2013 WDW Marathon Trip

[Amy]

Whoo-hoo! Great report H ~ I feel like I was there with you! The weather sounds like it was brutal. I hated playing tennis in the really humid weather so I can only imagine what running 26.2 miles in that heat would be like
Looking forward to how you were feeling later and the next few days . Sounds like the dip in the pool was refreshing!
For someone who doesn't like Mission Space, you sure were defying gravity in a few of those pictures
Nice action shots that NaCler took for you!

[GeoffS]

I have no energy the next few days after a marathon. I'm always interested in how people feel at the parks later in the day or the day after a race. I'm afraid I'd be a drag on anyone else. Given all the detailed reporting, it sounds like you had a great time.

[MmeLeota]

Ok...I'm...outta...breath....just...reading....this....post....WHEW!

H, I am so proud of you for accomplishing such a feat! That's a mighty handsome piece of hardware you earned too!

[Amy]

Ok...I'm...outta...breath....just...reading....this....post....WHEW!

H, I am so proud of you for accomplishing such a feat! That's a mighty handsome piece of hardware you earned too!

That is a sweet looking medal ~ was it something a little more special for the 20th anniversary? And am I the only one that had upside down H pictures? I was reading his report on my phone at the doctor's office and some of the photos were upside down, but now that I am home and on the computer, they look fine...

[cy1229]

SO.
VERY.
IMPRESSED.

In my head, I can run like the wind. I've always wanted to run, but wearing a leg brace as a toddler and having super uncoordinated feet has more often than not resulted in me starfishing across the pavement when I run more than a few feet. So, in my head, I run like the wind and look forward to having a perfect body in Heaven so I can run as much as I'd like.

SO.
VERY.
IMPRESSED.

Such perseverance! I can see the pain, grit, and determination on your face in the photos that NaCler took. I don't think you should look at finishing at 5:53 as failing to make your time. Your time goal would have worked if the heat wasn't unbearable and the overwhelmingness of the whole ordeal didn't sap some of your strength. Finishing is a huge deal.

The irony of reading about your race two days after the Boston Marathon bombings isn't lost on me, either. I'm learning more and more that the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini (it's a half-marathon), or the Boston Marathon, or any combination of the WDW races (5k, 10k, half, full, Goofy, Dopey, Seriously-gray-matter-deprivedy) are all parts of a certain community that supports everyone and criticizes no one.

Bravo, WWDRH! Bravo!

[theBIGyowski]

Fantastic TR!

I hope that I can run a full marathon someday. My knees give out around 11.5-12 miles...so a Half is about all I can do right now when I am in good shape. I do have a goal to run the Goofy someday though before I really start breaking down.

Having run the Half at WDW a few times, being able to relive the experience via your TR has been a joy. The pain is so great at times that it almost fuels you towards the end of the race. There is nothing like seeing SSE and knowing there is an end in sight. How awesome would it be if you had that kind of motivation during training!

I will say though that it was easier to train for my second WDW Half because I had the memories of the first one in my mind...and remembering getting chills hearing the gospel choir right there near the finish. If/when DW and I can get back down there to run we will hopefully be able to join up with you and your DW...and NaCler of course...for some good times.

Can't wait for the rest of your TR...and your "recovery" time in the parks.

[wewantsdaredhead]

Ok...I'm...outta...breath....just...reading....this....post....WHEW!

H, I am so proud of you for accomplishing such a feat! That's a mighty handsome piece of hardware you earned too!

That is a sweet looking medal ~ was it something a little more special for the 20th anniversary? And am I the only one that had upside down H pictures? I was reading his report on my phone at the doctor's office and some of the photos were upside down, but now that I am home and on the computer, they look fine...

Thanks ladies! Yes it was a special medal they crafted just for the 20th anniversary of the marathon. That was one of the things that hooked me (us)

Amy: You know when I looked at it on my iPhone, there were some that were upside-down, but on my laptop they were correct--very weird indeed...

SO.
VERY.
IMPRESSED.

