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Day Two of the RunDisney Star Wars First Order Challenge brings the Dark Side Half Marathon. On Day One, I did the Star Wars Dark Side Challenge 10K. On Sunday, April 22, 2018, I ran in the RunDisney Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon.
We stayed at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort for this trip.
When we arrived on Friday, our first stop was the Expo at ESPN Wide World of Sports. They were ready for us!
Since I was doing the Kessel Run Challenge of half marathons for both the Light & Dark Side, I got the coveted wrist band.
At the expo I got to meet up with my “running mentor” Jeff Galloway. He even signed my race bib!
On Saturday, April 21, 2018, I began my quest to complete the third of three years of the RunDisney Star Wars Dark Side Challenge Weekend. Saturday began with the Star Wars Dark Side 10K.
We stayed at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort, our Disney Vacation Club Home Resort for this trip. I woke up about 2:45 AM, so that I could be on the shuttle to the start by 3:30 AM. Disney races always start at 5:30 AM, which always means an early wake up call.
Here was my gear for the 10K.
The start for the the 10K race was in the Magic Kingdom parking lot. The resort shuttle has always been so convenient and easy. Upon arriving at the start, I met up with friends Matt & Kira and Becky & Matt.
After hanging out for a little while, we headed for our corrals. Because I ran a 1:48 in the Monster Mash Half Marathon in Delaware back in October, I was able to once again get Corral A for both the 10K and Half Marathon for the weekend.
Because Becky is a super runner, she worked us through the corral and got us to the front of Corral A.
For the 10K, I try to run it as close to race pace as possible. Doing this, I try to avoid walk breaks and I do not do character stops for this race. My training for the first part of 2018 has not been that great because of the week of snow and the flu. Knowing this I had no idea how this race was going to go, so I was just going to set out to do the best I could.
At 5:30 AM the race was off. There is no more exciting start to a race than a RunDisney race which includes fireworks! Most of the race is for Corral A is in the dark. The first three miles are not really exciting because you just run down World Drive in the dark, no characters or entertainment. Then we loop around, and head into the back of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This started the real presence of people and Star Wars characters, which offered up a little more excitement and motivation. Once we are out of the Studios, we run down a narrow trail over to the Boardwalk Resort area.
Running through Disney Hollywood Studios.
Running through the Studios.
Then we arrive at the Boardwalk Resort and run along the Boardwalk.
Running past the Boardwalk Bakery gets me a little excited.
After the Boardwalk area, we enter into the World Showcase side of EPCOT. We loop around to the left and over into Future World and to the finish line.
This race had one one the heaviest race medals ever. It was a hunk of steel representing the Praetorian Guard.
After getting through the finish corral, I met back up with Becky & Matt, the speedsters.
Since the crowds were still small for the post race characters, I took the opportunity to get a few character photos. I got pictures with BB-8 and Captain Phasma.
I finished the race in 55:56 (9:00 minute pace). This was about 4 minutes slower than last year; however, I felt better than I thought I would for pushing as hard as I could. The weather was quite humid as well. So overall I was satisfied with my efforts for this race.
In the end, the second half of this race was far better than the first half. This was good as it gave us the needed pick me up to get us to the finish. After hanging out with friends for a little while, I hit the resort shuttle and headed back to get cleaned up to head to the park.
We spent most of the day post 10K race at Magic Kingdom. At lunch time we did a DVC tour of Cooper Creek. Afterward, we headed back to resort, since Friday night I really only got about 4.5 hours of sleep. I needed more for Sunday.
So, it was early to bed to get ready for the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon on Sunday. The Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon recap should be available soon.
Thanks for following!
This week was supposed to be the 2018 Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon Weekend at the Disneyland Resort. As you all know, runDisney has put their Disneyland races on hiatus. So, there will be no half marathons, challenges, or any other races at Disneyland this year. If you’re a West Coaster, you’re probably going to have some withdraws to go through this year. Last week, runDisney made an announcement through the Disney Parks blog….
They are going to have a Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon. According to the runDisney event web site, “Race through the galaxy on a course of your choosing for the inaugural Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon! Whether you break up your 13.1 miles over multiple days or rack up the mileage all at once, runners will earn a one-of-a-kind, Star Wars-themed medal for their accomplishment. Don’t miss out on this Star Wars
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Yesterday it was announced through multiple sources that RunDisney will be cancelling all running events at Disneyland starting in 2018. The claims in the articles is that the cancellations are due to the ongoing construction that is taking place, such as Star Wars Land (Star Wars: At Galaxy’s Edge).
