2014 WDW Marathon Week - Full Marathon

Here's Holly's recap of the WDW Full Marathon:

The last day of the Dopey Challenge! The day before, my throat was starting to feel scratchy. I hoped it was just from talking too much and that I wasn’t getting sick. Unfortunately when I woke up Sunday morning, I had a full on chest cold. I had a killer sore throat and my chest was really tight and congested. This was going to be fun!! Dave got up early even though he was done with the Grumpy Challenge and we drove over to Epcot so he could spectate. Before meeting the team we made a pit stop at the merchandise tent as I had heard they sometimes sell the banners from the Expo there. Dave scored the last Dopey banner (the huge one). I was extremely happy!!

We had another long walk to the corrals and an even longer wait in the corrals for the start. I was tired, no adrenaline like a normal prerace. I knew I would have fun today, but I also knew this was going to be a challenge. I had no voice really but I still needed to talk to everyone of course.

The fireworks were much better today and we were finally off. The first mile was hard, and everyone’s legs were heavy, but thankfully they loosened up and we were back on Main Street again. That never gets old!! Saw our great cheering section by the Hub and we were back out on cone alley. Thankfully Brad Garfinkel noticed my scratchy voice and he offered me some cough drops. I’m not sure why he had cough drops, but they were a lifesaver! Thanks Brad!! We headed through the Speedway, which I’m not really fond of, and then over to Animal Kingdom. We decided against riding Expedition Everest and kept on going. Tara Miller saved the day again with pre-peeled Clementines and icy cold towels. She completely rocks!!

10 Team AllEars Members and family!

Next up is Osceola Parkway. Team AllEears comes through again with some icy Coke! Soon we were entering Wide World of Sports and I was starting to hurt. The cold was kicking my butt, plus the culmination of all those miles. I was thrilled to hit mile 20 and got a second wind when we saw Laura and crew at Mile 20.5! She also came through with delicious orange slices! Next up was the Studios and then the narrow walkway to the Boardwalk. More Saviors! Deb and crew and of course the Troosts with beer!!!

Finally reached Epcot and we were thrilled. We had people come and go with us during the day, but Stan Harris, Joe Weeks and my running twin Jessica Awotona were with me all day and I know I wouldn’t have made it without them. We had a great moment in the World Showcase and then met up with some of our group for a picture taken by specatators extradonnaire Dave and Pam! They also had beer!! Finally we leave Epcot and get across that finish line hand in hand. What a day! What a weekend! I was done and ready for a beer, a shower and food. In that order!! Team AllEars rocks and I know this weekend wouldn’t have been half as fun without all of you!!

Dave's Comments: One of the most relaxing days spectating ever! Once I took the team photo I headed off to the car to drop off the huge banner and set out to the Magic Kingdom via monorail. Usually I head to the Contemporary first for coffee, but I heard a rumor the park was opening at 5am for spectators so I got off at Magic Kingdom and sacrificed the coffee (I had a Coke in my bag so I was good). There were about 200 people ahead of me, but I knew most of those suckers would line up along the shops of Main Street and not go to my preferred spot. With that in mind, I immediately hit the restroom before making my way to the hub and ultimately Tomorrowland Bridge. As usual, our teammate Christine beat me there. By the time Pam and the Torok family showed up we had a nice little area carved out for ourselves.

This was the first year our teammates ran in wolf packs. Usually two or three might come through together, but not 10-12 at a clip. It made picture taking hard, especially when the groups were blocking solo teammates passing by. We managed to see most of our friends on the course. Once we were sure everyone went through, Pam and I headed to Epcot. Our goal was to spectate in Germany. Usually I go to the United Kingdom, but I've done that so many years I needed a change.

I stocked up on snacks at the new Starbucks in Epcot. Very nice location and I had my first ever multi-grain croissant. Tasty! Pam and I made our way upstream to Germany, going the opposite direction of the marathoners. Once we got to Germany we made camp! I admit I was not on the best side of the course for pictures, but I had a bench and World Showcase Lagoon at my back. This would be the place to take "the picture" when the group finally reached us.

