11/23 COMPLETE! Course by Course, One By One...A 2016 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Trip Report!

[mousehappync]

What? I just found this report (I love your reports) and it ends on a cliffhanger?! I'm so happy to know you finished! Eagerly awaiting more!

 

[FFigawi]

Thanks John, I appreciate it! I do feel better for Dopey, but man, 26.2 freaking miles...

You'll be fine. Trust in your training, don't focus on the distance, and remember you've done this before.

Hopefully the Dopey report will have a happy ending, too.

I'm sure it will. You're better at this running thing than you sometimes give yourself credit for.

 

[rteetz]

Congratulations! We all knew you could do it! And now you have ducktales in my head as well (not a bad thing though).

 

[Ariel484]

Ugh so these were my comments after the 10k still sitting here not posted weird...

The DIS has been giving me issue lately, too.

I just saw this morning someone selling on ebay the 10k, half and Lumiere's challenge medals all for $100, wonder if anyone actually will buy them.

I could see buying the challenge medal if you actually did both of the races but didn't sign up for the challenge for some reason, or if you lost your medals or they were stolen or something. Otherwise...

We were at MK too and got there in the afternoon as we were in AK for the morning after the 10k, and it was CRAZY on Main St. with all the Cubs fans. After a few rides and snacks, we left via the side street exit so you know it's crowded when they open that up.

Yeah, they were dedicated! Lined up really early, I guess.

We didn't do the food & wine kiosks until the Tuesday after the races for lunch and it wasn't bad at all. I don't enjoy the drunkytown at night either.

Yes, most valuable piece of advice I can give regarding Food & Wine - GO ON A WEEK DAY!! Infinitely more enjoyable.

That Remy picture is like Christmas card worthy

I loooove that one!

Of course it will! When I see you at the marathon, I will cheer on you :-D

Woohoo!! OMG it's getting so close!

And for your half - way to go and get back in a happy place. Injuries suck, especially when they linger, so I get the getting down so am happy to read you finished happy. That's a lot of happy there for ya!

I know you are familiar with some of the issues I have been dealing with, too (which, hopefully you haven't had any problems lately?). Not fun!

I find it funny they play the DuckTales themed for Darkwing Duck as he isn't in Ducktales, I mean Launchpad crosses over so I suppose it works. I was pretty happy with the half course overall, but yeah more entertainment is always welcome as well as more park time. I heard Star Wars music at one marker too, and my brothers did too, we figured they must have left it in the loop on accident, oops.

The people around me in the line weren't complaining about the Ducktales theme but someone thought the plane was lame, or something - they were made it wasn't the right plane? I was just so excited to see Launchpad that I didn't care! That's funny about Star Wars music, doesn't really seem to fit!

The amber alert scared the crap out of me for sure, at first I was like what is that, oh it's my phone duh!

Yeah I'm pretty sure I jumped about 5 feet in the air when I heard that!

Again, great job having fun, as that is what counts! You will do amazing at Dopey!

Thanks!

Congratulations on a great half-marathon. I'm so glad to hear that even with the strange calf pain that you are in a good place again with running. I'm happy that this race weekend really gave you some renewed confidence for your Dopey run. You will do great!!

Thanks! Yeah, I can't explain the calf pain... Almost like I had a bad charley horse or something? Weird. I don't think I have ever had that happen during a run.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Great job!!!

I loved all of your photos. Jealous of Clarabella cow - she was on break when we went through.

Thanks!! I'm sorry Clarabelle wasn't out when you went by.

Darkwing was my must do too! I got so excited when I saw the plane!!! I hope they are out in January as well.

They were out during the marathon in 2013 (switching out) - that's when I met Darkwing. I'm excited to see who is out this year!

Great update, and congrats again!!!

Thanks!!

 

[Ariel484]

HIGH FIVE - LOUD CHEERS - WAVES CONGRATS SIGN - DOUBLE HIGH FIVE
(that's me if I were there.)

HEY THERE HI THERE HO THERE HIGH FIVE!

Awesome that you got through what you were unsure you could get through...and with a smile! I made notes again...but I have literally no idea what half of them mean (I blame my cold medecine) so I'll do my best here.

Notes! I am impressed.

