Suite life and 1st Marathon TR 2023 (Completed 2/12)

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Hello Everyone!

We just got back from Run Disney Marathon weekend. It was such a wonderful trip and I created a lot of specials memories including becoming a marathoner . I hope you enjoy it.

Basics:
Jan 6th- Jan 9th
AKL 1 bed DVC Club Level

Who are we:
2 Adults
Me: The Disney obsessed runner.
My Mom: She is my cheer squad.


I hope you guys enjoy reliving one of the most special moments of my life. Please feel free to ask questions or comment.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Chapters
Day 1
Arrival
Expo
Dinner Club LV
Dessert Time
Day 2
Breakfast
Wine by George
Afternoon and Dinner at Club
Day 3
Waking up
Start
Epcot
MK
More MK
My first character stops
AK
Snake!
Castle Pic Found!
Margarita Stop
FINISHLINE!
EPCOT Medal Pics
Core Memory
Dinner
Day 4
Leaving
​

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Day 1 Friday
Wow I had serious fomo. I have been watching all the social media accounts of people already doing wdw marathon weekend. But finally today is my day to join in and try for my first marathon.
I live close by airport so easy drive and we park at the airport since it is a quick trip.
My mom flys first class so I check in my bag under my mom.
We are flying united. Yeah. Especially after watching the southwest issues.
While we wait we see a lot other people in rundisney outfits. We ended up chatting with one. Everyone is flying in for the marathon. Colorado is a big running state.
I say goodbye to mom when we go in...mom is first class and in am in economy plus.
Nothing special with the flight. We landed and made it to Orlando! We get our bags and I check lyft and Uber. Both are expensive so we check taxi and it is a little cheaper and we can grab one right away. Perfect.
They dropped us up to our home. AKL.
We checked in online so we can scan our magic bands up to conceriage lv on the elevator.
Man I love checking in here. The staff is so nice.
They let us know our room is not ready yet but can leave our bags with them. They give us our gifts and buttons. They ask if we want a drink and we start with jungle juice mimosas.

Also free mickey ice cream bars!!

The view from up here soo great!!


Next we need to head to the expo to pick up big, shirts and shop!
We head down and I see Jojo vlogger.

We say hi, he is very friendly and we chat about the marathon. He said he wants to do but always misses the registrations. Which is hard, it was hunger games to get registered for this race.
We head out and see the sign for the rundisney busses. They bring in outside busses to help with logistics.
We then head to the expo. The expo is at the ESPN area. I head to the offical rundisney merch first.


I did not take pics inside of the merch area but this is what I got. There was a lot already sold out but I had someone from disboards get me a few things. Coming towards the end of the expo is not the as good for merch. But still lots of fun photos ops including characters meet and greets! I got in line to meet Goofy!
Continuing on to next post

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

More pics, they have your number are running to take pics with too.

Then we move to a different building for bib pick up. It is amazing how big everything is... one good thing about coming late though no line to get in anywhere. Getting my bib was easy and they had some great photo ops here too.

Next we head to the expo building to pick up shirts.


U have to walk through all the outside vendors to get the shirts. We stay good and do not buy anything. I already spent a small fortune offical rundisney merch. But we do stop by the dvc booth for a free dvc luggage tag.



Then it is time to head back. We want to get back to our room to unpack. Getting on the busses super easy again. They are really good with their signage and find the AKL bus.
We head back to the hotel and find out our room is ready now.
The cool thing about staying DVC Club lv...we are right on the lobby 6th floor. So no long walk down halls.
Here is our one bedroom looks like.


The view not good for these room though. Get a view of the pool and that is why dvc got them. But we knew that when booking them.
Continuing to next post.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Welcome everyone!

 

[Counting Stars]

Following! This is very cool- so admire anyone who is able to compete in these events, just Wow!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Following! This is very cool- so admire anyone who is able to compete in these events, just Wow!

Ahh thanks! And welcome!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next up it is dinner time at the club level.
I got a yummy selection.
The club has get their food from Boma. So the hummas, soups, etc... are all from there. Man
Man this hummas.... I just looove!!

Ohh and they had the butterchicken!!! I got so many of these yummy little plates. Good news is u can get as much as you want. So I go back up a few times for more of the buttered chicken.
Also drinks are all included so we drink some of their wine.


We are full so we decided to walk outside to see some animals and we take our wine with this cause why not? Lol.



I really cannot get enough of this xmas tree.
We walk outside and check out the animals.


We walk around and see they are doing the fire for the roasting marshmallows!
So guess what we do next?!

I got eat yummy carbs before the run, right? Esp free carbs.

This was such a fun activity and I love that it is still free.
Continuing on to next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

After marshmallows we walked a little more around checking out the animals.

We head back up and now they have desserts out. I mean how could I resist. The desserts are a better than I remember than last time. The cookies are great.
Also they have after dinner drinks out so we pour ourselves a little something. We are enjoying our club perks.

