My First WDW 10K Race

January 2022 I ran the Walt Disney World 10K race event as part of their "Marathon Weekend"

Backstory...

I had heard about this weekend from a friend that does all the races, every year. By "all the races" I mean she does the 5K the first day, the 10K the next, the half marathon, and then the full marathon on the last day of the event. This is called "The Dopey Challenge" it's wildly impressive to me, (48.6 miles over 4 days) and extremely daunting to think about. Even MORE impressive is that she does full days in the parks after the races.

Anyway, a group of us had talked about possibly joining for the 2022 WDW weekend and some of us were interested in joining in on the 10K race.

I had never run a 10K as an adult.

In fact, I'm not sure I'd completed a 5K fully running as an adult.

I signed up anyway.

Before Race Day...

We had to go to the expo and pick up our bibs, packets, shirts and all that fun stuff. We went later in the day for the expo, which was probably for the best since there was a lot of cute merchandise, and it was pretty picked over so I didn't spend any additional money there :)

Fast forward to race day...

(If you're thinking whoa, whoa, whoa- how was training? - there's plenty of blog posts about the first 10 weeks of training)

I had laid my outfit out the night before. This was absolutely necessary since I was tired from walking through the amusement park all day the day before, being on a different time zone that's two hours earlier than my normal time, and I was dressing in costume to run.

We stayed at the WDW All-Star Music Resort during our days at Disney. This helped immensely to have shuttle transportation back and forth, and not having to worry about parking. This also was true of race day since wake-up time for race day is 3AM. Yes. 3.A.M.

Morning of- I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and threw on my Ursula costume, (the making of the costume will have its own post, eventually linked here.) racing bib, and headed down to wait for the shuttle with my friends.

Saying I was loopy during this phase would be a massive understatement. Being up at 3AM and dressed as a cartoon villain to run through an amusement park is a weird life realization to have while half-asleep at age 30, but it happened.

The event kicks off early to allow runners to go through the parks on a route that's empty. It's also before sunrise- very helpful to avoiding Florida heat. The humidity is definitely still there, but it wasn't terrible in January. (at least it wasn't while we were there)

When we got there, we made sure we were hydrated before the race. (and used facilities) before heading to our corral to wait.

It's important to say that this trip/event was also still happening during the COVD-19 Pandemic, and during a bit of a winter surge. So, we kept our masks on while we were waiting or packed in tightly with people, and lowered them once it was more spread out on the route.

While we waited in the corral for the race to begin, they had a large screen and a couple of hosts entertaining you. It felt what I would imagine being in Times Square on New Year's Eve would feel like. A lot of excitement, entertainment, some small interviews of people, and witty banter. Having this to focus on was fantastic, especially in a half-sleep phase.

Once our group was released with some fireworks at the starting gate, we started our race. The pace wasn't fast - It couldn't be with as many people that were starting together - But it was fun and manageable. I don't remember a lot about the start other than trying to find some open spaces to run and get our group while watching out for other people.

The first mile went by in a blink of an eye. There were so many distractions along the way- we ran on the interstate, getting to see lots of costumes, and they have characters along the route that you can stop and take photos with.

The second mile posed a little bit of a hic-cup for me as my foot fell asleep. This sometimes will happen around mile two for me in training. I don't know if it's a circulation issue, or how I tie my shoes, but once I get the shoe off and stretch a bit, it's fine. I think mile two was about the time that my Ursula tentacle skirt came unstapled and I needed to wear it almost like a shawl.

Miles 3-5 also went by surprisingly fast. It was so fun to run with other people in a group too. By this point, people are going about the same pace around you too. My mantra throughout was "medal, snacks, shower" to remind myself of what was waiting at the end. Although, I really did enjoy it all along the way.

During the last mile, we stopped and took a photo with two different characters (Jake The Pirate - no idea who this was, but it was sea-themed and so was our "Little Mermaid" group, & Winnie The Pooh) We also stopped off and took some photos in some scenic areas.

Crossing the finish line FELT SO GOOD. I did a little leap as I crossed it. Months of working hard at this, years of wanting to be at this point - all in wrapped up to this one moment.

Once we got across the finish line, we were awarded our medals, a snack box, waters, and we headed to the photo area to get some "We Did It" celebratory snapshots.

Running (and traveling) with this group was so fun. Seeing everyone's costumes come together added a whole extra level of excitement about the race. I could go on and on about how fabulously wonderful this group is and how much fun I had.

I highly recommend running in costume with a group of close friends.

Completing this goal/event definitely stoked a fire in me. I want to go back in a couple years and do the whole thing. The "Dopey Challenge" (maybe not running the entire thing, but doing walking and running - time will tell there)

Sure, it was expensive, but I've spent money in worse ways, and I can't believe how empowered I felt after finishing this. I had an absolute blast, and I fully intend to do it again someday.