Expo

We arrived to WDW around 1:00 and checked in and found our room wasn’t quite ready. We had lunch and wandered around the resort until we could go to our room. Around 3:00 we headed over to WWoS for the Expo. It seems that everyone else had the same idea and the line reached outside the turnstiles. Billy and Lynnda went off to get registered for the kids race and I waited for the marathon. They went off to the expo afterwards to see what shirts and stuff they had that I might want.

My line moved fairly quickly and before long I was in the registration area. I went to the Goofy areas and got all my bibs, chips, and wristband. I headed down to the expo and found Lynnda who had selected several nice things for me. After giving Disney more money, we wandered around the rest of the expo. Our impression was there weren’t as many deals by the vendors as in past years. The discounts weren’t that great from what we could tell.

We talked to a few of the people and figured that Billy had almost had his fill. On the way out we happened to be spotted by Lynne and Cathy. We talked briefly and then we headed out and stopped at the All Star Café for dinner. It was good but the service was extremely slow. When we were leaving, there was a huge line so we couldn’t figure out why the service was slow. We headed back to the hotel for the night and started getting ready for the next day.

Kids Race

Billy was signed up to do the kids race even though we were wondering if we should with all the problems the year before. We got to WWoS early so we could find where we were to go and found it was nicely laid out. We walked around on the track a little to get Billy used to it and then watched a Hip Hop group for entertainment. They were good but I thought they went a little long for kids. It seemed most of the kids weren’t paying attention towards the end and were getting restless.

At 10 they started moving us towards the start areas depending on the age of the kid. We headed over and watched the first sets of runners go by. They split the ages up and let 15-20 kids run at a time. Billy’s time came and we headed off. I was thinking that he would run ahead of me but before the start, he informed me that he wanted to hold my finger the entire race and finish with me.

The races were much better this year. I think they got the idea that people weren’t happy last year and fixed it for the better. Having it spread out over two days was also nice in that it cut down on the crowds a little bit.

Afterwards we got our pictures and drinks then headed back to the Expo for one last look around. It was just as crowded so we didn’t spend much time there.


Half Marathon

It was definitely an early start. For some reason the alarm didn’t go off for the time I set it for but since I was watching it at the time, it didn’t really matter. Got ready and headed off to the bus area. There were a bunch of TNT people in the lobby that had to have gotten up even earlier than me. Not sure I ever want to get up earlier to go running though. The bus ride was uneventful and fairly quiet, except for one older runner who was talking to anyone who would listen. Got to the start and took some pictures in the dark, hoping they would actually turn out. I found the area for the bag drop and saw it wasn’t by bib numbers this time. I figured it would be first name since that was on the bib but the people taking them said it was last name. I moved over to the other side of the tent and tried again. Later they were announcing it was by first name so I guess I couldn’t win.

I saw Mel and Howard standing there and talked to them. We were able to smuggle Mel into the B area so she could join the rest of the group. The setup for the staging area was the same for the full, except the gates weren’t there. After thinking about the layout, it made sense to me so they probably just have to figure out where to put the gates if they want to continue the wave start.

I was in wave B1 so I went off where they were leading us. They had us stand in an area for a while and basically the only entertainment was the people trying to figure out how to go to the bathroom in the woods and not be seen by other people. Just before the official start, we moved up a little and watched the festivities. During the national anthem, they actually had fireworks go off which I don’t remember in past races.

Ten minutes after the start, they let us go and we started off down the road. There were several Goofy people that had decided to take it easy and were walking to start off. I caught up to Lily around mile 1 and said hi before she passed me.

It was fairly uneventful until mile 3, I was able to see the elite runners pass on their way back to Epcot. I missed the “Go the Distance” sign on Contemporary Hill but saw it for the full. Going down Main Street was a blast and I saw a few WISHers but I was on the wrong side to say anything. I didn’t see as many characters as last year but I wasn’t paying that much attention either. Going through the castle, I tried to find the official photographers so I could finally get a castle shot.

Backstage of the MK they were handing out bananas and they tasted pretty good. We headed around the back towards the Grand Floridian and finally got back to the spectator area. Around Mile 10, they tried to kill us with the Clif Shots again. Several people didn’t know better and looked like they weren’t going to handle it very well. By this point, I was seeing some of the people I remember passing me earlier. The heat wasn’t doing well for them. I headed back over the overpass and headed back towards Epcot. I hit one of the banks wrong and stretched one of my leg muscles a little too much.

By this point it was almost over and I headed around the Christmas tree and back towards the finish line. They had the gospel choir there but they weren’t singing the “Hallelujah Chorus”. Around the corner and I saw the finish line. As I got close, the announcer was counting down to 3 hours. I jogged a little and made it in with a 2:59:49 clock time and a 2:48:50 chip time. I got the medal and refreshments and headed over to the Goofy area. The wrist band turned blue and I went to get my picture. Then it was off to find my bag and see who was at the W tent already. I talked the WISHers there for a little bit and headed off to the hotel to see Lynnda and Billy who were taking it easy for the race.

Overall it was a good race and the heat didn’t bother me too much. For the distance, it was almost like a training run around here. There were several odd costumes that made me shake my head but it seemed they were having fun.



Marathon

The start on Sunday was just as early. Although I did figure out why the alarm didn’t go off the day before - there was a volume control on the side of the clock that I didn’t see so I turned that up a little and everything worked better this time around.

