Disney Marathon

[RweTHEREyet]

Where can I get information about the various Disney marathons? My husband is thinking about "considering" this, but I have no information to share with him.

What makes the marathons at Disney special?

I get a feel that if he is going to do this that we would need to book our DVC rooms quickly, is that right?

[chimera]

Official website is
http://www.disneyworldmarathon.com


What makes it different...i'm not terribly experienced, but the characters, the fanfare, running through the parks, the atmosphere is a little more laid back and fun.

[PoohsPal]

What makes it different? I have no idea, but after running my first at WDW, I'm afraid I'd be bored to death anywhere else. There's a link to my marathon report in my sig. (I'd be happy to share teh 110-page scrap-book with him if you come to MI! ;)

Our final advice before the start, given my John Bingham aka The Penguin, was to take lots of pix. I took over 100, I think he'd be proud. ;)

I'm pretty sure that you can't stop for pics with Pooh and finish with the Chipmunks at non Disney marathons. ;)

If your dh is a serious runner, he may not want the distractions, but if he's looking for something hat may motivate him to do a marathon, this is it!

BWV SV studios were booked by teh 7 month window last year. However, my parents got a room at SSR through CRO 3 weeks in advance. So, if you want one of the smaller DVCs, you may want to decide soon. As long as you're there with him, how 'bout signing up for the half! You're already working out!

[RweTHEREyet]

Hubby a serious runner, no way. We have been total sedentary people for all our 25 years of marriage. This past October hubby was sent to the cardiologist and had a heart cath and was found to have undiagnosed and untreated high blood pressure, exremely high blood pressure. That meant tons of drugs that basically turned him into a zombie and made him fall asleep every time his but hit a chair or sofa.

Cardiologist said he had to lose weight and had to get the blood pressure down and had to change lifestyle. Lifestyle change started that same day, as did our way of eating, and caffeine was eliminated that very day--stopped cold turkey. Working out and exercise started in January as soon as he was able.

He is now going to heart rehab 3 days a week and we walk the other 4. He has not even started running at all yet, except on the treadmill.

After having a friend run the Disney marathon about 6 months after having brain surgery, hubby think's it is an attainable goal for him. I am supporting him in all aspects of his rehabilition that I can, but I am not a runner in any way shape or form.

So, I am sure he would find the Disney marathon just his cup of tea. And I am guessing that the beginner race is the 1/2 marathon, right? There is nothing less than that?

For someone to go and participate in the 1/2, just what days would you definitely need to be there?

[PoohsPal]

Duh...I knew most of that. Sorry.

There is a family 5k on Saturday the 6th. Beyone that, the half is the best start.

You do not have to run, you can walk. ALthough, you need a 16 minute pace and that's hard if you son't have really long legs. Many people make up for this by doing intervals where they walk 3 or 4 minutes and then run one or 2 minutes.

Way to go to both of you for changing your lifestuyle. It sounds like it was a no-brainer to you, but many just keep on the same path and it's so sad.

Dh and I did our first marthon in January. Now, we used to be runners and thought we were in ok shape, but we sitll woul dnot have made it without the encouragement we gave each other. (Ok, ther were days I wanted ot kill him, but who doesn't have those days?) We started with a walk/run plan and slowly transistioned to a full run.

I would highly encourage you to try to train with him. I would also start with a combination walk/run if not a 100% walk to start. There's a lot of good info on the marathon team thread, especially near the beginning with links and recommended books. I highly recommend John Bingham's Marathoning for Mortals.

The half is the mornign of Saturday the 6th. You need to pick your race packet up at teh marathon expo before that. I think teh expo opens Thursday, so you could go Thursday or Friday. If you want to make it a short trip, you could show up Friday afternoon (I think the expo closes at 7, but you'd want to confirm when it gets closer). Anyway, Friday afternoon to late Saturday morning is your least possible stay. I'd highly recommend sticking around to cheer for the Full Marathon Team on Sunday, though. ;) ;)

HTH! Disney was the only thing that could ever motivate me to run a marathon, as I swore it off after hs. This is probably the best bet for your dh. The only reason we are doing it again, is that we know we will stop runnign if we don't have a big goal.

Feel free to pop in the Marthon team thread or post more questions here. Hope you will both be joining us! (Even if you don't end up signing up, feel free to join ythe MouseOwners Team on your dh's behalf.) HTH!

PS, Have your dh read my trip report. It's for the full, but the half still has characters and goes to MK and Epcot.

