The Walt Disney World Marathon is getting a course facelift to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the popular race. The changes should please many veterans of the popular Florida race.
Earlier today WDW released a video, featuring Mickey Mouse, that highlights the biggest changes to the course for 2013.
The most noticeable changes will be removing one of the big loops around EPCOT to start the race. Instead the race will go from EPCOT straight to the Magic Kingdom where runners will run through Cinderella’s Castle just before Mile 6. This will be roughly 4 miles sooner than in past years.
Runners will also be running through the Disney Motor Speedway this year, around the NASCAR track, instead of outside of the facility, before rejoining the traditional course that then goes to the Animal Kingdom.
The last major difference will be that instead of the unpopular out and back at Mile 20 from previous WDW Marathons, runners will instead run to the Disney Wide World of Sports where they will run around the inside of Spring Training stadium of the Atlanta Braves.
Runners will then head to Hollywood Studios before finishing back at EPCOT.
The 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon will take place on January 13, 2013 in Orlando, Florida.
The WDW Half Marathon takes place the day before in the same location.
Runners can complete both races in what is called the Goofy Challenge. The GC does fill up fast.
If you are wanting to do your first marathon or half marathon then Disney is a great place to do it. It’s one of my favorite races that I go back to every year.
A simple video of a kid flipping through flashcards, written in Sharpie, with several very important and helpful tips for running your first marathon or half marathon.
Naturally, there is now a ‘Sh!t Ultrarunners Say’ video that is rather humorous. If you haven’t said most of the things in this video during an ultra then you have for sure heard them from others.
Watch and enjoy!
“You guys go ahead I’ll catch up!”
“Whoa, was that a mountain lion?”
“I haven’t run on the road since 1983.”
“Hey do you have an extra sock? Did you bring an extra shirt? Do you have any wet wipes?”
I tweeted this video a couple of days ago but wanted to post it here as well.
It’s a video of Iron Maiden’s ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ with film footage from the movie Forrest Gump of all of the scenes where Tom Hanks (Forrest) is running in the film.
YouTube user ‘Residualbill’ did a really good job of editing the scenes to match the song.
The best part being Forrest’s machine gun fire in Vietnam.
BTW: Really great song to run to for those of you that listen to music!
Ryan Hall, the fastest marathoner in USA history, sits down here with esteemed triathlete coach Matt Dixon to discuss recovery and the importance of recovery during training leading up to a big event.
This video is a memorial video tribute to Charles ‘Charlie’ Reagan about his life as a first class runner and as the biggest Milan Bulldogs (high school) fan ever.
Charlie was brutally murdered at his shop, Supreme Muffler, in Milan on June 16, 2011.
Ultra marathon legend Scott Jurek discusses how he became interested in running, ultra marathons, and how he gets through such extreme races and distances with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Scott has won Badwater, Western States several times, and almost every other endurance running race in the United States.
Millions of Americans love to run for a host of many reasons. There are many more that would love to run but claim they just can’t. That it is too hard.
The video below shows the inspirational story of Ben Davis and his transformation from a 358-lb lazy sofa ornament into a marathon and ultra-athlete one step at a time. He lost over 130-lbs in the process.
Davis started running, very slowly at first, and he kept at it until he did his first 5K, then his first marathon, then his first Ironman.
Watch the video and pass the link along to one of your friends or family members that needs just a little push to get them out there running and on there way to a more healthy lifestyle.
Running is something anyone can do from anywhere. It all starts with a single step.
Watch Ben’s Transformation Below:
Be sure to share with fellow runners and those you want to see running as well!