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.

My plan was to stop at every character and photo opportunity and really enjoy the Disney experience. Less than a mile in, we left the WWoS complex.

The Country Bears were the first characters I encountered.

Each mile marker was themed to a different country whose cuisine was featured at the Food & Wine festival. A speaker nearby played some music from that country as well.

I’ve never seen Fantasia so I didn’t know who these were until my wife told me after the race.

This part of the race was familiar, having run through Animal Kingdom this morning.

I skipped Baloo in the morning, so I had to stop and see him…

I skipped Rafiki since I had already seen him (he was the only character I skipped in the entire Half Marathon) but even though I had stopped for Pluto in the 5k I liked this backdrop so I had to stop again.

Coming out of Animal Kingdom was an awesome set for Jack Sparrow.

These “puppets” were set up on the road leading out of Animal Kingdom – I think they were featured during the Mile 20 Spectacular at the Marathon back in January.

There wasn’t a lot to see for the next several miles. I noticed the course map showed a rather boring looking stretch between exiting AK and entering Hollywood Studios. I was hoping for more characters and entertainment to break up the monotony, but there wasn’t much.

It was right around Mile 7 that I started getting a little headache. I was stopping at each water stop and getting water and Powerade. The temperature was in the low 70’s but it was very humid. I didn’t want it to get worse because I was looking forward to the after-party at Epcot!

Right after mile 9 we entered Hollywood Studios, near Tower of Terror. Running down Sunset Blvd. in the dark was so cool!

This was supposed to be guns, which Woody did for the previous picture…

They turned the tunnel that you go through during the Backlot Tour into a Disco Tunnel. A lot of people complained about the artificial smoke and feeling claustrophobic but I thought it was super cool.

Worst. Backlit. Backdrop. Ever.

My iPhone didn’t do the best job in the low light conditions. The Cast Members taking the pictures didn’t do the best job of focusing either.

This was my first time seeing the Osborne Lights. Running through was super cool. It was fun to see so many runners, in the middle of a race, stop to soak up the atmosphere.

I was excited to see Vader and Boba Fett out by Star Tours, but disappointed that the picture came out so poorly.

They were the last characters on the race. With three miles to go, my headache was getting a little worse. I increased my walk intervals a little to try to keep it from getting even worse.

As we got closer and closer runners focused more and more on simply finishing the race. There were tons of spectators out along the sidewalk near the Yacht & Beach Clubs cheering us on.

There were big crowds lining the race course through Epcot, but most of them were runners who were trying to cross the course to get to the World Showcase and the after-party. I could hear many arguing with security to allow them to move through, and security yelling at them alternately to keep moving or stop where they were. It looked a little chaotic to me but I didn’t really understand what was going on.

With about a tenth of a mile to go there was a laser light show overhead.

It’s not easy to run to the finish and record video and high five Mickey all at the same time.

After crossing the Finish Line I received, in quick succession, my medal, a bottle of water, a bottle of powerade and a banana. I retrieved my bag from the bag check but was told to keep moving my security. I headed to the changing tent which was a stinky sauna, and ended up changing just outside the tent, but out of view of the public.

After changing I got into the “line” for our free beverage (beer, wine or soda). It was a chaotic mess. A mass of sweaty runners and none of the lines was moving. As security kept yelling at us to keep moving we continued to wait… With my head hurting and feeling overwhelmed by the number of people I decided to bail on the free beer and got out of there and head over toward the park entrance where I could get a picture with my medal.

It was after 1am at this point, and I looked over toward the park entrance and saw a crowd at bag check. I didn’t really want to deal with that plus the chaos inside the park. My head was still hurting, and I was tired, so I decided to bail on the after party in favor of spending more time with my family in the parks the next day.

In hindsight I kind of regret not attending the post-race party, but I was able to recover completely to be able to hit Hollywood Studios the next morning with my family so I think I made the right choice.

I learned some lessons that should serve me well in the Dopey Challenge in January. I think my headache was a result of not eating properly the day before and the day of the race. I had some snacks around dinnertime before the race but I would have been better off with a full (light) dinner rather than the pita chips and hummus and clif bar.

I also spent a lot of time on my feet in the two days before the race, and got very little sleep (about five hours each night the two nights before). I’m sure that played a role.

All in all my first runDisney experience was awesome. I had so much fun and everyone I met was so friendly. I had been concerned about running solo but it was no problem at all. I can’t wait to power through the remaining weeks until WDW Marathon Weekend and the Dopey Challenge!