The Runner's Lounge: 2012 Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon

The Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon is a favorite in my race book. There are many things that I enjoy about this race. This race is a night race and boasts a 10 pm start time, so if you are like me and not so keen on getting up early, especially while on vacation, then this race may be for you. The W&D also has a relatively non competitive field of runners, so you can really feel good about your race results if you are not particularly speedy. I have run this race 3 years in a row now, and am hoping for a 4^th in 2013.

Here is my official race report:

Race Day: Saturday night race. 10pm Start.

Weather: 61°F and clear.

Race Field: 13,000

Type of Start: Wave

What To Wear

My Diggs

Last Year this race was held as the opening ceremonies for the Wine & Food Festival. Disney wanted to revive the Tower of Terror 10 Miler this year. They moved the Wine & Dine Half Marathon to the last weekend of the festival to accommodate the the TOT10. This move could prove to be good for a couple reasons. First, the weather is cooler in central Florida in November vs. the end of September or beginning of October. Second, more people can properly train for this race given the schedule is late summer and cooler weather helps people stick to training. This year I wore a long sleeve Nike Tech Shirt, and 5 inch Nike Tempo shorts. My Shoes of choice, Mizuno Precision 13's.

Getting To The Starting Line

The Starting Line

We arrived at Epcot’s parking lot around 7:30 pm. Disney has you park at the finish line area, and then they bus you over to the start line at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. They use nice buses that have bathroom facilities. (Bonus) This year the wait was relatively short as they had plenty of transportation. Previous years, the wait was long.

The pre-race setup was highly organized. Disney has a large lighted field as a staging area. When you arrive you can check your bag, then you can get in line for one of the many probably 100 or more porta johns. Then lines seem to move along at a decent pace. They open the corals around 9:15pm.

Lines for "The Can"

Coral A

Miles 1-4

I got to toe the start line. That was cool being right in the front. Run Disney had a DJ at the start line that commenced a countdown, and then the fireworks went off, the start was great except I dropped my iPhone right at the start. That cost me 5-6 seconds maybe, as well as some embarrassment. After grabbing my phone off the ground I started off on a pretty quick pace. I got through Mile 1, with a 7:13 split. It felt fast, and then I came back to earth and tried to slow a little and control my breathing and get into a rhythm. Mile 2 came and went, with a 7:21 pace, and again I felt that was too fast I wanted to be around 7:40. The road was wide open having started in the front, it was nice not having to go around people. This open road gave me the advantage of relaxing into the run. Mile 3 came in at 7:26 and I thought, this could be a PR. I was trying to slow, I thought I had, and I still felt good. I was turning in sub 7:30’s. My breathing felt a little hard, but was good especially for a race, temps were cool, and I was just starting to sweat between 2-3 miles. I was off to a great run I got through the 5k mark in 22:57. I pasted the 5k mat and said ok, just relax, slow down a bit and run sub 7:55 and I will have a PR. Just after entering Animal Kingdom I came through the Mile 4 mark in 7:35.

Miles 5-8

Just after 4 miles I started to feel side splits. I have had those before, but only on runs that were fast, and I had not taken the proper time to digest. That soon progressed into heaviness in my lower intestinal area, I was like OH NO! I knew this feeling. I started to feel some cramping, and some nausea kicking in. I thought at this point I will go as long as I can, before I hit a porta john. This way hopefully it would pass, and I would not have to try and make up for lost time. Even with all the Disney awesomeness I was having a hard time now wanting to keep a pace. The cramping was making me feel bloated and the pain was not subsiding. This was not good. I never felt this way during a run. I was feeling pretty bad. It was downright painful. I came through Mile 5 in 7:54. I was hoping to keep this pace, even with the pain. I kept on pushing through the conditions, and posted an 8:04 pace in Mile 6. I saw the mats for the 10k time split. I hit the 10k mark in 47:37. This was the point when I started the mental fight. “Your not even halfway through” “I Feel Like Shit!” “Slow down till you feel better” “A finish is a win”, all excuses. This is where I zoned. Time to blank my mind and stack up the rest of the miles and finish this mother. I really don’t remember to much for the next couple miles except certain songs on my iPod, and mile markers. Trudged through Mile 7 in an 8:09 pace. I was out on World Drive headed towards MGM Studios, just hit Mile 8 and chimed in at 8:08, I remember hearing The song “It’s Our Fight” by Steve Jablonsky, this is off the Transformers 3 Soundtrack. Here is the link if you are interested. "It's Our Fight" . This song gave me the fortitude to keep pushing through the pain, and the discomfort.

