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Walt Disney World Half Marathon
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Walt Disney World Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon
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Comments: Race gun went off, and off I go. First 4 or 5 miles are down access roads between Epcot and Magic Kingdom, and through the right-hand service side of MK. It was dark, and there wasn’t much to see. Disney did a good job trying to liven up this area, with plenty of “stuff” – characters where you could get your picture taken, there was a hot air balloon actually flaming, some high school bands, and such. Still a boring run, but at least the effort was made. Plenty of port-o-potties all along the course. One pit stop for me, at about mile 4, took about 30 seconds. Finished the first 6.55 miles in 54:30, so I was right on track for a sub 1:50 race. Still dark. Miles 5-6 or so were by far the best part of the race – after you enter into the Magic Kingdom from the right-hand side, you run down Main Street, all lit up, with tons of people cheering, towards Cindarella’s castle, hang a right over to TomorrowLand, and loop back around to the back of the castle, through it, and then out the park on the other side. It is a mile, or mile and a half, tops, but it’s by far the best part of the course. Second half of the course was pretty similar to the first – you’re just running back to Epcot on the same sort of access roads. You can even see the later corrals (and the associated walkers) on the “out” side of the course, as you’re running back to Epcot. There were two overpasses you had to run up (and subsequently down), but other than that, the race course is entirely flat. One big turnaround in Epcot, and you’re back at the finish. Second half of the race was a bit slower for me, and I finished in 1:52:14 (Garmin time). New PR for me. Good race overall, and I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think I’d do it again. It was just too early, too dark, with a boring course (except for the Magic Kingdom part). Factor in the cost, and that I can run three races at home for the same price as this one, and I’ll pass. Plenty of volunteer support, and I can see how if you’ve never run a half marathon before, you would want to make this your destination race. Disney puts on a first-class operation (and unfortunately it’s reflected in the race price). Cool medal, with a neat Velcro part in the strap that allows you to hang the medal flat. What would you do differently?: Start later  Post race
Last updated: 2012-01-17 12:00 AM
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 2012-01-17 1:19 PM |
Member  77 |  Subject: Walt Disney World Half Marathon |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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Walt Disney World Endurance Sports
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I flew down to Orlando Friday afternoon after work. The wife was driving down there from Atlanta with the baby (8 months) and my MIL, and the baby, myself, wife, my wife’s parents, and my parents were subsequently heading down Fort Lauderdale to hop on a cruise ship for a week vacation after the race. Everyone but myself, wife, baby, and MIL were flying to Ft. Lauderdale, the four of us were meeting the rest of them there after the race.
Friday night
Got into MCO at about 7:00 pm, and after about a 30 minute wait for the airport shuttle, headed over to the Hampton Inn Airport for the night. The wife had gotten into Orlando early afternoon, so she had handled number pickup at Disney that day. All I had to do was get to the hotel, eat the leftover Chili’s chicken sandwich that they had procured for my dinner, and go to bed. As the race instructions said that I needed to be on-property by 4:00 am, and I was about 20 minutes away, I set the alarm clock for 3:15. Yuck. Whoever plans a 5:30 race start should be shot.
Saturday morning
Alarm off at 3:15 – hopped in the shower quickly, grabbed all the gear, and headed out. Since I was out the door by about 3:25, I was passing by the Lake Buena Vista exit with about 15 minutes to spare, so I stopped at the local Mickey D’s for a sausage biscuit and coffee (I know, nothing new on race day, but I was starving and really wanted the caffeine. Good decision at the time. Bad decision about mile 2). Traffic getting into park was pretty bad as I rolled in right at 4:00, but it moved pretty quickly and was very well marked. I got into the parking area about 4:30. By the time I got parked, got everything situated, and was out the door, it was about 4:45. Luckily for me, though, I was parked about 100 yards from the finish. About 50-55 degrees outside, so not ridiculously cold, either.
Headed over to the finish area where everyone was gathered, hit the port-a-potties, and generally just milled about for 10-15 minutes before beginning the LONG walk over to the start line. It was at least a mile, probably further, and was a good 15-20 minutes. At least the crowd and the motion kept me warm. I got into my corral (again, very good signage) at about 5:00 – luckily enough, I was in corral “A”, so I was right at the front with the stage, and could see all the festivities and interviews and such going on.
None, stood around for 30 minutes