Disney World Marathon
2016
This fall my running training totally fell apart,
but that was okay, sometimes other things in life are more important than
running. I headed to Disney World with my only expectation being to have fun and
it came through for me in spades.
I have to admit that by the time I crossed the start
line, I was sure I would never run Disney again. It is expensive and the
logistics are mind boggling, but once we got moving, it truly was a rolling
party. From the very start, I stopped in nearly every character line I saw,
(skipping only those that were long and for a common character like Goofy.) Needless
to say, this made for a very long time on the course, but it was so fun I didn't care. My second 5 miles took
over an hour and 20 minutes, LOL. It was worth it though. Through the whole
race I was texting my daughter about what line I was in and she was amazed at
the characters, (she works in costuming at
Disney World so she is hard to impress! )
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| Still dark |
I stopped worrying about run/walk intervals and just went
to running from character to character, walking water and snack stops, and
occasionally walking with people to chat with.
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| Finally! |
We entered the Magic Kingdom with cheers and lots of spectators! The next 5 miles were my slowest as I stopped at the many character spots.
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| I told Alice I felt bad because we all smell so bad, LOL. The camera lady said, "No comment." |
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| I was hoping for Sebastian, but he walked off set just as I got to the front of the line :-( |
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Is there something behind me?
Out the back door and into the behind the scenes area with parade floats. |
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| Hades' line had just closed so this was the best I could do |
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| Comparing our gnarly hands |
Not sure if Shan Yu was confused or trying to scare me, LOL
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| This was a major score, Barbosa never does meet and greets, only parades. When I walked up I said, "Pirates! The only people that smell worse than runners :-D " Barbosa said, "That would be you, Jackie!" |
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| Some characters had really elaborate back drops |
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| Our only character stop in Animal Kingdom |
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| Brother Bear characters. My daughter didn't think these costumes existed anymore! |
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| It got tough about half way through, not quite a wall, but my lack of training kicked in. |
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| Stopped for these guys because I needed a break :-) Disney did an amazing job of making the lines go fast so it wasn't much of a break. |
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| These guys were awesome! There was one with green face paint that was doing a full drill sergeant routine on the people that were walking up a small hill. Some were even dropping to give him 10 push ups! |
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| I almost missed this one because there was no line. The runners were getting tired of stopping I guess. |
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| Hollywood Studios! Getting close to the end! |
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| I choked up a little. |
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| No clue, but she waved her wand to make the pain go away. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help |
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| Epcot at last!!! |
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| Last character |
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| Ba-Bling!! |
I finally looked up my
results two days later, LOL. I finished with a 5:55:49.
This, hysterically, put me in the top half of my field for my age group and gender
and nearly so in the over all! So, if you want to feel REALLY good about your
finish time, run Disney, hahahahahaha. Granted, it is nearly
impossible to actually run because of all the people walking. I heard some
discussion about some huge snafu where many people with confirmed marathon
finishes got stuck in way back corrals so I wasn't the only one with this
issue.
After a shower and nap, we headed to Magic Kindgom to ride some rides, stuff ourselves stupid at the Liberty Tree Tavern (one of my favorites,) and visited Mickey.
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| Mickey and I played cards and had a great time |
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| This was my first time seeing the fully animated, talking Mikey. He is pretty cool and gives loads of hugs :-) |
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| Trying to take my lecture seriously |
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| Hehe, Vader selfie |
Monday we spent the morning at Hollywood Studios and stopped into the Star Wars Launch Bay where both my daughter and son in law have been working long hours. It is awesome when Lord Vader recognizes your daughter as one of his personal servants!
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| Awwww, Wookie hugs |
I'm thinking I'll run Goofy next year :-)
