Marathon Weekend 2023

[steph0808]

I ran a year of track in high school and would randomly run a mile or two during college. I kept trying and failing to complete a couch to 5k plan because I would always try to run too fast.

2012 came along and I decided it was my year. I had finished college, got married, did my masters and was looking for a new goal. I slowed way down and repeated weeks if I had to in the couch to 5k plan, and it worked! My first road race was actually a 10k. In the span of a year, I did a 5k, 7k, 10k, two half marathons, and then I discovered the 20th anniversary Disney marathon and ran that as my "one and only" marathon in January 2013.

10 years, two kids, and seven marathons (four of which were Disney) later, I'm training for my one and only Dopey. I mean that this time!!

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: I started running July 8, 2021 (I only remember the exact date because it was my grandpa’s birthday and I did the run before we went to a baseball game). I had started a journey to getting in shape at the beginning of 2021that involved a lot of walking (because I kept going to Disney and ending up basically crippled after a couple days) I joined Yes.Fit, which gives medals for cumulative miles, and I became very bling-motivated. Then I found the runDisney Summer Virtual series.

I originally planned to just walk the 5Ks, but randomly decided to try run/walk after reading about how the in person races worked (the 16m/mile thing was encouraging). I managed not to die running the first Lion King 5K, so I decided to find a Couch to 5K program, which kinda morphed into a Couch to 10K because I was more capable than I originally thought. So I signed up for the 2021 W&D virtual races, the rest is history. I’m now a runDisney addict.

 

[FFigawi]

SAFD: While I've always done some kind of running (soccer, Ultimate, dog agility, etc.), my serious adult running career began in the winter of 2005. My girlfriend ran the Richmond marathon in Nov 2004 and was signing up for it again in 2005. I didn't want to be the water boy again (I spent the entire 2004 race criss-crossing the city with a backpack full of water, socks, and other supplies she never needed), so I decided I was going to sign up too. I entered the Monument Ave 10k with her as a test to see if I could handle the routine of waking up early to train. Once that was over (mid-April), we both signed up for the marathon, and the rest is history.

 

[matt and beth]

Got started running in 2002. Gained 50 lbs with my wife when she was pregnant with our first. Had to do something to lose weight. Became an addiction with marathons leading to ultras. After third child our hands were full and took a hiatus. Back at it again now after gaining 40 pounds. Guess I have to run to keep the weight off.

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: I took up running the year I turned 50. I guess I realized I wanted to shake up my pretty limited fitness routine. Plus, everyone else in the family had done some kind of running, whether they liked it or not (I'm looking at you, DS!) Up til then, I had done one race--a 2 mile associated with a popular local 10k (which my DH used to run), and which my kids had run. I guess before that I was reasonably fit, but not motivated.

I jumped in with both feet by signing up for the Minnie 15k--registering for that counts as one of the scariest things I have ever done in my life (just behind auditioning for and appearing on Jeopardy and ahead of doing the swim leg of a 70.3 in a very angry Lake Erie)

I found a 15k plan online and managed to make my way through it. The race was in May (not ideal in FL!) and I now know enough to realize that I had IT band issues. But I finished in a respectable time and started down the path of "If I trained, I think I could do a......" Disney enabled me every step of the way.

I don't regret not running before that. I truly believe that it took that long for me to decide that it was something I was interested in and that I was willing to work at.

 

[RuntheMouse]

SAFD: I just started running in summer of 2021. I was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia in winter of 2020 and was walking A LOT to try to stay healthy. DH and I are WDW lovers and when they announced runDisney was returning the timing was perfect. I was getting very bored with all the walking and needed a new challenge. I was on the website and saw the Galloway method and thought that would work perfect for me because I have some limitations with my medication I’m on. I’ve fallen in love with running, even on the bad days and really enjoy races even though I’m traveling at turtle speed compared to most.

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: I was one of those kids who avoided running and hated that time of year in PE when we had to do track. I was active, played softball, did dance and cheerleading, but never had any interest in running. I vaguely knew about the rD races as we visited WDW over the years, but I wasn't a runner so I never bothered to find out any details. Fast forward to spring of 2015, wandering around MK and seeing all these women (mostly) with race shirts and medals getting photos all over the place. A few months later, I discovered our next trip was going to overlap with the 2016 Princess 5K. I popped in here and discovered you could WALK the 3 miles -- Plus COSTUMES?! Okay, I'm in.

