So as I sit on a plane home, I decided it was time to work on my race weekend reports. I really hope my blogging app saves these changes. Otherwise, I am just talking to myself.
This past weekend, I went to Disney Marathon weekend with a ton of friends and family. This year, I decided to run the WDW 10K and the half. And I have to say, I enjoyed these races much more than I expected to.
First off, the 10K. I ran this race last year and ran the course again during Princess weekend, so I knew what I was getting into. I really figured that it would be super crowded, so I really didn’t worry about my time. What I should have worried more about was the temperature. It was freaking cold. So so very cold. That is pretty perfect running weather, but for a Disney race, you have to get there super early, so that means a lot of standing around.
We got to the race start area around 4 am. A little early, but we didn’t want to sit around and wait for the last monorail. The race started at 5:30 and my corral didn’t start until probably around 6:15. That was a long time to be standing around in the cold. I didn’t bring enough throw away layers. I had a fleece blanket, but no extra shirt, and I was wearing a skirt and not pants, so the blanket was wrapped around my legs. There was bag check, but you have to leave the bag check area relatively early so I would have frozen anyway.
I had no real plans for the race, so I started with Jenny and we power walked through the first two miles, at which point she sent me off because I was driving her crazy. I busted out some amazing miles for those last 4.2 miles. My splits were fabulous.
- Mile 1 – 16:37
- Mile 2 – 16:18
- Mile 3 – 13:06
- Mile 4 – 13:37
- Mile 5 – 14:26
- Mile 6 – 13:14
- Final 0.2 – 3:52
I seriously love the 10k medal! I was there for the half and didn’t quite realize just how cold it would be. One of my favorite parts of these races is seeing the outfits that people go with, although I think that they probably had to make adjustments for the cold (I know I did!). 😉
Mer @ ScootaDoot recently posted…2015 Walt Disney World half marathon recap
You’re selling yourself short — it looks like you listed your 1/2 marathon finish (3:15:20) rather than your 10k finish, which was a much swifter 1:31:09. =)
Kevin recently posted…Computer Engineer Barbie: New Media, Citizen Authorship, and Audience Participation
The tip I read about online that worked for me was to drive my rental car to the race start. You still need to arrive at about the same time (I reached my parking spot at 3:50 and 4:05 on the mornings of the half and full), but you can sit in a heated vehicle for an extra half an hour before leaving for the staging area.
This is against Disney’s advice, of course (from a race planning standpoint, it makes sense to limit the car traffic, which backs up quickly), but it works out well if you leave early enough to beat the crowds. I actually brought my laptop and worked on a paper in the car for half an hour before the 1/2 marathon!
Kevin recently posted…Computer Engineer Barbie: New Media, Citizen Authorship, and Audience Participation
Ha! Good catch, Kevin. This is what happens when I blog from the plane while drinking.