2006 WDW Half Marathon
I was in Orlando January 6-9 for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. This was my second year participating (notice I didn’t say running), but because of a minor controversy last year, this was the first time I was able to complete this distance, crossing the finish line at 3:38:44, with a net time of 3:30:04. After last year’s somewhat disappointing experience, there were some significant milestones for me during the race.
First up was the entrance to Magic Kingdom at Mile 5. Last year, this point in the race was the start of Mile 10 and where a couple hundred of us were unexpectedly stopped (see “controversy” link above). Part of the draw of this race is that the course winds its way through the Disney theme parks (Epcot and Magic Kingdom for the half, adding Animal Kingdom and Disney/MGM Studios for the full). Not having trained for the race, I had no expectation of finishing, but I had figured I would at least see the inside of both parks. This year, the course was altered so that the Magic Kingdom portion comes much earlier in the race pretty much guaranteeing that everyone could experience the Disney “magic.”
And it did not disappoint. The course was lined with cheering supporters, cast members, and characters as we made our way up Main Street to the hub, turning right to head into Tomorrowland (where Mr. Incredible darted out from the sidelines to shake my hand), veering left around Stitch’s Great Escape on our way to Fantasyland, around the Mad Tea Party, past the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the carousel, through Cinderella Castle back into the hub, turning right to head through Liberty Square into Frontierland along the Rivers of America before exiting through the parade gate.
The next big milestone was the Mile 10 marker. Due to the course change for the half marathon, this year the Mile 10 marker was out on a lonely stretch of Disney highway on the way back to Epcot. My race ended at that marker last year, so reaching and passing it (a little sooner than I did last year, to boot) was a minor victory and source of pride that helped me keep going despite the blister on the ball of my left foot that had been growing for the last five miles.
Finally, crossing the finish line in the Epcot parking lot was quite exhilirating. The last 20-30 yards were lined by bleachers filled with cheering spectators and the announcer was calling out names of runners as they crossed, moving me to jog the last dozen yards or so.
While this year’s experience was, on the whole, better than last year, there is one thing that I missed: World Showcase at sunrise. Last year’s course sent half-marathoners on 5-mile loop through Epcot before heading out to Magic Kingdom. After making their way through the backstage areas of the west side of Future World, runners would come on-stage in England and make their way around the southern portion of World Showcase to Germany before heading backstage once again. Each pavilion was outlined by its Illuminations show lighting, the globe from Illuminations was in the lagoon displaying images of runners, and there was music playing throughoout the area (I believe it was “We Go On” from Illuminations). It was quite breathtaking as I experienced this just as it was getting light out but the sun was not yet visible.
In contrast, the Epcot portion of this year’s course came right at the very end since it allowed for the same finish line to be used for both the half and the full, which are now on separate days. We entered Epcot through the same backstage gate as last year except that we made a left turn to head directly into Future World instead of the right turn that would have sent us around to World Showcase. We came on-stage on the west side of Spaceship Earth, making our way up to the entrance of World Showcase before coming back down to the east side of Spaceship Earth then out to the parking lot and the finish line through a backstage area. It was not quite as thrilling.
It was an incredible experience that I hope to make a regular thing. Disneyland is holding their inaugural half marathon in the fall and that will probably be my next race. Now I just need to get out there and actually train.
