Latest reviews by Riley Fickett
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Disclaimer: I received an entry to the Missoula Marathon to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave to review find and write race reviews!
I had the opportunity to run the 2022 Missoula Marathon and it is hands down the most beautiful marathon I have run to date! I am so glad I made the trip out to Missoula this summer. I've heard so many fantastic things about this race and they're all true. If you ever have the opportunity to run this race, definitely do it!
My day started bright and early - like 3:15 AM early! All marathoners and half marathoners have to head to the University of Montana campus be bused to their start lines, and each start line is different. I was told ahead of time to pay extra attention as to what bus you're getting on because if you got on the wrong bus there wasn't much that could be done if you ended up in the wrong location. One thing I would suggest for the future would be for there to be more signage or direction as to what was a marathon bus and what was a half marathon bus. While there was one or two volunteers directing runners to the correct buses, I think having that extra reassurance for which bus was which would have been so helpful!
I walked right onto a bus and there was really no wait before we were off to the start line. We had about a 15 minute bus ride to Frenchtown, MT where the start was. I arrived around 5:15 AM so had a good 45 minutes or so to wait. Luckily the area that we waited in was full of port-o-potties and plenty of space to complete a warm up. They were also giving out plenty of cups of water at the start, which was a nice touch. Every 15 minutes or so they would light off a firework to remind runners the time was getting closer to the start which also added to the atmosphere! Before we knew it, it was 5 minutes until the start, so I dropped off my gear bag and got in line!
One of the coolest parts of the start was that they set off a full blown fireworks show at 6 AM when the horn blew to start the race! It was still dark enough where we could enjoy the show and it was such an exciting send off for all of the runners. I loved that!
The first 10 miles or so was straight up farm land which was so beautiful. It was so pretty to see the sun rise over the landscape and to see all the cows and horses as we ran by. One thing to note that this section was particularly challenging for me to get into a good mental groove. The scenery stays consistent for all 10 miles, there's very little crowd support (if any!) and water stops are fairly infrequent (I believe the first one was mile 3ish). For this section I highly recommend ensuring you have plenty of your own nutrition and hydration, and be ready to get yourself in a good mental headspace to get you through those first 10 miles.
Once we hit mile 10, we saw more of the neighbors come out and aid stations became more frequent. This is also the part where we started to get some serious mountain views which were so breath taking. I think my favorite point in the race scenery-wise was miles 13-16. This is actually also the only hill you really experience the entire race as well! However the landscape you get to take in at this point makes the hill so worth it. You can look out to your left and see the M on Mount Sentinel from miles away which was so incredible. You just knew that in a matter of a few more hours you'll be right there in Downtown Missoula, celebrating your finish! Super motivating. I took so many photos and videos, but they just did not do the scenery justice. I would 100% do this race all over again solely for these views.
I think the hardest section of the race for me was miles 16-18. After we came back down the hill, my legs felt like they were in shambles. Not the way you want to feel when you have 10 more miles to go! However I took this as an opportunity to try to enjoy the scenery as much as I could and try to focus in on my fueling. There was also a piano player at mile 16.5 which was so cool to see in the middle of such a wooded area!
Around mile 18/19 the volunteers were handing out cold sponges which was so great. While it wasn't sweltering hot, the sun was out in full force which is always a game changer when it comes to racing. I stuck a sponge under my hat which felt really nice for a few miles!
Around mile 20 we started getting into the neighborhoods of Missoula which was so exciting, and definitely more my speed when it comes to races. I really feed off crowd energy, and the neighbors came out in full force to cheer on the runners! It was at this point in the race that I really perked up, and I felt the best I had felt all race starting from mile 21 through the rest of the race!
Coming into downtown Missoula at the finish was so incredible! Everyone was cheering so hard for every runner. As a more back of the pack runner, it's so nice for folks to bring the same energy to the folks that take longer to complete 26.2 miles. I hope those folks know how much they're appreciated!
