Saturday morning Donald Duck hosted the Half Marathon, we could see how popular the race is by seeing how the traffic was just getting to the park. We got there early and realized that they moved the start corrals to the main road. Rick departed to go to the Magic Kingdom because they allowed the spectators to enter the park to cheer the runners.
As I remembered from the first marathon the trek to the starting corrals is very long. That should of been counted as part of our mileage because it was long walk! For the last half of the challenge they placed me in corral E. When I got to the corral I made my way to the front so I could have more of a cushion so I can try to get more photos with characters.
They released the corrals with fireworks, which was a nice touch. Once they released our corral we started off on the main road of EPCOT. When we passed the first mile marker we ran a little further and then turned north towards the Magic Kingdom. That was a long stretch between the two parks. With the Disney races they have a lot of thing to see, such as billboards with movie clips, characters and entertainment. On this stretch one notable sight was a large Mickey Mouse head that was a hot air balloon just before the entrance o the Magic Kingdom.
By mile four we ran through the transportation center where you can take the monorail or ferry into the Magic Kingdom. Since we are running the router us to the street where the resort busses take to the passenger drop off. As we pass the Contemporary Hotel we could see the lighted Space Mountain and also the lighted Cinderella Castle. The castle still had it Christmas light so it was very bright. Just as we passed the five mile mark we are entering the gates to the park!
We entered the park where we saw the plaque “Here You Leave Today and Enter the World of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy” and that made me smile. We proceeded to Main Street where we were greeted by a lot of spectators and a great view of the castle. Rick texted me where he was so I was able to see him by the castle just before we turned right towards Tomorrowland.
We ran through the Circus area and made our way to Fantasyland, where we ran through the castle. When we exited the castle, I took my picture with the castle and the continued towards Liberty Square. We were the routed to Frontierland where we ran towards Big Thunder Mountain and the turned around, took a right turn at Splash Mountain and then exited the park and made our way back to EPCOT.
On our return route to EPCOT we passed a few resorts and golf courses, by then the sun was up and bright. On some of the ramps that we ran on, were quite narrow and were on a slight angle. This was a bit and to run on, but I got it done. By mile 12 we were entering the entrance of EPCOT, and I believe the park started to be open to the public because there was a lot of people there. To finish the last mile, the routed us up Tomorrow World and made a hairpin turn just at the entrance of World Showcase and back towards Spaceship Earth and the usual exit out of the park to the Finish. They added the choir just before the last turn singing Hallelujah, an indication that the finish is near!
I completed the Half in 3hrs 33min 16min, definitely not my best time, but definitely a fun time. The lines to the characters were not too long so I was able to take pictures with Sebastian, Woody and Bullseye, Cinderella & Prince Charming and Aurora & Prince Philip, and the Genie from Aladdin.
We had breakfast reservations at Boma with the relatives so we quickly freshened up at the hotel and met Nanette, Nicholas, Jean, Kainoa and Jaiden for breakfast before we spent a few hours at Animal Kingdom. Left the park around 7:00 so we can relax and rest up for the last race of the challenge.
Chad's Blog for Running, Disney & Movies 