"Now It's Time to Say Good-bye, to All of runDisney" - A PTR *Updated 12/7!!*

Keels

The Official Keels of RunDisney
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Hi, everyone! I'm Keels - AKA the self-proclaimed "Official Keels of runDisney"!

Screen Shot 2017-10-04 at 9.26.22 PM.png
(That's me! Shortly after I finished my first Marathon in 2016, completing the Dopey Challenge!)

I was so successful in getting my last PTR almost across the finish line of completion, I thought I'd try it one last time ... since "One Last Time" is the theme of this whole PTR anyway!

This PTR will plan and journal my runDisney "Farewell Tour" and will cover my last two race weekends at Disney (Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend and WDW Marathon Weekend). I'll also throw in my plans for my last NYE at Epcot for a few years.

So ... let's get this show on the road!

Skip to Table of Contents
 
Last edited:
The "Farewell Tour"

So, what does this all mean?

Screen Shot 2017-10-04 at 9.39.44 PM.png
(Selfie with Pluto before I crossed my first-ever runDisney finish line - the Disneyland 5K in 2015!)

I began running Disney in 2015, and I quickly went from just one race as a Bucket List kinda thing to immediately having to run ALL THE RACES OMG REGISTER ME NOW.

Screen Shot 2017-10-04 at 9.40.16 PM.png
(I'd originally only signed up for the Half, but the pull of RD bling was too much ... even during my first race weekend!)

Fast forward to now - I've run 22 Disney races ... I'm not going to bore you by listing them all (they're in my signature), but suffice to say I've spent quite a bit of time and money traveling for these races - and even more time back here at home training for them.

After a realization back in January - and a serious heart-to-heart with my sweet and supportive husband - I decided that I'd take a long (if not permanent) break from RunDisney after the 25th Anniversary WDW Marathon Weekend. My husband, while a fan of Disney, is ready to spend travel dollars elsewhere ... and my credit card needs a chance to breathe from the workout it's been through the past two years for these race weekends.

Also, it was time for me to put this training and Disney running efforts into something good - so, for the 2018 Dopey Challenge, I decided to fundraise for Kellsie's Hope! There it was ... I was committed to one last Marathon and one last Dopey Challenge to close out my RunDisney career.

Then - a curveball! I was asked to join a Ragnar team to run the inaugural Ragnar South Beach relay! By joining that Ragnar team, it would guarantee that I would be in Florida for at least two weeks in November (more on that later). And remember how my husband wanted to spend time and money traveling to places that don't include the word "Disney"? Well, he wasted NO time and ended up buying tickets to two concerts in New Orleans in late October ... so, that meant I would be in Florida before the end of October!

What did I do?

:teacher:

You guessed it! I registered for all-three races during Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend!

I'd run the last night-run of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon back in 2015 to complete my first Coast-to-Coast Challenge - you know, the half of a half marathon? And IT. WAS. MISERABLE. The only redeeming quality was the Osborne Family Lights. And then RunDisney went for the cash-grab of turning W&D weekend into a morning race complete with a challenge, and I lost interest in running it again.

But if I'm saying goodbye to runDisney, I might as well go out in a blaze of glory with all of the #BLINGS that I can get! #amirite

And then they came out ... the medals. And it was like runDisney was rewarding me for giving Wine & Dine Weekend one last chance by running the Two-Course Challenge with this amazing Challenge medal:

Screen Shot 2017-10-04 at 9.50.37 PM.png
(YES - THAT'S A WORLD SHOWCASE PASSPORT THAT OPENS AND CLOSES!!!!!!)

DATW* is PRETTY MUCH my most favorite thing to do at Walt Disney World. So, this medal was pretty much made for yours truly - #TheOfficialKeelsOfRunDisney.

Of course, once my BFF saw the medals come out she just had to join for the race weekend. I worked my magic by completely annoying her husband until he caved and .... voila!! We were running W&D Weekend together!!!

Two runDisney race weekends. One last hurrah. Feet - don't fail me now.

(* Drinking Around the World)

Up Next: The Schedule in more detail
 
Last edited:
The Schedule

I have three Disney weekends planned for right now. Here goes:

Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend
Oct. 18 - Nov. 18, 2017*

Nov. 2 - RunDisney Health & Fitness Expo

For RD newbies, this is an event held at Wide World of Sports where all participants of the race weekend pick up their bibs, race shirts and shop various vendors that are set-up to sell merchandise for the race weekend!

