Ariel484 -
I just wanted to say that I read your marathon trip report from last year. I had bookmarked it a while ago, because I wanted to read it. And I forgot about it and just got back to it now. It was so much fun to read! You made it look so easy!
Thank you so much!
I definitely would not say it was EASY but it was more enjoyable than I expected it to be.
You looked as fresh in the later miles as you did before the race start.
That's what happens when one stops for LOTS of character photos...
I was expecting that as the miles progressed, you would start complaining of sore legs or sore feet. But it sounds like overall it was not too bad on you.
Yeah, you know...looking back on it I don't remember being in too much pain except for the last mile. It came and went occasionally but nothing agonizing. The course is pretty flat, except for your occasional highway on-ramp and up/downhill at the Contemporary, at the water bridge. What really got me during the 2011 Princess Half (same course as the WDW Half) were the sloped roads near the highways, so I was extra aware of those during the marathon and really made an effort to run on flatter parts of the road. That made a huge difference in how I felt - almost zero IT Band pain that way. The soreness definitely set in AFTER the race was over though.
Considering all of your picture stops, you made pretty good time! And I'm like you I have no idea how to pose for pictures with characters! Do you think those stops helped to save your legs and rejuvenate them?
Thanks.
As I said in the report, my brother did have a not-so-magical run-in with someone who was not impressed with our time, but I digress...
I'm fine with it though. If someone wants to run a fast time at Disney they are obviously perfectly within their right to do so...clearly I am at the other end of the spectrum (if I want to PR I will do it at home), and I feel like that should be okay as long as I beat the sweepers. Oops, mini rant!
Definitely a debate for another thread, my bad.
Anyway, the character stops...I do think they helped save my legs to a point, but if I had to guess I would say it very well may have added up to an hour to my overall time.
That's a lot of extra time spent on my feet! Wow, that's a little sickening to think about...
Anyway I did notice after all of the character stops in the Magic Kingdom that my legs felt pretty stiff, but once we got going again it was okay.
Well, very fun and entertaining read. I hope you do another report of this years race. Goofy this time, right?
Thanks for reading the report, glad you liked it! And yes, I do plan on doing a report for 2013 (5K + Goofy).