Mile 9-13.1

I thought this will be rough but I have to salvage this run, push. One mile at a time. I was now pacing with another runner, and he too was digging deep. I let him ride for a little while right on my heels as I kept a steady pace. I backed off he started to pass and I fell right in on him off his right hand side about 4 feet back. He tried to move away, but I was going to stick right there. I think it was making him uneasy forcing him to keep a pace. We hit the slow uphill to the off ramp to make the turn into MGM. We hit the Mile 9 mark and posted a 7:59 mile. There was some battling going on back and forth through MGM, cutting through on the inside of the turns and then back and forth. Mile 10 we had a split of 8:01. By now I was really starting to feel bad, really bad. I was seriously thinking of stopping, and this was rational thinking, not tired thinking. I was like you are really hurting, you are going to either shit or puke, you can deal with barfing, but if you soil yourself there is no victory, only serious embarrassment. Just then I looked up to see the Mile 11 marker then….beep….beep I looked down 8:02. 2.1 To go. You can do this. Just get through it. Keep pushing. Slow down if you have to. I kept thinking if this was mile 8 or 9 I would stop for a break. I was doing calculations in my head. I can still PR. Not big, but a PR is a PR. I knew the rest of the course from 11 thru 12.2 like the back of my hand. I was going to try and keep up. I was like I was being stabbed. Horrible. I other runner backed off coming out of MGM, and I kept looking ahead. I felt accomplished as I fended off one competitor. Mile I felt like was running a 9 min mile, then I hit the bridge between the Boardwalk and Swan and Dolphin Resort. Legs felt 80lbs each. I though this is going to kill me. My Mile 12 split fell to 8:10. I was reassessing the situations when it hit me…..wall. I was not drinking or gelling since the pain and discomfort. I was afraid to. I was going to have to finish this on pure will. I could literally feel the energy drain. One foot in front of the other, pic them up, or you will trip is what I was thinking. I tramped along the Yacht and Beach Clubs. I hit the last incline (Bridge into the Epcot). I can’t explain how I felt. Just bad. I recall back lot scenery. Mile 13 came in early at 8:14, I am going to miss a PR by seconds, is all I could think. I have nothing left. I could see the 13 mile sign coming up. It was time to see what I had left. 1/10^th of a mile left and I was running on less than fumes. I felt unnatural, by body was slumping and I was clutching my stomach area. I made the turn and saw the finish. I did what I could, and came through the finish. I looked at my watch and saw 1:43:42. I missed a PR, by 2 seconds. I missed matching my previous PR by 1 second. I felt even worse now. I made it through to medical where they gave me something for my nausea and told me to lay down. Long story short. A few trips to the johns and a couple hours I felt a lot better. We ended up skipping the Finish Line Party, since it was so crowded.

Ratings

Aid Stations – They had 8 aid stations with restrooms over the course. The volunteers were upbeat and awesome. They provided water and Gator-aid. They had Clif-Shots at Mile 8. 5/5 rating.

Spectators –There were a lot of spectators at the race start, and then they all left to hit the Food and Wine Festival Finish Line Party, where they would wait for their runners. Needless to say spectator viewership was weak. I compare this to the Marathon in Disney. 3/5 Rating

Traffic and Parking – They had parking available for free, and plenty of it. It was Disney so traffic was no issue. 5/5 rating.

Race Tees – The race apparel that came with registration was nice. A green long sleeve tech shirt. The design was nice looking too. 4/5 rating

Restrooms – Plenty, and well stocked. Given the large field wait was kind of long. 3.5/5 rating.

Course – The course had great views. There is one downfall, if you can call it that, there is quite a bit of highway travel between the parks, to me it felt like a normal non-Disney race for those parts. They filled some of it with music, dancers, and float. They did a great job. They even had the green army guy from toy story telling us to “TAKE THIS HILL RUNNERS!!!!, and MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT, and ON THE DOUBLE!” That was up onto a ramp that headed towards MGM. They also had the Osbourne Festival of Lights on in MGM, that was amazing. Lots to see on this run. 4.5/5 rating.

Awards – The finisher medal is AWESOME! Nice ribbon, and medal. 5/5 rating.

Summary

There is a reason that I have run this course years years straight. I love this race. I like Disney of course, but they really cater to you. They want you to have a great expeirience. After all the entry is kind of pricey, but in my opinion worth the cash. This course is a relativly flat course. If you are a sub 9:00 runner, you will especially like this course.