I went to the food court, which they open early for the runners, and bought a bottle of water and a bagel to eat before the race. I learned on Saturday that the bottle of water was not a good idea right before the race, as I had to use the bathroom MANY times before the race started! Needless to say, I didn't buy one on Sunday morning! I hopped on the bus a little after 3, and after waiting for the bus to fill up with people, we were off to the Epcot parking lot. In the parking lot they have all sorts of stuff going on, there is a tent selling souveniers, a concession stand, information tents, and a DJ and band playing. All the runners and spectators were just hanging out in the Family Reunion area waiting to head out to the starting line. Here are some pictures of that area:
After a little while, I headed through the baggage check area, where I checked my bag for after the race. Since Gregg wasn't coming out to watch on Saturday, I took along a bag with my Crocs, and clean clothes for after the race. I went through the baggage check and found some people from the Disboards sitting in "port-o-potty village". I call it this because there is probably several hundred port-o-pottys in this area, it is hysterical! Good thing they were there, because I went to the bathroom 3-4 times before heading to the starting line!At about 4:50am, they opened up the gates and everyone walked down to the starting line area, which is on Epcot Center Dr, outside of the EPCOT parking lot. The walk from the staging area to the starting line is about 0.5 miles, so it was good to keep me warm, as it was quite chilly that morning. When I arrived at the starting line, I stopped to go the bathroom again before heading in to my starting corral to wait until the start. I met up with a few ladies from the Disboards in the corral and it was nice sitting there talking with them while waiting. While waiting they have music playing, and they have emcee's who interview different runners and get the runners pumped up for the run, it is pretty cool! Here is a picture of me waiting in the corral, notice my arms are inside my shirt--it was rather cold sitting there waiting:
The half marathon has a wave start, which means that there are three different starting times. The fastest people are in Wave 1 and their start time was at 5:50am. Just before that, they had the National Anthem and then Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald came out on a little stage by the starting line to count down to the start. Luckily they had big TV screens so that those of us a little further back could see what was going on! I was in the second wave that started at 6am. So, after the first wave left, my wave got to move up closer to the starting line. Once again they counted down from 10, to start us. On the start, they shoot off fireworks and we were on our way. Here are some pictures from the start:
So, the race started and I was on my way. I decided that for the half marathon, I was going to really take it easy to save my legs for the full on Sunday. My strategy was to do run/walk intervals. Originally, I was planning on doing intervals of running for 2 minutes then walking for 3, but I changed my mind for some reason right before the start and ended up doing running for 3 minutes and walking for 2. The race heads out along Epcot Center Drive for about 2 miles before turning right onto World Drive. Once on World drive, we head right through the Magic Kingdom toll plaza, and follow the road into the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We went right by the Disney World Speedway, where they had some race cars outside. For some reason, I didn't stop to get a picture, which I wish I had! Anyhow, the race continued through the Magic Kingdom parking lot to the Transportation and Ticket Center. There are LOTS of spectators in the MK lot and at the Ticket Center, it is one of my favorite parts of the race. The race continued on past the Contemporary and over to the Magic Kingdom. We entered Magic Kindgom through a back stage area and end up coming out right at the end of Main St. This is my absolute favorite part of the half marathon (with the exception of the finish of course!). As we turn up Main St, it is wall to wall people, and they are going nuts cheering! Here are a few pictures, although they are a little blurry, since I took them as I was running!
At this point, I am about 6 miles into the race, and I still feel great! I had been sticking with my intervals, and was just cruising right along! In the Magic Kingdom, there was lots of characters out, and I decided to stop for a bunch of pictures. The first stop I made was to get a picture with Winnie the Pooh.
Just before turning to go through the castle, the professional photographers got this picture of me, notice I am carrying my camera in my hand, you will never see the "fast" runners doing that!!
On the back side of the castle, they have the trumpeters up on the balcony playing, and they had the Cinderella and her evil stepsisters out for pictures.
Another highlight of the race is coming through the castle! Just in front of the castle, they always have the professional photographers, so everyone tries to get in sight of the camera. Here is a picture just after coming through the castle:
After going through the castle, the course heads toward the back of the Magic Kingdom and Frontierland. This year, they had Mickey, Goofy and Donald all together for pictures. The line was quite long (usually I only stop if there are 2-3 people on line ahead of me), there was approx. 15-20 people ahead of me, but since I wasn't too concerned about my time in the half, I decided to wait, since this was a picture I really wanted!!
After taking that picture, I settled back into my intervals, as there are really no more photo opportunities on the course with characters. The course left the Magic Kingdom through a backstage area near Splash Mountain, then headed on Floridian Way past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian. There are always lots of spectators in this area, so it is a fun part of the race. Between the Grand Floridian and Polynesian the race hits the half way mark. At this point, I was still feeling really great and just kind of taking it all in and enjoying the race! The next four miles of the race are kind of boring as there is nothing really there and not many spectators. From mile 8-12, the course travels between the Magic Kingdom area back over to Epcot for the finish. Here is a picture from that stretch (notice I am still smiling!):
In this picture, I am all the way to the right behing the guy with the white hat.
At Mile 12, I decided that I was going to jog the rest of the way, as I was feeling pretty good. The last 1.1 miles goes through Epcot. We entered near the bus station, and headed out to the World Showcase where we turned around and came back. On the way back, the course goes to the right of Spaceship Earth, takes a quick right turn through a back stage area where a gospel choir is singing, and then the last 0.1 miles of the race is in the parking lot heading to the finish line. For the half, Epcot is not open yet so there are no spectators until the parking lot and last little bit of the race. Here is a few pictures from the last mile of the race:
The finish line of the Disney races is always awesome! They have characters out along the way giving everyone high five as they approach the finish line, there is an announcer saying people's names as they cross, and the stands are filled with spectators! It is really cool. They have lots of photographers at the finish line to make sure that everyone has pictures at the finish. Here are a few of mine:
In this picture, I am under the "H" in finish with the yellow hat with my arms up.
After the finish, they make you walk quite a distance to get the medal, as first you get the silver mylar blanket, then they remove your timing chip, and then finally I got my medal!!! My first WDW half marathon Donald medal! After getting my medal, I went through the food area, where they were giving out free water, gatorade and a variety of food including fruit and muffins. Before leaving the finish area, they have lots of professional photographers set up to take a picture of each runner with their medal and a marathon weekend background, here is my picture:
After I got my picture taken, I headed to the baggage claim area to pick up my bag of clothes and shoes. I changed my shoes and put on a dry shirt then headed to the bus to head back to Pop Century to meet up with Gregg.
All in all, the half marathon was a fun race. My chip time was 2:37:12 (my clock time was 2:48:07-but I didn't cross the starting line until just about 11 min. after the first wave started). This was actually a little faster than I had anticipated running. I figured I would finish around 2:45, but since I ran more than I was planning, that makes up for the time difference. My legs felt pretty good after the race, and I was excited to go back, shower, and get ready to head to the parks!
Next up: the rest of Day 2-Animal Kingdom
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