Lisa Shepard, our Vice President of Administrative Services, completed the Walt Disney World Marathon recently. 

Lisa shares with us about her experience at the Walt Disney World Marathon: 

We got there late Wednesday night, then Thursday and Friday we spent shopping at the Run Disney expo. This in itself was an awesome experience! Late Friday night we started getting notices from Disney there was a possibility of bad weather (lightening) and could result in the cancelling of the half marathon. Sometime late into the night, we finally got the final notice of cancellation. We were very disappointed. However, we decided we were not going home without running the full 39.3 miles! The next morning the three of us, along with many other participants, ran our unofficial half marathon around our hotel grounds! It was actually a lot of fun because so many people had the same idea. Half Marathon done!

The next day was the full marathon. We had to be downstairs ready to get on the shuttle by 3am! We got ZERO sleep. I guess the adrenaline and nerves were just too much. So, at 1:30am we took our time, got ready, and then jumped on the shuttle. In a warning the night before, Disney told us to dress warm because the start was going to be very cold and was it ever! We stood outside waiting to begin for over two hours in 35 degrees and 16 mph winds! The start was exciting, we felt like we were in the Olympics!

There were Disney characters all along the course, DJ’s playing fun music and lots and lots of people! It was so much fun running through the parks. We started in Epcot and ran to Magic Kingdom (through the castle), Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and ESPN Wild World of Sports! Two of us had never run a marathon before, so it was exciting for us to see that finish line! It was a proud moment for all three of us. I can now say I have ran my first (and only) marathon. I will stick to the 13.1!  

I will never forget this experience! We ran 39.3 miles, in an amazing place and with wonderful people! It was truly MAGICAL!