8 Stages of Marathon Running

Is this really what I have to look forward to?

Race Recap: runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon

After the early morning running the 5k, I woke from my afternoon nap, had a few snacks, got changed into my race gear and caught the shuttle bus from All Star Movies over to the Wide World of Sports about 7:15. It took about 30 minutes to get there, and I met up with some other Team Studios Central members for a group shot.

I was amazed by how well runDisney handled the logistics – more than 14,000 runners were gathering along with hundreds if not thousands of supporters. There were countless porta-a-potties and with about 20 minutes before corrals opened the lines were long and growing.

The DJ was still going strong and leading group dances when the corrals opened just after 9pm. I promptly moved to the front of Corral D.

I didn’t want to sit on the concrete so I ended up standing the entire time, talking a little with the people around me, including the husband of a bird trainer cast member at Animal Kingdom. He was running his second half marathon and we joked about the start is so exciting it’s hard not to get caught up and running too fast.

The Wine and Dine Half Marathon course runs through three theme parks: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Only the Magic Kingdom is left out.

At 10pm sharp the first wave of runners started to fireworks and cheering. Every few minutes another corral would start and ours would move closer to the starting line. As we got closer I noticed bubbles floating around, and then it was our turn to go.

Race Recap - runDisney Jingle Jungle 5k

I hadn’t originally planned on running the Jingle Jungle 5k, which is held the same morning of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. But I started to get interested in it after reading race recaps from people who had done the 5k the morning of the Tower of Terror 10 Miler in September.

Although the race was sold out, I found a woman who had registered for the race but had to cancel her trip. She kindly allowed me to use her race entry, so I picked up her bib, with her name prominently displayed across the bottom. That’s why you’ll see my iFitness running belt covering the bottom of the bib in each picture.

The race started at 7am with shuttles scheduled to run starting at 5am. I got up at 4:30 with a plan to catch the bus over around 5:15. I had laid out all my stuff the night before so I was showered, dressed and out the door a little after 5am. There was a bus waiting and it left just a few minutes after I got on.

I arrived at the Animal Kingdom parking lot about 5:25 and was impressed with the scope of the pre-race logistics. 

So many port-a-potties!

There was a DJ playing and trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to get people dancing and a long line for a picture with Mickey and Minnie. 

You'd have to be a fool to get in this line.

With nothing else to do for the next 90 minutes, I decided to get into the line. It took about an hour, but I got my picture.