FFWD to the actual trip and I nearly bailed when I realized I needed to get up at 3am the last day of vacation. I powered through and I got so caught up in the atmosphere that I ran probably half the race with zero training or previous running experience of any kind. I know my etiquette was horrible. (Sorry if you were there!) The only disappointment was that dumb plastic medal we got at the end. Knowing what the other bling was, I decided then and there that I needed to get a "real" medal. When I discovered the Kessel Run, that was it. I HAD to have that Millennium Falcon medal and I started C25K two weeks later. You can see in my signature how it's been going since!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

SAFD: I was a ski racer and swimmer when I was a kid. Even scholarship ski racer in college. Running was my dryland training that I hated with a passion. I sucked soo bad it. I was always the slowest in the back of the pack. Coaches trying to "encourage" me to stop walking and run more. I was the plus size athlete my whole life and running was always made me feel horrible about my body.

Fast-forward to my 30s I have gotten way out of shape with life and everything. I want to start having a child and I know being in shape helps. And I loove disney so signed up for Disneyland 10k 2016 as my reward/motivation. (Glad I did it before they stopped). Disney is the only thing that could get me to run. It helped me get in shape and I got prego really quicker then I thought I was going and did the race while prego! Loove the disneyland run soo much! ( it took a while first time and had a miscarriage hence why I was focusing on getting in shape again). during 3rd trimester I had to stop running and I gained a ton of weight and breast feeding in the middle of the night had me stress feeding.....so my heaviest 230ish. For years I was just focused on being mom and not my own health.

Then Covid happened and I was stuck in the house and just wanted to get out. So I decided this was a great time to focus back on my health and get back out there. Did couch to 5k and then couch to 10k. Did virtual disney runs. Discovering Jeff galloway method really solved my issue of hating running. In training my coaches would make us run strait. I just cannot do that... the run/walk method really made running way more enjoyable for me. I still will only run for disney but running is such a great way for me to stay healthy. I now weigh 170 to 175 and I feel great. Almost forgot to talk about my first half marathon, Princess 2022! The best run ever!

 

[camaker]

SAFD: I was always a team sports player growing up, playing soccer, tennis and Ultimate frisbee through college before focusing on Ultimate after college. I always thought running without a ball or disc to chase would be boring and never tried it.

My sports career after college was pursued at ever increasing weights until I finally tore a meniscus and required surgery in my late 30s (2009). The surgeon was a real jerk and told me I was missing most of the cartilage around the kneecap and I should not only never play Ultimate again, I shouldn't even walk up and down steps if I could avoid them. The combination of that advice along with losing my father to cancer very prematurely that same year sent me into a tailspin and I ballooned up to 335 lbs.

In January 2013, I decided enough was enough and started watching my calories while getting out and active again. At the start I could walk ~1/2 a mile before having to stop and rest, but I stuck with the walking, pushing my distance a little further when I could. After a while I was able to mix some jogging intervals into my walking. By September I had lost enough weight that I could start playing Ultimate again. I kept up the walking and Ultimate through 2014, eventually losing a total of 155 lbs.

In January 2015 my PT, who I'd met during knee surgery rehab, and who was a big runner and Disney fan, asked if I'd run the W&D 1/2 marathon with him. I thought I was crazy to even consider it, but said ok! I started running and after my first 10k in April for W&D PoT I was hooked! Unfortunately we got shut out of W&D registration, but I was enthused enough to register for Marathon Weekend 2016.

I initially registered for the 10k and 1/2 at MW, then decided "why not try the marathon, too, as a bucket list one-and-done shot at the distance". Finishing that marathon was transformative for me and I had so much fun it just sucked me in deeper. I'd like to go back and show that surgeon my 13 marathons and 7 ultras, not to mention all the 5k, 10k and halfs I've run.

 

[Barca33Runner]

SAFD:

My journey to running is detailed in the first post of my journal. TL;DR version: overweight guy who had always been overweight got tired of being overweight. I had a lot of ups along the way but have been in an extended down period for a few years. It’s been a tough time.

Good thing is I’m having my best training cycle in a long time and hopeful that I will be able to return to and improve upon where I’ve previously been.

