The 2015 Walt Disney Marathon

The 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon

On January 11, 2015, I ran the Walt Disney World Marathon in 4 hours and 38 minutes, which was a PR for me. The Disney Marathon is a very well organized race, if the runner chooses to stay on grounds Disney has buses dedicated to transport runners to the packet pick-up as well as to the race and back to the hotel.

The expo is first rate, the presenters are all very good, and offer excellent advice especially for the first time marathoner. Several major companies have booths at the expo and offer their products for sale.

I got the opportunity to purchase a book from Jeff Galloway, have it autographed, and get my picture taken with him.

Among the presenters were John Bingham, “The Penguin”, Dave McGillivray, Race Director of the Boston Marathon and the actor Sean Astin.

The Pasta in the Park was held in Epcot on Saturday night. They had a DJ and a speaker who was comical and included the audience in her routines. A few Disney characters including Mickey and Goofy were on hand to have their pictures taken. Below is a picture that was taken as we walked back to the Pasta Dinner.

There are some Mickey Mouse themed desserts.

All you need is a rally good pair of running shoes and a great cheerleader!

The Disney Marathon starts at 5:30 am and the buses start running at 3:00 am with the last bus leaving at 4:30am. We were on a bus before 4am and that was plenty late given the traffic. The traffic is backed up bumper to bumper heading to the starting line.

The morning of race enjoying my coffee.

Below is a picture that was taken as my corral was inching closer to the starting line.

You can chose to run the Disney Marathon for fun or for time. My goal was to PR so I chose time, but that is hard to do. There are plenty of Disney Characters along the way that you can stop and have your picture taken with, also some rides are running and you can stop and jump on those. I noticed several people stopping and taking selfies in front of attractions.

There are plenty of water stations along the way and Cliff Shots are handed out at few of them. There are times when the path narrows and you are cramped together and it is hard to pass slower runners. I found myself stopping and walking through most water stations by necessity to keep from running into people.

This is a picture of me high fiving Mickey close to the finish line.

Here is a picture of me with my medal right after the race.

Running the Disney Marathon had been on my bucket list for the last several years. It finally worked out for me to accomplish this goal. I look forward to talking to you again soon.