2018 Walt Disney World Marathon Race Report and Video - January 2018

Here is Holly's report from the 25th Walt Disney World Marathon. Dave took the lazy route and only spectated from one location. Many of the photos are from Disney's on-course photographers.

I did not want to go back to Disney and run their marathon one more time, but my entire group of friends was heading there for a reunion and I couldn’t pass up the chance to see all of them. Plus I had some unfinished business on the marathon course. Most of my friends were doing the Goofy Challenge but I wanted no part of another one of those multi-race challenges. I enjoy sleeping in and did not want to do that same boring half course that I have done too many times.

Florida was having a cold spell while we were there which meant that we would be freezing in the corrals and staging area for two plus hours before we started. I was bundled up with a heat sheet and a blanket and it was still chilly. 41 degrees is cold in Florida, it must be the humidity. The plan was to run with Stan, Alex and John with Lee catching up from one corral back. We finally got started just before 6am. Lots of great fireworks and Mickey Mouse sent us on our way. The beginning was cold and dark and it was a pretty boring run up World Drive until we got to the Magic Kingdom parking gates. At that point some characters started showing up. Lee caught us right around the Contemporary and promptly tripped and did the most amazing stuntman roll. He was very lucky he didn’t hurt anything.

New to the marathon this year was actually running through the front gates of the Magic Kingdom and under the train station. The Fire Chief and the trolley show dancers were up there and I started to get a little misty. I really enjoyed running up Main Street and through the Magic Kingdom. We stopped for a castle picture and then of course a real bathroom break. Unfortunately my interval timer came off during the bathroom stop and I lost the battery back to it. This would lead to me having to re-sync with John every couple of miles. He was a great sport and kept counting down for me. 5, 4,3,2,1- Liftoff!! Soon we were in dreaded cone alley, so narrow and crowded.

Next it was the turn onto the road to Animal Kingdom. Lots of old attraction vehicles back here and that was cool to see. I was watching our pace because I wanted to be sure we were going slow enough to get to Animal Kingdom after the park was open. That was my unfinished business. I wanted to ride the roller coaster, Expedition Everest, during the race. I have always chickened out in previous years, because it can make me motion sick and I didn’t want to risk ruining a Goofy or Dopey attempt. I was fine if I got sick this time around, no pressure. We got to Animal Kingdom right before 9am. We saw Dave and Charlie and they were stuck behind a rope and they weren’t letting them through. We were hoping they would ride with us. Luckily we stopped for another bathroom break and I had a line. This allowed them to go around another way and they caught up to us as we got to the Everest line. It was a long wait, about 20 minutes, but worth every second. I laughed and had the best time and best of all, no motion sickness. It gave me a nice adrenaline rush for the second half of the race. Mission accomplished!

After leaving Animal Kingdom we saw some of our cheer squad, Molly, Jan, Laura and Jill and they gave us some much needed snacks! Then it was on to Osceola Parkway where we saw Laura O, another fantastic cheerer, and she may or may not have had the best, coldest, Yuengling I have ever had. It was only Mile 16 here so I only had a couple of sips because we still had 10 miles to go! Next up the Wide World of Suck, I mean, Sports. Lots of turns and running on sidewalks made my lower legs hurt for the first time of the day. We were glad to leave that and soon we were in the Studios for my other checklist item of the marathon, a picture with Oswald! He was great and even did Oswald ears with us. Now it was time for the run to Epcot. This is also a narrow crowded section, but at the end you are rewarded with hug from Deb Wills (Allears.net), the best!

Soon we were in Epcot and we had been tracking Pam, Stan’s wife, who was doing her first marathon. We knew she was not that far behind us, so I suggested we stop in Mexico and get some margaritas to wait for her so they can finish together. Stan and Alex were happy to hear this plan. We sipped our margaritas, gave ourselves brain freezes, and soon Pam arrived. It was great to see her and to watch her finish her first marathon so strong. And as a bonus, I checked off the last item on my Disney Marathon bucket list. I ran across the finish line with a margarita in my hand. I had a really fun day and I am glad I came back for one more Disney race. It was nice to run truly for fun and with no pressure. Running with friends is truly priceless.

