Walt Disney World Marathon 2013

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  • So how is everybody getting on then?????



    I had a very weird few hours. Someone smashed my hotel room door open at 11 o'clock last night trying to get in the wrong room, I had a migraine that woke me up about 1am, I got up at a time I didn't know existed, arrived on the start line feeling a bit queezy, ignored all the advice to stay well hydrated as it would have just have come back up, ran pretty well, had a magical couple of miles in the magic kingdom, a lot of miles in almost total darkness, a spectacular chunder in a bush in epcot, and somehow got myself to the finish in 1:32 in 202nd place out of 23126 finishers and crossed the finish line about 100m in front of American running legend Dick Beardsley. Not a bad day at the office although I think I may pay for that pace tomorrow.



    Donald bling is awesome. image



    Hope you all got round safely and as you wanted to (especially minnie I am a bit worried about that knee of yours).



    Good luck for round 2 tomorrow image
  • Cannigia - brilliant well done. Take it easy tomorrow and just enjoy it (as though that will be hard)
  • I am pleased to say I complete the goofy !! Really slow and really hard work but with my injury and lack of training leading up to it I'm just thrilled to finish. It was sooo hot today - hope you were ok c33 brilliant result yesterday must have gotten to you today if you weren't 100%
  • MM - brilliant well done just shows what determination over training can do
  • Euphoria has worn off my body is officially fecked!!!!



    Well done Minnie image depending on how long you were out there I might have given you a wee shout next to the sorcerers hat in MGM. It looked magic in there later on it was empty when I was there other than some park staff. So glad you made it round ITB is so hard to get away with. I did laugh at the sweeper bus which showed no mercy. One girl got caught by it mid MGM and got paraded through the crowds. You would think they would put a character on it to at least give them one last photo opportunity lol. It wasn't quite as good as the shout out (doubling as a bit of innuendo bingo) I got in the darkness just after the speedway when some random woman shouted out "feel the cougar" at me. Not really sure what that americanism means (they shout some starange stuff) but I'm not convinced she was wanting me to fondle her mate lol.



    I ran like an absolute dream for a lot longer than I thought I would. I got to about 16 miles before the wheels started to come off a bit and managed not to go into complete meltdown until mile 22 or so. I have no idea how but I managed to get round in 3:19 in 226th place today after my 202nd yesterday which was my 2nd fastest foreign marathon EVER after NY in 2008 out of 15 marathons. I have always thought tapers were overated image My combined Goofy time was 4:51 which was about 30 mins better than I expected. I did love my goofy challenge but it is an odd race if you are up the front end of it. You run a lot in darkness (at times complete darkness) and the parks are pretty much empty. If you are a 4-5h+ marathoner this is a MUST do the full park at MGM looked great to run through.



    My bling is just awsome. On the pictures I thought goofy looked like his own goolies which he is but the spinning mickey is just incredible. It weighs a ton I might have to reinforce the curtain pole when I get home image I even got a big hug from Minnie on the finish line which was the perfect finish.



    Hope the rest of you had equally good days as I did image
  • A massive massive well done to you both. An experience I am sure that was both hard earned and that will never be forgotten image
  • Cannigia - unbelievable, brilliant well done

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭
    I had a great time too. Not as fast as C33 above, but a total blast. Little too hot though.



    Hoping airport security doesn't consider the Mickey medal a weapon!
  • Disney need to look up the word spectacular in the dictionary 

  • Slowfoot - glad someone agrees with me - I thought I was being a bit of a party pooper when I felt that the mile 20 spectacular was a bit of a let down.image

    Had a great 3 days though. I am now unofficially dopey.image Dragged hubby round from mile 16 to 24 in the marathon as he was flagging. I felt surprisingly good though and he said for me to go at mile 24 so that I could at least get sub-5, which I was reasonably pleased with, given that I had taken loads of photos and stopped at EVERY waterstation to drink and pour water over my head!!!

    C33 - amazing result. image And Dannirr! image

    MM - well done you! That must have been tough given the IT problems, so respect.image

     

  • JPenno - I wandered round Downtown last night and went in all the relevant shops but I couldn't find the marathon Vinylmation and nobody seemed to know anything about it when I asked. Sorry - I did try.image

  • GG

    I sometimes think that Americans are OTT and some see Disney almost as a religion, a couple of women running along side me where telling each other how awwwweeesssoooooome everything was including the expo.

    The LA park use the anahiem baseball stadium as part of the half marathon and do the giant scoreboard and announcer as you run through so that didnt come as a surprise But the giant characters and then the main 3 were a bit of let down to say the least.  

    The Disney experience is good but the races are at saturation point the numbers are getting  silly especially for the half. Some aspects have improved since RunDisney took over the management of the runs. 

     

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭
    I agree on the Mile 20 "spectacular". Actually, I think aside from the time in the Parks themselves, the entertainment along the router is very lame compared to almost any other marathon I've run. I like the course, would be nice to have some real entertainment especially as it is Disney and they are capable of it.



    One other complaint - in many areas they narrow the course down to one lane, even when there is no oncoming traffic. With that many runners it creates a huge slowdown. Like a big city marathon, they should simply close the entire road.



