6.2 Magical Miles|| Marathon Weekend 10K Recap
While this wasn’t my first RunDisney race it was my first this weekend and I knew going into it that there would just be a different vibe to the weekend after all this event is the crown jewel of Disney’s running season.
Since I was ONLY doing the 10K I arrived on Day 2 of the expo just shortly after it opened at Noon general public opening and was surprised to just walk right in to the merch area especially with how crazy the line had been. I had done a pre-order for my magnets and pins and wasn’t really expecting to grab anything else. However even with things picked over I did wind up with the passholder tervis for the weekend (though why must they only post the sensational six on weekend branded merch and leave oswald and dopey out???) There were two shirts I was pondering getting. One was a T-shirt that I would have checked sizes on if it were a technical shirt and one was a technical shirt but it was a long sleeve and between this event, my Wine and Dine’s and my upcoming Gaspirilla Half how many long sleeve running shirts does one need in Florida?
Like with Wine and Dine they had mileage numbers out as well as a giant Castle Cutout
There were also cut outs of various characters to pose for photos with and various backdrops scattered outside around the area.
Heading to field house I had to take a pitstop to fill in a paper waiver due to IT issues with the digital Expo Pass but that went smooth
For Wine and Dine I was in start group 4 of 4 with this weekend I’m in start group 5 of 6 giving me a nice buffer against the balloon ladies with my projected 1201-14 m/m pace
We did a quick in/out of the Visa center as I figure I’m good on Bondi Bands and they haven’t added the Springtime Surprise Medals to the Official RunDisney booth so just my shirt it was
Expo Experience was just under 2 hours and we checked into Art of Animation
We spent a few hours at Epcot but not too long as I had an early wake up call because with Marathon Weekend since they have the extra race the 10K is run on Friday.
As far as costumes went I decided to look at pieces I already owned to draw inspiration as I didn’t want to put mom to work on another skirt so close to the one she made me for Wine and Dine and so I came up with the idea of Rag Cinderella. The costume consisted of re-wearing the skort from November paired with a Reel Legends Long Sleeve Top, an Avia Tank, an Apron mom previously made me from a pillow case in 2015 when I dressed as village Belle for Halloween as well as the Brown Bond Band purchased at November’s expo (I had some kerchief looking headbands but couldn’t figure them out) and my Jaq and Gus Gus Bean Bag Plush
This is definitely one of my top 5 costumes of record
Got to the busses at about 249am and they pulled out around 257am. Our driver Alice was really great and got us runners to Epcot at around 308am.
Unlike with Wine and Dine this was a closed course of Epcot→Epcot. I’ve done three races that have started in Epcot prior, 2016’s Wine and Dine 10K, 2018’s Dark Side 5K and 2019’s Wine and Dine 5K however unlike those races runners were dropped off at the normal resort bus loop and ushered toward the park entrance. The way things were staged instead of a bag/no bag security lane we were just lead through the parks security scanners and lingered a bit in the area between security check and the tapstyles to just take in the ambiance as they had music being piped in and Spaceship Earth lit up by beacons of magic
I took some time to use the REAL restrooms outside the park both to do my business and to give myself some space to pin on my bib.
From there it was a long walk past the newly revamped Leave a Legacy Walls and out towards the parking lot. Around 324am I got a tease of the finish shoot and a few minutes later noticed a line far far off to a side. It was a replica of the Mickey Fab 50 statue similar to the ones at MCO but due to its distance and the fact that it looked like it was a selfie only I pressed on.
Once I got to the staging area there were two walls that said Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary with photopass photographers and two photo boxes one with Oswald and one with Mickey that were selfie only (obviously as your bib would be covered)
After doing the two photo set ups, listening to John and Carissa spiel, and getting a little bit of ran showered over me I started heading toward the staging area around 348am
Since I was a solo runner I chatted a bit with a few of the runners that surrounded me while I waited and soon at 531am I was crossing the starting line
Since this was Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, Carissa stated in one of her pre-race bits that there would be nods to some of the characters included in the Fab 50 line up around the course making me feel excited.