When I finished I was able to grab my medal from my mom who was volunteering at the finish! That was such a special moment to get my medal from her. I so appreciate that she joined me on this trip and that she was a part of finishing this marathon. I will never forget that!!
Overall, the Missoula Marathon was an absolutely incredible experience. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to run this race and I would absolutely love to run it again sometime in the future. If you ever have the chance to run Missoula, I would HIGHLY recommend that you do!! Thank you to the race team at the Missoula Marathon for making this such an unforgettable experience, and to BibRave for making this day possible for me!!
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Early in May, I had the opportunity to run the 2022 Providence Half Marathon! I've been wanting to run this race in person for several years, but due to COVID and scheduling issues I hadn't been able to make it happen until 2022. I'm so glad I did this race because I had an absolute BLAST!
Right off the bat, the Providence Half Marathon has a huge check mark in the "positive" column for me. This race offers to have your bib mailed to you ahead of time which was so fantastic for me because this race just so happened to fall on the busiest week of the year for me at work. There was absolutely no way I would be ale to make it to the expo during the allotted times, so having that assurance that I would be able to have my bib for race morning and not have to coordinate with someone to pick it up for me was such a weight off my shoulders. I received my bib on the Wednesday before the race, so plenty of time before the race to have some peace of mind! While it was an extra charge to send the bib through the mail. the convenience far outweighed the extra few dollars. I really wish more races offered this for folks who are busy around race weekend and can't make it to the expo for one reason or another.
This race was a lot larger than I expected, which I loved! There was such great energy at the start/finish line to get you pumped up for the race ahead. They sent the full marathoners out about a half hour before the half marathoners, which made the organization of the morning much smoother. Everything was so well run at the start/finish area, so hats off to the race management team!
The race itself was such a blast. The course brought you through so many different areas of the city and really gives you a great feel of what Providence has to offer. There were also so many cheering spectators throughout the course, and you never really felt like you were running by yourself at any point of the race which is what I prefer for a race atmosphere. The volunteers on the course were all so friendly, and I appreciated that there was both water and Nuun offered at nearly aid station.
One thing to be aware of is that even though Rhode Island is the Ocean State, this course is particularly hilly! There's specifically one killer hill right before mile 13 (and right before mile 26 for the marathon) before you turn to a downhill for the finish, so make sure you're mentally prepared for that! Even though there are a significant amount of hills, they're totally doable and they never last for too long which is nice. There's also plenty of downhill and flat sections to make up for it! Coming down too the finish line was so exciting -- there's a great crowd there and everyone is cheering so loudly for the runners. It felt like the finish of a much larger city marathon! Providence gets a big boost in my opinion on the crowd energy alone!!
I think the only thing that I didn't enjoy about this race was the swag and the medal. It seems like there are a series of races managed by the same company that are offering the same exact swag and medals at every race they manage, and Providence was included in this batch of races. I ran another one of these races in February and I have the same medal, but with he different race's logo on it. Same thing with the swag. While I understand it's easier on the companies managing these races, it makes the experience a bit less special for the runners who may be participating in multiple of the same races. I hope this is the only year they take this approach and they put a bit more effort into the medal and swag designs so they're more unique to the race they are commemorating.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time at the Providence Half Marathon! It's so great to find a race that is local that is as much fun as this one is! I can totally see myself making this an annual race for myself. I highly recommend this race to anyone who might be seeking out a Rhode Island race, or is local and looking for something to do on a spring weekend!
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If you follow me on any platform, you'll know that I participated in the 2022 Goofy Challenge at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend back in January! I apparently can't shut up about it π I'm going to break up my reviews into two posts as I have a LOT to talk about, but I'm here today to give you a review of my experience running the Walt Disney World Half Marathon - Day 1 of the Goofy Challenge! GAWRSH!