Mr. R is going to copycat Mr. A and take a shot at the 10k next year. He saw the Remy medal and said that it looked awesome. I think he'd rather run through Epcot than any other park. Woo hoo.

Mr. R will enjoy it, I think! Even though I wish they'd done something a little different with the 10K course (since it's so similar to the one they use in January), I did like it a lot. Probably one of my favorite runDisney courses.

I think someone already said the coffee thing...about taking it right before your nap. So I'll just say that I agree. If you ever get a chance to do V&A (maybe you already have)...their crazy coffee contraption was one of my favorite meal events ever. I highly reccommend.

We have eaten at V&A - 2 years ago. We, the total lightweights, did the wine pairing and then they brought out the coffee maker - by then we were pretty well tanked so we thought the coffee thing (vacuum percolator?) was the most fascinating thing ever. I'm sure we would have been fascinated sober as well.

I had someone at the dessert table of chef mickey's ask me if my Pluto plastic 5k medal came with the meal. They were excited until I burst their balloon.

Hahaha, that is so funny - like a reward for eating the most mac and cheese or something? I used to post on another message board and this person came into the runDisney section asking where he could get a Goofy medal because he collects Goofy memorabilia. He was not interested in running, just wanted to buy it to put on a shelf or something. He got raked over the coals for that one (not by me, I tried to answer nicely).

The only thing I love more than Caprese salads would be eating one with GIANT hunks of cheese in Epcot. So that's immediately going on the bucket list. Thank you very much.

You are welcome!

Ok, I can't remember....Via Napoli pizza at Epcot = GOOD, Napolini Disneyland = BAD...Did I get that right?

In my opinion, yes. Which...I thought they were supposed to be the same because it's the same ownership? The Napolini crust was thicker and it had a lot more cheese...it was like a brick in my stomach. My 2 BFFs felt the same, so it wasn't just me. I think Via Napoli works for me before races because it's thinner crust and lighter on the cheese, so I was expecting the same at Napolini.

Is it just me or does the Wine N Dine mile marker pictures seem extremely dated. Like they came from a 1992 brochure on hotel catering? If I'm at Disney I want cute chipmunks posing with the worldy cuisine at the very least. Wish they would of made it a lil more "disney."

I do agree that they are dated - mostly I was just glad to see that they were race-specific, at least. Like they didn't take the ones from January and use them here too.

You are very photogenic and you weren't making a "heart" with your hands, you were making an epcot golf ball - obviously!

UM...YEAH! That's totally what I was doing. Totally planned it that way...

Looking forward to your post race stuff. I have my heart set on the Christmas 5k next year (animal kingdom and holiday stuff, yes please) but I'm not overly excited about the half...even though it would earn me the coast to coast...is that blasphemous? I'm sure I'll waffle over that for a long while.

I mean...I don't think so. I think if the half wasn't this big turning point for me in the injury recovery, I'd feel the same way, to be honest.

Having said that...you get yourself that C2C medal. It is perfection!

Congrats! I saw you somewhere between Animal Kingdom and Duck Tales (I mentioned this in the race thread). I actually recognized you from behind just by your race outfit haha.

And I will say again, say HI next time!!

I completely understand the mental aspect of completing the race. That's what got me through the challenge as well. I barely trained (part laziness, part being careful with my knee) so I relied completely on past experience to know that I could do it and that I could also handle a decent amount of pain while doing it . With that said, I was feeling marathon-level hurt near the end of this and after the race. Definitely out of shape!

Isn't the mental aspect so huge?! It sure is for me! I'm glad you were able to finish safely - and OMG I totally know what you mean about feeling "marathon-level hurt" - that's how I felt when I was done with the race!!

Nope! No crying on Race Day! Or at least until the finish!

Cursing, though ... cursing is totally allowed.

There may have been cursing, yes.

What? I just found this report (I love your reports) and it ends on a cliffhanger?! I'm so happy to know you finished! Eagerly awaiting more!

Thanks for reading!!

You'll be fine. Trust in your training, don't focus on the distance, and remember you've done this before.

Thanks John! I appreciate that. Totally agree that knowing I have done it before will help a ton!

I'm sure it will. You're better at this running thing than you sometimes give yourself credit for.

