2015 WDW Marathon Weekend, Part 1 – Expo and 10K

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2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

Lee and I are back a WDW Marathon Weekend to participate in the 10th Goofy Challenge. An anniversary year – and that means special bling! 🙂 We opted not to run the Dopey Challenge again this year – just couldn’t take the getting up early 4 mornings in a row. Besides, that gave two other people a chance to run it. Yeah, that’s why we didn’t do it. Total altruism on our part. 🙂

I’ve been stalking the weather all week trying to figure out what to pack for this weekend. Started off looking warmish, but as the week went on the predicted highs and lows kept going down – though of course the warmest day is still supposed to be the day of the marathon! But it looks like we will be standing around waiting when the temperature is in the 40s and low 50s, so we had to bring some throwaway clothes and trash bags, and also packed calf and arm sleeves. Once we’re running we should be ok in shorts and short sleeves, but it’s the waiting that’s hard. We still managed to get everything in carry-on bags, and they weren’t even overly stuffed! (Had to leave room to come back with at least the three new race shirts!)

Thursday, January 8 – Arrival

Alaska Airlines now has a non-stop flight from San Diego to Orlando (and vice versa), and this was our first chance to try that. Best flight experience I’ve had in a long time. The plane wasn’t full, so Lee and I had a row to ourselves. And it’s a newer plane with the less bulky seats, which felt significantly more roomy. The people in front of us didn’t recline their seats on top of us, and there were no screaming children around us. Fairly smooth flight, and only 4 hours and 40 minutes! The service was good – they came around with the beverage and food carts twice, and in between asked if we wanted coffee or anything else. I hope the flight home on Monday will be as pleasant.

We arrived about 6:00, and since we only had carry-on bags went straight to the rental car area. Had a glitch with the rental car reservation, but finally got that straightened out, and we were on the road by 7:00. It was a chilly (for Orlando) 57 when we arrived. It was downright cold that morning for the 5K – 38 at the start, with a wind advisory. The wind of course made everyone feel colder. In watching the posts of our friends on Facebook, we were pretty happy we hadn’t run Dopey this year!

At the Boardwalk we had our first issue with the Magic Bands. We’d brought five (have to color coordinate, you know), but only one of them would open our room. On our way to dinner we stopped by the Concierge Desk, who verified that they were all linked and active, but she re-encoded them, and now they all work.

After dinner at the Dolphin Fountain we came back to our room to unpack and try to go to sleep. We’re on the fourth floor overlooking the hotel entrance, and we could actually see some of the IllumiNations fireworks.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

Friday, January 9 – 10K and Expo

I was awakened about 4:00 by the sound of the announcer way over at the 10K in the Epcot parking lot. Sound carries. I could hear some of the words and the music. I got up a little bit before 6:00 and put on warm clothes, since it was only 48 outside, and went out to a spot near the Boardwalk Bakery with the Mickey Milers to cheer the 10K runners. That area is just over 4 miles into the race, and there were already a lot of runners going by when I arrived about 6:10. And it was still very dark.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

I was very surprised that the Boardwalk Bakery wasn’t open yet – they opened at 6:30. Once they opened a lot of the spectators went in, and even some of the runners went in for coffee and pastries!

It was a cool morning for the run. I saw lots of people who were wearing the long-sleeve yellow Minnie race shirt – several of us commented that it seemed like there were more people wearing the race shirt than we have ever seen.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

There were lots of costumes, and it was fun to see all of the creative ideas people had. There were a LOT of Annas and Elsas and Olafs – many of them running together in a group. The Olaf costume was seeming like a pretty good idea given the weather – it’s a little warmer. (How ironic is it that a snowman costume would be warm?) The oddest combination I saw was Anna and Elsa running with Darth Vader, though. 🙂

I saw a couple of groups where all of the runners were dressed as Snow White. I’m not sure what the term is for a collection of Snow Whites! A blizzard of Snow Whites?

There were also a lot of people dressed as Dalmatians, enough that they must have been some kind of a group, even though they weren’t running all together. It was fun to see a few of them running with a Cruella, or with a Cruella not too far away from them.

I think the most unique pair I saw were the couple dressed as Mary Poppins and Mr. Banks.

