My Most Fun Run!

Fireworks to start the race.. AAAAmazing!

Running to the Castle!

About to enter the castle... but had to get a pic w/ Cindy's Mice


Pro Pic exiting the castle, I also stopped by the Yellow cones and had a pic taken.

Pic w/ Donald!

Pirates on a ship

Pirates at the water station!


Photo Op w/ Pigglet

Wild west photo shoot... I about pulled a muscle here ;)

Magic Mountain or whatever this spot was?! See the 3:50 pace balloons?

The man in the pink tutu!


woohoo finish!!! i was teared up under my shades!


Chrissy and I showing off our "bling"



Nikki and I at after she finished!

My favorite marathon that I've ever run (out of 4 fulls, and a half) was the Walt Disney World Marathon. The Marathon was on January 30, 2009, I flew down with my best friend Nikki and was meeting my other best friend Chrissy (runnin duff) down there as well.

You probably wonder how I have pics from the entire race? I took my Blackberry with me on the run to capture it all. I took pictures and uploaded them to facebook as I ran so my family, friends, and co-workers that were tracking me online could feel like they were there with me!

My first marathon that I ran in March 30th 2008 (completely untrained and out of shape) I ran in 5:19 minutes with runninduff (race report) because she didn't want to run her first mary alone. Since this was my 2nd marathon and I didn't train much more than 15-20 miles a week indoor on a treadmill... time was not a concern... it was all about FUN and finishing faster than 5:19!

I stopped and took pics with about any character I could and since it is a camera phone, not a real camera.. you can't run and take a pic.. so I'd have to peek behind me to make sure no one would slam into me, stop, push the capture button, then upload to facebook as i started running again. (I got hell from other runners saying "are you really texting right now?!!?!" haha)

At mile 15ish? by Magic Mountain (the pic is above, you can see pacer balloons) I finally realized that the 3:50 pace group was about to pass me! I was in total shock... I never thought I'd be able to REALLY finish my 2nd marathon, or any marathon, under 4 hours... especially without proper training! I knew at that point in the race, that I was in no doubt going to finish under 4 hours!

This run was so fun because everyone that worked in the theme parks participated. The families that were down there observing treated you like they were your own and cheered you on. Since this race isn't running past people's houses and through neighborhoods, i heard that there wasn't much crowd support. WRONG! People that were early birds to the theme parks also participated in the fun and cheered! As most races, people dress up... some people went crazy for this run, i saw people dressed up as Minnie and Mickey Mouse... the funniest was a man in a tutu with pink tennis shoes. (there is a picture above) I highly recommend Disney as an option for your next marathon! We flew in Saturday afternoon, went to the expo, went to an Italian dinner, went to bed, got up and ran, checked out of our hotel, drove our rental car back 20 miles to the airport, and flew home. With all the chaos... it was still a very smooth trip. Nice hotels, organized race/expo, easy to navigate airport. Overall the whole experience was an A+!!

I ended up finishing in 3 hours 57 mins! After that day... I was hooked! A few days later I found out that I could qualify for Boston if I ran each mile 40 second faster!! My pace was 9:03, and Boston Qualifying time is 8:23 pace. It lit a fire under my sore little behind. I now had a new goal and wanted to learn all about pacing.

It has only been 4 months since that fire was lit under me... I have completed 2 more marathons both under 4 hours but not quite BQ time. I got totally off track about "my most fun run"... but that is a little tid bit about me, and that I'm an amateur for sure! But I'm learning bit by bit everyday. And I have one hell of flame under me and cannot wait to get to Boston in 2010 (crossing my fingers and toes)!

My webpage from the run that Disney made me to show my time and pictures. : http://www.mydisneymarathon.com/DANIELLEDUNCAN9642

P.s. my tradish pre-marathon dinner and WINE! :)