It’s been awhile, so details are going to be fuzzy – but hey, I feel like I do need to add my perspective to the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.
I started out very excited – was having a blast at the resorts, and then I woke up early Friday morning for a shake-down run. THAT did not go well. Pain in my hip that nearly stopped me in my tracks. What I was planning on being 3 miles, turned into 1, and only about ½ of that was running.
So, when it was time to get ready for the race, I was already frustrated and worried about finishing. I told WO his job was to keep my forward momentum going and get me across the finish line so I could get my Coast to Coast medal. We got dressed, headed to the buses and the start line festivities.
The start line was super fun. We got pictures with Mickey and got a ton of compliments on the Milo Thatch and Kida costumes. Finally it was time to start heading to the corrals… and while we were in the crowds to get to our starting corrals – we were diverted. Everyone had been watching the weather on our phones, and the storm that everyone was tracking was headed our way… with a ton of lightening. We were evacuated from the starting line and into the Wide World of Sports complex. This was not great for someone who is as claustrophobic like me. Luckily we got inside and found a corner where I had some space and could sit.
For a long time, we had no idea what was going on. With so many people on their phones, getting bandwidth was nearly impossible, and with 20,000+ runners spread throughout the complex it was hard to get official news. The runDisney Twitter account ended up being the best source of information. We finally found out that the race WOULD still happen, but they were going to have to divert the course – cutting almost 6 miles off the distance.
Finally released – we headed back to the corrals. More confusion… It wasn’t as easy to see where we were headed – and no volunteers to point us in the right direction, so we ended up in the wrong corral; two corrals behind where we were supposed to start. We crossed the start line near midnight, and I admit that I was bummed that we weren’t going to get to run through Animal Kingdom (the portion of the race that was cut due to the storms) but I was just relieved that we were getting to run and we would still get our Coast to Coast medals if we completed the race (trust me, while huddled in the corner earlier, there were tears about the possibility of neither happening)
Due to the shortened course – the roads were crowded. Lots of weaving in and out of people. Long lines for characters, though we did stop for a few. Once we started moving, all I wanted to do was finish. So much so that I totally ignored my body and pushed way too hard. I was never so happy to cross a finish line in my life. The finish area was also PACKED, again probably from the shortened course. The compressed time didn’t give the early finishers much time to clear out. But we got our medals, free glass of wine, and headed into Epcot for the finish party.
Let me just say that the crowds for the After Party were insane. It was more crowded then when we were there earlier in the week. We did walk the entire Pavilion, stopped for a few pictures and some drinks… and then headed back to the resort. We were both wiped out. Did I mention that it was 75 degrees and with about 90% humidity, and YES I ran the entire 7.1 miles in a wig. Thankfully there wasn’t a terribly long line for the transportation back to the resort, and even better… our room was pretty damn close to the bus stop, because once I stopped walking my hip and knee decided they were done working for me.
Over all – I was disappointed with my experience; panic attacks, pain, and frustration are never fun. But I won’t blame my reactions and experience on runDisney. They did the best they could. There are only so many places they could have put runners to get them out of the storm area. And let’s not forget – Disney is powerful, but they can’t control the weather. I also can’t judge the race – the course seems to be nice, but circumstances didn’t really let me experience it. I can see where some areas may have been crowded even with the runners spread out more, but nothing like the areas of the Avenger’s course (which didn’t have enough room to have more than 2 runners across)
I’m not willing to cross this one off the list. Before I form a real opinion on the race, I want to run it as it was meant to be run.
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