My Marathon Story

CrossFit to 5k to Half Marathon

Running never came easy to me. I was on the Track team in high school but preferred the short sprint distances and socializing over anything else. It never crossed my mind that I would run any races outside of that - not a 5k and especially never a marathon. But then I joined a CrossFit gym in late 2011. It made me realize I could do things physically that I never thought possible. A year after starting CrossFit at LivAthletic in Gainesville, I participated in a local competition that included a ‘mystery run.’ I came in last but I ran the entire distance which ended up being just under 3 miles. I realized that it was just short of a 5k (3.1 miles) and knew I could have kept going. So, I signed up for a race and on January 13, 2013, I completed my first 5k. It was fun and not anywhere near as hard as I imagined it would be. Being a huge Disney fan, I had heard about the races there so I immediately started bugging my sister about signing up for a 5k there. She didn’t seem interested until later in the year when she was pregnant with her first son. She said she wanted to sign up so she had motivation for exercise once her son was born. So, we signed up for the Princess 5K in 2014. We had a blast and our RunDisney addiction was born. But it was always the 5ks. I never thought I’d be capable of any more, not even a 10k. SIX miles? That just seemed impossible. But after 2 years of running 5ks, my sister did something that I deemed crazy - she signed up for the inaugural Star Wars half marathon in April 2016. In February of that year we were at Walt Disney World running the Princess 5k for my bachelorette party. Despite the fact that her first half marathon was two months away, she began talking about doing more that weekend. The roles had reversed and now she was the one pressuring me to sign up for one with her. Except instead of 3.1 miles, it was 13.1. She said she wanted to do the Wine & Dine half marathon later that year and also get the Coast to Coast* medal by flying out to California the following week to run the Avengers Half Marathon at Disneyland. At the end of my bachelorette Princess 5k race weekend, we were sitting eating breakfast and runners of all ages and sizes were proudly coming in to the restaurant with their Princess Half Medals. Looking back I realize that it was the inspiration and motivation that RunDisney race weekends bring that led me to say to myself, well, if these people did it, why can’t I? So, I told her at the table that I’d do it. And we did. It was super fun and amazing but as I crossed the finish line in Disneyland, I said that I was done with long distances. Training was hard as I started having hip problems and, typical for Florida, it was hot for the entire training schedule which always made running harder for me.  

L to R: Our first RunDisney 5k in 2014, the Princess 5k in 2016 when I decided to do a half marathon, the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in 2016 and the Avengers Half Marathon a week later where we earned our Coast to Coast Medals.

The Inspirational 2017 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

Obviously my long distance running didn’t end in 2016. I blame it on the atmosphere of RunDisney race weekends, as they are just magical (pun intended). This was particularly true during the 2017 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. That race weekend is by far my favorite of the entire year. For starters, it’s the longest weekend - the expo opens on Wednesday, the 5k is Thursday, 10k Friday, half marathon on Saturday and the full 26.2 is on Sunday. It also seems to attract runners who just truly love running at Disney. That weekend in 2017 is why even after I said I wouldn’t do any more half marathons I decided to do another AND why I signed up for the marathon in 2019. 

For the 2017 weekend, my sister and I ran the 10k. The weather in January in Florida is super unpredictable. We had decent weather but a cold front was moving in after our race and bad weather, including lightning, was predicted for the half marathon the next morning. Disney ended up, to the dismay of tens of thousands, canceling the race. I felt SO bad for the runners because I knew the time and effort that went into the training for a half marathon. I couldn’t imagine going through the training and then not being able to even attempt your goal. While they offered entry to any other RunDisney race for the next couple of years as a ‘We’re Sorry’ gift, that would require going through the training all over again and also planning and paying for a whole other Disney trip. I felt terrible for the runners that were running it as part of the Goofy or Dopey Challenge because at the end of the marathon on Sunday they would get a medal saying they completed 39.3 miles for Goofy or 48.6 miles for Dopey but in reality it would be 13.1 short of that total. 

Some runners decided to take this matter into their own hands and what I saw the next day was unexpected and incredibly emotional. The weather ended up not being as bad as predicted but it was still crappy - cold (for Florida) and definitely rainy and windy. As we drove to our character breakfast that morning we saw several people out running the streets of Disney World in the rain - in their bright yellow half marathon shirts as they completed the 13.1 miles on their own! We saw even more runners as we left breakfast and it was then that I decided I was going to do another half marathon. How could I not when I saw these people doing it on their own and in the rain?! Social media became flooded that day with stories of people completing their 13.1 miles around the resorts and parks and of spectators and cast members who provided snacks, water, ‘character’ stops (someone put their kid in a costume) and toilet paper finish line tapes. It was unbelievably inspiring the way the RunDisney community came together and still brings tears to my eyes to this day (go look up the #wdwhalfmarathon2017 hashtag on Instagram to look at some of it!). On Sunday as I followed the stories on social media I watched as those inspiring people went on to finish the full marathon. They were joined by some who had signed up for only the half and had been given the option to run the full instead due to the cancellation. Seeing people who didn’t think they were going to finish the miles for their medal and seeing people who hadn’t even trained for a full finish a full, was amazing. It was then that the seed of actually running a full marathon was planted in my mind. 