Ohh and had to get mickey icecream sandwhich.

Why do these taste soo good??
Well we are officially stuffed and maybe a little tipsy. I drink a bunch of water before I head to bed and go to sleep. Such a great first day.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Day 2
Good morning beautiful tree... some point I will stop taking pictures of this tree... but today is not that day.


We head out to get breakfast and it is my fav from Boma, sticky buns!!!!!

Should I admitted to how many of these I may or may not have eaten? Lol they are soo good though so really not my fault.
So after I eat way to many sticky buns... we then grab breakfast for tommorow. So get bananas, hard boil eggs, bagels and cream cheese. That way we have breakfast ready to go for our 2 am wake up call.
Then we relax in the room for the bit. Trying to get things organized for the run tommorow.
Then we head down to the busses to head to disney springs. I notice this sign for the run.
We head to disney springs bus and not much of wait at all.
We get off and I love seeing all the trees without the crowds. I came here during Thanksgiving and it was soo crowded hard to see things.


First thing I get is the ornament I heard that was at the co op before they sell out. The race ornament already sold out at expo but facebook groups said they had some their and yes I was able to get one!

Next we do a little shopping but nothing sticking out. We go to Gideons to get on the que and next we walk around exploring while also waiting to meet another disboard person who was able to get a few things for me for the marathon just incase they sold out before I got there.


We get a text from her and decided to meet infront of wine by george since that is our next reservation. She was soo nice getting this stuff for me.
Then we head to to our reservations.
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

We check into Wine by George.
We ask for outside table which was empty since southerners thought it was cold outside. It felt great to us.
We had a great view and we got to listen to the live music play at the concert are and people watch.

Next we check out the menu.
We are here during brunch so it is a different menu.
I loove brunch
And I had to try Frozato Mimosa made with dole whip!!!! Yes please!!!

My drink is sooo yummy!
Mom got a coffee acholic drink she loved called Wake Up Call, Espresso-Infused Barsol Pisco, Caffè Borghetti Espresso Liqueur for 15.

We order apps which are the crispy Mac cheese balls that they are known for... these are to die for. There is a reason everyone raves about these.I got Fried Chicken Biscuit
Pimento cheese, bacon relish, sunny side egg for 19. Ohh my gosh!!! This was amazing!!! Sooo good, I ate every bite! It was cooked perfectly.
My mom got the Wine Country Omelet
artichoke / olive & tomato medley / Havarti / for 16. She looved it. Everything she said was freshen and cooked perfectly. She ate every bite.

Got to do some fun pics with my drink.

Our waiter was soo nice and very funny. He also helped make our brunch special. We both highly recommend this restaurant brunch. It is reasonably priced, service was amazing, our atmosphere was fantastic and the food was out of this world and then the drinks!!!
The other great part about this place it is right next to Gideon's Bakehouse. So just as we finished brunch my virtual wait was up!! Perfect. So I head right next store and check in. Sadly u still wait in a line but it is not to bad.
We head inside. Man this place looks soo cool.



Continuing on next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I got a couple of cookies. Cookie Butter Butterscotch Cookie, cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie.

So here is what we got from shopping around. We got some gifts for families and I got a disney cooling towel.

We head back to the AKL and switch to bathing suits, pool time!!


Relaxtion time!
I also head to the hot tub for a bit and talk to people there. There were quite a few doopy people in there.
Before dinner I head on up and get changed for the club dinner.
The ranch is actually different and more flavor


The falafel was little dry... but if u dip it into the amazing soup it was wonderful. So that was the trick. This was a great meal before my race. Yummy and a bit healthy.
Then I head to mara to get zebra domes!! Have to have zebra domes before marathon race. Very important.
So need to head to bed early. Waking up at 2am for my first marathon. I do my flat lay for my insta running pics and then head to bed.

Continuing to next post.

 

[Counting Stars]

The anticipation is building.... just know you're gonna do great!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

The anticipation is building.... just know you're gonna do great!

Ahh thanks!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Alarm ️ wakes us up at 2am!!
We wake up and get ready.
Mom gets the coffee and bagels ready (that we got the previous day)
Then we head out before 2:30 am. Looks like we make it onto the first bus!! We sit down and then I realized I forgot my head phones. Eeep. I run back to our room. Luckliy since I dvc club level the rooms are in the lobby on 6th floor so no running down the long hallways. I get my headphones and head back. Mom is sitting a chatting to the person coordinating the busses. She had to get off the bus beacuse that one left. But good news a bus has already replaced it. The AKL bus coordinator is really good, mom talked to her about how they have the run busses waiting to the side and have another one always waiting. So now we take a seat and I do not run out the bus. Yeah.
Now we head to the race!!
They drop off us off at the bus drop off in epcot and we follow the crowds.
Spaceship earth is shining.


