Disney Marathon

[bpsigler]

We came to Disney World for the Marathon Weekend, so far things had been going good, until this morning. My wife ran the 1/2 marathon, her first ever and finished. I am so proud of her. My 7yr old DD did the 5K run yesterday with me at Animal Kingdom. She finished!! My 8 yr DD (special needs) did the 400 yard and finshed!! Hooray!! After the 1/2 marathon Disney ran out of medals and said they would mail them to the runners, based on their chip time. How could Disney run out of medals? They know how many runners registered. My wife was not even allowed to get a picture with Minnie and Mickey, because the C/M's said they left when they were told they had run oout of medals. Sorry just needed to vent. My wife has been training hard for this and not to get the medal at the end hurts really bad.

[Donald]

That's horrible!! There is no excuse-this # of runners registered = this # of medals. Basic logic.

On the plus side, congrats on everyone finishing and doing their best!! Pamper that wife of yours, the half marathon takes a lot out of a person!!

[DisneyDudet]

From what I hear, this happened last year after the full. It is sad that they don't expect people to finish, because that is what it seems when they don't make enough medals for all participants.

Sad.

[bpsigler]

Thanks for the "ears" Donald & DisneyDudet!! I am taking all three of my girls out to DownTown Disney tonight to celebrate and I promised the wife a special bottle of wine and the girls lots of trading pins!!

[Disneymom4ever]

Wow, congratulations to all of you, what an accomplishment! That has always been a dream of mine, to take the kids and have us all involved. I'm so sorry about the medals, I would be so mad! I think I'd write a letter to someone letting them know how you feel. It's obviously not the first time it's happened, they need to get it right!! Congratulations again, have a wonderful time celebrating!!

[bpsigler]

Kudos to Disney. They located the missing pallet of medals and we went back to EPCOT this morning (after the full marathon started) and they were handing out the medals for the 1/2 if you showed your Bib #. We also got to take a picture with Minnie, so the story has a happy ending.

[Melanie]

Congratulations to your wife! I'm SO glad they got the medal situation worked out. I can imagine the disappointment when she finished.

[DisneyDudet]

Wow... How did you find out?

In either case, that is great! I can't wait until I finish the full next year, and wear that medal my entire trip!

[Shugoondola]

Congratulations to your wife and daughters.

[Belle619]

Wow - what an accomplishment for your whole family! I completely understand your disappointment when there wasn't a medal to acknowledge this achievement – I’m training (or at least attempting to) for a half marathon and I know the hard work that goes into completing a race.

I am so glad that it all worked out in the end!

[bpsigler]

We found out about the medals from our Team Melanoma coach, who we saw walking around the Pop Century pool with a medal and grilled her about how she got her medal. Disney also sent e-mails to the e-mail address used when registering for the 1/2, so we went to EPOCT with hundreds of others and got my wife's medal. Since my wife did the 1/2, I decided I would do it with her next year(it will be my first try)then if all goes well, go for the full in 2010, then who know's maybe Goofy!!

[irish1967]

My friend and I also finished the half after the medals ran out...

We ended up getting ours at the Expo when we went later that afternoon to pick up some marathon merchandise. Another finisher saw us looking at the t-shirts and told us where we could get the medal (and we paid it forward when we saw another person a little later)

We were told (by a VERY APOLOGETIC) CM (not an event volunteer) that the problem had been traced back to the shipping company.

Disappointing, yes, but as I told my friend, I was not going to allow something like that to ruin the pride in the accomplishment. But it was great to show my children the medal when I returned home

[nu2mousehouse]

Wow. this is a wild string. I ran the 1/2 for my first this year as well. I got done when the medals were still available. While it is just a silly duck-head medal, I could imagine my frustration after running that distance and walking away with just the mylar blanket and a banana. I doubt if I could have been real gracious

I send my congratulations to your family, and to all that did the runs. I am also happy to hear that the medal situation was squared away.

Just think...only 51 weeks until the next time

Scott

[TikiGoddess]

Congrats to all of you who ran the half this year! It is a dream of mine to do this... I just started running last year and am training for a 10k in the spring. Boy, if I ever ran the WDW half and got a medal you can be sure it wouldn't leave my neck for at least a week.

TikiG

[Tigger&Stitch]

Congrats to your whole family! Those are incredible accomplishments.

Sorry about the medals, though. =(

Here's a small trophy:

Have a great night celebrating and take some pictures when that medal comes in the mail!

(And maybe bring it with you next year in case they run out again...so you can take pics in the park with a medal!)