Nov. 3 - Disney Fall Feast 5K
I ran this course back in 2015 back when it was called the Jingle Jungle 5K, and last year (2016) I got to participate as a bike/course monitor! I'm excited to do this race one last time, and to experience the course without construction walls from Pandora.

Nov. 4 - Disney Wine & Dine 10K
Disney 10K course are generally my favorites (I'm a fan of the 10K distance), so I originally (pre-medal) registered for the Challenge because I was under the impression it would be the same course as the WDW Marathon/Princess Weekend 10K course (my favorite RunDisney course EVER) ... but, it's not. So, yay new course?

Nov. 5 - Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon & Post-Race Party
Another new course for me, but I'm just treating it as my last supported training run before my Ragnar Relay legs the following weekend. Also, #BLINGS.
Post-race, @mbwhitti and I will check in to Yacht Club (Club-Level BABY!) and enjoy some time poolside at Stormalong Bay before we head into Epcot for some F&W time and the Post-Race Party! When we ran W&D Weekend in 2015, the race was at night and once you finished it was straight into #PartyTimeExcellent ... so, this will be another new-to-us event.

The following week, I have friends coming in for Food & Wine Festival and to see Boyz II Men as part of the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. Then, it's off to run Ragnar. Take a week to recover and then drive home. But it won't be long until we're back on the road for ...

New Year's Eve at Epcot!
The husband and I are pretty much experts at NYE at Epcot (excuse me while I pick up that #HumbleBrag that I just dropped), so we have a pretty set routine that we follow and religiously stick to.
Hotel: Swolphin (booked on Marriott/SPG Points)
ADRs: Spice Road Table, Chefs de France
Goal: To booze and have fun!

It's good that I get all of my partying out of my system on New Year's Eve and have a few days to recover, because RIGHT after that ... we head into:

2018 WDW Marathon Weekend
Jan. 3-7, 2018

This will be my third Marathon Weekend, and for the third (and final!) time I'll be participating in the Dopey Challenge.

For as much as I love going Dopey - I also HATE it. I'm a night owl and those four early a.m. wake-up calls are MISERABLE. And because Dopey is four races over four days, I have to cut back on park time as the week goes on ... which sucks, since every year we have quite a few friends that come in for the long weekend to run/spectate/play in the parks.

It's LITERALLY a five-day marathon (that involves a marathon) ... it starts with this:

Screen Shot 2017-10-04 at 10.22.02 PM.png
(Four races calls for two bibs because double the fun! #NoMath)

Jan. 3 - RunDisney Health & Fitness Expo
Here, I'll pick up my TWO bibs (one for the 5K and 10K, another for the Half and Full Marathons), and my SIX race shirts (5K, 10K, Half, Full, Goofy and Dopey)

Jan. 4 - Walt Disney World 5K
An early morning fun run around Epcot!

Jan. 5 - Walt Disney World 10K
An even earlier, even longer fun run around Epcot and the Epcot Resorts - where my friends will be waiting to give me a beer at Mile 5.

Jan. 6 - Walt Disney World Half Marathon
The 13.1-mile "Calm Before the Storm" ... the first of TWO races that will involve running through the castle.

Jan. 7 - Walt Disney World Marathon
AKA - WHY THE HECK AM I DOING THIS AGAIN I HATE MARATHONS AND THE NUMBER 26 AND OMG THERE IS THE FINISH LINE CAN WE DO THIS AGAIN?!?!?!?!

Which ends up with me in the parking lot at Epcot like this:

Screen Shot 2017-10-04 at 10.23.27 PM.png
(Beer has never tasted better or colder or more fabulous than when you're drinking it in a parking lot with three medals)

Hotel: Beach Club Villas
ADRs (in no particular order): Spirit of Aloha Luau, Jiko, Yak & Yeti, Monsieur Paul, Il Mulino, STK, Kimonos

And with that ... my RunDisney career will be over! I'll likely spend Monday celebrating my RunDisney retirement by (yet again) DATW.


* We drive from Texas to Florida to spend time with my parents, so we generally stay in Florida for a few weeks with our dogs to make the 18-hour drive worthwhile.
 