Cheering was fun, though I wish I’d brought gloves! And a cowbell. Next time…The final runners followed by the bikes and the carts came by around 7:30. We visited with our fellow cheer-ers for a while before getting some breakfast at the bakery. There was no line there, which really surprised me!

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

After breakfast we grabbed our race waivers and drove to the Expo. Very little traffic and we were able to park close, so our walk was shorter than if we’d taken the bus from the Boardwalk.

I always like seeing the race banners near the entrance to Wide World of Sports – it’s a a very nice photo spot. This time there was a cast member there to take photos of people – not a PhotoPass photographer, just a regular guy who used our camera.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend


2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

We went to the Field House first to pick up our bibs. Bib pickup for Goofy, Dopey, 10K, and 5K runners as well as Kids Races, was upstairs. So at this point almost everyone up there was a Goofy runner, since the others had already picked theirs up.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

When we picked up our bibs they told us that we needed to get our photo taken while holding our bib number. This is a new policy, and has apparently replaced the wristbands they have used to identify Goofy/Dopey runners in previous years. The policy was in place at Avengers for Coast-to-Coast runners, but it was iffy as to whether the volunteers knew to tell runners about it, and we also had wristbands there. We’ll see how well it works on Sunday when all of the runners have to be looked up on a computer instead of just showing a wristband.

Anyway…there were signs directing us to the area where they were taking the runDisney mug shots. I do have to say that this was very efficient. There were multiple photographers and backdrops, and someone at the head of the line to direct us to the next available backdrop. Mine really will look like a mug shot, since the photographer didn’t tell me to “smile” or anything – just took the photo. 🙂

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

We still had to go downstairs in the Field House to collect our shirts. They had already shut down the merchandise area there, but the bib pickup for the half marathon and full marathon were still going on.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

I like the graphic design on this year’s shirts, but I think that the Goofy shirt is an awful color. I don’t like orange to begin with but with the colors they used Goofy barely shows up on it. I really like the Donald shirt, but I wish the Mickey shirt was a lighter color. The fit and fabric are still very nice, though – I still am SO happy to have a women’s shirt that fits me!

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

When we’d seen images of this shirt on-line we though that the graphics were a lenticular or metallic, but they aren’t.

In addition to the shirts, our bags had this odd item in them (this is both of ours, so I can show front and back). It’s the size to hold a gel packet, but it has an adhesive strip on the back, and I’m not sure what you’re supposed to attach it to – I certainly wouldn’t trust it to hold during a race.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

Next we went over to the Josten’s Center to visit the main Expo – especially to see what was still available for Official Merchandise. It was just after 9:30 and it wasn’t too crowded yet.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

Though the Merchandise area was pretty busy – lots of people in the aisles. There still seemed to be a good selection of merchandise available – I was particularly surprised at how much Dopey merchandise there was. Plenty of stuff for the half and marathon, and still quite a bit for Goofy.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

They had all of the “I Did It” shirts, also, though they were down to only smalls and mediums in the Goofy shirt – and there were only 5 mediums. This one didn’t appeal to either of us – we have other “I Did It” Goofy shirts.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend


2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

I was still able to find the things that I wanted: the Goofy Challenge magnet, and the mini-medal pins for Goofy and Coast-to-Coast. Lee and I both bought the new Coast-to-Coast shirts – I like this particular design. My other Expo purchases (from other vendors) were a pair of throwaway gloves, since tomorrow is colder than I was expecting, and a pair of black and white tie-dye calf sleeves, which will go much better with tomorrow’s half marathon outfit. 🙂

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend


2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

Lee bought the new runDisney vinylmation, but we were dismayed to find that they are no longer selling the little medals that go around Mickey’s neck. The runDisney rep we asked said that they didn’t sell them for Avengers, either.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

Short line to checkout, but it moved quickly, and as Annual Passholders we received a discount. That’s always nice.

After we shopped we visited some of the other booths. The runDisney booth had the usual collection of medals, though we were hoping to see the new Pixie Dust Challenge medal, and it wasn’t there.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

I again admired the Castaway Cay Challenge medal – I really hope they will offer that in conjunction with the Wine and Dine Half Marathon this year!

