Disney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon

The Disney Wine & Dine half marathon was the last race on our " run Disney Bucket list" that we both wanted to do. Both of us were a little disappointed that it was no longer a night race like in the past, but of course we knew that when we registered so no use complaining about that now.

disney wine n dine half marathon

To tell you the truth, even though Disney races are always "fun" runs for us, I will admit that I had high hopes for this race when I signed up for it and started training for it.  I know I mentioned this before, but the Wine & Dine half marathon would be the first Disney half marathon that I WOULD NOT be injured for and I was SO excited to run it and see what I could do. However 4 weeks before  the race a metal dog gate fell on the back of my calf and caused two hematomas. That put me out for quite a while because running just plain hurt!  Well, I was feeling guilty for not running so the Wednesday before the race I had the bright idea that I needed to run 8 miles.  My calf felt very tight, but it held up. I could tell that my cardio had suffered from not running in a few weeks and I ended the 8 miles with 2 blisters and VERY sore legs. For sure the pain would wear off by race day on Sunday.
At Epcot earlier in the weekend.

I was so sore as I walked around Disney all weekend. I actually tried to limit my time walking around the parks.  I was not starting the race out on fresh legs and that did not have me excited for race day.

Photo courtesy of Kathryn (or Preston rather...lol)

This race started at the ESPN Wide World of Sports parking lot. The nice thing about this is that as soon as the bus dropped us off, we did not have a long walk to the race staging area. The corrals were right beside the staging area so no long walk there either.  While in the corral we met up with our friend Kathryn from Dancing to Running.

disney wine n dine half marathon

I kind of thought that we would run through ESPN Wide World of Sports like we did during the marathon but we didn't. We only ran on the highway in front of ESPN.  In fact, we continued to run on the highway until we hit Animal Kingdom at mile 3 and we exited Animal Kingdom by mile 4. The rest of the miles were highway miles until mile 12 when we entered Epcot.

I have to admit that I did not care for this course.  I say this not only because it was completely boring with very little characters and entertainment (unless you consider trucks blaring music entertainment) but also because I didn't care for the banked roads.

The day before I could feel my IT band starting to flare up and I crossed my fingers that I would be able to get through at least half the race before it started pinching.  By the time I got to mile 9, I could tell I was struggling.  At this point my sister is still running with me. She is all happy eating pretzles and swedish fish and trying to offer me some and I'm all like No, looking at food is gonna make me vomit right now! I wanted to wait until mile 10 to start my intervals but I couldn't, my legs were SO tight.  I had to take walk breaks after mile 9.

The good thing is that my IT band never fully flared up and it never kept me from pushing forward. My legs were very sore but it was just from not starting on fresh legs, it was not from being injured.

When we crossed the finish line I was so excited like I had just finished my first half or something. I was so happy that I was able to finished uninjured. I was sore, but not injured.

After receiving our medals, we still walked over to the medical area so I could get some ice just for preventative purposes.


Disney wine n dine half marathon

A blogger friend once said that I should be sharing my race times and stats and since I have them handy here I'll share. We finished in 2:25 FLAT and ya know what, I'm pretty pleased with that. I knew this race wouldn't be a PR so coming in somewhere in the 2:20's is pretty much what I expected and I'm okay with that.  I came in 2,875 out of 12,651 finishers ( I don't know how many runners actually started. I wish I knew.).

Disney wine n dine half marathon

So even though I really didn't care for the course, and my legs were super tight (and felt SO heavy), I still feel like this race was a success and I am happy with how it turned out. I'm generally a positive person anyway so I rarely have a bad race regardless of how I do. I figure if I can make it across the finish line than I've accomplished something. One thing I know my sister and I were both disappointed about was that there was NO massage tent! We were both looking forward to a massage (especially me since my legs were hurting)!   I do enjoy visiting Disney during this time of year but until they change the course (or add something exciting like when they use to have the Osborn lights), we agreed we probably won't be running this race again. -M






38 comments:

  1. Since they made this yet another cookie cutter Disney race, I decided this would be my last one as well. Like you ladies, I found the course rather boring, but the entertainment wasn't too bad. There seemed to be more characters than last year, but as usual, by the time I got to all of them, the lines were too long for me. My IT band held up until that horribly banked ramp around mile 10, but thankfully, I was able to run through it after walking the ramp (with just about everyone else!) Overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I don't see myself doing this one again anytime soon, unless they go back to making it a night race.

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    1. I know there were characters along the route but we didn't even see most of them until we were past them. Actually I couldn't even tell you who the characters were.

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  2. Yay for finishing the race uninjured! It was so great to see both of you ladies both before and after the race!

    Since we deferred our race registrations from last year, we were initially disappointed about the change in race time too, but given our little man I think it actually worked out better for us for it to be a morning race. Nonetheless, I would have liked to see more of the Wine and Dine theme carried out through the entertainment, not just with the character photo ops at the start and finish line staging areas. I was actually quite pleased by the number of character ops throughout the race, and since I didn't start anywhere as far back as I did for my last (and first) Disney half I was able to stop for at almost every one of them. I did appreciate that our time inside of Animal Kingdom seemed to be maximized, but I of course would have enjoyed even more park time and less running on the roads.

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    1. I at least would have liked the course to go through ESPN since we started there. We could have ran on the track or through the stadium like we do during the marathon.

