Disney Winter Racing Part Four - WDW Donald Duck Half Marathon

Saturday was the start of several big events for the weekend.  The first was the half marathon that I would be running in the morning, and the second was te trip to the Expo for Sallie and her running mate Jenna Johnson.  This was the day before their marathon, which made for an exciting and slightly stressful day.  

Donald Duck Half Marathon

With another early start, I made it a point to keep as quite as possible when I woke up, so I would not wake Sallie.  She needed to sleep as long as she could, because the night before your first marathon almost always means that you will get very little sleep.  This race will be Deadpool themed because, well, who can say no to Deadpool.  While it was cold enough for the full body suit I used for the Avengers Half Marathon in November, the zipper broke on it the night before, forcing me to use my backup solution.  The backup included a Deadpool hat, Deadpool costume performance shirt, and a modified fuel belt with the Deadpool buckle on it.  After quietly putting the hat, shirt, and belt on, as well as some body glide for the chest, I headed to Epcot for day three.  I was a bit sore from the last two races, so I was unsure what to expect for this race.  The pace for both of the previous races were a bit faster then Jeff Galloway would recommend, but you can't have fun if you don't push it a little. 


The course itself would take us to the Magic Kingdom via the main highway between Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, then around the golf course, and back down the highway.  For this race, I knew that it would be the hilliest of the races, as we would hit several long overpasses near the end of the race, also known as Florida hills.  This would require me to keep the pace to an "easy" or conversational pace.  I chose the goal of 9:10 per mile for the race pace.  The second set of races supported far more runners then the first two, going from 12k runners to 25k for the half.  This meant that they would need far more corrals, extending the corrals from E to P.  I was in corral C for this and the full marathon, which meant I would be surrounded by those expecting a fast pace, far faster then what I was planning for.  Maybe I should have moved back a corral or two?

For the half and full marathon, I had purchased the Disney Race Retreat.  The retreat was a private tent that racers could use before and after the race to relax.  It was heated, it had private port-a-potties, food, and a place to hold your change of clothes.  For this race, I arrived at the tent at 4:30, with about 20 minutes left before it was time for the long walk to the corrals.  I met up with a friend who I previously ran with several years ago at work.  He has since moved to California to work for Linkdin and now we only see each other at these races.  We chatted a bit about our previous races since the last Dopey, which lead to our expectations for this weeks races.  While my goal was just to beat each races times from last year, Todd had a goal of a 3:50 marathon time.  This would be a PR for him and would be a difficult challenge after completing three races leading into it.  He also pointed out that he was heading to the Castaway Cruise Challenge after these races, which is a cruise to Disney's island to run a 5k the Wednesday after the marathon.  I told him he was crazy and that I would just be heading to Disneyland for the Rebel challenge, a 10k and half marathon, back to back, the following weekend from the marathon.  That was far less insane.

About 20 minutes later, it was time to head to the corral.  25k people, all walking like sheep to the slaughter, headed down a small back road to the corrals.  Todd was in E, so we separated there, and I headed up to C, where I did 15 minutes of dynamic stretching and headed into the corral itself.  It was early in the morning, and my mind seemed to fail in math, as I saw a pacer at the front of my corral for 1:50.  Doing quick, but wrong, math, I asked the couple next to me if that was a pace of just over 9 minute miles.  I didn't feel like thinking much during the race, and really wanted a group to chat with, so hanging with a pacer sounded just what the Run Doctor ordered.  Amusingly, the nice running couple agreed that a 1:50 finishing time was indeed a 9ish per minute pace.  They then pointed out that it was a bit too fast for them, as they were looking to keep it easy to save something for the full marathon.  I thanked them and decided to go with the pacer, as that was a very easy pace for me and it should be fun.  That was my first Running 101 failure… Math. 

The second happened at the start.  See, the pacer was near the front of the corral, while I was near the end, so I decided to speed up to catch him.  This is a big no-no, as that will require you to start faster than you would want, and possibly lead to burnout by the end of the race.  My 2^nd failure in race running 101 and the race was only 15 minutes in, but hey, it's better to burn out then to fade away, right?