Before heading to bed I wanted to make sure I had all of my race essentials laid out. Brains don't work at the highest capacity at 2AM, so making sure you have everything ready to go before you go to sleep during a runDisney weekend is crucial π For the Half Marathon my plan was to wear a Powerline inspired outfit! I wanted to have Goofy-themed costumes for the Goofy Challenge, and I was so excited to STAND OUT as Powerline for the first race of the weekend! β‘
I unfortunately did not sleep to well the night before the half. The bed I slept in was in direct line of the air conditioning and I was too cold to fall asleep, but after putting on a sweatshirt and sweatpants and socks I was able to sleep a little bit. I did do the whole "wake up every 45 minutes because I'm certain I missed my alarm" dance until about 1:45am when I finally pulled myself out of bed to get ready and head over to Epcot for the race!
I was a little paranoid to get to the staging area in plenty of time. Folks who did the 5K and 10K were saying that security was taking a little bit longer than usual so I was out the door by 2:15am which was honestly aggressive now that I look back on it π Needless to say I got to Epcot in plenty of time (probably around 3am), and I'm fairly certain our bus was one of the first ones to arrive to the staging area. I had a LOT of time to kill, so I took plenty of photos, took in the atmosphere, and even drank an entire iced coffee before heading to the corrals at 4:30.
I was in starting group 4 and I headed over to the corrals around 4:30am. It wasn't long before they started sending folks out, and I think I was on the road by 5:30 or so! Knowing that I had a few more starting groups behind me before the balloon ladies, I felt really comfortable taking my time with the run and stopping for photos whenever I felt like it. It was such a change of pace from 2020 Princess Weekend when I was in the last corral and constantly looking over my shoulder for the balloon ladies! π
I think my favorite moment of both races was entering into Magic Kingdom and running down Main Street during the Half Marathon. This was the first time runDisney has run down Main Street since Princess 2020 (which I was also there for!), and we had waited so, so long to experience that moment again. I can't lie, I definitely got emotional seeing the castle and was running down Main Street with happy tears in my eyes! π
Another magical moment was being able to get to Magic Kingdom before the sun came up. I had not been able to do that during Princess weekend in 2020 and I have always heard running down Main Street when it's still dark and the castle is lit is something else, and I have to agree. It looked SO beautiful.
I definitely took my time going through Magic Kingdom on Half Marathon day! For those unfamiliar, Magic Kingdom is roughly one mile of the course - between mile 5 and 6. When I checked my splits at the end of the race, my Garmin told me it took me about 31 minutes to run mile 6 π Very clearly I was having a blast playing in Magic Kingdom! β¨
Running back toward Epcot was also such a blast! Once the sun started to rise and I could really see all the runners around me, it really brought that sense of comradery that these events always tends to provide. I love cheering on everyone around me as we get into the later miles and making that final push toward the finish line knowing you're almost there is a feeling like no other. I'll also never forget the cast member that said to me "Welcome to Epcot, Powerline!" as I hit mile 12! β‘
Before I knew it I was racing toward the finish line and I crossed with the biggest smile on my face! RunDisney was officially BACK and I was just so elated and grateful that I was running in Walt Disney World once again! π
I absolutely love the half marathon distance at Disney. This course was identical to the course I ran at Princess 2020, and I absolutely love it. Going from Epcot, through Magic Kingdom, and back to Epcot is the perfect 13.1 mile route in my opinion, and I would definitely do this race again whether it would be part of a challenge or just on it's own! Walt Disney World Half Marathon gets a 10/10 in my book! β¨
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The weekend after the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, my insane self packed up my bags yet again and traveled south west for the Rock n' Roll Arizona Marathon! This harebrained idea came about when I discovered that I had some Rock n' Roll Tour Pass credits to burn from all the race deferrals I had during 2020. Wanting to utilize a credit to check off another state but not having too many options, I opted to sign up for Rock n' Roll Arizona, scheduled for the weekend after the Goofy Challenge π¬ Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time! π I was definitely super exhausted after my Disney trip, but I had committed so I packed up my bags and headed to the Grand Canyon State for state #19!
