The 29th running of Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend took place from January 5th through January 9th, 2022. Thousands of people descend to Walt Disney World yearly to participate in the 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon or even all four. This was also the first Marathon Weekend back since the pandemic. runDisney began their return with Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend in November 2021. That said, Marathon Weekend is the granddaddy of runDisney events. 2022 also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. With all that said, let’s dive into the details!
runDisney Health & Fitness Expo
Kicking off the weekend was the runDisney Health & Fitness Expo which takes place Wednesday through Saturday of Marathon Weekend. In terms of race expose this is pretty large and well attended. All runners are required to attend prior to their race. Race day bib picket is now allowed. That said Wednesday is always the busiest with 5K and Dopey runners having to be there and then of course merchandise being the big draw. Year in and year out merchandise becomes harder and harder to get. I myself waited just over an hour to get into the merchandise area and several items were completely sold out by the time I got in. I will also say it is rumored that supply was low with items due to supply chain and other things. Overall, the expo felt fairly normal and comparable to years past outside that you had to wear a mask indoors.
Walt Disney World 5K
The Walt Disney World 5K takes place at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning of the weekend and starts and end in the Epcot parking lot. The majority of the course runs through Epcot both on stage and off stage. This race is untimed and considered more of a family fun run. runDisney does not post finishing results for the race because it is untimed but its expected around 10,000 people took part in the event.
One big change to the race weekend in general that started this day was security. Previous runDisney had their own security set up much closer to the race start area but now they have routed everyone through the regular Epcot security that day guests would use. On 5K day this created a bit of confusion and congestion. As the week went on, things improved as I think they learned how to work things better. Another change that started with Wine & Dine is how characters were handled. The characters were still out as frequently as they would have been pre-pandemic however they were separated from runners with a small barrier or something so you weren’t touching the character. Overall this change was not a negative and character stops worked just fine.
One more change that was new for Wine & Dine is the corral/starting system. Prior to Wine & Dine, runDisney had used a letter corral system to place runners. Now, runDisney moved to a numbered start group system s1-s6. Reportedly, s1 was elite level runners, s2 was Club runDisney, charity, and some runners who submitted a proof of time. s3 then was also some proof of time runners and then those who just had an estimated time. I was not thrilled with this move as I did submit a proof of time but was placed in s3 with many who didn’t submit a time. So, that showed to me there was no reason to submit a time at all.
Walt Disney World 10K
This Oswald themed race took on a new course this year going through two parks race than just one. Previously the race only went through Epcot and the Crescent Lake Resort area. This race had 10,513 finishers which is down 2,059 from 2020. It was expected that all the races would be a bit smaller this year given the circumstances and many people did cancel their trips before the race weekend. I did very much enjoy experiencing a new course but I can’t say I loved it a lot more than the old one. Either way it wasn’t a bad change.
Walt Disney World Half Marathon
This was the 25th running of the Walt Disney World Half Marathon and first in person that included Daisy in addition with Donald. Daisy was included in the virtual half in 2021. This course did not change at all from 2020 and offers some of the most boring course time of any but also some of the most exciting by being able to run through the castle in Magic Kingdom. In 2022, 12,699 runners finished the half which is down 8,912 from 2020. This race is normally the largest of the weekend which it still was but was down considerably. Numbers for this race haven’t been this low since 2009.
Walt Disney World Marathon
The 29th running of the Walt Disney World Marathon started early this year. Race organizers were aware of the pending heat issues that day so elites were sent off about 4 minutes early and everyone was on course by 5:30 which was much earlier than the previous race days. The 2022 course is mostly the same to 2020 except for the fact runners did not go into Blizzard Beach but rather just ran a loop in the parking lot. Runners did get to see some character/entertainment surprises such as Citizens of Hollywood in Hollywood Studios who haven’t been seen since before the pandemic. 11,317 runners finished the marathon in 2022 which was down 2,789 from 2020. It will be interesting to see how 2023 numbers compare given the 30th anniversary of the marathon.
For those that don’t already know this race weekend offers two challenges. The Goofy Race and a Half Challenge is for those taking part in the half and full marathon. Over 900 people took part in just this challenge. The other challenge is the Dopey Challenge which encompasses all four races. Roughly 4,781 runners finished this challenge over the course of the four days. In 2023, the Dopey Challenge will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. So, if you are planning on running in 2023, be ready for a lot of others wanting to run as well!
This was just a brief overview of the race weekend. I was glad to be back running in person at Walt Disney World. I can’t wait to do it all over again in 2023!
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