In my head, I can run like the wind. I've always wanted to run, but wearing a leg brace as a toddler and having super uncoordinated feet has more often than not resulted in me starfishing across the pavement when I run more than a few feet. So, in my head, I run like the wind and look forward to having a perfect body in Heaven so I can run as much as I'd like.

SO.
VERY.
IMPRESSED.

Such perseverance! I can see the pain, grit, and determination on your face in the photos that NaCler took. I don't think you should look at finishing at 5:53 as failing to make your time. Your time goal would have worked if the heat wasn't unbearable and the overwhelmingness of the whole ordeal didn't sap some of your strength. Finishing is a huge deal.

The irony of reading about your race two days after the Boston Marathon bombings isn't lost on me, either. I'm learning more and more that the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini (it's a half-marathon), or the Boston Marathon, or any combination of the WDW races (5k, 10k, half, full, Goofy, Dopey, Seriously-gray-matter-deprivedy) are all parts of a certain community that supports everyone and criticizes no one.

Bravo, WWDRH! Bravo!

Thanks so much--I am very humbled by your post. Yes, we all support one another---after we finish we go on and cheer on the rest of the runners. I read somewhere: I have more respect for the person who finishes last than the one who finished first. So true!

thanks for reading and for the compliments.

Fantastic TR!

I hope that I can run a full marathon someday. My knees give out around 11.5-12 miles...so a Half is about all I can do right now when I am in good shape. I do have a goal to run the Goofy someday though before I really start breaking down.

Having run the Half at WDW a few times, being able to relive the experience via your TR has been a joy. The pain is so great at times that it almost fuels you towards the end of the race. There is nothing like seeing SSE and knowing there is an end in sight. How awesome would it be if you had that kind of motivation during training!

I will say though that it was easier to train for my second WDW Half because I had the memories of the first one in my mind...and remembering getting chills hearing the gospel choir right there near the finish. If/when DW and I can get back down there to run we will hopefully be able to join up with you and your DW...and NaCler of course...for some good times.

Can't wait for the rest of your TR...and your "recovery" time in the parks.

You might not believe this, but even though during training I didnt have SSE there to make me smile, or the gospel choir...they are there in my head. AND..I have more than once told my wife, "OK Babe--SSE is coming into view now--isnt it a glorious sight!!"
I hope you get back there soon--maybe in time for the 2015 Marauder reunion!!


Thanks everyone for reading---now for the rest of the day...

[wewantsdaredhead]

Sunday January 13th, 2013 Pt 2
After getting refreshed, we decided to take the bus to MK and then walk over to the Contemporary. Seemed like a good idea at the time—lol Actually it wasn’t that bad---we only hobbled a little. (The real pain didn’t come until tomorrow). We got in and were seated immediately—we were eager to eat and get over to MK. My bro and family were there waiting on us. My wife and I both had the exact same thing—the steak. It was yummy…we passed on the dessert and drank about 5 waters then got out of there. We hopped the monorail and took the grand tour (read as: the long way) and I snapped this shot of the sunset.


MK was having EMH that day and it was open until 2am or something ridiculous—I knew we would never make that, but we knew this was our only day to see Wishes—scheduling--you know how it is…I wanted some of Casey’s Corn Dog Nuggets but the line was NUTSO! Everyone was milling about waiting for Wishes to start. So we met up with my bro and parked our butts right between the Crystal Palace and Casey’s. My nephews were running on fumes and they were getting antsy—I kept telling them to watch for Tink. Ok here she comes….any minute now…hang in there I think I see her…Nope—no Tink. Musta been too windy or something. Wishes was awesome like it usually is and we said good night to my brother and his family.


We walked around through Adventureland against the crowd—everyone was headed out. I got a Dole Whip (“your ice cream thing” as my wife calls it…) and I believe we walked right onto PotC. Then we decided to call it a night. But not before stopping at Casey’s---JACKPOT! The place was empty…I got the beloved corndog nuggets and we headed to the comfort of POR and our beds. We had been up since 2:45. What a long day---but one that we will remember forever.