Oh, so you've noticed that lack of self-confidence has been a big theme for me this year, have you?!

...thanks.

Congratulations! We all knew you could do it! And now you have ducktales in my head as well (not a bad thing though).

Thanks!...and you are welcome!

 

[Ariel484]

Sunday, November 6: Post-Half Marathon, Part 1

I headed over to the bus quickly...now that I was done, all I wanted to do was sleep for awhile. It was something I’d been thinking about for the last couple of miles, if I’m being honest! I considered taking the monorail back to the TTC, but the bus was closer and my calf was still bothering me, enough that I now had a slight limp. I knew the Poly would be the first stop on the bus route, as it had been all weekend, so I went there instead.

During the ride, I felt like a mess - like I had run a marathon and not a half marathon! My upper back and quads were sooooore, and then there was this weird calf issue. I tried to sort of ease the pain in my calf by pressing pretty firmly on where it hurt, thinking maybe it was a knot that just needed to be worked out, but that didn’t seem to help. We passed the last few runners and the bike sweepers who were still at mile 11 during the ride.

Once we got to the Poly, I stood up from the seat and OUCH!! My calf had tightened up considerably during the ride! Ughhhhh. I slooowly limped back to the (now empty ) room, which was crazy embarrassing. I’d brought some extra gallon ziploc bags with me from home, so I took one of those to the ice machine, filled it with ice, and iced the painful area for 10 minutes before showering. Looking back, I’m not sure if doing this helped or made it tighten up even more? It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

I took a hot, hot shower, hoping that would help the extreme tightness, but it really didn’t. By now my local BFF was texting me to meet up later on (we’rd tried to do so all weekend and couldn’t get our schedules to coordinate), and I seriously wondered if I’d even be able to walk around Epcot with her later!

Hey pal...could ya hold these for me? (Oh yes, there will be many, many medal photos from this point forward!)

And then...OUT COLD. I had a glorious hour-long nap. I got up around 11:30 and that tightness was still there...in fact, it was worse than before!! I tried to walk around the room and found I could really only do so if I kept my leg totally straight. Like a pirate! Arrrrrr!

I got cleaned up and headed toward the Great Ceremonial House. Even though it was painful, I tried to force myself to walk as normally as possible. Really, at this point, all I needed was to walk some weird way to compensate for this calf thing and then end up hurting myself in some other spot! Surprisingly, I was walking much better by the time I made it up to Kona Cafe...almost approaching normal. I even took the stairs!

I had a noon reservation. Notable (maybe only for me): this was my first time ever eating a Table Service meal by myself at Disney. It wasn’t bad at all! I was having a little me party, a party for myself.

Island Chicken Sandwich with fries! And a Coke. Caffeine me up, please!

Not amazing, but pretty good.

I settled my bill and headed to the TTC monorail. The more I walked, the better my calf felt. Whew!

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Sunday, November 6: Post-Half Marathon, Part 2

I met up with my BFF in Epcot and we grabbed a picture with Donald...and I bought myself a glass of Rosa Regale! We tried our best to get a good medal shot and this was the best we could come up with. Hooray for the Rosa Regale NOT falling into the lagoon!

We did a lap around World Showcase and hit up one of the Joffrey’s stands that was advertising cold brew - I DO NOT recommend. It was watery and I ended up throwing it away after a few sips. So then we stopped at Starbucks before riding Spaceship Earth. And just like that...our time was over. Wahhh! So glad I get to see her again in January.

I still had some time before my dinner ADR, so I hopped in the Character Spot standby line (25 minutes). I was hoping for a good medal picture with Mickey!

The ones with him were pretty good...

Goofy didn’t care about the medals, he just wanted to dance!

This picture with Minnie is probably my favorite medal picture...like I said before, I’m a fan of the candid shots.

See? I think it’s way better than the posed shot.

So with those pics done, it was time to head to the Yacht Club for my 6PM dinner reservation! Another me party! Except I got there 35 minutes early...when I went to check in, the CM informed me that my ADR actually wasn’t until 6:30. Looking at the app...sure enough, it WAS 6:30. I have no idea why but I’d had 6PM drilled into my brain all day. Oops! No worries. I had a nice, relaxing sit in the Yacht Club lobby. Who doesn’t love a nice, relaxing sit every once in awhile?

