Race Review: Walt Disney World Marathon 2022 ✨ Goofy Challenge Day 2!

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! 😂 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 😋

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!

Being greeted by a fully lit Spaceship Earth is just the best feeling on race morning!

Sitting on the bleachers with my legs up was so necessary on Marathon morning!

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 😂 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.

Pluto during the first mile!

Dark Wing Duck during mile 4!

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!

Elastigirl and Edna Mode during mile 9!

Frozone during mile 9!

Figment during mile 10! Had to get this photo for my friend Brittany who is a Figment superfan haha.

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 😂 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. 💖

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!

Cruising through Tomorrowland!

Stitch in Tomorrowland (~mile 10.75)

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 😅 but this photo makes me giggle so much because I'm totally Mike Wizowski-ing the two men running behind me 😂 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 🥰 It was so so cute and it's another moment I will never forget! 🧡💙

Goofy in Liberty Square (mile marker 11)

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 😂

Panchito & José at mile 11.25

Daisy at mile 11.3

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.

Rabbit & Piglet at mile 12.5

Tigger at mile 12.75

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 😊

Robin Hood & Little John right after mile marker 15

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 😂 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?!

Bullseye around mile 19.5

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 😂 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. ✨

Shannon and I had a running joke on our trip where we would ask if every building we saw was the Tower of Terror. As soon as the Tower of Terror was in my line of sight, I had to send her this photo and ask "Is that the Tower of Terror?" 😂

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!

All I wanted to do in this moment was jump into this body of water 😂

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 😜

At this point of the race (miles 24-25), every step was agony. As you can tell from the Photopass photos above, I was SO ready to be done! 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 😂 Don't worry though, I still managed to take at least one cute Photopass photo even though I felt dead:

Proof that you should never believe what you see on social media because I felt like dying in this moment 😂

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 😂 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! 😂

All I could think about when I crossed the finish line was this moment from The Incredibles:

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 😂 but thankfully we found each other and could kick off our celebration together!

To celebrate, we spent the afternoon and evening in Magic Kingdom doing so many fun things! I will cover our theme park adventures in a different post, but I wanted to end this review with some of my Magic Kingdom medal photos because I love them so much! 😍 (Shout out to Shannon for helping me out with these photos! She 100% has a future in medal photography 🤩)

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? 😏

Check out my Walt Disney World Marathon vlog below to see all the action, and hear more about the story of my race through all four parks!

Race Review: Walt Disney World Half Marathon 2022 ✨ Goofy Challenge Day 1!

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 😂 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!

I traveled to Disney with my pal Shannon which was so much fun! A few months back she mentioned that she wanted to travel more, so I made the suggestion that she could always come on my race adventure whenever she wanted! She's currently in grad school, but it just so happened that she would be in between terms when I traveled to Disney for the Goofy Challenge, so when I offered for her to come with she was more than excited to join me!

We flew in a day earlier than originally intended because we were supposed to receive some pretty nasty weather up in New England on our original departure date so we had a bit of waiting time before getting to property. We made the most of it, though, and relaxed at our hotel pool, and even got to watch the Magic Kingdom Fireworks from our hotel room which was absolutely incredible!

On Friday we finally made it onto property as originally scheduled! Our room wasn't ready at our resort quite yet so we left our bags at bell services and headed on over to the Expo at ESPN Wide World of Sports. The runDisney Expo is always such a fantastic time, because not only do you get the chance to pick up your bib and shirts and check out vendors, there's tons of food, beverage, merchandise, and photo opportunities all around the ESPN grounds. I personally could spend a couple of hours walking around the expo taking in the atmosphere and getting hyped for my races!

The only complaint I have about the Expo is - surprise, surprise - the availability of race weekend merchandise. This always seems to be a major issue with runDisney, where if you're not at the expo right at opening of the very first day, it's likely you won't be getting your hands on very many options for merchandise. This was definitely the case for me, as we didn't get to the expo until the third day it was open. There were little to no options left over of the race weekend merch, and only ONE option for Goofy Challenge merch. 

Luckily the option for the Goofy Challenge merch just so happened to be a shirt that fit me (lucky!), but it was still quite disappointing to walk into the merch hall and see everything so picked over when I (and I'm sure many others!) don't have the option to go on day 1. I know there's a way for runDisney to remedy this, I just wish they would make an effort to try to make it somewhat fair for the folks that come later in the weekend! That being said I did get a couple of things from the runDisney official merchandise, and also a few other items from the expo like my race shirts and a commemorative luggage tag to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the half marathon, so I got a good little haul of items!

We didn't do too much for the rest of the day since we wanted to take it easy before the weekend really got going, but we did pop over to Disney Springs for dinner and we walked around a bit before heading to bed. I recap our entire travel day, Expo experience, and time in Disney Springs in my first vlog of the weekend, which you can find below!

I was very excited every time I saw Goofy around property 😂
This was a bus that was dropping off folks at Disney Springs when we arrived!

Found my new favorite beer at City Works - Strawberry Orange Mimosa from South Beach Brewing Co! 🍓

😍😍😍

Shakes from Ghirardelli! 😍

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 😂 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! ⚡

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 😂 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! 😂

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! 💖  

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. These photos definitely do not do the castle justice, but I will never forget the feeling of turning the corner and seeing this beautiful sight:

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 😂 Very clearly I was having a blast playing in Magic Kingdom! ✨

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! ⚡

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! 😊

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! ✨
If you'd like to see my morning running the WDW Half Marathon in video form, check out my Goofy Day 1 vlog below!

Stay tuned for my next post where I'll be breaking down Day 2 of the Goofy Challenge at the Walt Disney World Marathon!