Disney Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon

Disney's Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon
Saturday, November 7, 2015, 10:00pm
ENDED up being 7 miles, 11:00pm due to severe weather in the area.  What a bummer.

Place	Name	Bib	Age	Div Place	Gender Place	2.9 Mile Split			Clock Time	Net Time	Hometown
1215	JULIE WILLIAMS	2822	36	85	437	26:05			1:19:19	1:03:06	HAMPTON FALLS, NH

Men	4268
Women	8622
Total Finishers	12890

Things I Loved:

• That it was not a crazy running crowd.  There were people there who were never going to run for one second, they just wanted to be apart of the experience and meet the characters, etc.  There were corrals from A-L, and me, who just started running, was in E.  L was a 1/2 mile from the start line.  Took the pressure off.  
• The characters along the way.  I didn't stop.  I PR'd and kept running to get to the end as fast as I could (I was so upset about the distance change that I had decided I was just going to go).  BUT - if I do a Disney run again, it might be my first of the year, and I WILL take advantage of the stops, and I will enjoy it and have fun.  They had some awesome characters out and about.  I get so caught up sometimes about beating my old time that I won't even stop to drink water, I think a Disney race is a fun chance to get out there and do the distance and enjoy the fun.  Maybe this is my way of one day completing a marathon.
• The organization and the hype.  Everyone in the park would cheer for you if you had a medal the next day, or if they knew you were going to run that night. Before the start of the race there was a DJ who got everyone excited, fireworks, a spectacle.  It was incredible the work they put in and the finish line did not disappoint. The organization at the starting area, and the finish line was incredible.  The shuffled 13,000 people through there well.
• Having a friend to share the experience with, to take pictures with before hand and get to the venue with, and to meet up afterwards.  We both ran our own race (which I think is good!) and then we both enjoyed the fun of it together before and after.  I knew I missed this at Smuttynose.  I hope to have friends for more races moving forward. 

Things that were tough:

• UM, THE FACT IT DID NOT END UP BEING A 1/2 MARATHON!  I can't help but think that Disney just didn't want to deal with the hassle of keeping things open another 45 minutes, and it was a money decision that cut the 1/2 in 1/2.  But, I do recall standing with Heather in the field and jokingly telling her that she should duck, because she seemed to be the tallest of the 15,000 of us in an open field with lightning all around. I get why they delayed it, but I do not get why the halved it.  But, I still had fun.  It is done. 
• GETTING THE BIB!  We are on a Disney vacation with the family first and foremost, where I got to run my race for a small portion.  So, going to the ESPN place, which is far from all other Disney places, to pick up my bib at one table, wait in a line for my souveniers, then wait in another line for my tshirt, was crazy.  This alone will gobble about 4 hours of your vacation - if we did not expedite it with the cab from the airport waiting for me as I rushed as fast as I could.  I would have loved to instead of spending 45 minutes in the line to get my souveniers - which by the way, the necklace I ordered - because I am new to running and I think I thought that would be my medal when I signed up so many months ago - broke within two hours of owning it!  Anyway, instead of spending that wait time in line, I would have gone to the convention - but even those lines were crazy.  I met an event coordinator and told them if they had a VIP option with you just check in at your hotel and all your stuff is in your room I might have paid a million dollars for that!
• The Millions of People Who were not Runners.  I know, I say this is a plus in the first paragraph under things I loved, but I am giving the dark side of it now.  I was worried I would be pushing through everyone trying to get my PR I worked so hard for, while people were busy taking pictures with Mr. Incredible.  A selfie under the christmas lights or the Epcot ball.  In reality, this worry did not come to fruition for me - with the race being cut short and more likely, the fact that I got into a early corral the reason for my ability to not be hampered in the run.  Always submit your times and get into a corral serious runner people for your Disney race.  Always. 

PERSONAL AWESOME MOMENT

Yep, ran the race and finished in the top 10% of 13,000 people.  (forget that part above when I tell you about the fact that most of the people were not runners).  You think that would be the personal awesome achievement, but it was not.  I was pissed that I didn't get to run the half I wanted.  It bothered me.  So two days later I woke up at 5:30am in the hotel, didn't tell the boys - and ran 13.18 miles out of 4 loops around my Disney hotel and finished a half marathon at Disney in just under 2 hours and five minutes.  Sure it wasn't timed, but I came to Disney to run a 1/2 marathon, dammit!