This was a quick solo trip with the only goal really being to show up and run. I didn't have any plans to sight see or anything like that. I just wanted to get there, run the race, and head out. I left early Saturday morning for AZ with the intention to fly back on the red eye on Sunday night. It was definitely going to be a whirlwind! However, it had been a while since I've traveled solo for a racecation and I was kind of looking forward to it. It's nice to not have to worry about anyone else's schedule while traveling every now and then!
I arrived to Phoenix around 12pm local time and headed straight for the expo. Like I explained in my Rock n' Roll San Antonio review, once you've been to one Rock n' Roll expo you've kind of been to them all. I'm sure they change things up year to year, but I don't blame them for making the expos similar in each city. Being a traveling race company, I'm sure that makes things much easier, logistically speaking!
I had quite a bit of time to kill after the expo as my check in time wasn't until 5pm at my Air BnB, so I opted to grab lunch at Willie's Taco Joint (where I accidentally ordered a literal bucket of chips) and a frozen latte from Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii (which I hoped would make me feel like bad ass on race day π). It was such a nice temperature outside so I found a spot to sit with my coffee and enjoy the scenery a bit before finally heading to my digs for the evening.
I was so exhausted from traveling that I didn't have energy to do much else besides shower, order Uber Eats for dinner (chicken & tortellini!), lay out my flat runner and head to bed. I was nervous about the race because of how I felt during the WDW Marathon and my body just being so exhausted, so I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. I'm pretty sure I passed out at 8:30pm (which to be fair was 10:30pm eastern which was what my body was operating on haha).
Because of the time difference, I woke up naturally before my alarm and I felt pretty well rested! I ate some oatmeal for breakfast, got dressed, packed up my gear bag and headed over to the start line. My accommodations were about a mile from the start so I just opted to walk over. Looking back on it, walking a mile to the start before running a marathon seems ridiculous, but I think I was still in runDisney mode where you're basically forced to do just that whether you want to or not π
While I was waiting for the start, I was able to meet up with a former student of mine, Alex! She and I were actually both at the Rock n' Roll Savannah Half Marathon in November and didn't realize it until after the fact, so when we realized we'd both be at RnR Arizona we made it a point to find each other! It was so great to see her, especially after so many years!
I wasn't waiting long at all before I was off and running. Compared to my experiences in Savannah and San Antonio, they got the runners out on the course very quickly in Arizona! I think waited a total of about 10 minutes or so before I was running, and we were moving toward the start the entire time. Kudos to Rock n' Roll for getting us out on the course ASAP!
One thing that I'll say about Arizona is that it is BREATHTAKING. I could not keep my eyes off the beautiful Arizona landscape the entire time I was running. It also didn't hurt that we had absolutely perfect weather conditions for this run. I was definitely nervous to run in a warmer climate after training in the cold, but temps and conditions for this race were absolutely phenomenal and I was loving it!
I felt surprisingly great for the majority of this run. I really wasn't sure how I was going to feel because of how terrible I felt during the WDW Marathon, so my main focus was so get to the finish and enjoy the run. (Really my main goal was finding a giant cactus to take a selfie with π) BUT I was feeling so great, even at the half way point, and I started to realize that I was on pace to go sub-5. I tried not to let myself dwell on that possibility because I didn't want to push my body and totally fall apart in the later miles, but I would be lying if I told you it wasn't in the back of my mind through the majority of the second half!