We continue walking. The bag checked laughed at my mom's bag saying u got everything in there... including a big cow bell for cheering.
We follow the crowds and pass the finishline. I wave to it and tell it I will hopefully see u again today.
We go to character area. There are quite a few characters out like Megera but the lines were already super long.
I hit up Tarzan since he had a shorter line since he did not have an official photopass photographer.
I meet another disboard person in line she recognized my costume.
Then time to meet Tarzan, I am excited since this is a character I have never met before. He was fascinated my hat.
Then next we do another smaller line. This has a photographer but no characters. But it does have the cool logo on it.

Next we head over to the disboard meeting area. It is cool to see some of the people I have been chatting with for like a year while we have been training and speculating during this whole journey.
It looks like they opened up the corrals early and I see people heading to it so I get worried and tell my mom I think it is time to head out.

It is a little chilly so I have the emergency blanket on me and it keeps me perfect.
I go to the bathrooms. Then follow the crowds. I heard it is a long walk like over a mile to get the starting area.
They were not joking it is super long!!! And at least a mile.
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[DisneyMountainWoman]

They split you up based on your corral placement. I was lucky and got C an earlier corral. So I head up to it. I am near the front of the corral yeah!! I pick one next to the railing so I have a place to stretch my calves on while I wait and sit. My calves tend to get tight the easiest. Then wait and wait... it is still like an hour to the race begins and then u still have to wait till your corral is called.

It is getting packed in here some pics of crowds. It is hard for me to get good pics of this cause I am short, lol.
This pic shows how close I am to the front of thr C corral since I could see B sign which is the back of it.

I chat with the people around us. There are bathrooms on the other side of the fence so tall people hop over them to go to the bathroom. I have never been soo jealous of tall people. Knowing me I would injure myself right before the run. Wish they had some more breaks in the fence with a vol manning it so we could go to the bathroom.
We listen also to the prerace entertainment. They try so hard.
Then the race starts!!!
We slowly move up like a heard of cows.... mooo.

They do little mini waves. Where they stop u and allow a break and do another start including fireworks.

And then we are off!!!!
I start running yeah!! Now I follow the Jeff Galloway running way which is offical Disney running coach. So I run for 30 sec and then walk for 30 secs. But it is soo crowded that I run for the first 5 mins with the crowds. Then I start my 30/30. Important tips if u do thus put your hand up to warn people u are about to walk and move to the side.
They have a character already!

Now I run between 13mins to 15mins pace. U have to maintain a 16 min pace or u get pulled ( there is some wiggle room if u start and earlier corral) so I have to plan out what characters are worth waiting for... cause waiting in line costs time and the lines can get long and I am not fast enough to be able to make up that time of I do it to much. My plan is not stop for any characters lines in the dark. I do not want to waste any cool running time cause once the sun comes up it gets hot!! And I do not run well in heat and humidity coming from Colorado, I do better in the cold. Then when the some comes up stop and reasonable wait time characters lines.
First mile marker! The times will all be a bit off since they are based off the first people who started. So about 20 mins off.


Next bell.

Okay I slightly lied... he had no line... so I did a quick selfie with green army man. He is normally at the end not the beginning. It is blurry though... my phone does not take great night pics.

Sebastián!

Continuing on to next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next mile 2

Ohh hades!! I love they had even smoke going!

Then we running through epcot!! We get to through it twice. So happy we got it glowing in the dark. Such a great photo pass pic!!

Then a selfie

I was hoping to use a bathroom in epcot but lines are super long... bah.
Next mile marker.

Pocahontas next

Meko next

Wow they really have a lot of characters in the begin.
Ohh my Oogie Boogie!!!! The line was soo long.
But soo cool to see him outside of holloween party.

Mile marker 6

The ants!

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[DisneyMountainWoman]

I think 7... hard to see.

It is starting to get light out.
Wow long line for them... 3 characters in one line!

Mile marker 8

So we pass TTC and there is a bathroom there still line of course... this sucks being a women. We have such long lines while guys have no lines.
I see there is a family bathroom with a shorter line so I wait in that. And then the sucky thing happens. I go to the bathroom and at some point my watch decided I fell and the emergency setting went off. Bah!!! That means my run stopped. So now I have to restart my garmin.... I now do not get to have a full marathon on my garmin . And my times are all off too. So pass by the drummers do not take a pic like I did for Princess run cause I am grumpy.
Mile 9

And run a little grumpy till I see Magic Kingdom. Isee the tree... okay well now I am soo happy again cause who could not be happy looking at that xmas tree!!


Then turn and see castle!! This is the most magical part of the whole run. I keep an eye for my mom and spotted her. Here is the pic she took of me.
For those who do not know they open the monorail up for spectators to take to MK and then they open up mainstreet for people to cheer even if u do not have a ticket!! I grab more food from mom and switch water bottles.

Ohh my the castle looks gorgeous in this morning light!


Tommorowland...

And I try and fail a jump pic...

Yep... that is me. Lol.
Continuing on to next post.