[chimera]

Here's my half marathon trip report if your DH would like to read it. This year was my first so it might be helpful to him. I trained to do it in intervals, walking for 3 min, then running for 2 min through the whole 13.1 miles!

http://www.mouseowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1101

[Dennyha]

You guys are really motivating. I'm thinking about shooting for the half M next January. I've been called a lot of things, but I've never been called a runner. I typically run 3 miles at a time, about 2 or 3 times a week (I'll have to stay with 3 times so I don't get torched off of Treasure Island). The most I've ever run has been 6 miles. I think that if I focused, I could (maybe) work up to a 1/2 M. (It sounds crazy when I see the words in front of me.)

Somewhere, I read where someone recommended a book to train for a marathon. Does anyone know that book?

I'll have to give this some serious thought.

[nono]

C'mon Dennyha and Rwe!!!! What else are you going to do New Year's Week for 2006???? I can't think of a better thing to be doing than tapering for a "fun run" through WDW!!!! :yes: (I'm signed up for the 1/2. I'm a non-runner -- well just a couple miles here and there over the years).

[PoohsPal]

Dennyha - I nominate you for the full, but I'll settle for teh half. ;) DH and I had not run in over 15 years when we started to train for the full last March. We started with a walk/run plan and stepped our way up to the full run plan. One minute runs killed us when we first started!

I use Marathoning fo MOrtals by John Bingham. I think CHimera uses Jeff Glloway's book too. Can't remeber teh name. It may be in the first few posts of teh Marathon team thread.

You two can do this!!!!

[PoohsPal]

Here are some great links compliments of Chimera:

And some websites for further running/walking info:
http://www.runnersworld.com
http://www.coolrunning.com
http://www.halhigdon.com
http://www.running4women.com/
http://www.runnergirl.com/index.shtml
http://www.katherineswitzer.com/fitness.html
http://www.irongirl.com
http://www.marathonguide.com
The John Bingham site:
http://www.waddleon.com/

[PoohsPal]

OK, here's one of my favorite inspirational stories.

Why I decided to do a half marathon: swimming at the shallow end of the gene pool. My mom is diabetic with high cholesterol, high blood pressure and her first heart attack at age 50. Her dad didn' t live long enough to become diabetic...started having heart attacks in his late 30s til he died of stroke at age 42. I didn't do a good job of losing weight after two kids (DD13 and DDalmost3). I weighed 180lbs on Nov 1, 2004. I started exercising occasionally...we have a treadmill and I worked up to 1.75 miles at a 21 min/mile pace. I really needed a reason to exercise...just doing it for my health wasn't cutting it. I never knew people that looked like me did marathons or half marathons...til I found a group of women who were training to walk the half. I was on the track team in middle school, played basketball in high school and 'jungle volleyball' in college, but I was NEVER a runner. I HATED running distances, but I figured I could certainly walk it.

I bought the Marathoning for Mortals book and another one called the Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. I started 'training to train', getting more conditioned so that I'd be physically prepared for the intensity of training. WDW has a 16 min mile pace requirement and I was really, really afraid I'd be swept. They have buses and vans that pull you off the course if you're not keeping up the minimum pace. I did my first race ever last March...a 1 mile with a finish time of 16:28. I kept going and worked up to 3 miles a day, 4 days a week. I did 3 5Ks from May to Sept, improving my finish time from 49 min to 41 min. I felt pretty beat up after my first 5K, but when I got home from the last one, DH commented that it looked like I'd only been out for a stroll:sunny: .

I started the actual training from MFM at the end of July. Like Carrie, I kinda modified the schedule to suit my purposes. I chose the walk/run schedule and doubled the weeks so that I would do each of the training weeks twice. I did that for the mental aspect...I wanted to be sure that I was trained up and if I had to miss a long run for any reason, I knew that I'd have a second one to make it up. The other thing I did differently for the mental stuff...I added a 12 mile run. Most training programs max at a 10 mile run before tapering for the race. I was afraid that mentally, I'd feel less confident, so I used my extra 10 mile week and made it a 12 instead. By that time, my pace was consistently up in the neighborhood of a 14 min mile. I trained with intervals, walking for 3 min, then running for 2. My half finish pace was 14:26 and I placed 9000 something in a field of 16000.