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

We visited some of the other vendors and picked up a few items before leaving the Josten’s Center. This year there are more vendors located around Champions Stadium. Given the cool weather that’s probably not a very favorable spot this year.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

They had some fun cutouts to pose with over there, though.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

There were a lot of people still arriving as we were leaving, so we’d timed it pretty well. On our way back we stopped at the Hess Station near the Boardwalk to buy water and yogurt. Four containers of yogurt and 1.5 gallons of water was less than $11 – at Disney, just the water alone would have been more than that! So we’re set for food for tomorrow morning – we also brought some bagels and almond and peanut butter from home.

This afternoon we finally went into a theme park. 🙂 Our Magic Bands functioned just fine, so whatever issue we had with our doors either didn’t extend to the park passes, or was fixed when they were re-encoded.

We had lunch at Katsura Grill, and we were able to sit inside – it was still chilly outside, only 52. Hot food tasted good!

After lunch we finished our circle around World Showcase. I was surprised to see that the Christmas decorations were still up in all of the pavilions that decorate for the holidays. I guess the “undecorators” haven’t made it that far yet. 🙂

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

In Italy, the Magic Disney Screening Shrubbery is not doing a very good job of hiding this large tower. 🙂

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

We also stopped in the Karamell Kuche for some caramel goodness. Yum.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

At one of the two shops at the entrance to World Showcase we were surprised to see a pretty nice selection of Star Wars merchandise, in addition to all of the Anna/Elsa/Olaf stuff.

2015 WDW Marathon Weekend

We’ll spend the rest of the day relaxing a little bit, visiting with friends, and then going into Epcot to have an early dinner.

And then we try to sleep before our very early wakeup call tomorrow, so we can go out and run 13.1 miles! Doesn’t that sound like fun? 🙂

Learn more about my runDisney experiences on AllEarsNet TV Show #33:

You can follow me on twitter: @AllEarsLaura

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Laura Gilbreath is a native of San Diego, CA. She has been making the trek up Interstate 5 to Disneyland since she was a small child and terrified of talking tikis and hitchhiking ghosts. She and her husband Lee enjoy trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as sailings on the Disney Cruise Line.

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8 Replies to “2015 WDW Marathon Weekend, Part 1 – Expo and 10K”

  1. My brother and I were the Mary Poppins and George Banks that you referenced in your 10k blog. Thanks for the compliment! 🙂

    Hi Malissa! You’re welcome – I really liked your outfits!

  2. That blue thing you got in your bag is a credit card holder for your phone. You stick it to the back of your phone and then you can stick your credit cards etc in there and only carry it around. They sell similar ones at Disneystore.com

  3. I believe the odd item in your bags was an adhesive pocket for the back of a cell phone!

    Laura replies: Thank you, Jill. I’m glad that all of you who read my blog are a lot smarter than I am! 🙂

  4. As always I enjoy reading about your races (something I will never do). Did you ever find out what the sticky thing was for?

    Isn’t this arctic weather fun? Here in Illinois we got 6″ of snow and it got down to around 0F and it was so windy the wind chill was about -20F (school was cancelled 2 days).

    Laura replies: Thanks, Ashley. You people who live in those cold weather climates are a lot tougher than I am! Hope it will warm up for you.

  5. The odd item is a card holder (ID, credit card, etc) that you adhere to the back of your cell phone.

    Laura replies: Thank you, Brandi!

  6. Hi Laura!

    I thoroughly enjoy reading all of your reports on the different runDisney events…I have a goal to someday run in one of them!

    Just wanted to let you know what the little Goofy pouch included in your bag was. It’s a credit card/business card/ID holder that sticks to the back of your phone or phone case. I had one for work in the past and it worked great to hold my business cards. It was very sticky.

    Good luck tomorrow!

    -Chloe from Ridgeway, Virginia

    Laura replies: Thank you, Chloe! I especially appreciate your good thoughts for the marathon yesterday. I’m glad it’s done.

  7. The adhesive rubber thing is a card holder for a phone. You attach it to the back of a phone case to hold your credit cards, ID, etc. instead of having to carry a wallet. They truly work great!

    Laura replies: Thanks, Marshal! I’d never seen anything like that before. It makes sense now, and I’m glad to hear that it really works.

  8. Laura and Lee – love reading your posts (especially when they involve food). Hope to someday run into you at one of the races! Have fun in the half!

    Laura repllies: Thanks Kelley!