And they started fast and loose when just seven minutes into my runtime and not even out of Epcot’s parking lot yet there was Alice . After a “Speed Bump Ahead” exiting the parking lot it was time to head Off To Neverland with a visit from Peter and Wendy . Like with Alice the line wasn’t too bad but I hadn’t even reached mile one and I didn’t want to taper out too soon.
Marker One was in my eyesight like the “Second Star To The Right” as I passed that meet {17 mins} I’m going with photo timestamps as my fitbit screenshot says it was only 15:11 elapsed at this time. The markers all feature F50 characters and this one was Lady and the Tramp
A DJ, Video Screen Looping Hakuna Matata, and a Water Stop later and I was at Marker Two {16 mins || 33 mins overall} This time the F50 representation was Bambi and Thumper
Another character sighting in the form of Rafiki along with a second DJ lead me toward the overpass and the party busses
After some words of encouragement in the distance from one of the Army Men…Woman…People…I reached marker three which continued with a Lion King Theme featuring Simba, Pumba, and Timon {17 mins|| 50 mins overall with a 5K split from the official race result from RunDisney saying 48:13 and my elapsed FitBit time as I passed marker three saying my elapsed time was 48:14 so who knows what to believe}
I still hadn’t reached theme parks but shortly after marker three I reached another character spot in Bo Peep. The line was moderate but I considered heading into it since I’d never met her before and I felt I had a decent enough buffer ahead of the Balloon Ladies however on the other hand like I mentioned the parks were on the horizon and I didn’t know what they had in store…
But look at her from a distance… not so creepy anymore
While the Lion King trend seemed to taper there seemed to be a Toy Story one at hand (man my brother in law would of had a super time running this as those are two of his favorite Disney IPs). Just outside the entrance into the backstage of Hollywood Studios was Woody with Forky followed by water top number two.
This part of the course was fun as people were just having a great time roaming the area taking selfies in front of Cruz and DJ (who were off enough to the side I didn’t notice until I was in the park properly Saturday) as well as in front of the Rock and Roller Coaster Guitar, With Tower of Terror Bellhops and besides various other icons…While I did attempt some selfies they sucked but here are a few pics from that stretch that are poastable
Also on Sunset Officer Judy Hopps was reporting for duty but again it was a character I’ve met before and I’d just ate a bunch of time with failed selfies so I passed. While the selfies were fails here is a photo pass pic from course which is semi decent
I reached marker 4 {19 mins || an hour 9 mins overall} with Dumbo being the character featured and from here on out the course mirrored Wine and Dine which meant the long stretch to the crescent lake resorts.
Where Chernabog was in November instead was a statue of Orange Bird similar to the one that was in MarketPlace CoOp last time I shopped there. Since it was a selfie only I just scooted by not even noticing that apparently it was scented.
Once I approached the spot where Big Bad Wolf appeared in November I was instead greeted with another Neverland friend in the form of Disney Junior character Jake from “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” there was almost no line so I took a two minute detour and it wound up being my only character stop on course
Reaching marker 5 featuring Moana & Pua I could feel myself on the home stretch {19 minutes || 1 hour 25 mins overall}
The magic called as the course turned into Epcot with a screen of company clips and the final water table
In Canada there was Koda from Brother Bear with a line much longer than when I saw him & Keni at 2017’s Wine and Dine and in Future World where he normally waves in the distance to day guests was Pooh also with a long-ish line and so hi ho hi ho it's off to the finish I go….
Marker 6 featured Miguel from Coco {18 mins||1 hour 43 mins overall}
And as Mickey and Goofy cheered on from the sidelines it was finishing time
My Fitbit unofficially clocked me in at 6.65 miles in 1:47:48 while my official Chip time was 1:47:51
Since the finish & start were the same the photo opportunities were the same aside from the additional I did it! Finisher set up.
UPCOMING RACES:
Gaspirilla Half Feb 27th
Promise Run 5K {Virtual} March 5th
Everest 5K March 31st
Marathon a month
January In Progress
FitLife
January in Progress
PRs
1M {15:26} 3K {30:59} 5K {42.46} 8K {1:13:59} 10K {1:42:52} 15K {2:19:09} HALF {3:48:35*} FULL {7:08:15*} *virtual half/full run in increments
Run the year
67.46/2022 miles
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