Marathon Training

We didn’t attend Marathon Weekend in 2018 and I think the FOMO of that weekend combined with what I had seen in 2017 is what sealed the deal with us deciding to sign up for the 2019 marathon. We decided to sign up in January 2018 but had to wait until the summer to actually do so. And training would start in August, the hottest time in Florida. I had thought half marathon training was hard but little did I know how challenging training for a full would actually be. Only a month and a half into training I found out my husband and I were going to be moving for his job. One of the caveats of signing up for the race was being able to do the long training runs with my sister. Now that I was moving to another state that wasn’t going to be so easy to do. I am a slower runner so the thought of doing a 20 mile training run by myself sounded like the worst thing ever. We were able to still do our first two double digit training runs together before I moved which included signing up for the Cocoa Beach Half Marathon to do our 13 miles. It ended up being the worst run of my entire life. It was hot and humid. I was dehydrated, got calf cramps and hit by a rogue wave during the beach part of the run. I managed to finish walking barefoot across the finish line and was one of the last runners in right at the 4 hour time cap. We moved after our 15 miler weekend and I have to admit I was looking forward to running in cooler weather. However, the day after arriving in North Carolina I woke up sick and ended up with the worst case of bronchitis I’ve ever had. I was in bed for two weeks and didn’t do any physical activity for three weeks. I went out for 16 miles once I was feeling better and while I walked a fair amount and coughed a lot, I survived it - alone. I ended up driving to Jacksonville the weekend of our 18 miles and my sister and I ran the Reindeer Run Half Marathon in Fernandina Beach and tacked on 5 miles pre-race to get to goal of 18. We walked a lot of the 13 miles again because of me. My sister is awesome. She is faster than me but never once complains about having to slow down or walk with me. Once that was done, the only thing left was 20 miles in late December. My sister and her family came up for Christmas so we did our 20 miles together on the streets of Charlotte. It took about 5 hours but I was ecstatic that I had survived the training. I’m smiling in the photos below but between moving, being sick and constant hip pain it had been anything but easy. 

L to R: Post 13 terrible miles, the day of our 15 mile run, our 18 miler day and 20 miles in Charlotte.

Race Time

With the training over, it was time for the ‘fun’ part. I flew to Orlando Wednesday morning of Marathon Weekend. My sister decided to go big with her first full marathon and also signed up for the Dopey Challenge. I decided to do the 5k with her and it was cold. The coldest RunDisney race we’d ever had but we had a really great time at the race taking our time and found out you can indeed get swept from a 5k. We didn’t but saw a golf cart coming around at the end. We spent Thursday in Magic Kingdom and after my sister did the 10k on Friday, we hit up Hollywood Studios. Saturday I got up early so I could see my sister in a few spectator spots during the Half Marathon and later that day we went to Animal Kingdom. I started getting nervous later there and had trouble eating dinner. 26.2 miles was a long distance and I knew we’d be taking the majority of the allowed 7 hour time frame. Obviously a LOT can happen in that amount of time. On race day we were up at 2:30am to get ready for a 5:30am start time. Even after I was up for a while I could barely eat a thing. I knew I needed to eat for energy but I could barely swallow I was so nervous. 

