start at a faster than 9min/mi pace in the corral I was in (B), but this didn't matter to me as I wasn't going for speed here. Fun atmosphere overall and lots of support.




Last updated: 2010-03-26 12:00 AM
Running
02:09:59 | 13.1 miles | 09m 55s  min/mile
Age Group: 610/1568
Overall: 5206/21953
Performance: Good
5K Split 32:20, 10K Split 1:03:54, 15K Split 1:34:57
Course: 13.1 miles through the Disney property. The race starts at Epcot and runs over to the Magic Kingdom. After running throug the park for a bit, it winds back to Epcot. The course is mostly flat and fast. There are a couple of hills, but are very short and easy. There are nine water/powerade, 3 med tents, and one Cliff shot station (mile 8) along the way. There are several spectator spots along the course. And there are many spots where there was either music or other entertainment. There are also lots of Disney character photo opps.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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