Around mile 16.5 is where things started to get difficult. This is where we turned onto some bike trails and we stayed on these trails for about 3 miles or so. This section was GORGEOUS and we had these beautiful views of incredible red rocks everywhere you looked. However, these trails were HILLY AF, and after having a mostly flat course for the first half, it was a surprise to turn onto these hills and it definitely shook up my mental game a bit. I tried to focus on putting one step down at a time, and to also really appreciate the beautiful scenery around me because... WOW π€©
At about 19.5 - right after the beautiful bike trails of doom - I actually got to see our BibRave Community Manager Laura, which was so incredible! She's local to the area and was so kind to come out to cheer on a few of us BibRave Pros in our race. It honestly meant SO MUCH to me that Laura stuck around to see my slow self make it to mile 19.5, and she even brought me a little baggie of mid-race pretzels and jogged with me to mile marker 20! Seeing a friendly face cheering me on at that point of the race gave me such an incredible boost and motivated me to get through the last 10K!
I was definitely gassed out after seeing Laura, and I knew the last few miles were going to be a slog. On top of that, the sun was really starting to take it out of me at this point and I was overall just ready to be DONE. What I do appreciate about these Rock n' Roll races is that the on-course entertainment is just top notch. It seems like every single mile there's a band or DJ hyping up the runners and it was no different in Arizona. While these last 6.2 miles were mentally and physically challenging, I tried my best to just make it to the next performer and enjoy the music they were providing for the runners on the course.
After chipping my way through the 20s, I finally turned a corner, ran all the way down the bridge, and finally, across the finish line to capture my 19th state!!!
I also earned my 4ever Young Heavy Medal at this race! For every city you run within a Heavy Medal season (typically it's within one year, but because of COVID they're currently counting 2020, 2021, and 2022 for one season), after running the second city and beyond you earn an additional Heavy Medal! This is my fourth city with Rock n' Roll since 2020, so I earned the 4ever Young medal, which coincidentally matched my outfit perfectly!
I'm also a big big fan of the marathon medal I earned at RnR Arizona! It's the shape of the state of Arizona, and it perfectly captures the gorgeous scenery of the area we ran through. If there's one thing I'll remember about this race it's definitely the scenery, so I'm so glad that it's reflected on this medal!
I had a bit of time after the race before I had to head to the airport, so after showering and resting for an hour or so, I went out to grab some dinner, a celebratory beveragino and dinner at Four Peaks Brewing Company (where I found out my server was from a town about 20 minutes from me in Massachusetts π) and - per a recommendation from a friend that said if I did nothing else I should do this - grabbed a frozen coffee from Dutch Bros. Y'all... I need Dutch Bros to set up a franchise in the northeast like now ππ. Why don't we have any good frozen coffee up here??
Overall I had a fantastic time at Rock n' Roll Arizona. As usual, Rock n' Roll put on an incredible event and I would 100% return to run this marathon again. The course was gorgeous, the entertainment was incredible, and the volunteers and staff were so amazing in making sure everyone had a fantastic time. 10/10 would recommend for your Arizona race!
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Today I will be talking about Day 2 of the Goofy Challenge at the 2022 Walt Disney World Marathon! Make sure you check out my review of Day 1 at the Walt Disney World Half Marathon if you haven't already!
Marathon day started a little bit later than Half Marathon day for me because I let myself sleep for about 30 more minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot, but in runDisney time that extra 30 minutes means EVERYTHING! π I woke up around 2:15am and got myself ready. For the Marathon, I wanted to dress like the man himself - GOOFY! I figured it was only appropriate since I was doing his challenge and whatnot π
I was out the door by 2:45am, on the bus by about 2:55am, and got to the start staging area around 3:15am or so. Still quite early, but I didn't feel as rushed to get to the start. My legs were in rough shape after Saturday (which I go into detail about in my Marathon vlog!) so all I really wanted to do when I got to the staging area was find a place to sit and eat my breakfast of a granola bar and a banana. I still took some photos before settling in, but it felt so nice to just sit on the bleachers and take in the atmosphere!
