Taking a break from the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, or: "Just like ending my home..."

Well I mean, it’s not like you asked…

So in less than an hour, registration for the 2016 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend will open up to the general public, and if it’s like any other year, much of it will sell it rather quickly. Certainly the Dopey Challenge, the 5K, and 10K will fill up within the hour. The individual Half, Full, and Goofy Challenge registrations will take a bit longer to reach capacity, but they eventually will. People will attend, many of them for the very first time, and have a wonderfully magical and entertaining fitness weekend in early January at the Happiest Place on Earth.

And for the first time since 2012, I won’t be there.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a worthwhile endeavor and a fantastic time to reunite with friends, enjoy the parks, celebrate the achievement of strapping on your shoes at 2:30 in the morning, waiting around for hours in the shivering cold (or draining heat and humidity) until it’s your time to cross that Start Line, and put those miles behind you for up to four mornings in a row. At a premium cost, of course. But I do get it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have attended four years in a row.

However, I’m largely burnt out on it. This really struck home while I was running the 2015 WDW Half Marathon: I’m kind of getting bored with all this.

Familiarity breeds contempt, and while I still have strong feelings towards the January race weekend, I think it’s time for a break.

So no, I won’t be attending next year. But that hardly means I’m abandoning Run Disney events. I’m still heading back to Anaheim at the end of the summer for the 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, and I want a do-over after being thoroughly rained out during last year’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon so I’ll be back racing at the World in November.

And then there’s the little matter of the 2016 Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend as well, which is a new race (for me) and an absolute must for this running/sci-fi nerd. And THAT event is a week after January race weekend at WDW.

My mantra of late has been more NEW races, less repeats. I really want to stick to that (with a few exceptions). Aside from Disneyland and Wine & Dine, I’m still registered to hit the Space Coast Marathon again, and will most likely hit up the Miami Beach Halloween Half for the third time because it’s a fun time (and local). But next year, my run club is planning on hitting both Rock N Roll New Orleans and the Marine Corps Marathon, and the excitement to tackle either of those dwarfs anything I could muster for scampering down World Drive again.

And don’t get me started on Rock N Roll Las Vegas, the OKC Memorial run, Cottonwood, Chicago, New York… Boston?? A man can dream.

So nope. I’m out this year. And I’m good with it. I’ll surely do it again somewhere down the road, but for 2016 we’re taking a break from the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.

And I’m sure I’ll feel a tinge of regret next January when I see how much fun people are having. Because that’s how I roll. Gah. Here’s the video: