Disney World Marathon 2022

 Disney World Marathon

January 9, 2022 is when I ran the Disney World Marathon.  The experience was absolutely amazing and a dream come true.  There was just so much about the race to share that I thought I would write up a blog post about it, even though it has been years since I've touched this blog.  I'll be sharing my experiences and my opinions about the marathon from 3 different points of view: 

    1- Runner attempting a PR/BQ 

    2- Experienced Marathoner running for fun

    3- New marathoner trying to finish a marathon.  

I ran as the second type of runner, but I believe that I gained insights about how all 3 might experience the marathon.

History

For anyone who doesn't know me, I wanted to give some information about how I ended up signing up for this race in the first place.  Even though the Disney Marathon is very large, there can be many hurdles when it comes to participating in this event.  In 2013 I visited my grandma in Orlando.  I had started running in 2011 and my grandma was very proud of me.  She and my grandpa had volunteered at the Disney Marathon for years before I started running and once I became a runner she was really excited for me to run the race that she and grandpa had helped for years.  Even though I was a new runner, I knew about the Disney Marathon and the Dopey Challenge and wanted to run them someday but I also didn't think I would be able to run them for a few reasons.

        1. I had only done 2 half marathons by spring 2013

        2. I had broken 3 bones in my foot

        3. Disney races sold out really fast (in minutes)

        4. Days off of work, some possibly unpaid

        5. Flights (I couldn't drive in January)

        6. Unpredictable weather between Ohio and Florida in January

        7. Disney races were really expensive ($1000 is what I was looking at)

I put Disney races into the category of dream races that would probably never happen.  Then 2020 turned everything wonky and somehow made the Disney Marathon something I had to do.  

So many elements of 2020 and 2021 changed things.  My grandma turned 90 in 2021 and was considering moving to Ohio but, was still hesitant because she didn't want to move into a shared living space during a pandemic.  The other elements above had changed too.

        1. I had done 6 marathons and 3 virtual marathons, I knew I could run it

        2. All healed for the moment (injury is always possible in running)

     3. Races were not selling out, people were hesitant to register because there was still a chance that many races would go virtual like they had in the past year.  In fact, the marathon was open for registration for over a month.

        4. If I only did the marathon, I wouldn't need many days off of work

       5. I had flown for the Rock & Roll New Orleans race, so we had learned more about affordable flights

        6. This didn't change, and still caused me a lot of stress

     7. $200 for the marathon was still a lot, but not as bad as Dopey or as bad compared to other marathons

With all of these changes, I knew I had to give Disney a chance.  I called my grandma when I saw that registrations were still open when I checked online.  I asked her if she would stay in Orlando until January, so that I could stay with her when I came to run.  She was ecstatic!  Not only would she stay in Florida for that, she would pay for my registration, help me arrange rides, and do whatever else she could to help me reach my dream.  I was going to be running the Disney World Marathon.

Resource

At this point I want to link a wonderful resource that I used for the next couple of months to make the most out of my marathon experience. 

Run Disney Facebook Group - Not officially related to Disney, but a super supportive group of experienced runners, experienced Disney runners, and new runners.  No question is stupid and every question gets information they need.  If you want to run any Disney event, I suggest joining this group.

I also suggest buying the Memory Maker.  It's a 1 day photo pass where you get all of your race pictures for up to 5 bibs.  The more photos you stop for, and the more people running with you, the more value you get.  It's $70 for one day.  Better than Marathonfoto.

Race Travel

I watched many weather apps, checked the status of my flights, and checked the weather in my layover cities so many times I think I reprogramed any computer algorithms that stalk me.  I was leaving for Florida on Friday, had to go the the expo before 3 pm on Saturday, was returning on Monday, and going back to work on Tuesday.  If I had to change to driving I would only have one chance to do that (from Cincinnati at 6am) if I wanted any chance of going to the expo.  I was very nervous about something going wrong.  Luckily, I changed my flight on the Wednesday before the race.  I got a direct flight to and from Orlando, I wouldn't be stranded at a layover.  Now, I could focus on the race events and their associated stress.

Expo

Once I arrived in Orlando, grandma and I headed straight to the expo.  Disney decks out the entire ESPN Wide World of Sports for the marathon.  No matter why you're running you can enjoy lots of photo ops, props for selfies, and encouraging signs.  The expo is split into 3 separate buildings in that area.  Building 1 contains race bibs (safety pins and a gear check bag with it) and that is it.  Then head to building 2 which contains the race shirts and vendors who are not associated with Disney, like most races have.  

There were local running stores, shoe companies, lots of pulse massage guns, medal displays, clothing, headbands, and a few other race booths.  While similar to other race expos, it seemed more limited with less free stuff and almost like they knew they were lucky to have a booth there.  This was the first building where I saw areas for photo ops.  They had race maps, park posters, and other areas just for pictures.

