sarah runs a lot: Race Report: Walt Disney World Half Marathon

Thought I would end January with my race recap of the Disney Half Marathon! An update on upcoming races will come soon!

The weekend was a blast - we had gorgeous weather and I had so much fun running half number 30. Let's start at the beginning.

Expo

The expo was insanely packed. In 6 years of Disney Half's I have never seen it so packed. The parking lot was insane and inside it was ridiculous. We picked up our packets (which is an a separate hall and was not as crowded) and then head to shirt pick up. The shirts this year were a bright yellow. I really liked them - it's a color I don't have a lot of, so I was glad to get it. It's a Champion shirt, which I don't really love. They place the seams on the arms in a weird spot (note to runDisney!). Shortly before the race, runDisney announced a new partnership with New Balance so I am hoping they start using New Balance shirts moving forward.

Race Shirt

See? Awkward seam placement

Following shirt pickup, we made a quick stop in the store, where they did not have my branded race wine glasses! So instead I got a pint glass (note to runDisney - where were the wine glasses?). Following the store, we headed over to the runDisney booth as they had early registration for the Disneyland Half and 10K available. There was a pretty long line and it did not move super fast, and while we debating not waiting, we did. After waiting, we both got registered for the Dumbo Double Dare - a new race during the Disneyland Half weekend which includes the 10K and Half. And thank got we did - when registration opened it sold out in 2 hours! Phew!

The rest of the expo was so insanely packed (and we had a dinner reservation to make) that we skipped the rest of the expo.

Race Day

Got a pretty good night of sleep and headed to the race nice and early. The weather was warmer then usual and especially humid. Was placed in Corral A and got there early and relaxed. Joey Fatone from 'NSYNC was running the race and happened to be right next to me getting interviewed. The 12 year old in my wanted to go talk to him, but the NYer in me did not.

12 year old me is soooo jealous.

The race started promptly at 5:35am and off I went! The humidity was brutal and by mile 2 I was sweating. This being #30, I knew it was a special one for me. I wanted to enjoy it so really tried not to focus on my pace and stopped for photo's with all the characters. When I was actually running my pace was about a 9:50. but when factoring in my time waiting for photo's, it was much slower. I took some on my phone too, but the professional ones turned out so cute that I am going to have to buy them! Once I do, I'll post my favorites to the blog. I've included some of my favorites from my phone (ones that the photographer didn't get) at the bottom of this post.

This race meant so much to me and I really enjoyed it. I could not have imagined a better way to celebrate my upcoming 30th birthday and my 30th Half Marathon.

Official race time: 13.1 miles, 2:22:14, 10:51 pace

Garmin time: 13.43 miles, 2:22:13, 10:35 pace

Splits: