This past Sunday morning, May 7th, I ran in the first Disney Minnie Marathon. This was a 15K within the Walt Disney World Complex that started at the Animal Kingdom and finished in Epcot. The race was for women (about 1800 participants; maybe 70 were men) and was kicked off by Minnie Mouse. It was a super race!The beginning was a little less than ideal b/c they didn't have enough portable bathrooms for all of the runners so I stood in a bathroom line for over 30 minutes. I was actually in the bathroom when the starting gun (and fireworks) went off! Forget about time to jog and warm up -- many of us had to sprint just to catch up with the other runners!
We spent the first mile leaving the Animal Kingdom parking lot and the next several miles running along Disney roads toward Disney/MGM. The race support was excellent. They had DJ's playing music -- only female musicians. As the sun rose (we began @ 6:30) and the heat climbed (it reached 91 that afternoon, but low 80's for the race), a mist settled over the roads that was beautiful. After mile 5 we turned off a road and entered the back of Disney/MGM Studios. They ran us past the physical plant, through costuming and then into the park which was empty except for the racers. It was wonderful.
After Disney/MGM they took us around a lake, past several Disney resorts including the Boardwalk and Swan & Dolphin. Then finally, for the last mile they brought us into Epcot from the back of the World Showcase, entering next to England and running the world to Mexico, finally heading towards the entrance and the finish line. This was fantastic -- we could see the big ball of Planet Earth and knew exactly where the Finish line would be from a mile away.
They had a wonderful finish line w/ lots of food and drink and we received finisher's medals, which nobody was expecting. (A nice change of place after finishing the A1A Half where we were expecting the medals and didn't receive them!) All in all, the race was fantastic and I'm definitely planning to participate again next year.
As for my performance, thanks to the great birthday present from my husband -- a Garmin Forerunner 305 -- I had the best race ever. I was hoping to finish in less than 2:00, with a goal of 1:40, but I ran a pretty consistent 10:15 min/mile and finished the 15K in 1:35. I loved the Garmin! Considering my previous PR of 2:21 in a Half Marathon, I felt really good about my results. And after a shower and brief nap, we hit an outlet center and then spent the afternoon and evening at Epcot. I don't know where the energy for that came from! And of course my DH borrowed the Garmin to track our efforts at Epcot -- 4.2 miles that afternoon. :-)