We knew before we even signed up for the race that we would dress as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and it was just before starting that we were first asked who was Dee and who was Dum by the race announcers. Somehow on lack of sleep and food blurted out (pointing to my sister) she’s Dum because she’s doing Dopey. The announcers got a kick out of that and I was glad we had an answer because it was surprisingly a frequently asked question throughout the race. By some miracle RunDisney didn’t put me in the last corral**. Not even 2nd to last but we still had to wait a while to finally start. When we did, we headed towards park #1, Magic Kingdom, from the start line that was just outside Epcot. Running down Main Street while the Christmas decorations were still up was so cool. We had a lot of fun in Magic Kingdom stopping for characters and were ecstatic when we saw that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum by the Teacup ride. After Magic Kingdom we headed to Animal Kingdom. Right before we entered the back area of the park the course made us do a surprisingly long out and back on the street. It was just before 9am and the sun had really started to warm things up. Despite the cold temperatures on Thursday, Sunday was much warmer. Having no shade on that out and back - and probably from lack of food - we entered Animal Kingdom with me not feeling that great. BUT by then we had already hit the half marathon mark. I was shocked because it really flew by even though it took around 3 hours. It was just after 9am and Animal Kingdom was open so we excitedly made our way to the Expedition Everest line. One of our goals for the race was to ride it. You have to time it well though - too fast and the park isn’t open. Too slow and the ride wait time may be long and you run the risk of getting swept off the course. We walked right on the ride and have an awesome Photopass picture to show for it. After we got off the ride we were super excited for achieving our first goal but I also was super nauseous. I went into the bathroom and dry heaved but with no food in me, I had nothing to throw up. We walked the mile after the ride but seeing the Grave Diggers as we left Animal Kingdom pepped me up and we started running again. Thankfully, I wasn’t nauseous anymore of the race. We were now on, to me, the worst stretch of the race - nothing but long, straight, boring pavement with no shade heading from Animal Kingdom to our next destination, ESPN Wide World of Sports. Once we finally approached the ESPN entrance I could see why this was the part of the course a lot of people cut. We were running next to the people leaving ESPN. It would be quite easy to stop for a selfie or to tie your shoe and then just hop on the other side. However, you know who cuts the course because there was a timing mat at mile 20 inside ESPN. So if people don’t have that time check on their results then they skipped it. A lot of people also complain about running back there but I enjoyed it especially after a boring stretch. There were tons of characters with zero lines and that 20 mile timing mat was inside the baseball stadium which made us think about running through the Anaheim Angels Baseball Stadium during the Avengers Half Marathon. Once we exited ESPN we had less than a 10k to go which included two parks. Park #3 was Hollywood Studios. We weren’t in there for very long but got some photos, candy and high fives. As we left there we headed along the walkway that lead to the Boardwalk Resort area. We knew we were several minutes ahead of the Balloon Ladies*** but it was around the Boardwalk that a blister I was getting on my toe was unbearable. I had to stop but was able to keep going after I popped the blister. As we finished the Boardwalk area and entered the back of Epcot, the tears started. We had about a mile to go and we were now running through the favorite part of our favorite park. We came in by the UK Pavilion and lo and behold, Alice was out so we quickly stopped for a photo and headed on to achieve our next goal - crossing the finish line with a margarita. At the China pavilion my sister ran ahead to get in line while I trudged along. She was still in line for our drinks when I got there. As we both waited, the Balloon Ladies actually passed us but we didn’t care as we knew we wouldn’t get swept this close to the finish. Drinks in hand, we headed past Spaceship Earth towards the finish line. We had ridden Everest and got our margaritas - now the only goal I had left was to be able to physically run across the finish line. This was my last goal because due to my hip, several of my training runs ended with me walking. Thanks to emotions and adrenaline we were able to run across the finish line, margaritas in hand and tears streaming down our faces. We were officially marathoners. 

*The Coast to Coast Challenge was offered by RunDisney for completing a half marathon (or marathon) at Walt Disney World and a half marathon at Disneyland in the same calendar year. There was no additional cost for this, you just had to get a special wristband when you went to the expo for the second race. At the end of that race you got a special Coast to Coast medal. Now that the Disneyland races have stopped (with no timetable for a return) the only option to get a medal like this is the Castle to Chateau medal in Paris - which requires completing a half or full at Walt Disney World and a half marathon at Disneyland Paris within the same calendar year. 

**RunDisney assigns corrals to runners to determine starting position. Corral A contains the fastest and elite runners. The faster runners get the lower letter corrals. However to get in those lower corrals for a half or full marathon, you need to provide proof of time to RunDisney proving you can indeed run that fast. This requires, in addition to other things, completing a race within a certain time period and submitting that time with your registration. If you can’t provide proof of a finishing time your corral can be totally random. Most slower runners who’ve never run that distance before get put in the last corral.

***The Balloon Ladies are a group of women who sign up for the race and volunteer to be in the back of the last corral so they are the last to start. They walk at the required 16 per minute mile pace the whole race without stopping. They have signs on their back that say ‘16 min mile pace’ and balloons tied to them so you can see them from far away. We’ve seen them on basically every 10k but were never passed by them until the marathon. If we didn’t stop for photos we’d never see them but the point of Disney races are to have fun. So we do. Getting passed by the Balloon Ladies can be scary though as it means you have fallen behind the required pace and are in danger of being swept off the course by race officials.