Anyhoo...I got seated and my server was Paul. He was an all-star because he found the wine I’d had almost 2 years about after Dopey based on my vague description ("cabernet sauvignon that had something to do with the manager of the Doobie Brothers??!"). This one had been recommended to me by our server at the time and I remembered liking it then, and I did now as well (now I know that it is this winery - owned by the manager of the Doobie Brothers - though I don’t remember exactly which cabernet it was. I’d guess the cheapest one!).

What’s that, you say? More medal photos?? Don’t mind if I do!

I got some onion pull-apart bread, salted butter and roasted garlic to start. Yum!

For my entree, I went with the filet with mashed potatoes and added on the mac and cheese (which I couldn’t substitute for the potatoes). Honestly, I should have skipped the mac and cheese. I had maybe 4-5 bites of it, and the potatoes were better, so delicious...but I was getting so full that I could only finish half of the potatoes. The steak was perfect - cooked medium-rare per the chef’s recommendation. Next time I’ll stick to the potatoes as my only side.

Delicious celebratory dinner (hey Tiffins - THIS is what a signature meal should be!!). I settled my bill (10% off with my AP, I think) and headed back outside!

I needed to walk off that meal. It was 8PM and I was sure the Wine & Dine after party was about to start. A ticket to the party was included with my Wine & Dine registration. I hadn’t planned on staying, but since I was right there and it was about to start, I figured...why not?

Except that as I walked to Epcot, I double-checked the party info and found that the party wasn’t going to start at 8 - it would start at 10! NOPE. I knew I’d never make it to 10PM. So I just decided to walk through Epcot, hit up some photo-ops on my way, and head to the monorail to go back to the Poly.

I don’t know why, but they changed the process to get into the party this year. In the past, we got a wristband at packet pick-up and that was good for entry to the party. This time we needed to check in, in Epcot, to get the wristband after using the separate ticket to gain entry into the park. I passed the first check-in line near the International Gateway/UK and it was HUGE. Easily 100+ people! That sealed the deal that this party was not happening.

I stopped for the PhotoPass photographer set-up in France. This look on my face is half wondering if the picture will even come out, half ready for bed!

The check-in line in China was just as long as the one in the UK. The line in Future World wasn’t quite as long.

Last PP pic!

I hopped on the monorail and headed back to the TTC. I thought about getting a cupcake in Captain Cooke’s, but instead decided to have a sophisticated dessert courtesy of the runDisney snackbox leftovers from this weekend, just after 10PM.

I spent the rest of the evening packing and watching a bit of TV, but I know I didn’t last long before heading to bed!

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Monday, November 7: Day 6
Finally, finally, I slept in. It was glorious.

I was feasting on Mickey Waffles in Captain Cooke’s a bit before 10AM.

After breakfast, I went back to the room to get my bags to drop off at airline check-in and bell services. My calf felt almost completely normal by now, which was such a relief! I still have no idea what caused this pain, and thankfully I haven’t experienced it again since. Here’s hoping that it does not return!

SKILLS!

Me and all of my friends grabbed a monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

More items on my to-do list for January: watch the Muppets in Liberty Square (I just took this picture while walking by) and Hall of Presidents before they change it.

I took a spin on the Haunted Mansion before FINALLY crossing a long-standing item off of my Disney to-eat list (we all have one, right? Just me?): The Nutella Waffle with Fruit from Sleepy Hollow!

It wasn’t the life-changing experience I thought it would be, but it was still good.

The last thing I wanted to do was meet Talking Mickey. Unfortunately I’d been unable to get a FP+ for this when I'd checked the day before, but when I first got to the park the wait time had been 35 minutes, which wasn’t TOO bad, so I headed back to the front of the park.

So...the wait time shot up.

I got in the line anyway and wasted a good 30-40 minutes before giving up. The FP+ line got super backed up, which made the standby line get super backed up, and the kids around me were losing it...so the adults around me were losing it as well. Arguing and everything. NOPE! So I got out of line and immediately made FP+ for talking Mickey in January and February to avoid this disaster in the future. What a mess!