Monday January 14th, 2013
The plan today was to check out of POR and move to my brother’s place for the duration of our trip. MGM err DHS was on tap after we packed up. We bought my brother and his wife a “date night” at the Cape May Café—we were going to watch the kids and go to bed early
Actual:
We slept in, but not too late. We showered and packed our things---and after looking at the bags and knowing how our legs felt, we decided to call Bell Services---wow! Why didn’t I do that before? The guy was there almost immediately, loaded everything up and put it into storage until later. For free! I tipped him of course, but I know what I will be doing in the future!
We said goodbye to our home away from home (for now) and headed to the confines of DHS. We had a few things we missed out on the other day that we had to hit. This was going to be our last stop here this trip.
One of the highlights of this visit was continually pointing out where we had run—“Yeah we ran through here..” etc all day. It gave us a sense of accomplishment, I think.
We did ST 2.0 a few times which is becoming a habit--- a good one—we just love the re-do (have I mentioned that?). Then we got some good seats for Indy---it’s amazing that we can watch that show—it really hasn’t changed too much in like…forever. Then…thanks to Soarin08…I insisted that we hit the bar that had eluded me forever: The Tune In Lounge! I saw where she had posted a picture of it on FB one day and I had to admit that I never went in there---so I penciled it in for this trip.
We bellied up to the bar and had a couple of beers on a co-worker. Before we left one of my Guys gave us a Disney gift card for Christmas and said, “Have a congratulatory beer on me after your race.” Can do! Here is a picture of said beers. Kona Longboard Lagers---yum.


I offered to go over to RnR and wait in the gift shop while my Sweetie went on Single Rider---she obliged me and off we went. I tried on every pair of sunglasses in the place and finally she finished. We decided to hit the shops on Sunset, eat and then head out.
We had to get back to the POR get our bags and wait for my brother to arrive---he was the only one who rented a car. But then something got in the way…The Muddy Rivers Pool Bar! We sat and chatted over a few cold ones---mostly about the race. I read somewhere (and its so true) that runners (joggers?) talk about everything except running…while they are running. But when they aren’t—it’s all they talk about! So that’s what we did. I dialed my Bro and off we went. Buh-Bye POR!!! (For now)
The rest of the evening was pretty boring at the timeshare—but it was all worth it. My bro and his wife got to have a date night and we got to enjoy our nephews. We played go fish and played ‘Where’s My Water?’ on the iPad (man that’s fun!). Then it was time for bed. We told my brother to stay out as late as he wanted (they were home by 9—ha! are we old or what?).
Another simple day at WDW (but its better than a day at work!!!)…

[Amy]

Mmmm, corn dog nuggets from Caseys sound pretty good right about now! Sounds like you had a pretty active day after the race and you managed to stay up pretty long for having been up so early.
That was really nice of your co-worker to give you a gift card for a congratulatory beer. It's almost like two perfect gifts in one for you ~ something Disney related and beer
I'm having to laugh at your early nights ~ I am all tuckered out and ready for bed by 9:30 or 10 when I am at home, but I go, go, go until the wee hours when we are at WDW I can sleep when I get home!

[wewantsdaredhead]

