My whirlwind weekend is finally over and I'm starting to go through photos and jot down thoughts about the Wine & Dine Half Marathon adventure. I figured the most important part of the trip was the race itself so I'll skip over the other parts of the trip for now and jump right into the fun, sound good?
If anyone remembers my adventure from last years race, you'll remember it didn't really go as planned for me. Hit the "wall" around Mile 9 or 10 and it just went downhill from there. After spending over an hour in the medical tent puking my guts out, I missed most of the after party and was overall miserable the remainder of the night. There were definitely a few mistakes on runDisney's part (not what got me sick though!) and a ton of mistakes on my end. If none of that jogs your memory, the recap can be
I am thrilled to say that this weekend's race went off without a hitch! The issues that many runners had with runDisney's logistics last year were completely non-existent this year. A few months prior to the race, runDisney
acknowledging that changes would be made to the 2011 race. They stuck to every promise and I think the race was very well run.
I think it was well organized and ran smoothly. Keith and I arrived around 10am Friday as it opened and it wasn't too chaotic. Packet pickup went quickly and we enjoyed wandering around the expo booths looking at new products and getting a few samples (big thumbs up for the free Oikos Greek yogurt!). Stopped over at the Running Skirts booth to say hello to
and Ernie and then just wandered and kept running into friends and other Running of the Ears members. Wasn't a huge fan of the runDisney merchandise that I didn't already own so ended up with just my usual wine glass.
The only blip we had was with transportation to and from the expo. On the way to the expo was totally my fault. I remember the Polynesian being a host resort last year and just assumed it would be again this year. Since we were at Bay Lake Tower, we jumped on the monorail to the Poly and asked about transport. That's when I realized the Poly was no longer a host resort. Apparently there were no host Magic Kingdom resorts, which I found odd. Keith and I jumped in a cab and made it to the expo in record time so I guess it all worked out.
Transport from the expo was slightly chaotic. There wasn't a cast member anywhere near the bus stops and not much signage. We only saw signs for buses back to Pop and Caribbean Beach. After seeing a Beach Club (the 2nd resort we stayed at that weekend) bus pull up on the other side of the parking lot, we quickly sprinted across the lot before it left us. (Transport to the race on race day, however, went seamlessly.)
Last year I definitely exhausted myself by running around the parks the days leading up to the race. This year? I TRIED to be better. I really did. The day before the race, we went to the expo and then wandered Epcot's Food & Wine Festival sampling a ton of food. Didn't do too bad with the walking. However, it was Walt Disney World's 40th birthday on race day and I knew I wanted to be at the Magic Kingdom for park opening. People started arriving at 6am for the ceremonies but we ended up getting there slightly before 8am for the 9am rope drop. Quickly sprinted to the castle and stood around until 10am when the ceremony started. After the ceremony (which lasted maybe 30-40 mins?) I enjoyed stuffing my face with breakfast foods at Crystal Palace and then attempted 3 rides before calling it a day. Our chaotic ride adventures will be saved for another post but a quick recap: Got on Pirates, got stuck on Pirates for an hour, got evacuated from Pirates. Went to Thunder, Thunder broke down right before we got on. Went to Carousel of Progress, it broke in the last 'future' room. We gave up! :)
We got back to the room fairly early and both attempted to nap, didn't really work. Started getting ready about 5:30 and got so bored and antsy in the room that we headed for the buses around 7pm instead of 7:30.
The most amazing thing though? The WEATHER! The 2 days leading up to the race, it was HOT and gross. Low 90s and humid. I was having flashbacks of last year, ugh! However race day? Perfect running weather. About 70-ish at the start and it dipped down to the low 60s by the time the race ended. Perfect!
A semi-full bus was waiting for us when we got to the bus stop so we were on our way in a few minutes. It took awhile for the bus to get us from the entrance of Wide World of Sports to the drop off point but we had a ton of time so I just sat and relaxed while the traffic eased up.
Bag check was a breeze this year. Went into the correct line (ordered by last name), dropped off my bag, and went on my merry way. I didn't really have any issues last year with bag drop off either but I remember hearing the lines were chaotic last year after awhile.
Last year I never got a chance to get a photo with Mickey since the lines were so crazy so we immediately went and jumped in line. While there, we met up with Danielle and
Lisa and also ran into a few other twitter friends after sending a tweet that I was in line and wearing a red hat (Hi Jim!). The line went fairly quickly and we just chatted until it was our turn to meet the Mouse.
We then found an empty area in the grassy area and plopped down waiting for others to show up.
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| Nicole and I met last year in the same grassy field...it was our Friendiversary! |
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| Part of the running crew.... Lisa, Megan, Collin, Adam, Daniel, Keith, me, Patrick, Danielle |
The Race:
After getting into the Runners Only area, we all made one more quick
pitstop, ran into a few more friends, and then broke off to head into
each of our corrals. Who in their right mind thought I was fast enough
for Corral A? :) Regardless, I'll take it! My first (and hopefully
not last) Corral A start, woohoo!
We moved about halfway up into the corral. I knew I didn't want to push any further up because some of these guys were SPEEDY!
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| The never ending Corral A |
Before I knew it, the national anthem was being sung and everyone was doing their last minute stretches. I'm used to at least waiting for one corral ahead of me to start running so this was all new to me to start running exactly as the gun went off! As I ran by the announcers booth, I tried to snap a few pics.
And it starts! The first few miles were the typical "run on the highway" miles of a Disney race. There were a few characters along the way but I felt that there weren't as many as there usually are. The lines were definitely shorter than I'm used to but then I realized it was because all the speedy runners in Corral A don't normally stop for photos. I only stopped for a few long the way....
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| Oops, cast member forgot to zoom out! |
Animal Kingdom is always fun to run through and it wasn't any different for this race! I love running past Expedition Everest and hearing the Yeti. They also had the 'red tusks' along the course again this year but instead of all red, they were multicolored and changing. I think I liked the all red ones better last year. Made it seem more 'creepy'.
Also, THANK YOU runDisney for putting those random glowing eggs/footballs all along the course. Not sure if I got a photo of them, but they were key! The course this year was much more lit and I didn't run into any pitch black areas.
After exiting Animal Kingdom, the long trek to Hollywood Studios started. I remember last year there was an out-and-back, the same as the marathon pretty much, but they had changed the course slightly this year. I thought the race flowed a lot nicer without the out-and-back and was happy to snap a photo with this dude at the top of the hill/ramp. Yes...I look scared (or possessed...) , I don't know why.....
Around here my mouth started to feel reallly dry so I tried to drink more Gatorade and grabbed a few waters along the route. Nothing was helping so I made a conscious effort to keep a steady pace but slightly slow down. I didn't want a repeat of last year!
Hollywood Studios was also cool to run through at night. I remember last year, runDisney claimed that this was the longest run inside a park for any of their races, and you could tell. It honestly felt like you were in the park FOREVER! Not that it's a bad thing though. Better than running on straight highway! After every turn or every time you thought you were going to exit, the next turn led into another area of the park.
When entering the backstage studio tour area, I was SO relieved to see that the ventilation fans were on throughout the whole costuming tunnel. Last year was so muggy and hot through there that I think it was the start to my demise. The draft from the fans felt fabulous!
Somehow I got all turned around and lost my sense of direction. I couldn't for the life of me remember where the Osbourne Lights were in relation to where I was running. After a while, I was getting worried that they wouldn't be lit this year! Finally I caught the roof of one of the lit areas and it eased my fears!
I know a few runners I talked to were disappointed that not all the Osbourne Lights were lit but I've been keeping up with Studios Centrals updates and knew they weren't all installed yet. runDisney pretty much has nothing to do with the installation so you can't really blame anyone. Work on the lights just wasn't as quick this year than last. I did love that Christmas music was playing and all the cast members in the area were saying "Merry Christmas!!". It was a cute touch.
After exiting Hollywood Studios, I knew there was only a mile or so left until the finish line. When I got to the resort area of Beach Club and the Boardwalk, I tried to pick up my speed. The crowds all long that part of the course were awesome. Little kids giving high fives, cow bells everywhere, just a ton of energy.
I got really excited when I was approaching the International Gateway...the finish line from last year. Then I realized that they changed the course slightly and when I looked at my Garmin, I realized I had about another .3 miles to go, doh!! By then I just wanted to be done though so it was hard for me to enjoy the rest. There were a ton of cast members along this part with funny signs. I remember seeing the "Only 400 yards to go!" and then realizing that 4 football fields was a long way!
Crossing the finish line felt awesome! And I didn't feel sick! Happy dance! The race was definitely not my best but by far not my worst but I'll take it. It's not every day that you can run through the parks at night and have Epcot open for you until 3am.
The Finish Line Area and After Party:
The finish line area was so much more organized this year, I was highly impressed. After getting your medal, you followed the path to the food area where they had water, Powerade, and a goodybag of food that had a banana, a bagel, peanut butter, and...possibly a muffin? I was in no mood to eat though so I grabbed a water and chugged it as fast as I could.
Quickly found Keith and we headed over to the bag check area, which was also a breeze. Right past bag check there were changing areas for both men and women. Pretty much just huge tents where you could go in and change out of your clothes. I do have to say, the tents were not for the modest. There weren't any changing 'rooms' so you had to pick a spot or a corner and change in the big tent along with everyone else. Didn't bother me since all I really wanted was to get out of the gross sweaty tank top!
The path then led to the 'free drink' area, which runners had an option of either soda or Budweiser or Bud Light. I SWEAR that at some point, an email came out saying that runners had the option of getting a free glass of wine but it was no where to be found. I despise soda, Budweiser, AND Bud Light so I just grabbed a Bud to bring to Patrick or Daniel. I wish they had extra waters in this area because I really could have used another one!
Walking into Epcot was slightly crowded but was honestly well organized. Runners had a completely separate entrance than non-runners so it was nice. The pathway along the runners entrance was lined with family members looking for their runner. After getting out of the crowds, Future World didn't seem too crowded at all.
While trying to find a bathroom in Innoventions, we stumbled upon the Character Spot and saw that Goofy and Pluto were there! Of course I had to run in and grab a photo!
