DOPEY 2016 Part 4 - Sat, Jan 9, 2016 - Mouseketeers take over Donald's Half Marathon

Who's the Leader of the Club that's Made for you and Me!  M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

It's time for the half marathon.

The alarm was set for 2:45am.  Unlike yesterday I woke up today feeling refreshed, excited and ready to go.  It wasn't raining, but it was going to be a warm humid day.

A large group of us were running the half marathon today as Mouseketeers.  We had our white shirts, black skirts, shorts or leggings and our mouse ears.  I had to go with the braids a la Darlene and Sherry and we added very cute polka ribbons to our hair.

I felt a little rushed getting out the door this morning but still made it to the runners area with more than enough time.  I wasn't carrying my fuel belt and since I had the car I didn't feel the need to do bag check, so getting through security was easier for me than I heard it was for some.  I just walked right in.

Although I didn't need it to keep warm, I brought my space blanket to sit on this morning.  I was feeling lazy and found a spot and took a seat for a while. No need to stand the entire 2 hours before we start running)

We assembled in front of T-Z for our group picture.  (Or 2 or 3 different versions of the group picture)

Soon enough it was time for the walk to the corrals.  As we left the staging area we all joined in an sang the Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song.  

Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and Me.  M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!  Hey there Hi There Ho there you're as welcome as can be M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Mickey Mouse - Donald Duck - Mickey Mouse - Donald Duck.  Forever let us hold our hands up high - high- high- high.  Come along and sing the song and join our company.  M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! 

Hanging out in Corral I before the start of the race.  Wow that is a lot of people.  (The corrals go to letter P by the way)

Finally at 5:57 we crossed the starting line.  Here is a video with our shout out from John Pelkie one of the race announcers.  

And the Selfie John took of use from the stage

And with that our band of Mouseketeers was off on a 13.1 mile adventure through the Magic Kingdom, Cone Alley, Epcot and Beyond.  

We started out with a 60:30 interval (run 60 walk 30) but skipped the first couple of walk breaks.  I was going to try to slow down and run with another friend but found I was struggling with the longer walk breaks so ended up catching back up with the big group.  I felt bad leaving her, but she told me to go and it was more difficult to walk more than it was to run more.  

The half marathon starts on Epcot Center Drive and then you take the  ramp north to World Drive. 

 There is a mile stretch from ~ 3/4 mile to 1-3/4 mile where the course comes back the other direction for mile 11-12.  I was actually shocked when I heard cheers in this stretch and realized it was the lead wheelchair group coming through already.  

There wasn't much to see in this section. It was dark, and humid and I was already soaked before the first mile.  They did have the guys on stilts around the 1-1/2 mile mark I think.  They were dancing along to Hannah Montana's Pumpin' up the Party.  

I say there wasn't much to see in this section.  You did of course have all the people running off the course to relieve themselves.  Some did not run far enough off the course and shared way more of themselves than I needed to see.

We did see the Monorail pass us.  Lots of people on board trying to get from the start line to cheer at TTC or the Magic Kingdom or the back to the finish line.  So there were lots of people waving as they passed.

After you turn onto World Drive you are close to the 2nd mile marker and we got our first "character."  I'm not sure if I count this as a real character stop or not. Most of us had targeted the other side of the street for the mile 2 mile marker.

There was a hot air balloon off to the side in this stretch somewhere,  But it was so foggy you really couldn't see it well.  

Around 2-3/4 miles into the race we entered the Magic Kingdom Parking Lot.

I honestly have no idea what we were waiting for, but I almost feel like I should have been showing off the Minnie dots under my skirt.  

And remember "Caution Runners - Speed Bumps ahead"

Finally at 3-1/2 miles into the race we came across our first real character.  Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope.  We waited about 10 minutes for this one.  

Fortunately we had a few speedy people run ahead to the next stop so our wait was no as long for Oogie Boogie

Scary

We ran through the Ticket and Transportation center and then back onto World Drive to head around in front of the Contemporary hotel and the under the lake.  (It's weird to have boats sailing over your head while you are running underneath)

We entered into the Magic Kingdom via the backstage entrance and onto Main Street about mile 5-1/2.  

Ok - time for a little Real Talk here.  I commented several times that the first few miles flew by.  Of course this probably had little to do with our pace and more to do with the fact that there were only 2 character stops in the first 5-1/2 miles of a 13.1 mile race.  TWO.  Honestly I have come to expect more than that from Disney.  

Ok - now back to our regularly scheduled programming.  It is now time to "run" down Main Street.  We moved a little faster this year down main street than we did last year at Princess.  But that really wouldn't be that hard.  We stopped outside the central hub for a couple pictures.

Yep - I am caught playing with my phone.

Love the vintage feel of our Mouseketeers in Black and White

I really need to learn to clear the moisture/fog/humidity off my phone before trying to take a picture during the race

Just a few people.

We left the central hub and headed into Tomorrowland.  We did encounter Mike Wysocki in Tomorrowland but were slightly more focused on the bathroom at that point.

 The Queen of Hearts also needed a bathroom break at the same time.  I deferred to her and let her pass me first.

And this is what we really do at races.

Stand around and wait.  Are we supposed to be running or something?

So after our 5 minute bathroom break (and the all important making sure that wet clothes are adjusted in the right way), we jumped back onto the course to continue our tour of the Magic Kingdom.  

The Queen of Hearts finished her bathroom break too, so we were able to get a picture with her and the Tweedles.  I have no idea what the Queen and I were doing here.  I think she might have wanted me to bow to her?

And Ryan just cracks me up in this picture.  