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  3. I admire you for pushing through that race and glad you came out uninjured. Get yourself a massage now that you are home! I wish I had a sister who I could share running and races with! :)

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    1. I texted my massage lady to make an appointment but she still hasn't got back to me....boo!

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  4. Glad you are feeling ok! I don't think you can run those Disney races fast anyways. Sounds like a fun weekend.

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    1. Considering on how I was feeling I was very happy with my pace!

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  5. Congratulations! I'm sorry to hear you were not feeling the run, but you gave it your all and finished it!! What a great time you did !

    I hope you have gotten a massage now.



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  6. Sounds like a great finish time to me!! I so appreciate your honest race recaps for the Disney races - people need to know that more that 75% of the race is not in the park. And banked roads? That's just a cruel thing, to ask runners to deal with that.

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    1. I will admit that the Disney half and the Princess half both have a much better course and they do go through Magic Kingdom and you get to run down main street and through the castle which are both exciting!

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  7. I liked Wine and Dine as a night race, but I think they moved it to morning due to the night storms the past couple years. I'm so happy your legs and IT band did well and didn't flare up.

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    1. Yes, I heard the weather played a part in why they moved it to a morning race. Wish I would have been able to do it once when it was at night!

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  8. I'm glad you had a great race despite the tired legs and boring course. This race is out for me unless they change it back to a night race.

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    1. I doubt that they will change it back to a night course (although that would be nice) but we can hope that they change the course.

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  9. i agree with you on the boring course. i ran this race twice when it was at night and LOVED it, it was my favorite runDisney race but this course was just plain awful. im glad the kept the after party but it wasnt as good as when the race was at night :( glad you finished injury free and with a good time thats always exciting!!

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  10. This is the race that fits in my vacation schedule ... so I would be SO MAD if I finally made a Disney race & it was a boring course & not a lot of characters. Sounds like a step down in the line of Disney races. Maybe its not as popular as the others?

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    1. If this is the only race you could make it to I would still do it at least once. Disney race are definitely worth the experience.

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  11. I can't believe you suffered with those hematomas and then did so well at this race! Congrats!! After running 3 Disney races, I've accepted there are some boring parts. I'm OK with that -- you've got to get from one park to the other somehow. But, 8 miles of nothing seems excessive. I know you've commented a few times on the banked roads. I'm going to pay attention this next time! I've never noticed it, but maybe it's because I already run on banked roads?

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    1. I bet a lot of Florida is on banked roads because of all the rain? Maybe?

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  12. It stinks that this Disney race wasn't very impressive! Racing Disney has been on my bucket list and it had better be a "magical" experience, right?! Way to push through to the finish and I love that you and your sister race together! So fun.

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    1. Disney certainly puts on a great race for sure! I would just say that I did not like this course as well as the others I've run there.

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  13. Congrats on finishing the race and not getting injured! Its tough when you take to take off time before a race. You did great especially with all that time off and running on tired legs!

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    1. Thank you! One of these days I'll be running a half with out sore, injured, or tired legs...lol

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  14. Glad your legs cooperated, but bummer that the race wasn't that great. I often wear compression socks the day before a race to help rest my calves, but a massage would have been good too.

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  15. Awww, I am bummed to hear you didn't like the new Wine and Dine format! I've run it twice when it was at night and I loved the experience. These Disney races are tough to begin with because none of us have rested legs going in - it seems everyone spends a lot of time walking around the parks, et al. In any event - congratulations on finishing and way to push through! The medals are beautiful!

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  16. Ugh! How disappointing - the Wine & Dine is definitely on my RunDisney bucket list, but it sounds like I should wait until they figure things out a bit! But your race time sounds great despite hurting!

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  17. Congrats on finishing uninjured! Sorry to hear there wasn't a massage tent. You'd think that all races especially big races would have them. Great pics!

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  18. Good job making it through! I feel like Disney is now holding so many races that they can't really invest in making them all that unique and special any more. It makes me much less likely to do a Disney race.

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  19. I like the Princes course and Disney half course because even on the boring highway they still had entertainment and character stops.

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  20. Congrats on pushing through to the finish with all that tightness. You certainly had your challenges with that hematoma. You're not the first person to be disappointed with the course. Sounds like Disney needs to rethink this. Glad you both enjoyed and how fun to run together!

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  21. Being at Disney, you HAVE to do the parks, but it definitely doesn't make for fresh legs. Sounds like you guys had a great race (so cute you stayed together) despite everything! Those banked roads and onramps are a serious challenge. I was seriously cursing them during Princess this year! Congrats to you both!

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  22. Sorry you were not feeling your best but you did finish and albeit sore, uninjured. That is definitely a win in my book.
    I would have been pretty mad though about the course. If I am going to pay for a Disney race, I want it to go through Disney, not around it.

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  23. Congrats on pushing through a tough race. Tight legs are the worst! What a bummer about the course. Disney races can be a lot of highway :-(
    Hope you are feeling better now.

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  24. So proud of you for sticking it out! Tired legs make everything seem so much more difficult than they normally would. Last year, the course was much different even when they cut it down to 7 miles because of the weather. I remember we can through the Osbourne lights and Hollywood studios and the boardwalk since we finished at Epcot. I hope you all had a fun trip!

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  25. Congrats on a solid race! I think the general consensus on this one is that the course and characters weren't that great. But, like you said, you finished uninjured and had a strong race! That's what counts!

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