Tuesday January 15th, 2013
Last day at a park—(Epcot). We drove to and parked at, Epcot. We went in there, but my brother and his crew went over to MK. His kids just can’t do a whole day at Epcot—can’t say I blame them—they are just too little (but soon!) They were going to meet us after awhile and then we were closing the place down! This was it; we were finishing our Marathon trip with Illuminations!
We started out at Test Track---our older son is a real ‘Petrol Head’ and asked for lots of pictures of the place. We took a bunch and rode it twice in a row. But then you know what was looming large in the background…? Yes, Mission:Space. If you recall I had promised my wife that after the marathon I would ride the ‘extreme’ side with her (I can never remember the colors). So I slouched my shoulders and we headed that way. The CM asked us which side and my wife said “Green” and we went in—I thought about passing out so I could get out of this. Then when I looked at the card, it said ‘Less Intense.’ I said “hey babe, you grabbed the wrong card—this is the non-spinning version.” Her reply: I know—I don’t need you messed up all day---we’ll just do the green. God, I love her so!!!!
I did the happy dance all the way to Mars and back with Lt Dan, then we did the timekiller of all timekillers---something my dear, sweet Wife had never seen before…Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I warned her about the length of the attraction (and a few other things) but she was determined. We walked into the pre-show and it was about halfway over. The crowd all crushed toward the vehicles and I told my wife to linger—I told her that if we go in last, we might get a row all to ourselves so we could make out…or nap lol. Well, that didn’t work because they didn’t have all the buggies operating. But it was pretty sparse nonetheless so we did what we wanted anyway (you guess which one we did.. ).
After we woke up, we were refreshed and ready to hit the rest of the park---time to start drinking around the world!!! It was right in here somewhere that NaCler texted me about the snow in Canada…Snow in Canada? What was he talking about? So I used my handy dandy app and sure enough they were making snow in Canada. Now this is the part that tore his nerves all up. Remember during our 5K when I wouldn’t let him fulfill his dream of having his picture taken with Canadian Donald? Well…Nuff Said:


We grabbed a couple cold ones and headed into the WS! The place was empty—I mean empty! We came over the bridge into France and I saw something very unusual---a Princess with no one in line! I got in line and she grilled me about my ‘fair maiden’ and would I sing for her (I didn’t) and would I do anything for her (I would). Good stuff!


We watched the France flick and checked out the new pastry place---wow! Now I know where everyone was! This place was packed. We used the (new?) restrooms in the gift shop there by the pastry place. Another first for me
Our sons had asked us for some very specific things in WS so we headed off to get them. We might have sprinkled some beers in there maybe. Heck who am I kidding—we had some beers also. Beers in hand, we made our way to Norway and checkout Maelstrom. I never understand why this queue is always so long, the ride really isn’t that great. It’s ok—but not great…? Anyone else think that?
Right around here we decided to start heading up front to meet my brother. As we walked by the Odyssey area, some young couple asked us if we had done Soarin`. Of course!!! They offered us two FPs for about 20 mins from now. We obliged and thanked them many times. Then my brother texted me and said he was in the park. I asked if he had ever been on Soarin` and he had NOT. Can you imagine a life with no Soarin`???
We met him under SSE and I handed him the FP and told him he was going on it while we took the kiddies over to Nemo to check out the fishies. It was great—we got a picture of them inside Bruce’s mouth. They enjoyed it and we got the text that they were done with Soarin`.
When I saw him the first thing he said was: That was bad-ass! I can’t believe he had never done it before.
My brother wanted to get a legit margarita from LaCava, so we all went into Mexico and goofed off. I put a sombrero on my little nephew and then we got some sweet nectar. I had a JM (of course) and I think he got a ‘regular’ one.
We took the long way around WS and stopped in Germany for a pretzel. OK and a beer. My Sis-in-law said it was dry, but I didn’t notice with all the beer 
The plan was to get some fish and chips in England and wait around for the fireworks. So that’s exactly what we did. We ate right out there on the sidewalk and finished just in time to hear the sweet sounds of The British Revolution! We sat down and enjoyed the whole set. My nephews danced around and laughed and had a good old time. I think I had one more Harp


We enjoyed Illuminations and made the solemn march to the front not knowing when we would ever be back. I knew it would be sooner than later, but I still didn’t know when…
Plusses of the trip:
-My first (and last) full marathon. Yayy me.
-Checking out a new section of POR (Alligator Bayou)
-First long trip with no kids!
-Hanging out with NaCler and Mrs. NaCler—they really are awesome. I highly recommend hanging with them if you get the chance. Just don’t let him talk you into going on RnR!

Minuses:
-The heat on marathon day---wow it was miserable.
-Letting NaCler persuade me to go on RnR—lol

Post trip info: So while typing this up, I realized that I kept my solemn promise to not do another full marathon for 3 whole months
My wife, my brother and I have all signed up for Dopey's Challenge-----ugh!! Yes,we are crazy.