Last edited:


No...don't say it isn't so! Makes me sad not to follow your runDisney adventures!
 
I KNOW!!!! :sad:

But it's time ... I need the break, I think!

I love how you basically left the door open...with I think! I totally can understand where you are coming from! I have been thinking very hard of giving up this entire running thing but for different reasons...mainly this OLD POOH BODY has had enough and I keep pushing and it keeps giving me a new ache and pain. I really wanted Dopey 2018, but thanks to 6 months in a boot post Wine & Dine last year and then 3 months of PT it just was not happening and then doing something stupid like signing up for Wine & Dine with less than 3 months to train does not help...I am considering Marathon 2019 with Coast to Coast...and then Dopey 2020 but frankly something has to give and I think it might be the running!

I am so excited though I can follow along as you say goodbye...I have admired your running from afar on social media for a couple of years now...but thankfully I get to follow your other adventures.
 


After a realization back in January - and a serious heart-to-heart with my sweet and supportive husband - I decided that I'd take a long (if not permanent) break from RunDisney after the 25th Anniversary WDW Marathon Weekend. My husband, while a fan of Disney, is ready to spend travel dollars elsewhere ... and my credit card needs a chance to breathe from the workout it's been through the past two years for these race weekends.

I haven't been running Disney nearly as excessively as you, I limit myself to one race weekend a year. But I can see this exact conversation going down with me and my husband. I'm excited to watch your last hurrah and hopefully we can meet at the W&D. Preferably DATW. ;)
 
I haven't been running Disney nearly as excessively as you, I limit myself to one race weekend a year. But I can see this exact conversation going down with me and my husband. I'm excited to watch your last hurrah and hopefully we can meet at the W&D. Preferably DATW. ;)

Yeah ... when we finally had the discussion, I could tell that he'd been wanting to bring it up for a while but wanted me to be the one to start the conversation. It basically started with:

Me: "Hey ... so ... the besties and I want to do a couples cruise for New Year's Even in 2018. What do you think?"
Him: "Hmmmmmm. I dunno."
Me: "Well, we aren't doing Marathon Weekend in 2019, so it totally works with our schedules!"
Him: "Book it."
 
My husband has told me I'm limited to one Disney race a year. I think this year put him over the edge! It's even been a year since our last family trip. and we're planning to do Philly for a family vacay this summer. I might cry, even though I know it's a wise choice! Glad I get to celebrate the finale wtih you!
 
Last edited:
My husband has told me I'm not limited to one Disney race a year. I think this year put him over the edge! It's even been a year since our last family trip. and we're planning to do Philly for a family vacay this summer. I might cry, even though I know it's a wise choice! Glad I get to celebrate teh finale wtih you!

Yeah - I was in the same boat. Doing Dopey-Princess-Tink-Disneyland last year was what did my husband in ...
 
I have this thought inside my head all the time... "am I being too selfish with all the running trips?" I'm just keeping them spread out a little more, hoping no one will notice...

Meanwhile I'll vicariously quit via your TR.
 
I have this thought inside my head all the time... "am I being too selfish with all the running trips?" I'm just keeping them spread out a little more, hoping no one will notice...

Meanwhile I'll vicariously quit via your TR.

Half the point of this PTR is to basically hold me accountable to this "quitting"!

Of course, I had a client ask me to come assist he and his family on a trip in February ... which, of course, falls over Princess Weekend. And what's the first thing I did? Check all the pertinent sites to see if there were bibs.

It's a sickness, really. I need Betty Ford for runDisney.
 
I KNOW!!!! :sad:

But it's time ... I need the break, I think!

I keep saying I should take a break...but I just can't quit runDisney. I didn't even take a break when I was injured and could only walk the 5K. I really should though...
 
If you are drinking around the World on the day after the marathon in January, perhaps we will cross paths! My fiance and I are doing our bachelor/bachelorette parties that day in the World Showcase!

I feel like you need to post a picture of all your runDisney medals! It must be quite the collection now!
 
I think this is a great opportunity honestly. First you get to run all things and see a ton of people from the boards for the last time for a while either in November or January. Then you get to have new adventures. Let's be honest runDisney is amazing but it's a huge cash drain and it's been getting a little stale. I for one think I will open up a world of new running (and triathlon) opportunities for you since race weekends elsewhere are far more reasonable than Disney in many cases.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top