Little Miss Mochi

Runners to Race Around the “High Banks’’ and “Bases’’ As Part of 20th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon Course

I received an e-mail from Bob Hitchcock, the PR Relations Manager for runDisney, who forwarded me an exciting press release to share with all my followers! :)

PS - As of May 7th, Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge is at 61% capacity. All others (i.e., Half Marathon, Marathon, and 5K) are currently < 50%, but you can expect that it’ll fill up to capacity well before the event. 

——————————

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - (May 16, 2012) - Runners in the 20^th anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon in 2013 will have the unique experience of running along a speedway and through a baseball stadium - in addition to Disney’s four theme parks - as part the latest enhancements designed to celebrate the event’s two decades of existence.

The 2013 Disney Marathon course will again start at Epcot. But runners will go through the Magic Kingdom and then, for the first time ever, run through the high-banked Walt Disney World Speedway where stock cars, Indy cars and exotic supercars typically roar around the one-mile tri-oval track. And later the course will take runners to ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and through the complex’s Champion Stadium, a major-league style ballpark that’s the Atlanta Braves’ annual spring training home.

“Running through the speedway and the ballpark should provide quite a thrill for the runners,’’ said veteran race director Jon Hughes. “These very creative enhancements should make for a pretty memorable 20^th anniversary marathon that people will probably be talking about for 20 more years.’’

The marathon’s commemorative route changes add to the new enhancements recently announced, including enhanced entertainment along Mile 20, a specially-designed 20^th anniversary Mickey Mouse medal and a new post-race party at Downtown Disney.      

In addition to the 26.2-mile marathon, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna (Jan. 10-13) will feature events for the entire family such as Kids’ Races throughout the weekend, including the Mickey Mile, a Family Fun Run 5K on Friday, the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Marathon on Sunday.  There is also Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge which involves running the Half Marathon and the full Marathon - 39.3 miles!  The Health and Fitness Expo runs throughout the weekend at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and features the latest in running technology and fashion, as well as renowned running experts like Jeff Galloway, the official training consultant for runDisney.

Runners can register at www.rundisney.com.  Runners can register early to get the best price.  Below is pricing and the schedule of events for the 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna.

About runDisney

runDisney is a series of events providing runners unique opportunities to run various distances through Disney theme parks.  Race participants earn Disney-themed medals, experience legendary Disney entertainment and guest service and ultimately celebrate their accomplishments with a Disney vacation.  The original event in the series, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna, takes place in January followed by the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend in February, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler in September and the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend in November.  Disneyland hosts the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend in January and the Disneyland Half Marathon in September during Labor Day Weekend.  More than 100,000 running enthusiasts participate in runDisney events each year. For more information, visit runDisney.com and follow us on Facebook (runDisney) and Twitter @DisneySports.

Contact:

Bob Hitchcock, Disney Sports Public Relations – 407/922-3422; robert.g.hitchcock@disney.com

Darrell Fry, Disney Sports Public Relations – 407/566-5338; darrell.fry@disney.com

Sacrifices

Expedition Everest is in 11 days!

I’m excited about this. In fact, I’m excited that I only have to go for about 3-4 miles at a race, and at Animal Kingdom nonetheless.

I’ve eventually made up my mind about what I’m going to do for it though. Despite my most recent funk, my training has been paying off where I’ve been able to put in some decent paces (i.e., 7-8 min/mi paces for 7-8 miles) which makes me feel like I have a decent shot a winning EEC. It made me reconsider whether or not I should switch from co-ed team with Sean to women’s individual, but I’ve decided:

I’m going to stay with Sean and we’ll stay as a co-ed team.

We won’t be able to do it competitively though. We got top 10 last year, but because of Sean’s knee injuries we’ll have to take it at an easy jog and walk pace. What’s most important here is that we have fun. Sean (believes he) can’t run anymore — I believe he can if he goes through knee surgery and/or worked with a physical therapist. So there are only a handful of races that we can do together, with this being one of them.

I guess if I’ll ever want to take my shot at “winning” any Disney race, I’d have to set my bar higher and go for the half marathons or the full. But that’s so, so incredibly out of my league right now. And honestly, I don’t even know if I’d want to pursue something like that.

… but a girl can dream. >_>

Anyway, to get out of my overtraining funk I’ve decided to take it easy this week. I have a particularly long schedule which will keep me from training Wednesday and Thursday which makes for an offbeat week too.

The weather in FL has been pretty nice, so I went out for a run after work. I did it with my Forerunner to just kind of “wing it”, but I made sure to be out for an easy jog for about an hour. I know my easy jog pace lands itself somewhere between a 9:30 - 10:00 min/mi, so assuming on the higher end I covered about 6 miles. I mean, this situation sucks because I really like to challenge myself, but if taking it easy for a few days helps me get back up to speed (literally) I’ll do it.

Here’s to hoping for a good Tuesday.