Sad panda for The Disney Relay option

Am I the last to find out runDisney announced on twitter they will not be offering the relay option for Wine and Dine or Marathon weekend?

Thank you, twitter, for randomly unfollowing runDisney and Fred for me, btw. That was awesome to find out. Has that happened to anyone else? Or am I alone in that, too?

I hope Disney just decided to put them in the vault with the movies.

The relay had potential to be an awesome sidekick to the marathon weekend line up. I am super sad the option isn't available for others (You can check out my experience here, if you haven't already). Getting to run the first and second half of the marathon was amazing especially for someone who doesn't know if they'll ever run a full marathon, at one time. It was a creative way to run differently with someone. Pairing it with the half marathon the day before was a cool challenge for yourself without taking the full on Goofy plunge. It was a great option for a half marathon on Sunday, instead of Saturday. It was just an all around good option for a new experience. I mean, who doesn't want to get up at 2am for a race you won't be running for at least 2hrs after it starts, sit on concrete in a parking lot during that time and freeze until the sun comes out then die of the heatstroke when you finally do get to run? Depending on how big of a deal that is to you, I'd think that would be the only downfall to it. Oh, and if you're into merch, having Disney forget to order and design any, except a cushion bag to sit on in that concrete parking lot.

Would I have done it again if the option was still available? In 2013, no. If I go for marathon weekend again, I'm going to get the special edition Mickey marathon medal (depending on how NYCM goes. I will not register until after I run the full and see how I feel. But I figure, if I feel good about it, I'm already trained; why not? And why not get the special 20th anniversary full color Mickey? duh). Another year? Possibly. But I am not down for back-to-backs for awhile. I'm pretty sure I'm still not fully recovered from that. My legs still ache at the thought of the finish line at that relay. That was the most pain I've ever been in during or after a race ever.

Although, I really hope they bring the relay option back for The Wine and Dine at some point. I know it's only a half marathon, but I think it would be a good transition race for people not ready for a half  but a 5k isn't worth traveling for. I'd totally travel for that, if it meant getting a friend involved with 2 of my favorites, running and Disney. With the exception of the old new Tower of Terror 10 miler, you jump from 5k to half in runDisney world. Where is Jeff Galloway to tell you that isn't smart or safe? What about the awesome 10k distance? I know that W-n-D was originally a 10k. What if it went back to that so you had more time to eat and enjoy the festival? Either way, I want the Epcot ball medal around my neck. I'm sure I don't need to worry my pretty little head with all this, the geniuses that may be at runDisney will figure it out for me and I will agree.

Until then, I get to say I ran the one and only WDW Marathon relay.

 and I got a pretty kickass medal, too!

If you were planning on relaying a race and then the option wasn't available, would you just run the whole thing or opt out completely?

Thoughts on this decision?