Finally, building 3 is where all the Disney Merchandise is held.  Where most races force runners to go through their merchandise as a way to get to the race shirts, Disney makes it something you can completely avoid if you want to avoid it.  But that's because they know that no one will skip it.  In fact many people make it their first or only stop.... resellers are not nice people.... In the last building, there are extra race shirts ("I did it" shirts), magic bands, pins, bottles, jackets, magnets, and other items that all sport the logo and characters for the race and the year.  Unfortunately, there are many Disney collectors out there who want anything and everything Disney, whether they run or not, so resellers will show up early and often to get the maximum number of the most in-demand items then sell them online for double, triple, or quadruple the price.  If you want the most selection, you have to be at the expo hours before it opens on the first day to have any chance of picking up many of these items.

Experienced Marathoners: While it is disappointing that you can't get all the swag you might want, it's not really a huge deal breaker.  Many of us have lots of race goodies and won't be too upset with missing out on a Spirit Jersey

First Time Marathoners: I would suggest a different marathon for your first if you want souvenirs from your first marathon.  I know that I was really excited to shop all the merchandise at my first marathon since it seemed like a whole new store was open to me.  I never would have bought anything 26.2 until that race's expo and I still waited on some of it until after I was done.  With Disney, if you feel like I did about 26.2 you will probably be disappointed in your options at the expo and you really can't get much of anything after the race. 

Race Morning

Disney has one of the earliest start times I have ever experienced at a race.  The race starts at 5:00 am and runners are expected to be at the race by 3:30 am.  This means that runners who are naturally really early (like me) are getting up around 1 am and getting to the park at 2:48 am.  Once at the park, take note of where you parked (I forgot to do that and almost lost my grandma's car, whoops) and get ready to walk.  I had a fairly close parking spot but I still had about 5000 steps by the time I got into my place in my starting corral.  As you head toward the front of the park, you are directed through many areas all behind fences leading you to the post-race area.  There aren't any shortcuts, you have to go from the park entrance, through a labyrinth, to the finish area before you can even start to head to the start.  The finish line area has a tent selling breakfast items, a food truck selling coffee, gear check trucks, merchandise area (open at 3:30), water, lots of port-o-pots, and a holding area until you are released to the corrals at 3:30.  Once released to the corrals it takes about 30 minutes to walk to your spot in the corral (depending on which corral you're in and how far into your corral you can get).  I was in the 3rd corral and I got in early so I was less than 20ft back from the front of the corral.

Going for a PR or BQ: Use the distance from the holding area to the corrals as a warm up.  If you warm up later than that then there is a good chance you will not get a good position in your corral if you get in the correct corral at all.  There was no shifting in the corrals, you got in and that's where you started.  Hardly anyone moved to be near a pacer or to get a better position.  Also, make sure you bring some food because the gap between breakfast and race start is more than my body is used to.

Experienced running for fun: Be prepared for all the walking, even experienced marathoners can be worn down by a 2 mile walk from the car to the start position.  I would also suggest that these runners bring food to snack on.  For me it was nearly a 5 hour gap between breakfast and race start.  When I started running I could tell that my breakfast was long gone and I would be running on near empty for a while.  If I ran it again, I would bring peanut butter crackers to eat before starting.  It also helps to take a seat in your corral once you are in there.  You warmed up some by walking there, but standing for an hour will stiffen you back up.  Sit and stretch for a while.

First Time Marathoner: Getting to 26.2 seems so impossible while you're training, now add another 2 miles of walking to get to the start.  I think this extra distance is the hardest thing for 1st time marathoners to deal with.  When training, it's tempting to sit all day when you're not doing your long run.  I suggest taking walks after finishing your long runs to get used to extra time on your legs.  First time marathoners don't have a proof of time, so you are probably going to be farther back in the corrals, which means more walking.  The earlier you are in your corrals, the more time you have to rest in your corral before the race starts.  Also, bring food because it does take longer for the later corrals to start.  Corral 6 can take close to an hour to start after corral 1 has started.

For all runners I suggest bringing snacks, using the port-o-pots before heading to the corrals, skipping the merchandise tent until after the race, getting into your corral as early as you can, and relaxing/ stretching once in the corral.