After catching up with pace group, everyone started to chat about where they were from, expectations, etc.  A few of the runners were headed for a PR if they stayed with the pacer, which would make for an awesome race.  This was also when I realized my math was wrong.  That is right, a 1:50 finish means an 8:20 pace.  At an 8:20 minute pace, I was way off the 9 minute pace I had planned to run.  At this point, I was chatting, my legs had warmed up, so the soreness was gone, and I was feeling good, so I stayed the course.  With my math failure resolved, it was time to get back to chatting.  One of the things I liked about this pacer, was the fact that he explained how to run the tangents.  The tangents are the fastest paths between two corners on a course.  He pointed out where to focus your vision to make sure you gradually migrated to the turn, versus quickly heading to the edge, as well as not to weave, etc.  He was very helpful, and kept us on a pace for 1:49.  As we passed the Disney race track and headed for the main entrance to the Magical Kingdom, I committed failure number three.  There was a shiny that I had to investigate.

Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz were standing on the side of the road, and I had to get a photo with them!  I had not seen them out before, so I dropped out of the pace group and headed for a photo.  This was not the failure, as the whole point of a Disney race was to get as many character picks as possible, witout getting swept.  The failure came when I was done with the photo and decided to catch up with the pace group.  I did this at least 3 times, showing a sub-7:45 pace on the miles I used to get back with the group.  If started out too fast was bad, this was worse, and it takes you out of rhythm and it causes you to waste energy using more muscle fibers.  This will burn you out, and should not be done, but it was Disney, and it wasn't like I had another race the folowing day, right?

One of the great things about being in an early corral is the fact that you will make it to the Magic Kingdom while it is still dark out.  Achieving this will reward you with an amazing show of lights through Main Street and on the castle itself.  This year Disney decided to keep the Frozen themed lights on the castle, in addition to all of the Christmas decorations.  As we entered the park itself, we crossed into Main Street. We were greeted by the roar of the crowd, cheering they buts off.  We were also greeted by the parks Christmas tree, lit up and standing tall.

We continued up Main Street and turned right towards Tomorrowland.  Many characters were out, but it was too dark for a good photo.  Onward to Fantasyland, past the new 7 Dwarves Mine Ride, and on to the Castle.  In Fantasyland, I found the Queen of Hearts, who seemed lonely, being a vilian and all.  So I dropped out of the pace group and grabbed a photo with her.

With the Frozen theme in full force, the Castle was decorated appropriately.  As we crossed under the Castle, Else and Anna were waving and greeting each runner.  This was a key photography point for the runners, so everyone tried to spread out as we went through the Castle and out the other side.  Obviously, I had to get a few photos.

The lights were an amazing sight to behold, and I stored it in the back of my mind as another treat for tomorrow, as we will be doing this again.  Once we left the Magic Kingdom, the road followed the golf course and then back out to the main highway connecting Magic Kingdom to Epcot.  The characters here were less Disney Characters and more just strange characters, we we passed the Bachelors and a group of Zombies.

At this point, the pacer was talking about when to push it if you still felt good, expected finish times, as well as pointing out the balloon ladies on the other side.  At the pace we were at, we could see the end of the race and the 16 minute a mile pacers, who just happen to be in line for a photo with Jack Sparrow.  Then we focused on the last part of the race.  We knew we had a few hills to go, and focused on getting over each one individually.  Keep the same effort and follow through at the crest was the suggestion.  We also spent some time yelling at runners who were about to get run over by wheelchair racers.  A note to racers, for your safety, please keep the music at home or for the pre and post race.  If you have to have music, keep it in only one ear please, so low enough that you can still hear footsteps.  If you don’t, try not to jump or yell when we grab you and toss you aside for the wheelchair racers.  If this is you, your new nickname is roadkill.

With three miles left, the woman whose goal was 1:50, started to slowly pulling away.  We cheered her on, then debated if we should do pushups as we past the army men on the second to last hill.  Once over the last hill, we were in Epcot.  I thanked the pacer for his great work, company, and conversation, and I was off.  With a mile to go, there was no need to keep that pace, so I sped up a bit, again sprinting at the end.  I did have to stop for a few photos with the main character at Epcot, Starship: Earth!

 On came the finish line, and this time, I decided to got get some air.  As with most short races, I jumped through the finish.  

I met up with the pacer after the medals and thanked him again.  His response was to give me the pace flag and balloon, which I then shared with the rest of the group for their official photos.   

Off I went to the race retreat, where I was given a dry bag, dry socks, and a towel to use in the changing room.  Once I was out of my wet clothes, I joined Todd for breakfast and then headed home.  On my way out, I caught up with Karen Chu, in her Jasmine costume!

Another successful half marathon, without burning out, but there is always tomorrow, and it would seem my two marathon racers were already up, and it was only 8am. I guess it was time to get them to the Expo and ready for their race the following day.