I consoled myself with an iced caramel macchiatto and cupcake from Starbucks. I’d asked for light caramel, but the CM read the cup wrong and put in EXTRA caramel. I told her it was okay, but really, it was borderline undrinkable after awhile.

Really, it was mostly good until I got near the bottom.

My last act at the Magic Kingdom was to take the most basic of runDisney medal shots. I still like it though.

I headed back to the Polynesian to relax and eat my Starbucks cupcake before catching the Magical Express at 2:20.

My travel back home was mostly uneventful, except that my connector from Charlotte took off about 45 minutes later than scheduled. Oh well!

And that’s it! Trip over.

 

[Ariel484]

Final Thoughts

Right when I finished the half marathon, I was incredibly pleased with how things had gone and was just so, so happy. Except for the early miles, I was thrilled pretty much the entire time I was on the course...

...pretty much the entire time. But not the whole time. Despite the mostly-thrilled feeling, I have some thoughts. And before you read on, know that this is coming from someone who is lucky to have been able to participate in multiple runDisney race weekends, so my opinion is probably different from someone who was doing this race for the first time.

I was lucky to be able to do the Wine & Dine Half Marathon 2 times before, back when the race was on a Saturday and began at night. This year was the first year that it was moved to a morning race. I wasn’t happy about the change from night to day when it was first announced, and now that I’ve actually participated in Wine & Dine as a morning race, I’m still not happy about it. That nighttime aspect made this weekend so unique and special in my eyes - now that this is gone, and the 10K/challenge has been added, this race weekend is pretty much just like all the others. I remember a couple of times on the half course thinking to myself, "this just isn’t Wine & Dine." The feel of the race just wasn’t the same.

Then there were the courses themselves. The 5K and 10K courses were fine, I thought - but the 10K course is almost exactly what they use in January and February..."just like all the others" again. And then there’s the half course, which consists of part of the WDW marathon course (in reverse) and part of the WDW/Princess Half course. To me, this is lazy course design on runDisney’s part. And not only is it not very unique...there’s also barely any park time. I knew it wouldn’t be like the old course (which was my favorite runDisney half marathon course) with the construction at Hollywood Studios...but what they came up with in its place was disappointing. And I wasn’t impressed with their use of screens so much on the course (I swear they had at least 5 different screens with cartoons or a preview/ad for the after party) and they had a huge bus advertising Dr. Strange parked on the route at one point - they got a big eyeroll from me for that one. Each time I saw a screen or that friggin’ bus, I just thought, "this does not count as entertainment, runDisney!" Yes, running a race at Disney is better than running a race at home, but for what we pay for these things, I think we should get more.

Having said that, I thought the park portions of the course (you know, all like 1.5 miles of it!) were great. But considering what I posted above, I’m not feeling a pull to do this race weekend again any time soon, which is pretty disappointing since, like I said, it was at one point my favorite half marathon course that runDisney offers (offered). Maybe it’ll get better when the Studios construction is completed in a few years, but until then...Wine & Dine is on the back burner for me.

Now, having said all of that - overall, this was a great weekend. I was so happy to be able to complete the 3 races relatively pain-free (still clueless as to what that calf pain was at the end of the half), but most of all, I had a blast running the 10K with Mr. A! Hopefully we get to do another runDisney race together again soon.

And that’s it for me...for now. Wine & Dine may be over, but Dopey Challenge training continues on...and then Princess...and then Tink...

See ya real soon, runDisney!

And thanks for reading.

 

[TeeterTots]

What a great report!
I'm so bummed that the half wasn't at night! That's the whole reason I signed up for this race! I'm with you there!! I didn't know what to expect on the course but had hoped it would be like previous years!
I love all the metal pics and will try to get some good ones during princess half weekend!
Yachtsman looked amazing! I need to get there! Bummer you were alone! We DISers should start a "who's traveling alone" thread and try to plan a get together!
I love that your Starbucks name was Ariel!
That's awesome you have such a great line up for runDisney races coming up! Good for you!!

 

[Pudge_The_Fish]

Awesome report! I always enjoy reading your trip reports. Glad the races went well overall!
I've never done W&D but was bummed when they changed it from a night race as that was what I found interesting about it. I'm cutting back on Disney races anyway so not a huge issue for me. I'm planning to only do Star Wars - Light Side for the next few years.

