Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tip Tuesday: Marathon Weekend

Marathon logo


Welcome to another Tip Tuesday! Later this week marks the annual Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. There are several events scheduled for the weekend, including the Family Fun Run 5K, Mickey Mile and Kids’ Fest on Friday, the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Full Marathon on Sunday.

Then there are those true running “enthusiasts” who will run the “Goofy,” by participating in the half and full marathon.

For those of you coming to marathon weekend (including myself), there are a few things to keep in mind so you can best experience all the events.

First, registered runners have to pick up their race packets at least a day before their race. Add this with all the activities and events taking place (especially Friday) at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports, and Friday promises to be pretty crowded when it comes to picking up the race packets. Instead, if you can, try to pick up your race packets Thursday afternoon (especially for those participating in the Family Fun Run 5K, Mickey Mile or Kids Events on Friday).

If you’re part of a runner’s “cheering section,” Disney has a few online resources to help you plan how to best be in place to cheer your runner on. Go online to http://www.disneyworldmarathon.com/ and click on the runner tracking link. You will need to know your runner’s average pace (how fast to run one mile) to best use the spectator planning page. Also on the runner tracking page is another resource where anyone can get updates from the course for the half or full marathons. Updates are specific to each individual runner and can be sent by email and/or TXT message (standard message rates apply).

If you’re not participating in the half or full marathon, you may want to make some alternate plans for Saturday and Sunday. Epcot will be especially busy Saturday morning through around noon and again Sunday morning and early afternoon. Likewise, the Magic Kingdom will be busy Saturday and Sunday mornings as racers pass through. The best bet would be to visit either Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom on Saturday and Sunday as they will probably be the least crowded.

I’m looking forward to this weekend’s half marathon, so check back for more updates!

1 comment:

Greg said...

All the best on the race. Do well and stay warm.

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