Well, the morning of the half marathon was officially the morning that I started questioning why on earth I signed myself up for this challenge. I was so tired, that the alarm that Mike had set on his phone didn’t even wake me up - and for me, that is super unusual! I am normally the person that wakes up 10 minutes before any alarm that is set, but on this particular morning I was so disoriented when I woke up and saw Mike nearly ready to go. Apparently he was debating if he needed to wake me up or not when I started to rouse.
Thankfully, I had set up all of my race gear the night before, so I just had to slip into my costume, grab my gear check bag, and we could be on our way to the bus. Mike and I had decided to run as the Mad Hatter and Alice, to re-create a New York ComicCon costume that we wore years ago. We were on the bus by 3:30, and heading into the start area by 3:45. The fact that we had to be at the start area even earlier the following day made me sleepy just thinking about it, but that was a problem for the following day.
The security line was longer than it had been for the 5 or 10k, and once we got through it we headed over to the bag check trucks. I plopped down and sorted through all of my stuff, so that we could make the long trek over to the corrals as early as possible. Once everything was sorted I handed my bag over, and after a quick stop at the porter potties we started the walk to the corrals. It is about a mile walk to the start line for the half and the full from where you check your bags.
Once we got into the corrals we found a space to sit, and ate some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I had been so hungry that I was nauseous before the 10k, so I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen before the half since I had a significantly longer distance ahead of me. It felt like they closed the corrals earlier than previous years, and we saw runner being turned away from corrals with lower letters than their bibs called out, as they had gotten there too late.
It was already warm as we waited in the corrals, and it made me nervous for the run. Sure, I had run in warmer weather, but I was just not acclimated to it at this time of the year. As the start time approached, the announcers put on a show for us, and the first corrals were released. Mike and I were in corral D for this race, and we inched closer and closer to the start line as more runners began their journeys.
In the first mile we spotted two characters from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Esmerelda and Clopin. When we got to the first water stop we took a break and walked so that Mike could adjust his bib. The air was already thick, and I was sweating before we even got to the first mile marker - I had concern for how the race would feel once the sun came up.
Just after the first mile marker we spotted Lilo with some tikis. Mike’s favorite movie is Lilo and Stitch, so we immediately hopped in line to get a photo with her. As we reached the highway that would take us to magic kingdom more characters were out, and next we spotted Capitan Jack Sparrow out with his pirate ship. Three characters before mile 2?! It felt like RunDisney was really showing up for us!
Mile marker two featured buzz and woody, and we were welcomed into the Magic Kingdom, one of my favorite part of this course. The big Magic Kingdom sign was all lit up, and we got to run under it as “It’s a small world” played. Did I make Mike stop and take at least three photos? That would be a yes. I had to be positive that we got at least one good one. Also, I really wish that RunDisney would put photo pass photographers here, because it is just such an iconic spot!
As we entered the ticket and transportation center a marching band was playing, and our spirits were high. I had finally made it past the “I’m too sleepy for this” phase, and into the “excited for RunDisney” period of the day…. only took me three miles. There were a few characters in the parking lot, starting with a Reindeer and the toy soldiers from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party, a sight you don’t often see outside of the holiday party. So imagine my surprise, when shortly after I spotted Duffy the bear dressed up as Santa Claus! Another rare character sighting, that got me excited for the characters that were ahead of us still.
The ticket and transportation center was filled with spectators, which got me even more excited for Magic Kingdom which was quickly approaching. But before we got there we had a few hotels to run by. Just before the 4th mile marker another DJ was out, with a big light show emitting from his truck. We had to run under the lake to get to magic kingdom, and the overpass had a giant RunDisney logo projected onto it.
From there we ran by the contemporary resort, then towards the bus lanes, before entering Magic Kingdom through the main entrance and heading on to Main Street. It was still dark, so the street was lit up, and even the castle was illuminated with what looked like a million string lights. It was beautiful, and as usual took my breath away.
Just before turning the corner into Tomorrowland we passed the 5th mile marker, then ran under the arch that lead us into Tomorrowland. As we ran by Stitch’s great escape we saw that, to Mike’s great joy, Stitch was out greeting runners. So of course we hopped online, and got a photo with them.
The course continued from Tomorrowland into Fantasyland, where we saw that the queen of hearts was taking photos in front of the Mad Tea Party. The line was long so we opted to skip that one, but since we were dressed as Alice and the Mad Hatter, we did stop and take a photo in front of the ride. Dopey was also out in fantasy land, in front of the seven dwarfs mine train. But of course, with so many runners participating in the Dopey challenge, he had what was possibly the longest line I saw all weekend, so we didn’t wait for a photo.
We got to run through the castle, and then stopped for photo in front it, and even managed a jump shot. The course then lead us through Liberty square, where Minnie was on course in the cutest revolutionary era dress. The last land we got to run through was Frontierland, and then we left the magic kingdom through a back stage area. They had a few festival of fantasy floats out backstage, but they were swapping characters when we ran through, so we didn’t get to see which characters were out with the floats.
There was another character stop from a holiday party as we left the park - Clara Bell’s silo was backstage, which is usually a part of the Boo to You parade during Mickey’s not so scary halloween party. The sun was up by the time we left the park, and I was surprised to realize that the weather had actually gotten better as the sun rose - the humidity seemed to drop, the sky was overcast, and we even got a few pleasant rain drops from time to time.
As we entered the area known as “cone alley,” we headed towards the grand Floridian, and saw Pluto just after mile 6. When we ran by the Grand Floridian Daisy was out near the wedding pavilion, in a cute yellow dress. She was sassy as ever as she hopped into different poses with runners.
By the time we passed the Polynesian, we were almost at mile 7. Shortly after they had Goofy out in a sporty outfit, posing with a big red boat and some water skis.
There were sport beans on course for the runners around mile 8, and then we passed by lightening McQueen and Mater as we came up to mile 9.
The end of the course holds the few “hills” that you find during a RunDisney event - I use quotations because they are really highway on ramps, but they are uphill nonetheless. Mile 10 came half way up the first hill, and in place of the traditional green army man that you find on the hill were a group of cheerleaders, encouraging runners to keep moving forward. Mike’s ankle started to bother him on the ramps, so we started taking walk breaks as were needed. Just before we headed into the Epcot parking lot we passed mile marker 11, and only had one hill between us and smooth sailing for the remainder of the race.
There was another marching band waiting for us when we made it to the parking lot, and as we entered the park through backstage we saw Horace the cow, with a teeny line, so we hopped in and got a photo before making our way to the home stretch. We headed into world showcase, and when we got to the Mexico pavilion we stopped and got a photo with Panchito from the three caballeros. We continued around world showcase, and then were lead backstage once more.
We ran under space ship earth, and passed some construction before seeing the mile 13 marker, and turning the last corner towards the finish line. Pluto was there to cheer runners through the finish, and we stopped for a quick high-5 before running through the finish line.
We got our medals, and then followed the rest of the crowd through the finishers chute, as we collected our drinks and snack boxes. Dennis and Jude met us in the post-race area, and we headed to brunch at Ft. Wilderness resort to celebrate completing the third leg of the Dopey Challenge.
Since Mike and I had a full marathon ahead of us the next day, we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day - no park plans for us, instead naps and relaxation, and eventually a dinner reservation in Disney Springs to get us carbed up before the marathon. Once we were done with dinner we headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime. I gathered all of my marathon supplies, laid out my costume, and set my VERY early alarm - because the next morning it would be time for the 2020 Walt Disney World Marathon.
