I finished my first half-marathon exactly 10 days ago and could not be happier with the experience. My friend Hannah and I ran 13.1 miles around the happiest place on Earth– Disney World! I decided to RunDisney because who doesn't want to ride Splash Mountain, drink wine from all over the world, and run around Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot all in weekend?
The race itself went well! Around mile 8 I started wondering why I was still running, and the last mile was pretty brutal because we couldn't see the finish line. There were also some "hills" due to the path we took from park to park on the highway. Overall, I would highly recommend this race to anyone and everyone.
Advice to anyone considering a RunDisney event:
* Plan early. We bought race tickets in April or March, and the race was sold out by August. If you have cheerleaders accompanying you, buy their post-race tickets early too. On the same note, don't forget to pick up post-race party tickets for non-runners at the race expo.
* Find a training plan and stick with it. I used this plan.
* For Wine and Dine, if you can get to Disney on Thursday and spend all day Friday in one of the parks it's totally worth it. I've never been to Disney with so few crowds.
* Getting to and from the expo takes a long time. We thought we might have enough time for Hollywood Studios on Saturday. Wrong. After waiting about 30 minutes for the bus, driving to the ESPN Wide World of Sports, doing a little shopping, and getting back to the hotel, we were gone for about three hours. Also, there are no buses from ESPN to any of the other parks, so you would have to go back to your hotel first then make your way over to another park. All of the waiting and walking can sap your energy, which is less than ideal before running 13.1 miles. Just spend the day at the expo and enjoy a late lunch/nap before the race on Saturday.
* You can take pictures with characters at the pre-race party, and there's also lots of dancing. We didn't notice the characters until about an hour into the party, so we were cutting it close to get into our gates in time. Don't worry about bathrooms, there are plenty.
- These were two of my favorite things at the pre-race party.
* Designate a meeting spot in Epcot before Saturday night when there are thousands of racers/cheerleaders running around trying to meet up. We picked the cranberry bog in front of the big fountain. Yep, a cranberry bog.
* Since this was my first half, I wanted to finish the whole thing without stopping. If I were to do another Disney race, I would totally stop and pose with characters along the way. I almost lost my resolve for Darth Vader and Princess Mini Leia.
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