 

2017 Baltimore Marathon Race Report and Video

Holly's Race Report from Baltimore with Dave's comments and video at the end:

There aren’t a lot of choices for a Maryland race, so Baltimore it was. Everyone said it was a hilly course. They didn’t lie. I was running this one with Stan, Brad and Jessica. Jessica was also running the Marine Corps Marathon the next day. She is a ROCKSTAR! Our hotel was right by the start so we all met there and had a short walk to the start at Camden Yards. It was not a chilly morning and temperatures were expected to get up in the 70’s by the afternoon. We had a nice national anthem with a huge American flag flying over the start.

The start was up a huge hill that went on forever. This was a sign of things to come. It was pretty much uphill all the way until Mile 4 when we entered the Baltimore zoo. Here is where we had the best photo stop ever. A cute penguin named Peach was just sitting there and posing with all of us runners. It was the highlight of the race. We ran through some cool spots, like the zoo and John Hopkins University. We also ran through some boring neighborhoods, but the police posted at every intersection couldn’t have been nicer. They were great and would cheer us on. I have never seen as many police officers at a race before. The other nice thing about the race was at every third or fourth stop they had Utz chips as a snack. This was great to have a couple of salty chips to counteract all the sweating we were doing.

It was getting hot and I was feeling it. Jessica and I have the worst luck when we run together. We haven’t had a warm summer so I’m not used to the warm weather. I started feeling not so great around mile 15 or so. I tried a bunch of things but nothing was working and around mile 20 Jessica left us and kept up her pace. She did great! We switched to 1:1 intervals and I felt better and was able to keep a better pace.

Dave and Joe were race chasing and they were doing an amazing job despite the really bad traffic in the city. I’m not sure I want to know how they did it. The final miles were full of hills and we did our best to get up and over them. We finally made it to the finish at the famous Inner Harbor. We got a super cool crab medal that opens and has Fort McHenry inside. There were more chips at the end. We didn’t make it to the beer tent, because it was too far away. I didn’t feel well at the end. I had some chips and Gatorade and finally started feeling better. I definitely didn’t fuel properly for this one. The organization at this one was top notch, with a great expo, and medal. The course is a tough one and I wouldn’t hurry back to do it again because of that.

Dave's Comments

We arrived in Baltimore early enough to have lunch with Stan and Pam at Dempsey's, a brewpub inside Camden Yards. After a quick walk-around we took a short drive over to Fort McHenry National Monument. This site is where the U.S. National Anthem was written (well it was written on a boat looking at the fort but close enough). After our tour we had a beer at Inner Harbor before joining Tom, Liz, Harper, Steve, Jess, Brad, and Joe for dinner at Sabatino's in the Little Italy section.

Joe and I had a great time race chasing. Our bad luck of reaching places in time gave us plenty of down-time to relax and chat. We didn't make it to Mile Two in time so Mile Six was our next best option - and it was only a few blocks from Mile Two. We missed them at Mile 9 because we stopped to watch the half marathoners go by. That gave us another four mile break in Inner Harbor. It was great having Joe drive because he exectued some awesome Starsky and Hutch maneuvers. We won't discuss the father pushing a baby carriage through an intersection at Mile 16. Baltimore was a lot like St. Louis or Providence in the fact that all the good things to see and do in the city are in one small section. Having the race finish at Inner Harbor brought traffic to a halt in the heart of the city. We missed seeing everyone finish the race. Oh well, not the first time.

Post-race we enjoyed lunch at Pratt Street Ale House (a brewpub) and then some post-drinks at Dick's Last Resort.

The next morning we coaxed Stan and Pam into touring Annapolis with us. We enjoyed a rushed tour of the museum and grounds of the Naval Academy, but could not go into the chapel or John Paul Jones' crypt due to a memorial service. Lunch was at the Middleton Tavern. Downtown Annapolis was nice, but small and touristy.

 

Here's the video:

 

2017 Maine Marathon Race Report and Video

Here's Holly race report for the (Portland) Maine Marathon. Be sure to check Dave's comments because we had some "issues" this trip. The video is at the end.