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Thanks for taking the time to share another great trip report! And I appreciate you giving your final thoughts since you have so much experience with runDisney. A nighttime race at Disney was on my bucket list so I'm still hoping they will bring one back somehow. I'm also glad to know that you were OK with your solo TS meal, I will have a couple in January and I'm quite looking forward to the experience!

 

[RnbwSktles]

I don’t know why, but they changed the process to get into the party this year. In the past, we got a wristband at packet pick-up and that was good for entry to the party. This time we needed to check in, in Epcot, to get the wristband after using the separate ticket to gain entry into the park. I passed the first check-in line near the International Gateway/UK and it was HUGE. Easily 100+ people! That sealed the deal that this party was not happening.

I'm surprised coming through the IG (as we did around the same time) that you weren't immediately given a wristband. They had people there just handing out wristbands even if you just said you had used a party ticket to enter. They didn't even check!

 

[FFigawi]

We have eaten at V&A - 2 years ago. We, the total lightweights, did the wine pairing and then they brought out the coffee maker - by then we were pretty well tanked so we thought the coffee thing (vacuum percolator?) was the most fascinating thing ever. I'm sure we would have been fascinated sober as well.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I order one anyway every time we dine there solely so I can watch the coffee being brewed. The engineer in me finds it fascinating.

 

[Sully321]

Thanks for the great report and congrats!!!
The name is BR Cohn, and one of my favorite wines. I got a chance to visit the winery a couple years ago. I am now a member....lol Sadly it was sold last year, but he still supervises the wine from there and same name.

 

[Dis5150]

Another great report, as always! Seriously, sitting in my office all alone I literally laughed out loud at your pirate walk comment and your "on the monorail with all my friends" comment and pic! Yay, almost marathon weekend time! Even though I get to go this time, still looking forward to reading your trip report.

 

[Ariel484]

What a great report!

Thanks!

I'm so bummed that the half wasn't at night! That's the whole reason I signed up for this race! I'm with you there!! I didn't know what to expect on the course but had hoped it would be like previous years!

Yeah, I'm really glad I got to do it at night a couple of times. It was just a really different atmosphere compared to how it felt during the morning version.

I love all the metal pics and will try to get some good ones during princess half weekend!

The medals are so awesome, it's hard not to get good pictures! I'm hoping we'll see the princess medals soon!

Yachtsman looked amazing! I need to get there! Bummer you were alone! We DISers should start a "who's traveling alone" thread and try to plan a get together!

Being alone wasn't so bad! The Cast Memebrs talked to me a lot, which was fun. I LOVE Yachtsman!! It is so good!

I love that your Starbucks name was Ariel!

I felt it was appropriate since that is my DIS name!

That's awesome you have such a great line up for runDisney races coming up! Good for you!!

Thanks! Retail therapy is a very real thing!!

Awesome report! I always enjoy reading your trip reports. Glad the races went well overall!

Thank you for reading!

I've never done W&D but was bummed when they changed it from a night race as that was what I found interesting about it. I'm cutting back on Disney races anyway so not a huge issue for me. I'm planning to only do Star Wars - Light Side for the next few years.

Thanks again for sharing!

Yeah, I know a lot of people were happy about the change, but I'm not. I wish they would have kept at least one of the night races...and I liked having it on Saturday as well. I think that was easier for a lot of people's work schedules. I'm likely cutting back on runDisney races coming up here as well, which may not be a bad thing since i'm about to OD on them!

Thanks for taking the time to share another great trip report! And I appreciate you giving your final thoughts since you have so much experience with runDisney. A nighttime race at Disney was on my bucket list so I'm still hoping they will bring one back somehow. I'm also glad to know that you were OK with your solo TR meal, I will have a couple in January and I'm quite looking forward to the experience!

I hope they bring it back, too! It would be awesome if they brought back the Tower of Terror 10-miler. I totally regret not doing that one when it was offered!

Solo TS was fine! I mostly played on my phone and talked to the CMs, which was cool.

I'm surprised coming through the IG (as we did around the same time) that you weren't immediately given a wristband. They had people there just handing out wristbands even if you just said you had used a party ticket to enter. They didn't even check!