We didn't use runner tracking because we had a much better system. Mike Scopa was outside the Studios and texted when someone approached him. Kim was at the Beach Club and texted when people passed her. So we had good early waring systems.

A text came in telling us that Barb, whom was running her first marathon, was approaching. I promised to get her a beer but the German beer kiosk was closed. So I had to cross-course and head over to the Outpost kiosk for a beer. Once we got her beer-ed up we got notice the others were coming through and needed 3-4 beers. You can only buy two beers per person, so that meant two more trips......

I was able to get some good shots of friends going by until the craziness began. Group one came in with ten folks. I had beers to hand off and photos to shoot. Then right on their heels was group two - Holly's crew. It was just manic and some of them are ready to finish so take the darn picture all ready!!!! I had no real time to check my shots and "the photo" was a bust in my opinion.

we don't know the people in costume

Then it was over. I was left with one full untouched Landshark Lager and a Yuengling that was maybe 2/3s full. No idea whom, or how many, drank from it but the rest of it was mine. The Landshark went to a passing runner. Pam and I rallied our way back to the finish area as best as we could given the spectator congestion. Our runners were through the finish chute and waiting for us.

 

I got Holly to the room and marshalled her as quick as I could so we could celebrate the day away in World Showcase. We met up with some friends for beer, margaritas, more beer, dinner at Via Napoli, and the final team meet watching Illuminations. Pretty fun day.

Attached are two versions of our video. The first one is the director's-cut. The second is the same film, but I had to replace the songs I used in the first video with generic ones because it is blocked from mobile viewing due to copyright violations. When I have more time I can go in and tweak the director's-cut and repost. Enjoy!

 

 

2014 WDW Marathon Week - Half Marathon

The big mile days were coming up with the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon for Holly on Sunday. We decided we needed to keep the time on our feet light after Friday's 10K so we had a no-park day agenda. After the race we relaxed in the room a bit before hitting Fantasia Gardens for some mini golf. After that we went offsite with a few friends for lunch at Sea Dog Brewery (worth the visit). Next we had a Team AllCheers meet (where Dave fell asleep) and a Mickey Miles Podcast meet. A few of us had some drinks over at The Crew's Cup before heading to dinner at Il Mulino. We had a surprise dinner guest: Joe Taricani from The Marathon Show. Our meals were a bit delayed and we ended up in bed a little later than we had planned.

Two iPhone alarms going off at the same time that our wake up call started told us it was 2:15am. The third early wake up call led Holly to think that once was enough for Dopey. It was starting to feel like Groundhog Day. Up early, drive to Epcot, team picture, shuffle to the corrals and wait in the corrals.

We prepped everything we needed to prep and left the room around 3am. Disney likes to have you at the start area as soon as possible so they can make you walk for at least 20 minutes to the start line and sit in your corral forever (assuming you are in the mid-to-back corrals). At our Team AllEars meet-up we snapped our customary team photo and started grouping with others in our corrals. We were in Corral K with about 15 other friends. The walk to the corral (including potty break) was probably a half hour. Much better than last year. One funny/embarrassing thing did happen to Holly in the corrals. The gang decided to sing Happy Birthday to her. 1) Holly's Birthday is in June. 2) They unknowingly started singing right before the moment of silence began.

runDisney had a new corral system in-place this year. There were more corrals than before with varying numbers of people in each corral. The first few corrals had less people than the later corrals. Launch times for each corral varied as well. The table below (which we created to help out Team AllEars spectators) turned out to be a good estimate:

One nice thing runDisney does is to send off each corral with their own fireworks show. Apparently the addition of so many more corrals must have caused a technical glitch by the time they hit Corral K. No fireworks for us, but we did get a Team AllEars shout out from Rudy.

The group was going to split up a bit today. Dave was going for a PR so he flew solo. Half of the group was going to use Galloway 30/30 intervals and Holly's group was going to do 2:1 interval.