Thanks for reading and commenting. It makes it all worth it


Henry

[Amy]

Great end to your trip report H! Now I know how you dealt with the post-marathon aches and pains ~ beer!
Do you think your sons go with you on the next trip?
I have to agree with you on the Maelstrom attraction. It is nice, but nothing I will wait a really long time to ride. I think it is so popular because it actually has a little tiny thrill with the waterfall, and it's one of the few "rides" for kids in the World Showcase. I'm guessing the parents use it to appease the kids who do not really want to see another show, film or wander through yet another gift shop.

[theBIGyowski]

Awesome ending to the TR!

Strangely, I agree with you on Maelstrom. As much as I love it...I don't actually know why...because it is not that great of an attraction. Going backwards and down a small fall is kinda cool...but not worth the stand-by queue wait. Maybe it's popular because it is the only "thrill" in WS. I'm guessing your SIL doesn't put mustard on her pretzels...that usually solves any dryness...or your beer solution works just as well.

I still can't believe you all signed up for the Dopey. Four days in a row worth of waking up before the birds so you can run...while on vacation...AT WDW...is indeed Dopey! I say that...but know that if my knees and wallet could handle it I would be right there with you.

[NaCler]

Awesome report WWDRH. And not just because I played a small part in it. Thank you again for all the kind words and for sharing your trip with me and my wife. Just a few things:

Sleeping on Stupid Judy??? COME ON MAN!!! That ride is awesome!
I believe your wife was the instigator of you going on RnR... I was just along for the ride... so to speak.
I can't believe you went back to get that pic of Canadian Donald after you KNEW how important it was to me...

[wewantsdaredhead]

Great end to your trip report H! Now I know how you dealt with the post-marathon aches and pains ~ beer!
Do you think your sons go with you on the next trip?
I have to agree with you on the Maelstrom attraction. It is nice, but nothing I will wait a really long time to ride. I think it is so popular because it actually has a little tiny thrill with the waterfall, and it's one of the few "rides" for kids in the World Showcase. I'm guessing the parents use it to appease the kids who do not really want to see another show, film or wander through yet another gift shop.

Our Sons are confirmed for Wine & Dine! yayyy---but they are going to be skipping Dopey (Too many days out of school).

Awesome ending to the TR!

Strangely, I agree with you on Maelstrom. As much as I love it...I don't actually know why...because it is not that great of an attraction. Going backwards and down a small fall is kinda cool...but not worth the stand-by queue wait. Maybe it's popular because it is the only "thrill" in WS. I'm guessing your SIL doesn't put mustard on her pretzels...that usually solves any dryness...or your beer solution works just as well.

I still can't believe you all signed up for the Dopey. Four days in a row worth of waking up before the birds so you can run...while on vacation...AT WDW...is indeed Dopey! I say that...but know that if my knees and wallet could handle it I would be right there with you.

I am still in denial about Dopey---we have so many other races before that one, that I havent really even thought about it too much. (except when I rang up that $1,000 bill for it!!)
Probaby in late summer i will wake up one day and say: What have I done?!?!
I agree: That was one of the reasons to NOT do it---I dont want to wake up at 2:45 four days in a row! But like a dummy, I did it anyway.

Awesome report WWDRH. And not just because I played a small part in it. Thank you again for all the kind words and for sharing your trip with me and my wife. Just a few things:

Sleeping on Stupid Judy??? COME ON MAN!!! That ride is awesome!
I believe your wife was the instigator of you going on RnR... I was just along for the ride... so to speak.
I can't believe you went back to get that pic of Canadian Donald after you KNEW how important it was to me...

Blaming my Wife, huh? I see---I notice you didnt try to stop her! you are just as guilty buddy-boy!

Taking that picture after you wanted to do it so bad was the whole reason I did it!!
I even waitied through a shift-change to get that pic hahaha

[NaCler]

You guys see how he treats me??? MOM!!!