They did ask me if I was there with the party ticket or the regular ticket - by then I had decided I wasn't going to make it to the party so I just said regular. Maybe if I'd said party they would have given it to me? The checkpoints were insane!

I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I order one anyway every time we dine there solely so I can watch the coffee being brewed. The engineer in me finds it fascinating.

Yeah, we asked about it and got the card for the company that makes it, thinking we may want to buy one, but it was $200 or something. Which I know is not insane for a really good coffee marker, but we'll stick to our $30 Mr. Coffee automatic drip from Target!

Thanks for the great report and congrats!!!
The name is BR Cohn, and one of my favorite wines. I got a chance to visit the winery a couple years ago. I am now a member....lol Sadly it was sold last year, but he still supervises the wine from there and same name.

Thank you!! Yep, I am going to make sure to remember the name so I don't have to send another CM on a wild goose chase for me!!

Another great report, as always! Seriously, sitting in my office all alone I literally laughed out loud at your pirate walk comment and your "on the monorail with all my friends" comment and pic! Yay, almost marathon weekend time! Even though I get to go this time, still looking forward to reading your trip report.

Glad to be of service!! Thanks for reading!

Can you believe how close we are to January?! I just looked at runDisney.com - 41 days!!! These next few weeks are gonna fly by

 

[ZellyB]

Another wonderful trip report. It stinks that they really have taken the uniqueness of the W&D race away. I totally admit that I'm not a big fan of running at night, but I did like that this race weekend was different. I hope that this is temporary and related to all the construction changes and that maybe (MAYBE) they'll revert back. Of course, I really wish they'd bring back the Tower of Terror 10-miler. Please, runDisney, Please!!!

I love all your medal pics and they are a really great looking group of medals this year. Your dinner at Yachtsman looks delicious. Now I'm hungry!!! Especially after also seeing that Nutella waffle thingy.

Onward and upward to January and your second Dopey. So glad you've got your running mojo back and that W&D really helped you to confirm that. I know it's been a tough year for you, but you've been smart and a real trooper about all of it and now that is starting to pay dividends for you.

 

[tigger536]

Great wrap up! The medal pictures are great!

I love yachtsman! We opened our trip with it, and I'm heading there again in January. We were in a lot of places at around the same time Sunday and Monday, too funny (Epcot Sunday afternoon/ evening, muppets and waffle Monday). The MK was blessedly uncrowded Monday morning.

I too came through IG around 8ish (maybe slightly before) and had no trouble getting a wristband. Bummer it was backed up. The after party was OK, but super crowded.

I agree that the course was not great. I hope they tweak it for next year. I will probably do this one again though, since I love the combo factor with F&W festival.

See you in January!

 

[SarahDisney]

First and foremost ... congrats on finishing the half!! Such an awesome accomplishment, especially considering all of the struggles you've had this year. I'm so happy for you and proud of you!

Also ... I discovered recently that the key to having a great runDisney race is having the right attitude, and I'm glad you realized that and were able to have that positive attitude for most of the race.
As always, I loved all of your character and park pictures. I'm super jealous of the Duck Tales one, especially because I missed that one in January (stupid rain during the 10K).
(Also ... thanks for getting the Duck Tales theme stuck in my head. After reading that part of the recap, I actually opened up iTunes to listen to it ... because of course I have it on my computer.)

I love all of the medal pictures! That candid picture with Minnie looking at the medals really is great! And I love that you did wine pictures with the Wine & Dine medals!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the weekend. Back when I was first starting to get into runDisney, I thought Wine & Dine would be a bucket list race for me. From what I saw, it seemed like such a different energy than the other races, between the fact that it was a nighttime race, and the course, and the after party ... and the fact that it was just set up differently than other weekends. When they announced this year's changes, I kinda wasn't excited about it, and reading your recap ... it kinda just confirms how I was feeling. Maybe I'll do this race eventually, but ... it's no longer a bucket list race, it's just something I'll do if it fits into my schedule.

I'm glad you did have a good weekend, though ... and it's awesome that you and Mr. A enjoyed running together!

(Also ... less than a month and a half until Dopey (I think ... I can't count)!)