The 2010 Walt Disney World Half Marathon was the biggest (and best) running event I have participated in at the time. It was my 3rd half marathon event. This was my first trip to Florida and my first every trip to Walt Disney World. I was running for the LIVESTRONG Foundation charity in honor of Margaret Ash of the USA and Geoff Simpson of Australia. This event was very memorable. It was the first part of my Disney Coast-to-Coast Challenge. It was unusually cold for Florida weather. There was frost, ice and even snow flurries which just made everything wet and cold. Something I wasn’t used to and haven’t run in before.

There are so many character photo opportunities available at this running event, before and during the run.

The start was a welcomed sight after waiting in the cold corals with snow flurries falling.

 

You get to run though the gates of the Magic Kingdom!

Up to this run, I had never seen so many runners in one place.

The Christmas decorations were still up during the event, which was a pleasant surprise and great to see.

Buzz Lightyear and myself.

The Mad Hatter, Alice, me and the Queen of Hearts.

Captain Hook, me and Smithers.

You get to run though the castle! It was a tight fit with all the runners, use caution.

Prince Charming, me and the Fairy Godmother. With so many character photo ops, you have to take advantage of the ones you normally wouldn’t get to see often during a normal park day.

Photo op in front of Cinderella’s Castle.

Me and the Country Bears.

Very wet, still cold. Not as slippery as you may think, but still ran with caution.

The WDW Railroad Train Conductors.

Pirates!

Me, Mary Poppins, Bert and a penguin.

Once out of the park there was a long stretch of the course that was out on the roads that surround the WDW parks.

Still very cold.

A couple of overpasses were the only “hills” on this course.

The event ends at the Epcot park.

How often do you see the “Meet the Robinsons” characters?

Finally across the finish line, in a slow pace mainly due to the weather and all the stops I made for photos. I was the coldest I ever been after this run and it took a bit to warm up, but I have no regrets and will do it again. The Disney Running, now runDisney, events are top notch and hard to beat. The Expo was huge and the packet pickup went smoothly. Everything was well run and organized.