Race 

The Disney World Marathon travels to and through all 4 Disney Parks.  This keeps the course interesting and varied during many parts of the race and you always know that you have another park coming on your route.  When it's boring (between parks) they provide entertainment to keep you going.  Every mile marker has its own theme and music playing from it and some stretches of highway have large screens and speakers lining the roadway so runners can watch parts of Disney movies while they run.  I thought that the treadmill runners must feel right at home during these parts.  They also had many live music acts along the course as well as a few DJs.  Epcot had a Mariachi Band in Mexico during the first time through, Magic Kingdom had a Chinese Drum band, Animal Kingdom had a Polynesian Band with hula dancers, Disney Studios had a Boy Band, and Epcot had a Gospel Choir right near the last mile of the race.  Since the entire route is on Disney property it was one of the best taken care of routes I have ever run.  I didn't see any garbage off the sides of the road, didn't have to deal with any cars on or near the course, had lots of trash cans throughout the entire course, only saw 3 potholes during the entire run, and had aide stations nearly every mile on the course and even those didn't have a mess of cups around them.  The course is very flat but has just enough elevation change that it created some variety for your legs while running.  

PR or BQ Runners: The hardest part on my legs was the change in running surfaces.  When you're on the highway it's all blacktop, but once you hit the parks the running surface can change pretty dramatically.  You enter Magic Kingdom going downhill and suddenly hit concrete, which was jarring to me and I wasn't trying to go really fast.  Running through Cinderella's Castle involved running on brickwork, past the teacups meant running on some slippery stone work, and being fast meant running through areas that are not lit up well, I was wishing that I had my headlamp a few times.  I think they plan for most runners to hit that area after sunrise.  Animal Kingdom had faux trail, like what you would see at a zoo.  It was uneven like a trail, but not soft.  Between Disney Studios and Epcot you run on the boardwalk for some of the resorts.  The boardwalk itself can be a rough change but if it's wet it can be even rougher.  Besides the surface changes, you can go really fast on this course and the abundance of aide stations can really help a runner do their best at this race. 

Experienced running for fun: Fun can be defined many ways and your definition of fun can change

what makes this race difficult for you.  Since you are comfortable with marathons and this course is good for setting a PR it is easy to get caught up in how easy it might feel to go faster.  My warnings about the course for the PR runners holds true for this group too.  But runners trying to have fun need to consider other elements as well.  Make sure you know what goals you have for fun before you start.  My goal was to get character pictures while other runners want to ride rides or get food while running.  If you are early in the corrals, stopping for pictures does not take long at all as long as you don't want to get all of them.  Starting with the 3rd character I was able to get almost all of the characters along the course and still finish under 5 hours.  But, if I had wanted food or an adult beverage while running or for the finish line I ran too fast.  Finishing under 5 hours meant that parks were starting to open but none of the attractions or stalls were open when I passed them.  It was hard for me to believe, but I was too fast for many of the fun things that people do at Disney.  I would suggest looking up Robert Wang if you want to ride rides during the race.  I don't know what the magic pace is but you have to be fast enough to have a lead on the balloon ladies but slow enough that the parks are opening when you run through.  Robert slowed to a 24 min/mile at one point, I'm assuming to ride, based on the official results.  I'm not sure I could linger that long or take that long to ride and be ok to continue running afterwards.  

I did have issues running through some dark parts of the park since I was faster than many of the other runners.  But I also got to spend a lot of time in the sun during the second half of the race because I wasn't super fast.  The highway between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom goes due East, directly into the sun, with hardly any shade due to it being on a highway.  This can be rough, but the character stops can come to the rescue.  When I started, I wanted to stop for characters I really liked (5 to 10 characters was the goal), but as I progressed I took each character stop as a quick break to refresh and keep going strong even if I wasn't a huge fan.  So I ended up with 24 character pictures.  I had a lot of fun with what I did and I took advantage of many of the aid stations since I was on the course longer due to stopping for characters.  

First Time Marathoners: In some ways, Disney is an ideal course for first time marathon runners.  The flat course, even with the surface changes, means that new marathoners won't have too many issues when it comes to moving forward.  I can say that I have cursed at least a few hills during a marathon and there are no hills to curse in a Disney Marathon.  The amount of aid stations is perfect for first time marathon runners.  Runners have so many opportunities for hydration and fuel along the course that they would rarely feel the need to have something outside of the aid stations.  They also had about 50 volunteers per aid station and lots and lots of supplies.  They were not going to run out of hydration or fuel, even for the last finishers.  While many marathons have a small number of runners in the front, most finishers between 3 and 5 hours, and a small number of runners from 5 hours to the final runner, Disney has most of the runners finishing after 5 hours.  This means that they do not forget about the back of the pack.  Disney will not pack up the race in front of any runners and they won't leave runners out on the course to fend for themselves to finish.  