From the Queen of hearts we headed through Fantasyland deciding to skip a picture with the the bib Mime in Tangled.  

We headed instead towards the Castle.  UGH!  I hate running through the castle.  You can't even call it running.  It's more of a shuffle with no air.  It is an absolute nightmare.  Sometimes a picture says a 1000 words, but I'm going to let Susana's video show the cluster that is "running" through the Castle

"Running Through the Castle"

It's probably a really good thing she ended it there because I know I went on to describe just how miserable I was.  

We finally made it through to the other side. There really was a light at the end of the tunnel and found our way to the front of the castle.  

At Princess last year our Castle picture disappeared into a digital cloud never to be heard from again.  So this year I was determined to get a picture in front of the castle.

My attempt at jumping.  It's pretty commical.

And then we had an awesome group shot taken.

We are the next Mouseketeers

So we left the central hub and headed off for Adventure!  We're on a High High High Adventure!
But first we must go on a ghostly carriage ride

And we had to stop to take some time to play with our toys.  I think Clarabelle Cow was there when we got in line, but she and Woody Switched before we got up there.

And of course we had to try to take over the train.  I'm not sure why, it wouldn't have gotten us to the finish line, but we could have taken a three hour tour around the park.

  

Having been unsuccessful in our attempts to commandeer the train, we left Adventureland behind and exited the park through the back stage area behind Splash Mountain.

And we were able to take this epic photo with Peter Pan, Wendy, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.



We clocked an impressive 22 and 28 min mile inside the Magic kingdom and now at about 6-3/4 miles into the race it was time to leave the fun and excitement of the Magic Kingdom and face the dreaded cone alley.  (As a note we entered the Magic Kingdom about mile 5-1/4 and left at about 6-3/4.  Mile 6 was 22 minutes and Mile 7 was 28 minutes.  Not all of that time was in the park)

Cone Alley.  If you have never run a Disney race before you might be thinking what is Cone Alley?  Cone Alley is the stretch on Floridian Way between the exit from the Magic Kingdom and returning to World Drive.  Much of it is a two lane road and only one lane is reserved for runners.  The road is divided with a non-stop stream of cones (placed side by side with no gaps) between the runners half and the car half of the road.    Why is this dreaded you may ask?  Well it is a very tight and congested area when you bring it down to one lane of runner traffic, especially as you get later in the race. You are pretty much only able to go as fast as the person in front of you which means you stop being able to take regular run/walk breaks and end up walking much more of this section than you wish to.  I spent a lot of time on the grass trying to pass people.

The first part of cone alley is also very boring with nothing to see or do.  After about 3/4 of a mile of this you get to the Grand Floridian Hotel where Mary Poppins, and the Penguins are ready to take you on a magical journey inside some sidewalk art.

Somewhere along the golf course in here they did have a funny picture op where you could stick your head in the gators mouth, or pretend to hit a golf ball out of the gators mouth or off his head.  I didn't stop.

The best part about Cone Alley was that on the golf course right across from the Polynesian Resort were a bunch of friends from Team Shenanigans and the Mickey Milers.  They had candy, oranges, caramels, hugs, and high fives.  Knowing they were there made Cone Alley bearable.

Bill's offer of Trader Sam's was tempting

Great crew of runners and cheerers here!

We stopped for one more team photo with Stitch outside the Poly before we got a little spread out on the rest of cone alley.  

I think there was another character or 2 around here.  Maybe Donald or Goofy playing golf.  I don't remember, I didn't stop.

This is where the course starts to get a little mundane and you just want it to end.  You are going back along World Drive and Epcot Center Drive on the same roads you left one.  They still didn't have any characters in this stretch.  The sun is up, it is foggy and humid as all get out and you really just want to finish the race. 

Did I mention is was really muggy.  I'm talking 100% humidity muggy.  I was literally wringing sweat out of my braids muggy.  The fog made for some really surreal moments too.

I ran most of this section with Doug and Laura.  They were great company.

As you make the Clover Leaf around World Drive to turn onto Epcot Center Drive again you get a nice overpass and a very cambered road.  The cambered road is harder to deal with than the overpass.  As you come up this you get the Green Army Men yelling at you to keep going.  They weren't ordering Pushups or Jumping Jacks this year and were trying to keep people from stopping, but I did manage a quick Selfie.

At least we looked good

Shortly after this Laura needed a quick stop at the Med Tent so I told them I would see them later and kept going.  

I ran back by the guys on Stilts.  Pumpin' up the Party was playing again.  My thought at this point was what are the odds of that and wow those guys have to hate that song.  

I made the sharp turn to Epcot and up over the last Overpass.  

Coming into Epcot there were several Milers I knew cheering us on to the finish.  

I heard there were characters in Epcot, but I was apparently oblivious to them and ran right past.  I did stop for a picture in front of Space Ship Earth.

I miraculously caught up with Brittany and Caryn and Dave (I'm guessing they stopped for those characters I didn't see)

Just before the 13 mile mark we had to stop and dance and sing with the Choir.  

At mile 13 we found the rest of the team waiting for us to cross the finish line.  

And our Post Race Shot out and Selfie with John Pelkey

It was so foggy and humid that Marathon Foto's camera fogged up too.  

What an awesome race and time we had together as a group of Mouseketeers in Disney World. 

And Now It's Time to Say Goodbye to All our Company M-I-C (See you real soon) K-E-Y (Why because we like you) M-O-U-S-E

The half marathon course

I had to leave to quickly get a shower and pick up my husband and the girls at Animal Kingdom so the girls could run their race for the weekend.  The Mickey Mile.

Part 5 will cover the Mickey Mile and Animal Kingdom later. And we still have one more race to go!