On Saturday, January 11, 2014 I ran the 2014 Walt Disney World Half Marathon as a part of Goofy’s Race And A Half Challenge. I had to be up at 2:45 AM to be on the bus before 3:30 AM for a race that began at 5:30 AM.
The first thing to do for the races was to prep.
After arriving at the race start, we had to go through security, where they checked our bags and then let us through. Afterward, we had about a mile walk to the corrals. My running partner Becky & I started in Corral D, which meant we started about 8 minutes after the main start (2 minutes between corrals).
The race start was in grand Disney fashion, with FIREWORKS for EVERY CORRAL!
The race went well. I did not quite meet my goal of under two hours. I ran the race in 2:00:59; however, with the warm weather (upper 60s at the start, low 70s by the finish) and 100% humidity, I was satisfied since I had to still do a marathon the next day. Here is a link to all my race splits.
I always love coming to the end of the races on Marathon Weekend. You end near Epcot’s Spaceship Earth & the Gospel Choir.
After the race, there were a few characters to take pictures with close to our bus pickup, so we took a few with the cows, Pluto, and Chip & Dale.
Donald Duck is the race “ConDUCKtor” for the Half Marathon, so of course Donald was featured on the race medal. They went with a new classy design this year.
Afterward we headed back to the resort. I started with the ice bath, then after cleaning up we went for breakfast and then walked around Epcot the remainder of the day, to stay loose for the Marathon the next day.
Later in the parks, I was able to take a photo with Donald Duck and my Donald Duck Half Marathon medal.
Finally, here are some of the professional photo proofs that were taken. Since the package will be over $100, this will be the closest I get to them.
Stay tuned later in the week for a recap from the Walt Disney World Marathon.
This race also moved me up in ranks in Half Fanatics. I am member #3547, and prior to this race I was Neptune (1 Moon) Level. After this race I qualified for an upgrade to Uranus (2 Moon) Level, by completing 8 Half Marathons in 365 days.
You did a great job with the half considering you had a marathon the next day and the temps! I can imagine how hot it must have been down there because the heat and humidity here took a toll on me Saturday morning (training run). It looks like you had fun and the pics are awesome, along with the fireworks when you start. That’s worth getting up that early for! Congratulations on the new moon as well.
Thanks Amy… You need to put these events on your bucket list! There is so much enjoyment when running at Disney. However, you will have to take out a 2nd mortgage to pay for them. 🙂
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Nice job! I went ahead and bought the photo gift card at the expo – pay $65, get $100 voucher. The Dopey package costs 115, so figured it was a good deal.