well, the long training mileage is finally complete. with 8 miles in the books, keith and i are ready to go for #winedinehalf in just a couple short weeks. now it’s time to taper off and stay consistent with our shorter mileage leading up to the big race day. i still can’t believe it’s almost here, and i think i am getting more excited for keith since it’s his first half marathon ever. and the fact that i get to share this experience with him.
but more about this 8 mile run…we ended up figuring out an awesome route around and through the epcot® resort area. we decided on this location because we knew there would be some elevation changes with the various bridges around the resorts AND the fact that we know and love this area. i mean how could you be upset running around disney?! we started our run on the outside of the resort properties, specifically our beginning point was the disney’s beach club resort. we began our run toward disney’s boardwalk inn and villas resort and this is where we hit the (oh so lovely) bridge – if you know disney property, this is where you run under the waterway that leads to epcot. and holy smokes, talk about a burner right from the start. as a note, this is also the part of the run where there isn’t a sidewalk right after the brdige – so if you utilize this course, just be careful running through the grass.
thankfully throughout the course, we were also able to change our game plan as we went – that way we could change the scenery a little more. so after our first big loop, we started on the course again (yes we had to run the bridge again) – but instead of continuing on the outside perimeter of the swan and dolphin resorts, we decided to cut down near the swan and run on the inside of the properties. now if you’ve stayed at these resorts, this route is the inner loop that has you run by the water of all the resorts, even breaking off to run near the back entrance of epcot and the pathway to disney’s hollywood studios. and on our way back from studios, we decided to break off and finish our run on the outside perimeter of the resorts. we had to get a little creative at the ending since we still had less than a half mile to run to complete the full 8 miles. you so may see a little weaving action on our map – that was us just weaving in and out of the parking lot before ending at the main lobby entrance of the beach club resort.
whoa, quite the explanation huh?! and we couldn’t have asked for much better weather as it finally started to feel like fall in florida. i think that really helped us throughout the mileage since we were able to have a nice breeze to keep us cool. in addition, our 2 mile run and 2 minute walk strategy has really been working out great for us – keeping a 12:25 minute average pace. i totally recommend this route if you are looking for a little longer distance on disney property. only two more weeks until race day. can’t wait to keep everyone updated about the upcoming weekend.
until next time
xoxo
kpmoments 