Wine Dine Half Marathon 2014 rainfest

 The Wine & Dine Half Marathon 

aka The Embrace Your Inner Duck Half Marathon!

Rain race hint No 1. These pictures were all shot with my waterproof camera. My iPhone stayed in my Nuu-Muu race dress back pocket 

the entire race inside a plastic bag. 

Hint No. 2 Tuck a poncho through the back of your race belt. 

-Jeff Galloway as demonstrated by Jeff Galloway

Hint No. 3 Enjoy the start of the race - a lot! You will never be this dry again and who knows how many pictures your will really be able to take!

Sure you can capture the fireworks, but can you capture the explosion? 

Boy was that a bright light!

Working our way to the start line.

Hint No. 4 You might want a poncho for the annoying wait in the drizzle pre-race. I checked mine for the after party and went full duck! 

  

...and the rockets green glare!

 Almost time for my corral!

Hello Carissa & Rudy! Boy did you guys look great! The rain was already starting to kill the speakers. Only speakers near the start and the warm- up area seemed to still be working. The majority of the corral speakers went out! It was already getting wet!

Hint No. 5 I took the graphic of Mickey on the start line as my call to action! Run for the food! Run for the wine! I was time, time, time...to run!

First  photo stop of the race. Don't mind if I do! 

Boy those bear costumes are going to get heavy!!!

 Hint No. 6 During a rainy race the big white ball lights don't always signal character stops. runDisney seemed to put almost every light they had available out on the course. Which was a very good thing. There were also a could of clear character stops without characters. 

Yes Virginia it really was too wet for some of the characters.

These two lovely fairies stayed out the whole time and did not seem to give a hoot about the rain! What a blessing!

Hint No. 7 If it is going to be too wet for your costume change your costume. I was going to run as a chef with my Nuu-Muu Espresso running dress, a Chef Mickey hat, and a few kitchen tools. I kept the dress and embraced my inner duck! I found a Mickey antenna topper complete with a yellow Disney Parks poncho and stick it on a Mickey pen.  It perfectly defined my rain race and gave me a fun focal point that got me through the race! 

Poncho Mickey helped me get through the race in style!

So my feet stayed dry until about mile 3. Just as they were starting to get damp I decided to try and take a picture with the turtle in the Animal Kingdom parking lot. I stepped in the soaker of all soaker puddles and my feet were wet from them on! 

 Another bound to be heavy costume! I don't know how they did it!

Animal Kingdom at last! 

Hint No. 8 When running a race soaking wet in 60 degree weather be very mindful of your core temperature. I really goofed off in AK as you are about to see. When I felt my core temperature falling I knew I needed to run for at least a mile straight to bring it back up again. My motto is I must be able to rescue myself. Be mindful of your body at all times!

At least they gave him an umbrella! 

I could not resist a picture in my favourite orange tuk tuk! 

The lights though Asia looked so festive and beautiful!
AK in the dark is amazing!!!

Being able to get out of the rain for a moment to visit
with the characters was a blessing! 

I was going for "poncho Mickey takes over Jack's ship!"

Jack and Barbosa were probably the least happy characters along the course, but I guess that is not too out of character.
They definitely were not going to touch any of the runners! 

My sister caught up to me as I was stopping at see Jack! We were able to run together for a mile or so before I needed a potty stop. I really appreciated the Lion King cast out under the parking lot entrance at AK! It turned out to be our only picture together on the course. Thanks for being there for us one and all! 

The green army man is always a must stop!
He is a real motivator out on the course! 

Rocking' Roller Coaster! You know what that means!
Hollywood Studios!!!

...and a ton of selfies due to all the amazing neon and holiday lights in HS! 

I knew I would be stopping for a picture with Mickey's hat no matter what! I was going for a selfie when a Disney cast member offered to take my picture. He put down his umbrella and took my favourite picture of the entire race! 

A dry spot! Don't mind if I do...get out of the rain for a moment! 

This section of the course caught me completely off guard last year!
Disco balls, fog machine and music almost kicked me to the curb last year.
This year it was a dry stretch! 

This character spot really surprised me!
The Incredibles where not incredible enough to be out in the rain!
I took it to mean that we were even more incredible!
Added bonus: I really love my Edna shadow!

Here we go everyone! The moment everyone looks forward to!
The Osbourn Light Spectacular! 

The lights looked even more spectacular in the rain!
The reflections were beautiful.

The let the holiday dancers get out of the rain under a building awning! 

I tried not to linger too long among the lights.
Core temp falling and I needed to get going again!

I have a Pluto over my shoulder! 

When at the Crossroads take a picture! 

No pictures between HS and Epcot tells the real story!
Those were just get it done miles if I have ever known them!
The volunteer support through that stretch was welcome and appreciated. 

A wonderful boy who was cheering near Spaceship Earth offered to take my picture. He was only the second person who offered the entire race. His mother was worried that he might not have done a good job. I praised that kid! He did an incredible job. Just having someone offer to do something for me when I was dripping wet, past midnight, 12.75 miles of running later, made my race!

Here it is! The bring me home moment! The lights, the lights they're calling! 

We did it! We did it! Poncho Mickey made it across the finish line! I might have to put my Mickey size W&D medal on him! 

Okay so we ran the 13.1 and got our medals, next up the after party!
Bring on the Wine & Dine!

I stopped for a couple of shots at the official finishers banner
before claiming my gear and getting dry! 

Hint No. 9 Sometimes you race for the medal and sometimes you race for the Mylar blanket. I knew I was racing for that blanket from the moment I left AK! I might have broken down in the finish line shoot if they did not have them! Yes that was the last part of my rescue me plan. I would have needed medical if that blanket was not waiting for me. Always take the blanket!!!

Nuu-Muu provided me with my dresses for the half marathon and the 5k runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend. I received no other compensation and all of my thoughts are my own. 
The rain was just a bonus!