    But, even with all this, it is still an incredible event.
  • C33 i am in awe of your results - totally spectacular ( unlike mile 20 !) Will you do it again? My full time was just under 5.30 so mgm was nice and full when we got there. That was the hardest thing I've ever done and I now have full respect for those 6-7 hourers, its a bloody long time on your feet. Vowed never again while on the road to mgm but already planning what to do next LOL. Saw a great yarmouth running club vest and someone in head to toe union jack but was tooooo knackered to say hi, was that any of you guys ?
  • A Big Well Done to you all, not been on for a few weeks I think... not sure where to begin with me image....

    went for my last long run on 23rd dec and was fine til about 12miles, energy hit the floor and I wheeled back to finish of at a 13miler. Struggled through until Christmas Day night, then spent the next 3 days in bed with a terrible headache, fever, aching all over, I thought it was "man-flu" but it turned out to be the real thing image the next 4 days were spent in bed or on sofa while the flu tried to go and a chest infection set in! Went to the doc and she confirmed it was flu and to carry on doing what I was doing to get well (which involved taking far too much paracetemol/codeine), while taking a weeks course of anti-biotics for the chest. She signed me off work until I was due to fly to US on weds, and I said "I will be ok by the 13th as I have to run a marathon on 13th?". She lifted her head and peered over the top of her glasses and said "You're not going to be running any marathons in the next few weeks!"

    Went for a run on the 6th as my anti-biotics had run out, managed 4 miles but the nasty green snotty stuff I coughed up during and especially at the end shouldn't be described on here (oops sorry, just did image)

    Saturday I felt ok and lined up for the start, went well for the most of it, couldn't keep cool, poured so much water over myself I thought I was going to end up with webbed feet like Donald! I had to slow later on and took a few pics with characters and was pretty pleased with sub 1:40 (Not even paced and I thought I was working too hard for my miles late on).... Donald medal ... in the bag!

    Sunday, I was a bit over ambitious. Went off with the 3:15 pace group, managed 3 miles with them but was struggling, so gradually dropped away from them to run my own run. At 6 miles I hadn't slowed much and was still around 3:16, then it hit me and I started to go backwards, at 8 miles I switched to survival mode. Each drink station I hit a cup of yuckerade at the beginning and tried to grab every cup of water in the line, to tip over my head as I was struggling to keep cool. Ground down to a walk at 16.6miles (I did manage to get a few photo stops in as it kept me going... especially like Lightning McQueen as my little lad loves Cars!! - and Donald, Mickey and Goofy at 20 miles) plus had to have a couple of emergency loo stops, I think the last was because I tried to eat one of their gel products, was like trying to eat thick jam straight from the jar but with a horrible taste. I tried to spit it out, but it stuck to the inside of my mouth, lol! Jogged as much as I could and walked when I couldn't, I adopted a sponge in ESPN I think it was, I dropped him between 24 and 24.5, I was like Tom Hanks when he lost Wilson in Castaway, I was so sad image or delerious... not sure which?! 

    25 miles came and Epcot came into sight and I managed to perk up a bit and managed to almost run to the line, got a big high 4 from Donald on the line and had to fight from bursting into tears (I'm not normally the cry at the end of a race kind of guy, haha)

    WOW that was TOUGH .... hats off to all those who do Goofy year after year. Mind you I'm not sure I could put up with all those "Good Job"s and "awesome"s and "looking real good"s when you know you're not image

    My time, thanks to my "Epcot Burst" was just under 4 hours, not too bad but what a tough 2nd half of a marathon that was!!

     

  • Goofy Groupie wrote (see)

    JPenno - I wandered round Downtown last night and went in all the relevant shops but I couldn't find the marathon Vinylmation and nobody seemed to know anything about it when I asked. Sorry - I did try.image

    Thanks for looking.

    Well done to all those who finished, hope your now enjoying a shuffle round Florida, I intend to get entry for 2014 in early!

  • I don't think I tried hard enough - hardly any aches and pains at all after Goofy!?!? image

    How are the rest of you?

  • Hope everyone is recovering well from their exploits, my aches are disappearing nicely now, can walk almost normally again, lol

    Photos are being posted by photographers at the weekend, some are assigned and you can check for partial number matches too, on course with characters etc link is,

    http://www.marathonfoto.com/site/homepage

    then listed under "W" for walt disney image

     

     

  • I've deffo had the 'full' experience.  Our legs were totally shot - so  much so that we ate dinner laying in bed on Sunday evening image.  Can laugh about it now but the pain was incredible.  Did anyone make it to Down Town Disney or Epcot in the evening ? 

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭

    We spent the entire day after the marathon in the Magic Kingdom, then a great dinner at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Walking around after a marathon really helps me - no leg aches to speak of.  Did not go to Downtown Disney after the marathon.

  • We went to Epcot after the half and Downtown after the full. Downtown was very crowded though and it was difficult to see where exactly the  cooldown 'party' was.

  • Anyone travelling home in the next few days be prepared for snow in the UK image

  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭

    Just got back, had superb time on both races and think i stopped at nearly every character. Some lovely memories. I got to downtown on the sunday, and it felt busier than normal. They had moved the photo boards with the medals on them and some guy drew an amazing charcoal picture of the medal on the pavement. As for the party, just the usual music areas but was nice to see so many medals and shirts being worn. Definately up there with my favourite marathons i have run.

  • JPenno - I am still in Disney and I have bought one of the vinylmations - if you let me know before Tuesday morning here (so say lunchtime there on Tuesday) if you want me to pick you one up and I will see if I can find another

    Duffs

  • I think the picture says it all.  What a magic week I've had.  Thanks everybody for sharing the disney experience it was an absolute blast imageimageimage

    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/photo.php?fbid=4587313755572&set=pb.1073892018.-2207520000.1358784676&type=3&theater

  • We renewed our "acquaintance" later!!!! image imageimage

    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/photo.php?fbid=4593468189429&set=pb.1073892018.-2207520000.1358784676&type=3&theater

    Seems we have similar taste when it comes to exclusive bling. image

     

  • Duffs i would be very grateful if you could find oneimage
  • After much arithmatic (why don't they combine the times?) I've worked out I was 202nd in the half, 226th in the marathon and 44th combined time Goofy challenger home.  Not a bad weekends work. imageimageimageimageimage

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