2008 - The Year of the Mouse! After seeing the ad for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in "Runners World" magazine back in 2006, a goal of mine for running was to one day do the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Since the runs during the Marathon Weekend fill up quickly, you have to know more or less a year in advance that you're going to do one or more of the runs at Walt Disney World and register online. For the WDW Half Marathon and Marathon runs, you have to supply a "qualifying time" when you register. When I read this, back in January 2007, I was glad that I had done the 2006 Seattle Half Marathon as my 2006 Seattle time was well below the "qualifying time" that WDW wanted for the Half Marathon. Since my parents had gotten into running by doing the 5K during the LiveStrong Challenge in Portland, OR, they decided to register for the 5K run, which was to take part at Disney's Animal Kingdom - so I decided I would register for the 5K as well as the Half Marathon and do the 5K with them (more on this later). After January 1st past and my parents returned to Louisiana (for only about a day before driving to Florida to meet me for the 2008 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend), I got my clothes in order and packed and made sure I had the right playlist on my iPod nano, I caught a "redeye" flight from Seattle, WA to Orlando, FL and met my parents in Orlando. For the week before the runs, we spent time at the various attractions around Orlando (Universal Studios, Medieval Times, and of course Walt Disney World). Finally the day of packet pickup arrived and my parents and I went to Disney's Wide World of Sports complex and got our t-shirts, bib numbers, and other informaton regarding the 5K and Half Marathon runs. On Friday, January 11th, my parents and I got up at 4:45am EST and got ready for the morning's 5K event. We caught the 5:30am bus from Disney's All-Star Movies resort to Disney's Animal Kingdom (as the event information stated that Walt Disney World wanted everyone doing the 5K to be at Animal Kingdom by 6:15am). After getting to Animal Kingdom, we walked over to the start area and found the 9-11 minute pace sign and waited by it for the 7:00am start of the run. Eventually the crowd showed up (I don't remember what the registration limit for the 5K was). At 7am the countdown from 10 down to 0 began and we were off. I left my parents behind (who were only doing their 2nd ever 5K event - whereas this was my 5th) and tried to settle into my pace (though I wanted to try and not run too hard so I would have something left for the 12th). I ended up walked several times and didn't care that my time was going to be slower than my "best" 5K time of 26:33 that I got from the 2007 Seafair 5K in Bellevue, WA in July 2007. I did what I could and was running across the finish line. Being that the 5K was not a "timed" event, I only have my heart rate monitor's data to go off of (which I started when I crossed the Start Line and ended when I crossed the Finish Line). Beng that the 5K was a "fun" event, I brought my camera with me and took some pictures before, during, and after the run. Stats from my Polar S725X HRM: HRM Time: 0:29:45 Avg HR: 167 bpm Max HR: 181 bpm Energy Burned: 279 kcal After getting back from the 5K on Friday morning, my parents and I caught the bus to Epcot and did some of the rides before catching the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and walking around there for most of the day and watching the parade at the Magic Kingdom. After the parade, we caught the bus back to the hotel - where my left knee was beginning to hurt and made climbing stairs difficult. Still, I pressed on and later that night we caught the bus over to Epcot to do a couple more rides before watching the fireworks at Epcot. After getting back to the hotel after the fireworks, I took a bath to see if that would help my knee (since I still had the half marathon to do the next morning). I got up Saturday morning at 2:30am EST and was on the first bus from Disney's All-Star Movies resort at 3:00am to Epcot (as WDW wanted everyone doing the event to be at Epcot by 4:00am). At 4:30am the walk from the Staging Area to the corrals began. The corrals were labeled A, B, C, D, E, and F and every one of the 16,500 people registered for the Half Marathon were assigned a start corrals (based on the estimated finish time you entered when you registered for the event). I was in Corral B - so I could see the Start Line from the front of my corral - but couldn't see the end of Corral F - especially after everyone was in their assigned corral. At 6:00am EST, the countdown from 10 to 0 began and soon after everyone was off. My left knee was still hurting but I tried to run any way. I ended up not being able to run nearly as fast as I was the day before and soon decided to just walk part of each mile and not try and hurt myself further. (Even if I had decided to walk the entire 13.1 mile course I probably would have finished easily within the 3.5 hour time limit.). WDW had a big sign for each mile of the course along with a clock telling you the time since the start. I saw several people with cameras stopping to take pictures of each mile sign they came across. Since the run started just outside of Epcot, ran down to and through the Magic Kingdom and then back into and around the front part of Epcot, a lot of people were stopping to take pictures of the crowds cheering on the runners, taking pictures of the attractions, and the characters lining the routes - as well as getting volunteers to take their picture with the characters. Through Epcot and the Magic Kingdom I think I saw just about all of the Disney characters - especially Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and of course Donald (who started the Half Marathon countdown - being that if you finish you get a Donald medal) who were at the Start Line and slapped "high fived" everyone that passed the Start Line on the right side. Eventually I made it to Epcot, looked at my Polar heart rate monitor, and gave one last kick to try and get in under 2.5 hours. I did that, got my finisher's medal, and then headed to the merchandise tent to buy an "I Did It" T-shirt. Official Results: Chip Time: 2:29:28 Clock Time: 2:31:12 Overall: 5304 (of our 16,500) Male Place: 2834 Division Place: 542 Stats from my Polar S725X HRM: HRM Time: 2:29:29 Avg HR: 154 bpm Max HR: 176 bpm Energy Burned: 1210 kcal