A Very Wet runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Race Recap

If you follow runDisney races at all you probably heard that the 2014 Wine and Dine Half Marathon was a wet one.  It basically started raining 10 minutes before the race started and rained the entire time.  Not the worse conditions, but since it was a night race it made navigating the already dark course a little tricky.  I had a fun time though.  For the first time, since it was raining, I didn’t run with my phone (a.k.a.) my camera.  These pictures are from MarathonFoto.  I dressed at Lightening McQueen and in hindsight was a good costume for the rain.  I made the skirt out of a pleather type fabric and the hat hung out so it helped keep a little of the rain off my face.

The race starts at ESPN Wide World of Sports.  I put my phone inside my jacket and gear checked it.  One selfie before it started raining.  

I feel like I kind of cursed myself.  Back in October before I ran the Chicago Marathon I said to my husband that I feel really lucky that out of all the races I have ran, I have yet to have to run in the rain.  Fast forward a few weeks to November 8th, it poured.  The race started and we were off.  The Country Bears were around mile 1.  I’m not sure how long they were out there with the rain though. My pic with me in my lovely poncho.

I had bought a poncho at the hotel gift shop before heading to the race. We knew it was going to rain and I didn’t want to get soaking wet while waiting in the corral. I couldn’t decide if it was better to run in the poncho or just get wet once the race started. I wore it for 4 miles and then ditched it. It was bothersome and I didn’t feel like it was keeping me dry enough to make that big of a difference.  runDisney did the best they could during the race.  Some characters obviously couldn’t be out since it was pouring rain, but other characters were moved to locations that were covered like by the front door of buildings.  Pluto was under an overhang in Animal Kingdom.

Woody and Buzz were out by Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios.

My favorite part of running the Wine and Dine Half is always the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights and that didn’t disappoint even in the rain.

I stopped for plenty of pics since I was already soaking wet, I didn’t care about my time, and was just enjoying every minute of it.  

What I learned: Running in the rain at night makes it really tricky to spot puddles.  The puddles look like normal ground…until you land right in one and it is 8 inches deep.  My feet were soaking wet already, so it really didn’t matter, but it still wasn’t super fun.

Overall I had had a good time and I have a fun story to tell.  The people who deserve the most recognition though is definitely every volunteer out there.  They stood in the rain for hours, warning us of speed bumps, giving us Powerade, cheering us on and didn’t even get a medal for it.  THANK YOU to each and every volunteer.  There couldn’t have been a race without you no matter how wet or dry it was.  Here is a picture of the winner that gives a good idea of the rain.

The after party was at Epcot until 4am.  I attempted to stay, but I was just to cold and wanted a hot shower.  

It continued to rain. I walked around World Showcase to the back entrance/exit and headed to Yacht Club.  It felt so good to get back to the room and take my soaking wet shoes off that I wasn’t even sad I was missing the after party.

Did you swim…I mean run the Wine and Dine Half Marathon?