Walt Disney World Half Marathon Review
Last weekend, I completed the Disney Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge. This consists of doing the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on Saturday and the Walt Disney World Marathon on Sunday. If you complete them both, you get 3 medals, one for each race and another one for doing both. It was an awesome experience, even if it didn’t exactly work out the way I had expected.
The Walt Disney World Marathon weekend events are, as all Disney events, top-notch productions. They think of everything, and then some. You can tell that they get input from athletes and then, in true Disney fashion, they “Plus it”. “Plus it”, is Disney speak for exceeding expectations. It’s how they create magic on a daily basis. For the 2010 edition, the only thing they couldn’t control was Mother Nature.
At 3:00 am on Saturday morning, my room erupted in sound. I had an alarm clock, wake up call and phone alarm go haywire, surprisingly, in sync. The following storm of slapping electronic devices brought me into full consciousness and from there, it was my usual pre-race routine: Supplements, shower, dress, gear, double / dummy check, liquid breakfast, out-the-door. As I opened the door of the hotel, the cold literally took my breath away. Here I was, dressed in multiple layers of fabric designed to remove heat from an exercising body, and they immediately started working. I would be frozen solid for the next few days.
Getting into Epcot for the pre-race festivities ran like clockwork. 40,000 people is child’s-play for Disney. They move far more people around everyday. Traffic was managed perfectly, signs and workers clearly pointed out where to go. It was a bit disappointing how quickly we got in because I was really enjoying the warmth inside the bus. Walking from the bus to the starting area, it started to snow. You read that right: SNOW. IN FLORIDA. ON RACE DAY. It was about 25 degrees and everyone was freezing. The snow soon changed to sleet and it would remain as sleet, for a while anyway…
Now, you would have to be severely retarded to be confused about where you were supposed to go. Workers and signs all pointed the way to the start, not to mention the steady stream of participants marching like lemmings toward the inevitable. Be that as it may, I very nearly missed the start of the race. I waited in a long line for the sea of port-johns and when I finally made my way down the half mile walk from the pre-race area to the starting corrals, I had no sooner stepped into the corral than the gun / fireworks went off. We were all thinking that it was for the wheelchairs and that we would have a few minutes to get settled, ipod on, etc… Not so much. Gun went off, our whole corral took a few steps up, stopped, and then started running. Everything is timed from the chip on your foot so, it wouldn’t be a big deal to go with a later corral but, still. I was off to a bad start. Mile one was a blur as I fiddled with my ipod, and settled in. At mile 2, I shed my heavy jacket that I had brought just to keep me warm. I immediately regretted that decision as it was still sleeting and freezing out there.
I have never participated in a better organized, better supported event, and I doubt I ever will. It seemed like there were drink stations about every 100 yards, although it was probably closer to every mile. Aid stations were almost as frequent, all staffed with trained professionals who were taping / rubbing whatever was ailing you, handing out Tylenol, and pumping out BioFreeze like it was going out of style. I would love these guys the next day. That being said, the drink stations were down right dangerous, because when it is freezing, well… liquid stuff freezes. Every cup of water or Powerade dropped on the road immediately froze. The drink stations were sheets of ice. Disney police were on it and were putting down sand but it was still really dangerous running through there.
For the Half Marathon, you basically run from Epcot, about 6 miles North to The Magic Kingdom, and back. The route up to the Magic Kingdom is fairly boring. It’s access roads for the Disney World complex and they are flat and dark at 6 am. Disney puts a big sign and clock every mile so that you know exactly where you are. There are marching bands and cheerleaders and other distractions placed along the route. It’s not constant though, which was nice. I think it would be annoying if it was constant, again it was just the right amount.
Running through the deserted Magic Kingdom at 7 am, in the dark, in the snow, was a surreal experience. We came in through a side entrance and back lot, right onto Main Street USA. The Christmas decorations were still up and the place was all lit up, spectators were cheering their runners on. We hung a quick right and ran straight to the castle, hung another right to Tomorrow Land and on around through Fantasy Land to the back of the castle. We shot out the front of the castle into a hail of camera flashes and driving sleet. On through Liberty Square, then a left and out the back gate by Splash Mountain into another back lot area. This is where they keep the parade floats, I would learn, because they were all parked to the left under a big hangar-like building. Another quick left and we were out on a lonesome, very dark, desolate looking road. If you were driving down this road, lost i the middle of central Florida, you would never know that you were just yards from the Magic Kingdom. It was amazing how quickly we went from “The Happiest Place on Earth” to the middle of nowhere. We were at about mile 7 by this point and the sleet would soon turn to rain. The next few miles back to Epcot were very much like the first few. It appeared that we were running much of the same route but in reverse. The signs, bands, and cheerleaders had moved across the street from where they were an hour prior.
Around mile 10, it started raining in earnest, not too hard but you knew it wasn’t frozen anymore. Good thing our core temperatures were up. Before we knew it, we were back in Epcot and all that was left was a lap up and around the Christmas tree at the start of the World Showcase, and back out the front of the park into the parking lot and finishing area. The finish line was packed with people cheering, music blaring, and the race clock counting up. There were 3 mats spaced pretty far apart. I’m not sure which one actually records the time but I ran through all 3 of them. Someone handed me a Mylar blanket and a medal and all was good. Making my way to the Goofy’s Challenge tent to get my next wristband, I started to realize that I was cold. As I exited that tent, I pulled the Mylar blanket around me and wished I had a few more. As my core temp went down post-race, the clothing did its’ job and wicked out the heat, but I was still wet and it was in the 30′s outside. I was never so glad to see a bus in my life. By the time I got back to my hotel room, my teeth were chattering and my lips were blue. I don’t ever remember being any colder than that, even on ski trips. I was in Florida for crying out loud, and freezing to death. I soaked in the hot water for at least an hour and tried to recover some but my children begged to go to a park. Being the good dad that I am, I obliged. The next morning at 3 am, I would be rethinking that decision…
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