As far as the review of the race course, just read last year's report. It was the same race, different day. The sport cars were in the location, Stitch was still outside The Poly, and still no Duffy photo opp in Epcot. We thought it was less congested than the previous year going through the castle, even cone alley.

Holly's comments: We had a blast. It was an honor to see our friend Joe Weeks run up Main Street for the first time. A funny moment was when Joe turned back towards me as I was videoing him running up Main Street. He ran back to me and grabbed me and tried to spin me around. Yep, I’m heavier than I look! I’m glad I didn’t kill him! The notorious cone alley was better than previous times so I think the new corral spacing was an improvement. After Cone alley is the long run down World Drive back to Epcot. This is where every year I feel tired and start thinking about having to run a full marathon the next day. The funny thing is was even though we were all tired we ran fastest during this stretch. We were happy to get back into Epcot and we met up with some other teammates here and crossed in a big group. Happy to be done with one more race!

Team AllEars was out in force for the race. They were everywhere! The support from the Team means so much.

Dave's comments: Fortunately the morning wasn't as warm as it was the day before during the 10K, but it was still humid. I was also out there with (in my mind) a non-functioning Garmin. Since I could not get a satellite signal I thought the only thing it was good for was a heart monitor. In order to make sure I kept pace for my goal I used my iPhone timer and calculated the pace every mile. Over some drinks in Epcot later that day I learned the stop watch function still worked. Doh!

I didn't stop for pictures, or to say hello to our teammates spectating (with the exception of Laura's spectacular at Mile 7 - there was food and cold towels). I'm rude that way just plowing through it all. To make matters worse, I sweated out my iPod around mile 7. That made for a few boring miles. Even the kites at mile 11 didn't hold any interest. In the end I got a 9 minute PR and met my time goal. I still haven't found a passion for doing half marathons, and with this one being my second on the same course, I don't see a need to ever repeat this race again.

That closed Dave's races for the weekend. Holly surprised Dave with a gift - his own Grumpy medal. Since our team ran with the concept of naming Grumpy for the combination of the 5K, 10K, and Half she had medals made up for everyone on our team that participated in those three events only. This was a very nice surprise. Before hitting our main Team AllEars meet we hit Epcot for a quick lap around the World Showcase.

Here's our Half Marathon Video:

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend 2014 Medals

We have quite a few friends in Disneyland right now for the Disneyland Half Marathon and Dumbo Double Dare. At the race expo our friend Charlie Gessner took photos of all the medals (except kid races) for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend events. Each medal is a new design.

Family 5K

Minnie's 10K

Donald's Half Marathon

Mickey's Full Marathon

The Goofy Challenge (Half and Full)

The Dopey Challenge (5K, 10K, Half and Full)

 

runDisney Excitement

Holly has some new info to share from runDisney:

Last week the internet was buzzing with rumors of new runDisney running events over Marathon Weekend in January 2014. It seems they were going to add a 10k race to the weekend and also officially recognize the Dopey Challenge.

What Dopey used to mean

The Dopey Challenge was unofficially named by the Disney running community. It consisted of the 5k on Friday and then the Goofy Challenge on Saturday and Sunday. For those that follow along you know that the Goofy Challenge consists of the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. I have been unofficially Dopey three times.

On Friday afternoon runDisney broke the official news that they were adding some things to the weekend. First they are moving the Family 5k to Thursday. Then they added the Marathon Weekend 10k. This is going to have a Minnie Mouse themed medal. I predict a pretty quick sellout for this one. Finally they are adding the official Dopey Challenge. To get the coveted Dopey medal, you must complete the 5k on Thursday, the 10k on Friday, the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. That is Dopey, right?!?! The entry fee for the Dopey challenge is a whopping $499. BUT you do get six medals and six shirts and you are racing in four races through the Disney parks.

runDisney's announcement video:

If you are wondering, I hope to be among the first to sign up for the Dopey Challenge when registration opens at noon on April 9th. Wish me luck!!


Here's Dave's guess at what the 10K Minnie Mouse Medal will look like: