OK, I have not been able to read through everything, as there are a LOT of pages since I left. I do want to add my two cents, since I was a new runner and this was our first Run Disney events. I will start with a disclaimer that the weeks leading up to the race, my whole family got sick, including my 2 year old leaving with treated pneumonia. Take a guess who started to feel ill hours into our drive to Disney lol! With that said, I still ran the best I have ever run!
Ok- Expo- we felt it was a cluster F*@K. I absolutely hated the lines and crowds and could not believe that Disney has not come up with a better system yet. With that said, I did not experience anyone trying to take anything out of my hands, and by 10:45 am, on opening day, all but the tanks were in stock. I had really wanted one, so I was kind of bummed, but not that bummed. I got a wine glass, but as an afterthought.... was that a hot item? DH was happy about it! Packet pick up was efficient, but crowded and not being able to use my stroller was a nightmare with a 2 year old and that many people. Looking back, we took longer than I had originally anticipated, yet felt rushed. I never even got to look at the New Balances which I am now greatly regretting
Oh well!
OK onto transportation. Disney got that right! I do think being up and out early helped. We made both buses right as they were going to leave and got to the events early as sin.
5K- HOLY GOD those character lines though! I think y'all should pin a note STRESSING how long these waits are. How long all the waits are. I opted not to wait for them and entered our corrals early. This seemed to be a good idea. We were all placed corral c and that was awesome and unexpected! Original plan was for DH to stick with DD15 and me to stick wth DS9 since we were the weaker runners. Somehow, DD got put together and I was miraculously able to keep up with her! Sadly Dh and DS were held up because DS9 ended up not being able to keep up like he thought he could. Truthfully, he hadn't trained much due to sickness in the months leading up, but he did much worse than we expected. They did have fun though, and so did DD and I. We all got to meet Genie and that made the race for me. Since we finished somewhat earlier, we were delighted to see that Sebastian was out again after the race and lines were still very short! We were able to get in with minimal wait. One thing I wish I would have listened to closer was to bring extra clothes. We all FROZE! We were thankful for cooler temps once we were running, but at 4 am, good lord. I forget my time now, but I def had a PR that day! It felt so good to this overweight, never athletic mom. I was shocked to see myself running in between people! Who was that mom? Even my XC runner daughter couldn't believe I kept up with her. Definitely inspired me to keep running and get even better! Also, for this race we used kids night out as a sitter and they were great! Got there on time with a luggage case full of activities and sweet attitude. I would not hesitate to use them again! They arrived at 4 am and we were back to the poly at exactly 8 am before our little one even woke up. I guess its not hard to watch a sleeping baby, but I was still grateful for her punctuality and sweet demeanor.
Pasta in the park dinner- WHAT A LET DOWN! I don't even know where to start. This whole event felt like a cluster and afterthought. No assigned seating had us looking like the outcast kids looking to find a table to sit with at lunch (btw- we were there early too!) Once seated all the bananas on the table were gone, and those were disappointing center pieces to begin with. Once seated, one side of the food was open and they had 2 buffets set up for hundreds of people. When the 2nd side opened up it was no better. I filled two plates to ensure I had enough food for DS and myself. The characters that were there were all from Hercules. HTF does that fit into princess weekend??? I swore they had multiple characters in past events, not all one theme. Desert was Mickey bars or sandwiches..... thats it. The whole experience was a let down and not what we expected at all. Cool to meet Hades though. Having them lead us to the special spot for illuminations was a nightmare too, and we ended up just leaving. Food was just OK.
10K- I was SUPER pumped for this race, as DH and I were doing it alone. I felt great, even after running the day before and another very early wake up and that flu (cold flu not stomach flu...) I mentioned earlier really starting to show itself. I felt way more prepare mentally as to what expect after doing the 5K and I had the running "blanket" they handed out at the end of the 5K to keep me warm for the 10K.... why do they hand those out after?? So, of course things were going too well lol! Right as corrals started getting called, I had a TERRIBLE stomach issue and was forced to leave the front of corral C and run to the portapotty. This happened twice more and we ended up at the very end of corral C. What was worse, another wave hit as gun went off. I was able to run through it and try to calm myself down, but I was HURTING and extremely slowed down. After Anna and Elsa there was a point where you ran through a turnstile or somethings and I asked the guard where the next bathroom was. He said it was coming up very soon and it was NOT! For a second I felt better and my heart broke when I saw the witch from Snow White and couldn't stop. I started getting terrible pains again and right after the witch was a port potty. I HAD to stop. I ended up waiting over 40 minutes. there was ONE potty for that many racers. Over a mile in and ONE potty. I was beyond aggravated and in tears at this point. Had a cast member been there, they could of advised me as well as the 100+ people waiting that if we ran another few hundred feet or so, there was multiple potty just down the road. I found this to be completely unacceptable and a huge oversight on Run Disneys part. You have that many people and no place to use the bathroom before or at mile one?? Get real. It was so bad that women were going behind the potty to pee in the open! At this point, had waited in line so long that all the corals were being let out and in the distance we could see the balloon ladies. This meant no pictures for us, which quite honestly bummed me out more than I can explain
I had trained so hard all year for this, that being sick with a stomach thing and a flu on top of it was just a slap in the face. After that last potty break, my stomach seemed to settle down and I really did try to make the best of the next 5 miles. It was beautiful and truly a fun experience, although the lines for characters was so much worse than I could have ever prepared for. Unless you're fast and in corral A, I don't think it is feasible for a new runner to meet them all and not get swept. I was really bummed to miss the Cogsworth and Lumier M&G. But the witch one really broke my heart lol. Finishing this race before being swept did feel great, but I ended up with 19 minute pace because of the potty break, and another break somewhere, but I forget where now. Had that not happened, I would have had another PR. I'm still proud of myself, but felt SO bad for DH. He was champ waiting with me through it all!
Some comments on lines, people, etc. LOTS of potty at start of race while waiting. That was great. Would love for them to add more to the course! Water stops were not as frequent as I had thought but those Voluntears were AMAZING! Such wonderful cheerleaders, they were a great inspiration to me and kept us happy and confident! They had food booths. We missed these the first day! Wish I had the 2nd. I think whatever I had at the 10K made me sick. The items after the race were awesome! LOVED the snack boxes, drinks and blankets.
My biggest surprise was the lack of communication between participants. I anticipated making great new friends, swapping stories, chatting until we got called and was met with none of that. People seemed very to themselves and uninterested in talking in most cases. DH and I love meeting new people, so this was sort of shocking to us. Maybe I should not have expected that.
Anyway, overall, I am HOOKED and can not wait to do another Run disney event, whenever that may be! I do think there should be more characters out for that many people, but I'll just have to become a faster runner. I also thought the character selections were odd.... Was hoping for rarer opportunities, like Genie . Thought having surfer goofy and chip and dale was a bit boring of them. I can meet them anywhere.
I'm sure I am missing stuff, we all got VERY ill with flu/pneumonia during our trip and a stomach bug on top of that. It was quite the weird "vacation" this year. As I said though, running any other event will be very hard after doing this. Although some of it was *** cluster, it really did have a good vibe and running in beauty and amongst so many beautiful, thoughtful and creative costumes was SO much fun and an experience in itself.
I hope this was helpful to someone new or someone experienced with races.