Like the Half Marathon, I made my way over to the start staging area around 4:30am. It was a muggy morning and it was supposed to be really warm that day, so I did not have to wait long before they sent us on our way. I think I was running by about 5:15am, so much earlier than the Half Marathon. A cool moment for the Marathon is that I ended up very close to the start line with my wave of starting group 4, so I got front row seats to the starting fireworks which was so incredible! An amazing way to start my race!
Unfortunately I had a hard time pretty much all the way through this race. During the first few miles I was feeling pretty nauseous and the humidity really wasn't helping. I knew early on that this marathon was going to be tough, so I stopped and walked whenever I felt the need (which was awesome) and used character stops for breaks. As you'll be able to tell through the photos in this post, I stopped A LOT π It really was so stinkin' humid through the first 10 miles or so, so I tried really hard to get as many miles behind me before the sun got too high in the sky.
The start to the marathon isn't the most entertaining part of the course. It's tough to really enjoy your surroundings when you're running in basically pitch black darkness, but I think they did a pretty good job of putting out a lot of characters during these miles. You do run through a bit of Epcot in these first few miles but because it's so dark you basically can't see anything haha. Luckily the day started to break around mile 7 for me which made the race a bit more interesting. It's nice to actually be able to see the folks around you!
Magic Kingdom isn't until about mile 10 on the course for the Marathon so I didn't get the same magical moment of seeing the castle lit up in the dark, but I definitely still teared up coming into the park and turning to see the castle π Something about the crowds, the music, and the sight of Cinderella Castle after putting in so much effort to get there just gets me so choked up everytime! I hope that the joy I feel running down Main Street never fades. π
I didn't spend as much time in Magic Kingdom as I did during the Half Marathon since I still had SO MUCH left of the race to run and the sun was rising quickly, but I did take my time getting a couple of character photos and just taking in my surroundings. Running through Magic Kingdom will literally never get old!
I actually got a pretty solid castle photo from Photopass during the Marathon! Not only do I look like I'm feeling 1000x better than I actually was π but this photo makes me giggle so much because I'm totally Mike Wizowski-ing the two men running behind me π I hope they got these on their Photopass app as well and laughed!
I saw Goofy in Liberty Square and of course I HAD to stop! This was the cutest character interaction I had. He absolutely loved my outfit and gave me a little round of applause π₯° It was so so cute and it's another moment I will never forget! π§‘π
There were a couple more photo opportunities before leaving the backstage area of MK that I wanted to take advantage of. I knew that the next stretch of highway was going to be a long one headed toward Animal Kingdom, so I was basically trying to delay that experience for as long as possible π
I felt really great going through Magic Kingdom, but mainly because I was so distracted by how much fun I was having haha. Really once we exited the park and we hit mile 12, panic kind of started to set in. I had already been on the course for so long, we had so much further to go, and I felt pretty terrible. Luckily I didn't really feel that nauseous anymore which was a major plus, but my feet and legs were really in shambles. On top of that, the sun was starting to get higher in the sky and it was already so warm. I was really questioning whether I would be able to get myself to the finish line at this point.
Luckily once we got to about mile 13.5, there was a bit of tree coverage and shade so we weren't in the direct sunlight for most of the way to Animal Kingdom. Not to mention that just like the miles leading up to MK, the lined the roads leading up to AK with plenty of character stops and entertainment to keep the fun going through the tough miles! I didn't get too many photos along the way to Animal Kingdom but I did get quite a few video clips, so make sure to watch my vlog to see what I saw along the way π
Finally making it into Animal Kingdom was a welcome distraction! I'm disappointed that this year Expedition Everest was closed for refurbishment during Marathon Weekend because I totally would have taken advantage of the opportunity to sit down at that point in the race π I was hoping to find a Simba waffle to snack on because I have heard of folks getting snacks and drinks while in AK (I definitely saw quite a few folks with beers!) but I didn't really feel like stopping to wait in line at the concession stands so I just kept it moving.