It started out seeming a little cooler in the morning when compared to Saturday but it was still hot. The TNT people were still in the lobby and the food court area looking like they had way too much energy for that early in the morning. The bus ride was cold this time and there was another Goofy person behind me who was talking to everyone on the bus. After getting to the start area and looking around, I headed over to the bag drop. Since it was announced that the bag drop was by first name yesterday, I went to the appropriate tent and was told again that today it was supposed to be by last name. One of the guys working didn’t care and took the bag so I can say that I probably messed that up both days. One wouldn’t think figuring out where to drop off a bag would be so difficult.

The holding area looked the same except the gates were down. Otherwise everything else was in the same location. I found Lily and Pat and talked to them before they started herding us out. On the way to the corrals, I heard an announcement that the elite runners were to go to the left, so anyone who was in Corrals D-H could be considered an elite runner according to the announcement.

It was odd being in the last corral of the blue start and trying to figure out why they didn’t spread them out a little better. After about an hour wait, we heard the national anthem and saw the fireworks for the start. Then they said go but everyone stood there. I think it took 4.5 minutes for me to get across the start line and then I started to pass the other starting side. I can say that I passed mile 4 with a time of about 5 minutes though but was on the wrong side to get picture evidence of it.

The blue start went around the back of Epcot and World Showcase. I noticed on a couple of my pictures I was getting little white spots and finally figured out it was fog. I didn’t realize how foggy it was until I notice I couldn’t see the Epcot Ball and had a hard time seeing the lights on the Christmas tree. I continued around until the merge area at about mile 3.3. It was handled better this year compared to last year. They had cones out trying to keep everyone organized until the road got a little wider. It was getting a little warmer at this point as well.

It was fairly uneventful and quiet for the next part. I thought I remembered more bands out between mile 6 and 8 last year. My camera started acting up at mile 8 and it took a couple of miles to get it operating again. I am guessing it doesn’t like cool, foggy, and sweaty environments too much. I missed the cruise line area at the TTC that they had last year. The “Go the Distance” sign was on Contemporary hill this time although it would have been better a little later in the course.

The fog was starting to go away by this time and it was getting warmer even quicker now. Running down Main Street was still fun but I didn’t see as many characters as I did last year. They did have a bunch towards the exit of MK but not as many in the park area. I did happen to see Anne around the Poly and was able to say hi as I passed. She definitely had more energy than a lot of the runners at that point.

At the half way point, they had bananas and oranges and then water. From what I could see, it looked like Disney was starting to underestimate the heat and the water supplies were lower than I would have expected at this point. They had the little sharpie signs with odd sayings on them again. I think the sayings were the same as last year but I wasn’t paying too much attention to them.

Now the sun was fully out and there wasn’t much wind. That is until the sewage plant and then the wind was coming right towards us. The smell didn’t help many people at that point but it was an encouragement to get through that area quickly. One disconcerting sight at this point was the number of vultures in the trees watching the runners. It seemed they were ready for lunch and just waiting for the opportunity.

Coming into AK, they had the Hip Hop group that was at the kids race out cheering. In addition, they were still trying to kill the runners with the Clif Shots. I noticed more people skipping them this time around so I guess more people learned not to have them. They also had donkeys and owls out for pictures and the AK workers were trying to keep the animals from attacking the runners.

AK had people in it trying to get to rides and the workers were doing a pretty good job of keeping them off the race course. They were giving out sponges at the exit of AK and that felt good this year. It was around mile 18 that one leg started to cramp up so I decided to change my goals a little at this point. They were still offering beer at mile 20 although it didn’t seem that many were taking it here. During the stretch from mile 18 to 21, I started noticing more runners stopping on the side of the road. The medics were on bikes going back and forth making sure everyone was alright.

Going into MGM, I ran on the red carpet and managed not to trip over it. Inside, the Green Army Men were giving their encouragement in green army man style. Some of the comments were, “Pick up those feet and move it” and “This is just a warm up for the bigger run later”. I was surprised they lived through this. There were also the Streetmosphere characters that were offering a ride somewhere for $40. However they wouldn’t take credit cards. Luke and Leia were also out getting pictures in the back area.

The spectators tried to be helpful but “only 3 more miles” is not “almost there”. Around this time, I started noticing people with their Mickey and Goofy medals coming around so it was giving a little encouragement that it could be done. I passed Mel and Judy, but couldn’t stop since I didn’t want to have to start my legs going again. I did see people that had trays of ice and giving it to the runners at the Yacht Club. There were a couple of people taking empty trays back and bringing more ice to the runners.

More encouragement from people in Epcot and we were back to where I started the morning. The workers on the Segways were about to get hijacked by a group in front of me but they managed to get away. The gospel choir was back out at Mile 26 and they seemed too lively in those robes with the heat. I rounded the corner and saw Lynnda and Billy and then saw the finish line. I missed getting under the 5:30 clock time and wound up with 5:31 but my chip time was 5:28 and that still beat last year’s time. As soon as I crossed the finish line, both legs started to have severe muscle cramps so I don’t think I could have gone much further at that point. I was able to go slowly to the chip removal area and they were nice enough to bend down for me. After walking to the food area, the legs felt much better.

The refreshment area had enough food for us so I got a little something and headed back to the Goofy area. I walked through and got my medal and had my picture taken. This line was moving much quicker than the other line. I went down and recovered my bag and headed out to find Lynnda and Billy. We didn’t see any Wishers around so we wandered over and had pictures taken with some of the characters. At this point, I had enough of the heat so we got a bus back to the resort.

Overall, I think the heat had more effect on me than doing the half the day before. Even though I generally train in this weather, it still was difficult. I may have to make sure some training runs are later in the morning instead of trying to beat the hotter parts of the day.

That should cover most of the weekend experiences for us.

Bill