WDW Marathon Weekend: Spectator Recap and Photos

Although I did not run in the Walt Disney World races this weekend, I very much felt a part of the entire experience. Over the last few months, I’ve watched and supported my friends through their races and training for this marathon and I could not be prouder of them! It was amazing to see first hand, the fruit of their efforts. This race was an emotional one, and the vibes completely reverberated while Katy and I stood at the finish line waiting for our friends to complete their marathons. Everything about the Disney Marathon makes you want to run in it. It was a very, very powerful experience.

Before I indulge in the photos from this morning’s race, I’ll backtrack to the Blogger Lunch that took place yesterday here in Orlando. Our group consisted of 20+ bloggers at Peach Valley Cafe! I feel so lucky to live in Orlando, at the center of the blogging excitement this weekend (and so often at other times, it seems!).

I was actually pretty nervous about the lunch (not about meeting all the new people – I’m used to that by now!), but about what the heck I was going to eat! I had peeked at the menu online beforehand and realized that not eating eggs or cheese eliminated 95% of the menu for me. I ended up going with their Veggie Wrap and was pretty excited for it.

I was a little disappointed as it was not very stuffed, not very flavorful, had a mysterious sun-dried tomato spread on it and very much tasted like I was only eating a plain spinach wrap. I stuffed some of my potato chips into them for a little flavor and was happy that I had (begrudgingly) ordered to potato chips in the end.

I barely made a dent in the bag of chips they added on my plate. I really enjoyed my peach tea, however!

As you can tell, not my first choice for a restaurant, BUT, not the end of the world either! I definitely reminded myself that the company of people at the lunch was way more important. I enjoyed all 2+ hours of it!

I’ll skip right ahead to my wakeup call this morning: 5:45 AM (5 minutes after the race began!) Katy and I decided that it wasn’t worth it to get there before the race started, and instead arrived around 7 AM at the mile 9 mark. We missed Meghann (speedy!), but not two minutes later, this face blurred past us:

Then these two lovely ladies:

Then another lovely! (See her through there? Pink jacket, black and pink bands on her head?)

We skipped ahead to mile 12.5 and found Caitlin’s whole entourage along the way! By the time we got there, we were alerted that Meghann had already crossed mile 13.1 (half way). We were disappointed that we missed her again, but knew we’d get to see her finish at least!

Caitlin and her friend, Lauren were excited to see our group at this point!

Then Megan, Kelly and Debbie cruised through 2 minutes behind them.

And then Ashley again! Love this picture!

Katy and I darted to the Polynesian Resort after this point to warm up. I couldn’t talk because my face was so frozen and wanted to restore some movement to my facial muscles and heat to my toes and fingers. We regrouped with hand warmers. I had two in each boot, three in each glove and one on my lower back! I couldn’t believe how cold it was!

We took the monorail to the finish line in Epcot and waited a good hour with Ashley’s boyfriend, David, and Caitlin’s family for awhile as well. Soon Meghann was darting her way to the end of her 2nd marathon!

Then Caitlin and Lauren:

Then Kelly:

And Megan:

And we totally missed Ashley (all three of us were watching!) but she looked great in her medal!

We were freezing but before we left, Katy and I got a picture with Ashley

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE RUNNERS THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! I am so proud!

Tagged as: blogger meetup, Disney Marathon