Wine and Dine Half Marathon Recap

Or, as some of the ladies from my running club are calling it, Splash n Dash.

Saturday was a long day! I ran the 5k, went to the Magic Kingdom with the teenies until about noon, and then headed over to a cupcake fundraiser. We all had a great time and I won some cute holiday Magic Band decals, which I passed on to two of the families from Ms theater company.

Time to nap. Of course, I laid out my clothes, which I changed at the last minute due to the rain in the forecast. I was so wired that I had to read for a little while to relax. My two hour nap was frequently disturbed by the hubs and the teenie who kept texting me. I couldn't turn my phone off because it was my alarm.

Sigh.

I got up and dressed at about 6, but I woke up feeling stuffy and my stomach hurt. Ugh. Dinner was not an appetizing thought so I bought a muffin and a water in the hopes of getting some food in my belly, and some hydration. I was definitely not hydrated enough that entire week. Runner fail.

I usually bring three Honey Stinger waffles for a half and always end up with one extra, but this time I only brought two. This did not seem wise after my pathetic dinner.

On to the shuttle bus with my fellow runners, as we all worried about the alarming weather maps for the evening. A tropical storm? Nooooo problem. It's Disney, how bad could it be?

I got to the race so early that I breezed through security, dropped off my dry clothes instantly, and stood alone at the PbRC meetup spot for a little while.  

Slowly, the members showed up and we all started taking pics and goofing around. I love my running buddies.

PbRC group photo

creative use of the club tattoo

taking a pic to send to my friend Colleen

Shannon's first Half!

Shannon and I had hoped to run together but she was in the last corral, and my fear of the balloon ladies prevented me from bumping back. Plus, the rain had started and I wanted to start ASAP.

I waited in the corral with my PbRC girls and soon enough we were off.

We started in the ESPN Game Zone and made our way to Osceola parkway. Not very exciting.

Before long though we were in the Aninal Kingdom, and the characters were out in full force. You could not have paid me to stop. I was miserable from the start and my poncho was only keeping me mostly dry.

I had started with the hood up but all I could hear was the rustling of it, so I room it off. I did have a cute cap that I bought at the gift shop on my way to the bus. 

The Tree of Life looked amazing and I finally stopped to take a picture. I have to say that running through AK was terrifying. It was very slippery and the puddles were insanely deep. Volunteers were really efficient though, and they pointed them all out. They were also super cheerful which helped. A lot. For real, people, thank you so much.

 

Soon we were leaving the park and headed towards Hollywood Studios. It felt like forever before we got to that hill with the Green Army Soldier. I kid you not when I say that he talked me up that hill!

Soon we were approaching Hollywood Studios and I could see the park rides. I was so excited to see the Osborne Lights, it was the only thing keeping me going at that point.

 

We entered the park around mile 9 I think, and we twisted and turned, and twisted and turned with only a glimpse of the lights. I was starting to think that glimpse was all there was! I did stop for a pic of the Sorcerer's Hat, since its days are numbered.

this was  how I got my character pics

As we ran through the costuming tunnel (official name? I don't know!) and they had disco lights and music and it.was.dry. So delightfully dry.

 

And then it seems as if  we ran away from the park again. Where are the damn lights? At this point, I needed those light more than I needed air. Shannon and I were texting a little and she told me she was at mile ten, which I had just passed, so I slowed down a lot! I thought it would be great to see her before the lights. And then I turned the corner.

Oh.my.heck.

 

There are not words to describe the lights in all their glory. It was total heaven. I ran through them or, rather, walked through them. And took a ton of pictures. The rain actually stopped too. Total heaven. 

this was my favorite!

Just as I left? Shannon caught up! I decided to pee in an actual potty before I left, and stripped off and tossed my poncho. 

Shannon had kept going and it took me about a mile to catch up. We entered the boardwalk together, which was also very slippery. 

Once we hit EPCOT, I finally relaxed. The rain had started again, and with no poncho, it did not feel good! The finish was the same as marathon weekend, so I talked my way through the finish and ran happily over that finish line! They had an amazing light show overhead just before the finish, which was a nice touch.
We got our medals and our mylar blankets and made our way to the food area. I was starving! I had stretched those waffles as far as I could, but it was a huge stretch. I was so cold and wet, that I basically shredded the box to get to the food!
We then had to wade through a TON of people to get to our checked bags, although that process was super speedy. Next we had to make our way past all the people waiting for the free beer or wine. I was so not interested!
Unlike marathon weekend, the busses were not right there when we finished. We had to walk around the entrance to EPCOT and over to the area where you would catch a park bus, pass that by, and then get to the special busses. By then, I was a shivering mess. I was soaked, freezing, starving, and near tears. The first bus was full, but the next bus was waiting so I got right on with minimal waiting. I took my mylar blanket off and stuck it on the floor to keep the seat dry. And finally snapped a photo of the bling.

 

Surpisingly, there was no chafing. I broke the cardinal rule and wore stuff I bought at the expo, but it was all good in the end. I was still freezing and exhausted when I finally got the hotel. Another mistake: staying at the All Star Movies for the week. Every bus we took all week had already been to the first two All Stars and we stood practically every time! I was the last bus to be dropped off, and I shivered all the way to my room and took a long hot shower. It was glorious.
Most of the race was a blur, and I do not look back on it fondly at all. I did beat my last Disney half marathon time by over 20 minutes, which is a plus. Disney rocked it out. they volunteers were amazing and there were still tons of characters on the course, monsoon or not. The expo was crazy, but not overly so. The race itself ran smoothly, but......

 

I was a victim of "medalgate", part one. I was packing up to leave on Monday morning, and as I leaned over my daughter's bed, the middle just fell out. I thought I had fixed it, but was afraid to wear it, so I put it in my backpack. When I pulled it out later, it was broken again. I emailed runDisney though, and should have a new one by Christmas.

 

All in all, I would do Wine and Dine again if the chance arose. This was not a planned race, I scored my bibs last minute through my running club, after I found out that we would be there for my daughter's Theater Company performance.

 

I still plan to run Goofy in the future. As expensive as it is to run Disney, there is truly nothing like it! The course was hilly and treacherous, due to the rain, but it would have been  beautiful if it was dry.

 

Did you run Wine and Dine or Avengers? Did your medal break as well?