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Sports

Conquering the Magic Kingdom

William Tennet's Judy Mabone lived a runner's dream in "The Happiest Place on Earth."

Most kids dream of going to Walt Disney World so they can ride their favorite rides or meet their beloved Disney characters. William Tennent cross country runner Judy Mabone not only did that, but she was also able to partake in one of her favorite hobbies while there: running.

The freshman runner spent the second weekend in January at Walt Disney World near Orlando competing in the annual Walt Disney World Half Marathon. She not only left with a smile and a lot of great memories, but she brought back a victory in her age group too. With a time of 1:32:14, Mabone, age 15, finished first overall out of 297 runners in the women ages 14-17 division. She was more five minutes ahead of her nearest competitor. She also placed 32nd overall out of 12,416 female runners and 230th out of all runners in the 13.1 mile race.

And yes to what you’re wondering. A Disney Half-Marathon means runners do get to race throughout Magic Kingdom, zoom through Cinderella’s Castle, and get greeted by many Disney characters along the way.

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Oddly enough, it was a picture of a man in a fairy costume that first brought the Disney Half Marathon to Mabone’s attention. And that was only after her parents said they couldn’t swing a trip to Hawaii.

“I read Runner’s World Magazine, and there was a little picture of a guy in a Tinkerbell suit running the marathon,” she said. “Originally I wanted to do the Maui Marathon, but my dad said I couldn’t go all the way out there because it’s really expensive. So, I asked for Christmas if we could go down the to the Disney World Half-Marathon [and] I’d run that and we’d stay the week in Disney World.”

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Her William Tennent cross country coach Craig Shapiro said he was very supportive of Mabone running the half marathon when Judy and her mom first approached him with the idea.

“I thought the half marathon was a good thing, because you’re really working a lot on endurance,” he said. “And it’s also fun. It’s a nice little challenge. It gives you a break from running 5K’s all the time.” The half-marathon is much longer than the typical three-mile cross country race.

While Mabone said she did not go into the race with the specific goal to win her age group, Shapiro said he thought she had a good chance of doing so. At first Mabone thought there would be around 50 or s60 runners in her age group, while Shapiro guessed there would be around 20. This was why he liked her odds so much. Even though there were around 15 times as many runners as he originally thought, Shapiro’s prediction still came true.

“I really thought she had a good chance, because, first of all I knew she was going to do the training,” Shapiro said. “And I had it in the back of my mind that most of the other kids doing the half marathon probably really weren’t training for it specifically or training intensely. Of course, I also knew how well she had done previously [in the cross country season].”

But would Shapiro still have thought she would win knowing how many runners there were? “Possibly,” he said. “It would have been more of a challenge, but I thought she had a good chance.”

As for the race itself, it was every Disney and running fan’s dream and then some. Mabone said that it was her favorite race she has competed in thus far.

“It was probably the coolest race I’ve ever done,” she said. “You started outside of Epcot, and you ran the overpasses that connect the all different parks. Then you ran through Magic Kingdom, which is the only park you actually got to run through for the half marathon. My favorite part was [running] through Cinderella’s Castle. It has a big tunnel under it. It was so cool.”

Mabone also said the Disney characters were “everywhere” along the run. “Everywhere you turned—at every mile marker—there was like five characters,” she said. “And all along the way there were different ones. You’d see Pooh, then you’d see Mary Poppins, [and] then the princesses. I was freaking out.”

Even with the heavy presence of her Disney favorites, Mabone said she was not tempted to stop for a hug or an autograph and kept her focus on the race.

Despite being set in “The Happiest Place on Earth,” the race didn’t go off completely without a hitch. Because officials didn’t expect Mabone to perform so well, they originally set her start time according to the average runner of her age. Mabone said the race was set up in staggered start times.

First there was the “elite” group for nationally ranked runners, and then the rest of the runners were grouped in group letters A-H based on projected times. Based on her age, Mabone was placed in Group H, so she and her mother went to race officials to tell them they meant business.

“My mom and I went to the running relations and we said we expect to do better based on my cross country times,” she said. “So they said ‘Prove it,’ and we pulled up my district times from cross country.” Mabone was then moved all the way up to group A.

The race relations officials were not the only ones impressed with Mabone’s cross country times. Shapiro said he was very pleased with Mabone’s performance this year, citing the fact that she qualified for states in just her first season of high school cross country.

“Making it to states is a huge thing,” Shapiro said. “As a freshman it’s always tough. Finishing 51st in the state is also a nice little accomplishment especially as a freshman.”

Shapiro and Mabone both said making it to states was a goal and prediction for this season, and, just like Shapiro’s Disney half-marathon forecast, this one came true too.

Shapiro said Mabone’s other important achievement this season was not necessarily in terms of minutes and seconds. “[Her other highlight this season] was being a really good leader, being somebody who works really really hard, is really dedicated, and is a team player,” he said.

Mabone said her greatest strength as a runner is her ability to keep pushing herself in a race, even when her body is telling her not to. “I think my pain tolerance is pretty good,” she said. “If I’m hurting or something, I won’t slow down. I’ll try to push through it and stay up with whoever’s ahead of me.”

By the way, Mabone didn’t even start running cross country until seventh grade. And that was only because she couldn’t find a roster spot on any other team.

“I didn’t do any sports before seventh grade,” she said. “The only reason why I did track was because I got cut from everything else. I met [Shapiro, who used to coach at Klinger Middle School], and I started to work really hard and I started to progressively get better. By the end of the season, my mile was really good, so [Shapiro] and I started talking and I trained with the team in seventh grade in the summer for cross country.”

While not running cross country, Mabone finds plenty of other ways to keep busy. She spends much of her free time getting involved in the Tennent school community. She participates in student government and plays the violin in the school’s music program. She is also in the school chorus, and will be appearing in Tennent’s upcoming production of the musical Chicago.

This spring, Mabone will be competing in spring track where the team can utilize her distance specialty in the outdoor sport. While the events she’ll run are yet to be determined, both Mabone and Shapiro say she’ll likely run in the one or two mile races.

Mabone said she plans to continue running throughout high school, and hopes her strong cross country performances and passion for running can eventually lead to a college scholarship offer.

“I’ve been thinking about trying to work towards getting a scholarship to a pretty decent school,” she said. “I just really like running, so I don’t want to stop now. I like the shape you get into when you’re doing it.”  

As far as a return trip to Disney next year, Mabone said she might like to go back and try out a different race, the Disney Princess Half Marathon. But that’s only if she can’t convince her parents to take her to Maui first.

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