 

[GreatLakes]

SAFD:

Pace: Going back to last week for a second Matt FItzgerald just released a new book about pace, On Pace. I have not read it but did listed to an interview about it and have a few of Matt's other books so can say as a running author he is a good read.

Origin Story: I ran a lot as a kid but never for the sake of running. I played a lot of sports. I played organized sports but also just about every day without fail during the summer my neighborhood had pick up games of everything. We had a lot of kids, probably at least 30 within 2 years of me either older or younger so we'd have 11 on 11 football and soccer games, 9 on 9 baseball games, basketball, and street hockey. It was that out until the streetlights came on childhood.

My first running for running sake was right after I finished undergrad and moved across the country. I had been on a co-ed softball team through school but to Florida for a job and only knew a few people. A friend of mine that worked part of the year in FL challenged me to a 5K. It was 2005 and when I finished that first race I was hooked. A month later I did my second almost 5 minutes faster than that one and got my first award. Since that day I don't think I've gone more than a month without running and that was due to injury. I moved back to Ohio that summer but still had 6 months left on my annual pass so I decided I'd make sure to do my first half at Disney the following January so I could take advantage of my pass one last time.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Off topic:

As someone who has been largely critical of Disney and the operation of WDW in the last couple years (since the return of full crowds and introduction of Genie+) I have to say that I was entirely too excited to see that Happily Ever After will once again be the musical theme for the Magic Kingdom fireworks next year.

It doesn’t fix everything but, silly as it is and as much as I didn’t hate Enchantment, it’s probably the one thing that I wanted back more than anything.

 

[eey777]

Jumping in here after a hiatus (lots to catch up on!).
SAFD: Short version: I am only a runner because of RunDisney!
Long version: -
hated running in school, went to a non-traditional school with basically no gym class
-in jr high, would have failed conditioning (running) had I not broken my ribs and got a medical note (I thought: Score!).

In 2014, my mum and I decided we were going back to Disneyland, which was a special destination for us because it had lots of family memories for us from before my dad died.

As one does (LOL) I looked up the events happening when we would be there, and saw the RunDisney Avengers Weekend. There was a 5k and a half marathon. I discovered the 16MM "requirement" for the 5k. I mapped out a km (around the exterior of a mall by our apartment) and "speed-walked" it. I could do it! I was on the verge of turning 40, and it was a huge goal for me.

The event was sold out, but I was able to book a spot through a travel agency. I then began my "intense training"! (I laugh now). Unfortunately a sedentary lifestyle (only workouts being weights / exercise bike) meant that I was totally unprepared for C25K, and I almost immediately got injured. I went through physio and was able to get myself well enough trained to get through the race in like 45 minutes - I was also super stoked to wear a costume (Captain Marvel). It was the most fun ever, but my mum missed seeing me b/c we were both inexperienced with race conditions. I wanted a do-over!

In 2015, they expanded to 5k/10k/half, and I thought I'd *really* push and work to a 10k. But for the 5k, I'd make an awesome costume (which I did! LOL). I also did a local 8k before the 10k, so I had the running bug, but I was still thinking 10k, that's it, everything else is crazy town - I had a fabulous time at those 2 races though.

I signed up for the same 2 in 2016, but changed jobs in September, and just couldn't get the time off for travel from the new job. In 2017, I couldn't book the time off due to another colleague needing that weekend, but other than enjoying travel that time of year, I wasn't a huge Avengers fan, so it didn't really speak to me. I did continue doing local 8ks and 5ks though.

My real interest became Princess (because I wanted to wear a princess costume!), but I decided if I was going to travel to Florida, I'd be doing it for the half, and with a slightly optimistic approach to training (and recovering from surgery in Sept. 2018) I managed to do that and complete the half in 2019. I was really thrilled to meet Jeff Galloway at the Expo, because if I hadn't realized that intervals were an option, I never would have attempted a half.

Now, I don't do intervals very often (even though I used to be much faster when I did them - I will have to do a test with that sometime soon), and today I did a casual 10k in poor conditions (slowly) and only walked three times (once to have a few sips of water at the halfway point, once when I kind of fell off the path due to a traffic issue LOL and once when pulling off to the side for racers using the same trail). I am training for the Marathon at Marathon weekend. 30-something me would be gobsmacked! :-D

Jeez, I've written a book. Now I forget if I even answered the question!! LOL
ps I am so glad to hear about west coast races returning. Travel from Vancouver to Orlando is not fun, and our direct flights have been cancelled. Blah.

