Latest reviews by Derek Vogel

(2016)
"Howl at the moon on the clay"
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This was the inaugural race. The race was held on the world famous clay loop. We have a lot of Olympians from all around the world who train on the loop. This was a night race which made it more exciting especially with all the glow Sticks and headlights. The race was well organized other than a slight time change. The medal and the awards were very nice along with a glow in the dark pint glass and a nice shirt. The course consisted of plenty of rolling hills, so it will put you to the test. While running I was able to watch the disney fireworks in the distance which was a bonus. The water stations were spaced out nicely and they informed us ahead of time where they were, so we could prepare. The finish line was at the local blueberry farm and they offered us blueberry pancakes and blueberry syrup along with rice and beans. It was an overall great race.

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(2016)
"Disney race experience with an added bonus- Star wars"
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This was my first disney race. I actually did the dark side challenge and my kids ran the kid races. I went to the expo the day prior to the race for registration and to explore the expo. The expo was okay, however for being a star wars theme race I would've enjoyed more star wars merchandise. It seemed like one particular store had numerous stands that filled about 1/3 of the expo. Additional outfitters would've been nice to see new equipment and toys. We did get to see bb-8 while at the expo along with meeting and getting advice from Jeff Galloway. We stayed at a disney property to make it a little easier to beat the traffic. In the morning of the race they dropped us off in the epcot parking lot. The walk was about a mile just to get to the entertainment area. The walk felt like you were in a corral due to the volume of people. Then we had split off into groups bags or no bags. Then upon entering the entertainment holding area there were numerous things to do and see. They had lines for numerous star wars characters. I recommend pick one because the line will take that long to see one because closer to the start the characters leave, but there were still lines to take pictures by the scenes. The Dj was playing music, so that helped wake you up a bit for being 4 in the morning. Theyou announced when it was time to head to the corals. Trust me there is no rush to get there since you will be standing for some time. The walk was another .5 miles or so and another big coral the entire walk. I recommend walking on the outside. If you are claustrophobic you might want to sit this race out. I was fortunate for the 10k I was in the B coral, so I didn't have to wait to long after the initial start. While there were some boring parts of the course thereviews were some neat areas. Running through the parks was fun. Epcot was all lit up, fans were cheering you on at the boardwalk. They had random star wars characters throughout the course in random areas. If you are expecting to break your pb this might not be the race for you especially if you stop for the characters because you will be waiting in long lines and then paying catch up till you get to the next character. Since I paid a premium to run a disney race I was making sure that I was living the experience. I was very disappointed with the 10k and the lack of water stations. I left my water belt at the hotel because I figured for the money disney would have water stations. There weren't that many. For the half I took my water belt and there were water stations everywhere. There are local bands and music being played in various parts of the course to help break it up. Disney does have photographers everywhere, so I highly recommend getting the photo pass, so you get all of your pictures. One of the bingest disappointments was at the kids races. Our son loves star wars and he was excited. At the kids area on the track at ESPN they had numerous activities for the kids, however there was not one single star wars character, nor one single star wars anything. As the races are starting they seemed very unorganized and if you have multiple kids good luck unless you have multiple people to help take your kids to the races. Upon finding the corals for the kids you had a mob of parents and kidst that you need to get through to just get your child on the track. The race was not one of my favorite races due to some of the experiences, however meeting some of the star wars characters made up for it. It wouldn't be a race that I would be doing over and over again.

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(2014)
"Blue- Gray half but no battlefield"
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This was my first half marathon, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very excited to be able to run near the battlefields. After all that is one of the reasons we run to see new areas. Unfortunately the course was no where near any of the battlefields. The shirts were very nice as you were able to pick your side of blue or gray and they made it a competition and whichever team won received coffee cups. The course was very plain and not very scenic or things to see other than some farms. The parking to the start line and festivities was almost a mile away. The medal was very nice as well. If only they moved the course it would've been much better.

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