The Donald Part 4

While I was crossing the start line, I did stop and take a couple of pictures of Mickey, Minnie & my main dog Goofy. Running from the start to World Drive was pretty uneventful except for the sleet that was falling. Yep, I said sleet, just like we get here in good ole central Illinois. It sleeted off and on for the first three miles. The first three miles were kinda slow due to all of us runners bunched together. Once I made it through the tight exit ramp on to World Drive I could pretty much run at the pace I wanted to. While running I was checking my Garmin, and I was running between a 9.45 to 10.15 pace. I was Okay with that considering how crappy the weather was.


I stopped at the welcome to the Magic Kingdom sign to snap a few photos and then kept on trucking. It was pretty dark and you really could not see much. Ran around the speedway, through the TTC, under the sevens seas lagoon bridge, passed the Contemporary and then is was backstage at the Kingdom. My wife who was part of chEAR squad was waiting for me on Main St. I stopped long enough for her to take a picture & give her a kiss then I was off again.

I ran through tomorrow land, fantasy land out through Cinderella's castle on the it was off to frontier land with a dash through Liberty Square. We went backstage again, got to see Captain Jack Sparrow & his henchmen, but did not stop for an photo ops. Once we left backstage it was back towards spaceship Earth. Mind you, there were several miles to go at this point. Running by the Grand Floridian we got to see Mary Poppins & Bert. Also got to see, I think the guy was impersonating Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. Anyway he was belting out tunes.

Got to about the #9 mile marker and there's just not much to look at for a couple of miles. Just after mile 10 you turn and go up the ramp to cross over World Drive on your way back to Epcot. The view from the bridge is amazing. You look out on both sides of the bridge and you can see hundreds of runners that are behind you and lots still in front of you. I took a couple of pictures of all the runners.

Miles 10 & 11 cover several ups and downs, literally, with the overpasses you run up and down. I saw the #12 mile marker and knew I was almost there, The Finish. We came in backstage at Epcot, ran out into Future World, ran to where World Showcase begins, made a loop back into Future World and then went backstage again to finish the race. All the cast members were hollering you are almost there, keep going you got it made. I will tell you this, the last mile seems a lot longer than a mile. Yea, I felt the same last year. I knew once I ran past the gospel choir, which is really really cool, I would be able to see the finish line. I crossed it in 2 hours 18 minutes and 31 seconds. I had completed my 2nd WDW 1/2 marathon.

I crossed the line, got my mylar blanket, man did that feel good, got my Donald medal and headed for the food stations. By now it was raining and I was pretty soaked from the run and the rain. I did not take me long to get cold. Got some food and then got in the back check line to retrieve my goody bag. It took almost 35 minutes to get the dang thing. Once I got it, I got out of there, found Pam and put on my dry coat and gloves. By the way I was still freezing.

I went with Pam & Mike to the chEAR squad section to wait for Jan to finish. There were some portable heaters set up and they felt pretty darn good. Mike was talking to Jan on the phone, so we had a good idea when she would get to the finish line. We were there to chear her on and see her cross the line. Once she made it through the gantlet we got in line to get on the bus to head back to POFQ. It really felt good on that warm bus. We got back to the hotel, ate breakfast, I showered then we headed of to the MK for the afternoon.

Final thoughts about the race: I had just as much fun as last year even though it was about 30 degrees colder. I had packed all of my cold weather running gear and I wore just about everything I took with me. The on course entertainment was just as fabulous as last year even with the weather being as nasty as it was. Will I do it again, absolutely, I have already registered to do the GOOFY challenge in 2011. WDW is a fantastic place to run a race and I hope to be able to run many many more there.

This coming week I start training for my first marathon which is on May 1st. Wish me luck...

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.