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD
My origin story was that I’d come home from vacation in November 2014 and had seen by the time clock at work that they were offering employee discounts for Gaspirilla registration…a part of me had always been interested in the event and when I saw they had a walk as well as the run I figured I walked 2 miles most days to a bus stop what was another 1.1

cut to March 2016…we were at universal seeing a Mardi Gras concert with a friend of my sisters fiancé at the time. I had been wearing a medal from a local 5K I’d run earlier in the day and the friend started talking about how his girlfriend just did the fairytale challenge at Princess and they were doing the dark side challenge and how we should all sign up for the wine & dine half. While my sisters fiancé had been a runner my sister and I at this point had maybe a half dozen 5Ks under our belt and the thought of building up from 3.1 to 13.1 miles by November plus having the half two weeks before the wedding was telling

A few weeks later they announced the delay of wine & dine registration and the reconfiguration of the race to a 5k/10k /half/challenge format and we thought… building from 3.1 to 6.2 miles was a more attainable goal….

10 races over 8 in person weekends later (with 5 runs over 2 weekend on the books this race season!!) + 2 virtual 2020 wine and dine races, 3 virtual short series, one virtual short frozen, and 3 castaway cay fun runs later here I am

 

[Bree]

SAFD: Copied my reply from a place this was just recently asked.…..

1989 when I joined the Jr High cross country team. Yes, some of you weren’t even born yet. Ran on and off after high school, but short distances like 5K. Moved to FL and decided to sign up for the 2015 Princess 10K. First half was 2017 Princess (Glass Slipper Challenge). First Marathon was 2019 Dopey Challenge. Now here I am training for marathons 5, 6 & 7.

 

[kps7795]

SAFD: Copied my reply from a place this was just recently asked.…..

1989 when I joined the Jr High cross country team. Yes, some of you weren’t even born yet. Ran on and off after high school, but short distances like 5K. Moved to FL and decided to sign up for the 2015 Princess 10K. First half was 2017 Princess (Glass Slipper Challenge). First Marathon was 2019 Dopey Challenge. Now here I am training for marathons 5, 6 & 7.

Your first marathon was a Dopey Challenge?!? That is seriously bad a_ss!

 

[Jason Bryer]

SAFD: I ran on and off in my 20s but never more than 5k. I would say I got serious about running in 2017 when I figured out how to go further than 5k. It felt great and kept building thinking I would do a one and done half that fall. Building for that I thought this may be one change to do a marathon and found Disney fit perfect timing wise. Ran my first marathon at the age 40 in 2018. I have now run seven marathons (four of which at Disney, two were Dopey) and am about to run my eight in Chicago and ninth MW in January. I have to say that finding running has really been life changing helping me deal with serious anxiety and periods of depression.

 

[The Expert]

First half was 2017 Princess (Glass Slipper Challenge).

Mine too!

 

[Goofy2015]

How are you feeling now? I hope that things are looking and feeling better.

Continued with the recommended rehab exercises /stretches from the physical therapist along with hip / lower back / psoas yoga. I had another conversation with the PT to schedule a follow up appointment, he liked the progression.

Did a 6 mile run yesterday without compression. No pain at all like not even like the feeling of tightness. No aches or soreness too after the run. I feel great today. So hopefully this progress continues. Next week, I bump it up to a 7 mile run.

With that all being said, the rest of my legs are in great shape. I feel like my legs are getting primed up for some long runs during the training season.

 

[Goofy2015]

SAFD: My passion for running has the same origin story as probably a lot of the people on this forum and that is of course runDisney. Back in 2015, a group of friends from the company that I work for were interested in doing a Disney Half Marathon. They landed on the Star Wars Half Marathon at Disneyland in January 2016. Myself, being the local Disney expert got recruited for the trip, but I was not a runner. I still signed up for the Half Marathon, but barely did any training. I did still attempt and completed that Half Marathon, but it was definitely a struggle.

This motivated me to attempt another one and actually train for it. With the same group of friends, we landed on doing the Star Wars Half Marathon at WDW. I decided to attempt the challenge. Trained pretty hard. Improved my pace significantly. Lost 60+ pounds. Finished the Half Marathon sub 2 hours. Since then I have got addicted to an expensive hobby lol