Deal or No Deal?

Well everyone, for those of you still undecided as to whether or not the 2008 Walt Disney World Half-Marathon is for you, time is growing short.

It doesn’t appear that the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 6.5K or 13K races are in any danger of having it’s registration being closed soon but the focus for me today is the WDW Half-marathon.

At last check the registration database was at 95% full. My guess is that registration for that race will close during the first week in June.

It’s important to remember that committing to the WDW Half-marathon goes much deeper than many people think.

First off there is the physical commitment to the event and that means more than committing to a day in January to cover some 13 miles in under 4 hours.

The physical commitment requires devoting a considerable amount of time towards training for the event.

It’s not really all about doing the race on that particular day as is the training for the race.

When you commit to the race you are “signing up” for an extended period of time of serious training. That is a key point to keep in mind….make that a critical component in the decision making process.

On the day of a WDW sponsored racing event there are many smiling and happy faces. This year alone I saw about 14000 smiling faces on the morning of the WDW half-marathon. More were smiling than others. Before the gun had gone off I could look around and pretty much tell who had trained properly for this race and who hadn’t.

Nervous smiles mean there is some doubt as to whether enough training hours were put in.

When you train for any race you not only build stamina but you build confidence.

I can tell you that if you train and prepare for the race then your confidence level will spawn so much enjoyment that when you cross the finish line you may not even feel like you’ve covered some 13 plus miles.

Here’s something else to keep in mind. If you train well enough then something very unusual will happen to you during the half-marathon. Your confidence will combine with the adrenalin rush and you will hardly notice the first 5 to 6 miles of this race.

The first half of this race heads up World Drive to the Magic Kingdom Auto Plaza, the Ticket and Transportation Center and into the Crown Jewel of WDW…the Magic Kingdom.

With so much going on and so much excitement in the air you will be quite energized…especially when you turn up Main Street, USA.

Personally, I feel the real race begins when I find myself running back towards EPCOT. It is at that time when I thank myself for investing all those hours in running. It is at that point when you really call upon your training and stamina to get you through the race.

So invest in your training time well…for the reward is priceless.

Most importantly…do not rush your training…steady as she goes.

So do we have a deal? Promise me you’ll put in the time training an I promise you that you will have a great race day experience.

Sounds like a deal to me