The one thing I didn't do enough of was cross-train. With two kids and working full-time, that was the one thing that just didn't happen. The MFM schedule calls for 2 days of cross-training with 3 days walking/running and two days of rest. (Amy...your kickboxing sounds perfect :thumbsup: ) That's one goal for me for next year, so I'll be trying to get to the Y at least one day weekly.

Bad knees, ankles, etc. I remained remarkably injury-free during the entire year. I did have a problem with shin splints that was corrected with new shoes. Best thing you can do before starting training is get good shoes. Go to a running store or a podiatrist and get your gait evaluated so you know what type shoe will be best for you. My biggest issue with the long distances was a bad ankle. It's been a problem since I was a teenager. After a good day walking around EPCOT, I've woken up the next morning and couldn't walk (literally) until I worked out the stiffness. I was surprised that I didn't have any problems with it at all til I got to the higher mileage runs (9 miles and more). Icing it after a run helped...Carrie can tell you about the virtues of a cold water soak, but I was too chicken too try it :brrrrrr: I was sore after the half, but brought an ankle brace and had worked out the ankle by Sunday afternoon.

I did train alone, but with an online support group for advice and atta-boys. It was a bit surreal to suddenly run with 16,000 new friends the morning of the half. I do think it affected my time a bit since there was a lot of dodging and weaving early on, but I was there more to finish than set a world record pace ;)

[Disneymooners93]

You guys are really motivating. I'm thinking about shooting for the half M next January. I've been called a lot of things, but I've never been called a runner. I typically run 3 miles at a time, about 2 or 3 times a week (I'll have to stay with 3 times so I don't get torched off of Treasure Island). The most I've ever run has been 6 miles. I think that if I focused, I could (maybe) work up to a 1/2 M. (It sounds crazy when I see the words in front of me.)

Somewhere, I read where someone recommended a book to train for a marathon. Does anyone know that book?

I'll have to give this some serious thought.

They're why I am doing this thing.:tongue:

You sound like me a couple months ago. I started with John Bingham's Marathon for Mortals (which is great), but once I got going (5-6 miles is now a normal run) I got Jeff Galloway's Book of Running and am tending to follow that a little more. A lot of what both say is the same.

[PoohsPal]

Can I sign anyone up yet??? ;) I do have the forms for DVCers (we get $5 off). Let em know if anyone needs them!

[Dennyha]

Carrie,
I just bought the book "Marathoning for Mortals". I'm going to read it. I do have a conflict for Jan 7, or I should say a potential conflict. I discussed this with DW, and she thinks it sounds great (especially if it's another reason to go back to The World). Our DD will be a freshman in college next year, where she was awarded an academic/athletic scholarship in basketball. Her team played on the first Saturday after new year's this year, so I'm guessing they will likely have a game this same day. DW suggested that maybe it would be OK to miss one of her games (again, especially if it gets us back to The World).

So.... as I hinted on another thread, I'm thinking I might be interested in taking a shot at the 1/2M. Actually, I AM interested, I think I might be a little more than interested. (Every time I type those words, and see them in that order on the screen in front of me, I think that I must be losing it.)

Thanks for your encouragement.

Denny

[nono]

C'mon, Dennyha -- my husband and I are on the hook for the 1/2!!! You can do it....

You can do it...

You can do it...

:jumpingbe

[Dennyha]

Thanks for the encouragement, Nono.

Well, I talked to my 21 yo son, and he wants to train to do the 1/2M with me. So, unless we come to our senses, I'll guess we'll need two of the applications for the 1/2M.

Unlike nono, my spouse is going to take in the 1/2 M from the spectator side of the fence, as she has zero interest in running, but it'll be nice to run the course with my son.

Thanks again,
Denny

[Disneymooners93]

Welcome to the team!! :thumbsup:

[nono]

EXCELLENT news! Congratulations!!!!:thumbsup:

[PoohsPal]

Woo hoo! PM me your e-mail and I'll send you a copy!

[AmyBeth68]

Dennyha....:dancingba YES! So glad you're joining our little Marathon Team here! By the way....my DH is not running the marathon either. Another spectator! But he promises to coordinate my cheering brigade LOL (my two little girls).

[nono]

Dennyha,

I hope to see you on this thread: http://www.mouseowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1120

:dancingba

[Dennyha]

So, by agreeing to run the 1/2M in January, we're part of "The Team"?

How cool is that!:bluebloun

Denny

[PoohsPal]

You betcha! The team is pretty much for mutual support as we work our way to January. So happy to have a new member!!!!!