This was not my first choice for the marathon I wanted to do in Maine. I wanted to do the Mount Desert Island Marathon, but due to scheduling this one worked out better for me and I’m glad it did. We arrived in Portland around 11:30am and went right to the Expo. The expo was a bit chaotic with a long line to pick up your goodie bag. Thankfully that was the only negative of the weekend. We met up with our friends Brad and Nicole at the Expo and it was great to see them after a few years. Brad would be running the full with me and Nicole would be race chasing with Dave. After the Expo we met our other friend Laura for lunch. Laura would also be race chasing with Dave the next day. We had a great Italian dinner at Corner Room with everyone and then back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep for the race.

The race started and finished in downtown Portland. We got to the start and it was chilly. The weather was absolutely perfect, a crisp, cool New England morning. The port of potty line was great. There was a guy with a megaphone directing everyone and he was really keeping everyone in line. Every big race needs this guy! I was really a bit nervous for this race because Bozeman went so poorly just three weeks before. I was hoping for a much better day. The grossest thing happened at the start. I went to put down by half empty water bottle by a corral fence and some other runner asked if I was done with it. I said yes and she picked it up and drank from my same bottle. Yuck!

After that weird moment the national anthem played and we were soon off and running. This is an out and back course and it’s been awhile since I’ve run one of those. The beginning was very scenic by a lake and then by the coast. Brad and I were feeling good and we were chatting away and getting to know each other better. If you ever want to get to know someone, run a marathon with them. It’s a great way to pass the time!

The course was hilly. Very hilly. And since it’s an out and back you knew the hills you were running down would have to be run back up on the way back. Thankfully I was feeling good and didn’t have the dead legs that I had in Bozeman. Brad was feeling good too and we just kept chugging along. Our race chasers did a great job as usual and kept us entertained. The entertainment on course was great. Lots of homeowners were out cheering and quite a few bands as well. The weather continued to be picture perfect. I started to tire around mile 23, but who doesn’t get tired by that point? We pushed through and soon enough we finally got to the finish. We got a cute medal and delicious chocolate milk. Organization and communication for this race was first class. I highly recommend this one for Maine. I’ll just have to go back someday and run Mount Desert.

Dave's Comments

Flying to directly Portland from Chicago is not the cheapest route. Instead of flying to Portland we decided to fly into Logan (Boston) and stay over night on Friday. We used a free hotel night to get near the city center. Our evening started at (wait for it...) a brewery. Beerworks had a location a block from the hotel. Lucky me. Our dinner was a 15 minute walk to the North Side/Italian Village area. We chose to eat at North Square Oyster because Dave had to have the Lobster Bolognese after seeing a picture of it on the website. An added bonus was getting to see Paul Revere's house next door.

We visited the famous Mike's Pastry and bought way too many baked goods. On the way back to the hotel we decided to visit one more place and chose The Greatest Bar. Their name, not ours. Really not that great.

The next morning we made the two hour drive through rain and fog with no issues. While The Jones Family visited Kennebunkport we toured the Portland Head lighthouse and historic downtown with Laura. We had fun touring the harbor area with its colonial buildings and cobblestones streets. The fun quickly came to an end when we got back to the car and realized I locked the keys in the car (first time ever). Oopsies! Fortunately I had AAA and we were saved in less than an hour.

Race Chasing was fairly easy as it was an out-and-back course following a major highway. Our spots for the first half became our spots for the back-half. After the race we hit a few establishments in town: Sebago Brewing for lunch, Liquid Riot for drinks, and The King's Head for more drinks. Once again, this town has a great beer culture!

Monday we made the trip back to Boston with our obligatory stop at Harpoon in Fort Point. For lunch we headed over to the hole-in-the-wall Yankee Lobster for the meatiest lobster sandwiches ever served.

Here's the video

2017 Bozeman (MT) Marathon Race Report and Video

Here is Holly's Bozeman (Montana) Marathon Report with video and comments from Dave:

I chose the Bozeman race because it was a good time of year (September) and it was close to Yellowstone so we could make a return trip to see the things we missed from our trip last year. Unfortunately they moved the race up a week so we were just going to be back from a Disney World trip and then head to Bozeman. Not ideal for running a marathon.

