This year in a flash of summer inspiration Peter
Jennings and myself decided to enter the Disney marathon in Florida combining it
with a wee bit of a winter sun holiday. Our build up for the race was to fly out
on the 27th Dec to acclimatise for the big day then to follow a
strict training to the letter by trekking around endless theme parks, eating
junk food and drinking cheep beer. In
our defence we did lay off the beer but not the theme parks or burgers after the
excesses of Hogmanay.
Marathon day started with a stupidly early alarm call
at 3.00 am in order to be at the start to avoid the 4:00 am road closures.
We then had a 1 hr wait before checking in our bags then it was off to
the start for a wee bit of a warm up in time for the 6:00 am gun.
The
race was started with a busload of Disney characters leading countdown (do you
realise how irritating Mickey Mouse’s voice can be at 5:45 am?)
A blaze of fireworks lighting up the dark morning sky was our que to
start running. Then it was off on a
loop around the EPCOT centre theme park, joining up with the half marathon
runners at 4 miles, before passing the 1 mile mark again at 5 miles where we
began to lap runners (?) who had taken 32 mins to complete the first mile.
Then it was onto the roads through the swamps to the Magic Kingdom to run
up Main Street USA and through Cinderella’s Castle before heading to the
Animal Kingdom, Disney’s sports complex, MGM film studios and back for a final
loop through EPCOT and onto the finish. The
finish was strange because you enter the final park at a part that is done out
like an old English village, the first thing you see is a red phone box then the Rose and Crown pub, then you run
through France, Canada, China and Norway before the finish in the parking lot
outside the park.
Running through the parks was fun if a bit turny and
twisty and the joining roads were a wee bit on the boring side and as usual with
the wind in your face. All of the
support received from the pockets of supporters and from the volunteers at the
drink stations was excellent with cries of “You’re the man”; “Looking
good” and “Good job” as you passed. Peter
and I were constantly looking around for the guy that was “looking good” and
doing a “good job”, as we were not.
The winning time for the race was just under 2 hrs and
33 minutes which may be a reflection on the windy conditions with myself
managing to duck under 3 hrs and Peter finishing in 3.14. Just after we had collected our belongings the heavens opened
and we, and our supporters, ran (?) to the car soaked, then headed to the hotel
pool bar and hot tub for some fluid replacement and relaxation.
All in all it was a good day, the organisation was
quite good but not as slick as London, the biggest problem was the runners that
waited until they were in the left baggage tent before getting changed and
proceeding to clog up the whole place. If Peter and I wanted to get a better
time we would have had to miss out on the other holiday stuff, oh and a bit more
training before we went could only have been a good thing.
Dynamo Kev
Courtesy of Metro Aberdeen Running Club
