GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — When you hear the term "Disney Marathon" what comes to mind? Probably someone glued to the couch, remote in hand, popcorn in lap, consumed by the classics.
While Stephanie Muscat wouldn't turn down a night like that, she had a different marathon in mind this past weekend, with a storybook ending of its own.
“I've never felt anything, and I never thought I would feel anything, like this," Muscat said in her Grand Rapids home on Thursday.
It's not uncommon for people to say those words after leaving Walt Disney World Resort, including Muscat.
“I love Disney," she said. "I've been growing up there going there every year, almost, since I was a little kid.”
Like she does almost every winter, Muscat traveled from Grand Rapids to Florida to visit her parents for a month.
Although this trip was going to be a little different.
"I've gone from a 5k, I've done a 10k, I've done a half, I've done a 25k," Muscat said recounting her running resume. "It would be kind of fun to challenge myself and do a marathon, even though I never wanted to do a marathon, but thought, it's the next step. So we'll give it a try.”
She thought the best location to test her pace would be at the Happiest Place on Earth.
So, she and her sister signed up for the Walt Disney World Marathon — a 26.2-mile trek, twice as long as she'd ever run before.
“So nervous," Muscat said, looking back on her feelings leading up to the race. "I don't think I spoke for like two days prior to the race. My family was like, 'Hey, are you okay?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I'm just really nervous.' I just sat there, like, shaking for two days straight.”
Muscat said on race day, however, she felt calm. She settled in.
"Then, when they hit go, my brain switched into race mode," she said. "It's like you're kind of sleepwalking in a way."
“I was still in first place at mile six," she continued. "I was like, 'Okay, if I can just hold on for two more miles, my parents will get to see me running down Main Street in first place. Then whatever happens after that, whatever, it doesn't matter if I come in first, if I come in last, at least they saw me in first place for one little bit.”
That's Muscat's mom cheering her on from behind the camera, like all mom's would do.
“It was just the wildest feeling, turning the corner to the last homestretch," Muscat said. "There was no one else. Literally no one else around me. No, guys, no girls. Nothing. Then you turn the corner and there was just a crowd of supporters and cheers at the end. It was a feeling I will never ever forget.”
Muscat earned a fast pass to the finish line, posting a final time of 2:48:08. That's under a 6 min. 30 sec. pace per mile.
That mark helped Muscat take home first place in her first-ever marathon.
"This must make you think marathons are easy if you finished in first place on your first try?" FOX 17 asked.
"Oh my god," Muscat said with a smile on her face. "The Olympics are coming up! No. No."
We know she was joking, but if Disney, or Muscat, have taught us anything, even the wildest fantasies are never too far out of reach.
“I got to run my first marathon with my sister in, like, one of my favorite places on Earth," she said. "Then I got to come first. I don't know how many people get to say that that has happened to them. So it's just a surreal feeling.”
Muscat's movie moment isn't over.
She's already been invited back for the Walt Disney World Marathon next year. With this victory, she also qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2025 and wants to run in the New York Marathon in April
Remember, this is someone who never thought she'd lace up for any marathon.
Once a nightmare is now a dream come true.
We think Walt Disney would be proud.