The few miles after exiting Animal Kingdom were quite brutal. It was all highways and zero tree cover. All we were doing is baking in the sun for about 3.5 miles before making the turn to Blizzard Beach. We did get wet sponges at mile 19 which were honestly life savers. I was bummed because there were so many Toy Story characters (prob one of my top 3 Disney movies!) along this stretch, but I did not want to wait in line for characters in the blazing hot sun when I already felt pretty terrible. I did snap a selfie with Bullseye though because when do you ever see Bullseye out?!
Eventually we turned right toward Blizzard Beach and honestly this is where I started to break down mentally. My feet had never hurt so much during a marathon, I was hot, I was sleep deprived... I straight up was not having a good time π There was a moment right before mile marker 21 where I was just in tears because of how bad I felt, and a man checked in with me to make sure I was okay. I love how supportive the running community is and I appreciated so much that this stranger checked in on me in this moment. Even though I felt terrible, I told him I would be okay and that I appreciated him. Another unforgettable moment. β¨
I was still hurting pretty badly all the way to Hollywood Studios. As soon as we entered by the Tower of Terror, I knew I had to sit and take a break in the shade on one of the benches. I sat down for about two minutes or so to kind of collect myself before hopping back out into the sun and running through the rest of the park. I will say that Hollywood Studios - both in the park and outside by the skyliner - had GREAT energy and even though I felt terrible, the energy really did perk me up a bit. I knew I only had a few more miles to go before I could officially be done!
Eventually I made my way into the Boardwalk area, which then leads you into Epcot again! The crowds in these areas were so fantastic. Even though the park goers looked slightly confused, so many of them were cheering for runners which was so encouraging! I actually saw two park goers wearing Patriots jerseys, so I made a point to scream "GO PATS!" as I was running by which they really enjoyed π
At this point of the race (miles 24-25), every step was agony. I was actually trying to actively avoid the Photopass photographers altogether but they still managed to beautifully capture my pain as we made our way through world showcase π
I knew that Shannon was waiting for me at the finish line and I was SO DANG CLOSE so I kept telling myself to keep moving forward. I could NOT wait to get to the finish so that I could finally sit down π Honestly when I turned the corner and saw the finish, all of the pain left my body because I was FINALLY AT THE END! If you look at my finish line photos, you would not be able to tell how awful I felt. Again, NEVER TRUST SOCIAL MEDIA! π
I was so so SO happy to be done with that race! As much fun as I had, I felt terrible basically the entire time and unfortunately I was a lot more focused on finishing than enjoying the moment. A lot of how I was feeling was totally my fault and 100% preventable, and I've learned a lot of lessons through my first Goofy Challenge experience, so I definitely think I need to go back so I can do better next time!
I waddled my way through the finisher's chute, grabbed my Marathon medal, my finisher's Mickey ears (which, by the way, is my favorite thing that they do for marathon finishers!), and my Goofy challenge medal, and wobbled my way to find some shade to sit in while I waited for Shannon to come find me. My phone almost died and I was pretty concerned it was going to turn off and we wouldn't be able to find each other π but thankfully we found each other and could kick off our celebration together!
The Walt Disney World Marathon is a challenging marathon, and I really wasn't expecting it to be. I think the biggest challenge is being mindful of the run with all the distraction around you. It's so easy to forget to fuel, it's so easy to spend way more time on your feet than you're used to, and generally it's really easy to underestimate this marathon because you're at Disney. My biggest lesson from the weekend is to take better care of myself. It's a race weekend and even though I want to pack all the fun I can into my time at Disney, that's going to have some serious repercussions when it comes to race day. I know when I return I will be approaching these races VERY differently!
That being said, this race was incredible. Running 26.2 miles through the parks was amazing. There were dozens of characters and entertainers stationed all around the course, the volunteers were all so lovely and cheerful and encouraging, and the runDisney community is unlike any other. The way these races make you feel keep you coming back, and I cannot wait for my next runDisney race. Maybe Marathon Weekend 2023? π