But, it isn't all good news for the back of the pack.  Many runners in the back come through Magic Kingdom after sunrise, so they get daytime pictures coming out the of castle (could be good or bad) and don't need a headlamp but that also means that those runners spend more time in the sun on the road between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom which can be brutal due to the lack of tree cover and having the sun out during that entire time.  The abundance of Back of the Pack runners also means it can be very crowded and may lead to more injuries due to jostling for position or can make it more difficult to get nicer pictures.  It can also be rough to pass all the "fun" parts of the race.  I'm not saying the race isn't fun, but if you just want to finish a marathon it is unlikely that you can take the time to stop for character pictures, ride rides, or pick up food or drinks in the park.  You might also face longer lines for the character pictures if you do try to stop for some of them.  As a new marathoner it is hard to judge if you have time for these things and you may have to sacrifice them so that you can meet the goal of finishing.  Finally the sweepers, aka Balloon Ladies (they don't sweep, but they are the pacers that mark the line you can't fall behind), are always a concern for new runners.  Everyone wants to finish their first marathon under their own power.  To get picked up is to fail and no one wants that.  As stated above, some races will let runners finish as long as they move to the sidewalk but they will clear the course at the appointed time.  Disney doesn't do this.  If you fall behind the 16:00/mile pace and stay behind the balloon ladies at the check point you will be picked up and you will not be allowed to finish your race.  Runners who are swept do get their medal, but no finisher ears and no challenge medals.  These are things that need to be considered when choosing if a runner wants to run Disney as their first marathon.

Post Race

If you get the Memory Maker, get all the pictures.  Reverse the script where the photographers hound you and change it to you seeking out all the photographers.  I missed a lot of the finish line photographers (finish line haze) and I wish I would have stopped to get some pictures right past the finish line.  I almost missed the staged photo area too but I noticed it while I was getting food and kicked myself for not getting those pictures right away.  The finish line of the marathon is a party and there is so much cheering.  It is a wonderful way to finish no matter your past race experience.  Keep in mind, the mascot characters for the race will be at the finish line and won't have an on course photo op.  I was not able to get a picture with Mickey and Minnie because they were right by the finish and I don't stop when the finish line is in sight.  Other runners may want to stop for that picture, but need to make sure they are out of the way before they do so because many other runners are pushing for the finish line, tired, and in a marathon haze.  You don't want to cause a crash near the finish line to get a photo.  

Post-Race Food: Disney does not provide a lot of food to runners when they finish.  If you are an experienced marathon runner this can be a disappointment, especially considering how much a Disney Marathon costs and how much other races provide.  I got a bottle of water, 2 bottles of Powerade (I do love that this is the sport drink on the course), and a box with tortilla chips, "cheese", applesauce, and a banana.  There's no free beer or pizza but they do have food trucks and booths where you can buy beer, pizza, and other post-race food.  If you get beer it comes in a refillable cup and you do get a discount when refilling it versus buying a new cup.  They also have champagne in champagne flutes for those who really want to celebrate their finish.  I believe the flutes are also of really good quality so they can be refilled or at least serve as another souvenir.  There were other food options, but I chose to stick to the Pineapple Hard Cider and a pizza cone.  It was all great quality but it wasn't cheap, so plan to bring a way to pay for some post-race food.

Finally, the post-race area is in a parking lot so there isn't any shade and you're in Florida so the sun is likely to be out.  If you plan on hanging out after the race for some time, put some sun protection (shirt, sunscreen) in your checked bag especially if you tend to burn like I do when I just sit in the sun.  

Hints

I think I have included most of my hints in the rest of this blog but I do want to include some that may have been missed.

• Disney Springs stores offer discounts to runners who come in wearing their medal
• Shopping after the race for souvenirs can be a great way to stretch 
• Don't lose your car
• Come early and bring snacks
• Put your phone on Battery Saver mode so you can use it for many pictures and videos along the course
• Take the food you can on the course since you won't get much when you finish
• There are no unofficial aid stations, since it is all on Disney property, so no random people handing out beer
• If you get a beer on course, it has to come from Epcot.  Someone near me got a beer near the resorts on the boardwalk (I don't know how) and he was pulled aside by security because he wasn't allowed to take it into Epcot.  I think he ended up chugging it.

I'm sure that there are more, and I will try to edit as I remember.  For now, this is what I remember and can share with all of you.

Conclusion 

Would I recommend this race to other runners?  

Short answer, Yes.  If you have the chance to run the Disney Marathon, I suggest you take that chance and opportunity.

Long answer, you have to determine what your ability level is and if you would enjoy the race based on the category that you would fall into.  If you are running for a PR or BQ are you fine with missing all the "fun" stuff?  If you are running for fun, are you ok really, really slowing down and forcing yourself to stop in the middle of the race if you need to?  If you are a new marathoner, are you sure you can come in ahead of the sweepers and can you still have fun without the characters or rides?  Each runner has to decide what they are comfortable with and if Disney can give them an experience worth the price of registration.  

I will say that I would not pass on a chance to run Disney again whether it's the Marathon Weekend or another race weekend.  I still want to run the Dopey Challenge one day, and hopefully I will be able to do that.  For now, I will be happy that I had an amazing Marathon experience on Disney World that I will treasure forever.

Photo Album of all photos