We got into Bozeman the day before the race (Dave will handle the pre race activities). Our friends Jan, Mike, and Michael arrived early and picked up my race packet.

The race started at 7am and they said everyone had to take a shuttle to the start. The shuttle left at 5:45am so we had an early wake up. Michael and I were running this one together. Stan and Pam were to join us but they had a family emergency and had to cancel. We missed them both dearly. Dave was nice and got up and drove us to the shuttle pick up point. Michael and I got on the bus and we drove out to the middle of nowhere.

We were dropped off in the middle of an un-mowed field with 5 port of potties and a small tent. We immediately got in line for the bathroom and then went to huddle in the tent because it was actually chilly. Dave made his way to the start even though they said spectators couldn’t get there. He did park right by the starting van and Michael and I laughed at him trying to move. We finally started after one more visit to the bathroom.

It was a beautiful morning and we saw a group of elk running in the distance. We were enjoying the morning and feeling good. We ran through the one and only town on the course around mile 5.5 and saw Dave.

It was shortly after this that I started thinking that my legs felt dead. I said this to Michael and figured he would say it’s in my head. No such luck. He said his were too and was wondering what was going on. We were in trouble. I’m not sure if it was the heat, altitude, tired legs from Disney or a combination of all of the above.

We kept seeing Dave and he kept giving us drinks and salty chips. I know it was warm. We both didn’t have many gels at all. I only had 3 and I think Michael had 2 for the whole marathon. Very unusual and not good! At the halfway point we ran into some women walking their dogs. They asked us what we were doing. I said we were running a marathon. The one woman asked where it ended and I said downtown Bozeman. She said, woah, that’s really far from here. Thanks Lady! We got to Mile 16 and we agreed to drop our running ratio to 1:1. That helped tremendously, that and the fact that it was all pretty much downhill from there. It was REALLY getting warm. We were running through Montana's wide-open spaces with zero shade and a smoky haze from the wildfires in the area.

We finally make it to downtown and I have to say I was pretty disappointed in all the people that were having lunch along the finish line. Not many cheers and most not even looking. It was not the usual finish. The race announcers did a great job of calling us in though and it was a sweet medal! I’m not sure I would recommend this one due to the challenging course and the weather can be unpredictable. It actually snowed the following weekend.

Here's the video

Dave's Comments

Hooray for friends arriving early and getting to skip the expo! After landing we met up with the others (who enjoyed a morning hike) at lunch. Starky's had some great food, decent local beers on tap, and baked goods too! We enjoyed downtown Bozeman and wish we had more time to explore its shops and other eating / drinking establishments. After lunch we visited White Dog Brewing's beer side and wished some folks didn't have a race so we could have visited their distilling sister business next door. We stopped into the NU2U! pawn store on the way back to the hotel. It was massive! It did not live up to its square footage. Later that night we had dinner at Pizza Campania - a comfy newer space not too far from our hotel. The food was excellent. A few of us wanted a dessert so we went to The Chocolate Moose in town. Holly picked up some of their in-house made salt water taffy and Dave ordered a single serving cone of two flavors. It was like they stuck a pint of Ben and Jerry's on a cone. Even more absurd was the low price of $2.50 for the cone.

Race day was long. After driving Michael and Holly to the bus I went back to the room to shower, grab a few items from the hotel buffet, and illegally made my way to the start line. Where the hell were we? This was the middle of nowhere. I didn't follow the course at this point because the runners were so compacted. I took gravel roads back to the 5.5 mile point, and the last time I'd see a business (like gas or food) until mile 25-point-something. The course was pretty at times, but mostly a bore fest. I tried to entertain runners by blaring Hanson from the rental - didn't work. Given Holly and Michael were having a tough day I made frequent stops to keep them engaged and fueled. Back in town I scored great parking by the finish line and enjoyed local beer while sitting in a bar's windowsill. Best finish line ever.

After the race Holly was able to get a shower at our hotel, then we took off on the 90 minute ride to Yellowstone with a stop at Arby's in Livingston to pick up some lunch.