Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Recap... Late Is Better Than Never... Right?

Recently I've been seeing a lot of friends post pictures of their summer trips to Disney and posts about registering for one Disney race or another.  It made me think of Disney's Wine and Dine half marathon and the Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k I did in November with my mom. It was a blast.  I know I didn't seem like it then but it was an awesome trip.  I wish I could have let go of all the stuff going on in my head that weekend.  I was really stressing out about having to run not just 13.1 miles but 13.1 miles at night.  It's a distance I had covered numerous times before but never on so little and I mean soo little training.  I completely let it get the best of me. I developed a new found respect for the distance, my mom, and myself that weekend though. I might not have known it then but in the months after I started thinking about that race, the distance, the fact that I used to think 13 miles was nothing, and about the fact that not everyone can say, "My Mom runs half marathons for fun." That is pretty cool.

Okay, so rewind to why we did the race if I wasn't training... In February and March of 2013 I was running a lot, training for a half marathon PR and getting ready to start marathon training.  My mom had the most awesome idea, since I LOVE Disney and we both love running, to do Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon for my 30th Birthday.  She registered us for the race as well as Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k that weekend, booked the flights and hotels, and bought tickets for the parks.  I was excited.  While we took a lot of family vacations growing up this was going to be the second trip I took with just my mom, our first was the week I turned 20.  My mom might not have realized that the trips were going to be for 2 milestone birthdays but I loved the idea.

We flew out on a rainy, cold day in November and arrived in Orlando to nice warm weather.  I was happy to be getting a few days of sunshine in the middle of November. I felt like a little kid when we landed and were getting ready to board the Disney's Magical Express to our Disney accommodations.

On our way to the expo

The next day we went to the race expo to pick up our packets and check the expo out.  First, I have to say I've never been to such a large expo. Second, wow were they organized! Packet pick up for both races didn't take too long and then off to some shopping! I didn't love the race shirt I got for the HM because it was way too big.  They had x-small's but didn't offer them when we registered and we could exchange them but they were out of that size already.  So we went shopping for a race shirt of our own.  I wanted an ornament too.  On every vacation that's what I bring back as a souvenir.

Expo goodies

My mom and I with a few of
 the characters during the 5k

Our first race was the Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k.  We woke up hours before the sun did, got ready, boarded a bus, and got in our corrals to wait for the race to start.  Did I mention it was super early?  Disney made up for it by having it snow while we were waiting to start.  Yup, Disney made it snow for us! There were tons of characters along the 5k course that started in a parking lot, went through Animal Kingdom, and finished in Animal Kingdom's parking lot.  The race was more of a fun run.  You could look at the clock for your finish time but it wasn't chip timed so we stopped to take pictures with all of the characters. The 5k was a lot of fun.  If you are heading to Disney to do one of their races I recommend signing up for their race weekend 5k too.  It was a great shake out run.  

The half marathon ::insert scary music:: had me worried.  I was really stuck in my own head during this race.  I felt bad that I had to take so many walk breaks, my poor mom but she stayed with me the whole race.  The race was really cool and there was such great energy there.  The have a million corrals (okay really 15 or so) and before we have to get in our corrals you can take pictures with characters, dance, eat, or just hand out around this large field.  They had the characters set up in one area to the side of the stage where they had people entertaining us.  Once in our corrals we waited for the race to start.  Each corral started 2 minutes after the previous corral, they pushed us up to the start line, and off we went when the fireworks went off.  There were TONS of characters during the 13.1 miles! We ran on the resorts roads, up overpasses, through parking lots, over Disney's Boardwalk, through Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and finally Epcot where we ran to the finish line in Epcot's parking lot.  I loved running through the parks and back lots at night.  We had already run through Animal Kingdom during the 5k so I enjoyed Hollywood Studios and Epcot the most.  My favorite part to run through was The Osborn Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in Hollywood Studios. 

After the race we went into Epcot for the Wine and Dine Festival and ate and drank our way around the world.  It was fun but we were tired after a little bit.  In the days before and after the race we went to Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom.  We rode as many rides as we could and even took pictures with a few characters.  I even got my mom to go on Aerosmith's Rocking Roller Coaster.  I forgot it went upside down so I told her it was a lot like Space Mountain, oops! 

If you are debating about whether or not to do a Disney race I say do it! It might not be a super serious racing experience but its a super fun running experience that also happens to be a chip timed race. I know I will be doing another one!

Have you done a Disney race before? If so, what one has been your favorite? Are you planning a Disney race, which one?