Here are some links discussing the topic:
OCRegister
Theme Park Insider
WDW Info
I am hoping that this is for the construction, and not using it as an excuse to delay the inevitable. I was looking forward to one day getting my Kessler’s Challenge medal for doing all the Star Wars races in Florida and California. I guess only time will tell as to the future of these events.
Hopefully, during this delay RunDisney will revisit many of their endeavors and work on quality, better events, etc. as they have been lacking in the past few years.
Hopefully this will not be my only Disneyland RunDisney medal!
For all my California running friends, come run with us in Florida! You are welcomed!
#rundisney
It’s Half Marathon Time!!!! After doing the Star Wars Dark Side Challenge 10K the day prior, it was now time for the half marathon. On Sunday, April 23, 2017, I ran in the RunDisney Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon.
We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House for this trip. I always enjoy this view from our balcony!
Because RunDisney races start so early in the morning, 5:30 AM, it was again an early night on Saturday night as well. However, this was no ordinary half marathon for me. I was not running for time, but for pictures! In the end, it will have been my slowest half marathon, but my most fun, because I went overload on Star Wars character stops!
For this race, I try to dress up in costume as a Star Wars character. Last year I ran as a storm trooper, and this year I went with Boba Fett, the Bounty Hunter. So, here is flat Boba Fett. We got the Boba Fett hat from the Disney Store. The Boba Fett running shirt off Amazon. The arm sleeves are volleyball sleeves which my wife dyed burgundy and drew all the weapons on. The knee braces were dyed yellow to match Boba Fett’s knee plates. It was finally topped off with my grey shorts, and Orange/Black Hokas (which do not match or go with the costume in the least).
The alarm clock went off at 3 AM on Sunday morning, and by 3:30 AM Boba Fett was ready for the hunt and heading toward the bus at the resort.
The crowds were much bigger for the half marathon than for the 10K the day prior.
Because we had all got the pre- & post race character pictures done at the 10K, we did not spend any time waiting in character lines. So we just found some pavement in sat, relaxed, and socialized.
At about 5:00 AM we started making our way to the porta-potties & corrals. We were all spread out for this race. Becky was in Corral A, I was in Corral B, and Matt & Kira were in Corral E. So we all did our goodbyes and ducked into our respective corrals.
Then it was time to take off for the race.
Can you say PR? At Disney??? That is right. On April 22nd, as a part of the RunDisney Star Wars Dark Side Challenge, I ran the 10K, with the half marathon to follow the next day (separate recap later). Because I do not run 10K events too often, I wanted to push my efforts and try and break my previous best of 55:44 at this distance back in 2012. Mission accomplished. I ran a 51:57 on my way to a new PR!
Well I started the post at the end, so now I will back track a little and review the race. First, it is Disney & it is Star Wars themed, so that makes it all great!
We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House for this trip. I always enjoy this view from our balcony!
Because Disney races start so early in the morning, 5:30 AM, it was an early night Friday night. With all the gear ready, off to sleep I “tried”…
The alarm clock woke me at 3:00 AM, and I was on the bus to the race by 3:30 AM. Upon arrival at the Magic Kingdom Parking Lot (aka Transportation & Ticket Center) there were people everywhere. Which was weird at 4:00 AM, but this is RunDisney!
I met up with my running buddies, Matt, Kira, & Becky.
After we met up, we decided to jump in the shortest character line that was available, and luckily it was Boba Fett. You will learn more on this choice throughout this and the half marathon post to come. The characters available were Boba Fett, Captain Phasma, Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, & Kylo Ren. We caught pictures with the rest of them at the finish area. Becky waited for a little while for us, but it took almost an hour just to see Boba Fett, so she headed to the corals a little earlier.
Me & Boba Fett
Matt, Kira, & I with Boba Fett
There was good entertainment in the waiting areas prior to the corrals opening.
After our picture with Boba Fett, we headed to the Corrals. Becky & I were in Corral A, Matt & Kira were in Corral C. So we all used the porta potties, wished each other well, and off to our corrals. Rudy, Carrisa, and some other dude entertained us for a little while.
Then some Storm Troopers gave us some orders, then it was time to hit the road. I great Disney fashion, each corral starts with fireworks.
This, however, was my first 10K at Disney, and I was disappointed in the level of fireworks for this race. The half marathon fireworks were far better!
Here is the map of the course for the 10K. We started at Magic Kingdom and ended in the Epcot parking lot.
As I said earlier, I was going to go all out for this race. My initial goal was to run a sub 50 minute race. For the first 3 miles I was on pace for doing that. Then it started to warm up and I knew I was not going to keep up that pace. My second goal was to best my best 10K time in a half marathon, which was 52:49. Mission Accomplished with a 51:57! So, as you can see in the pictures below, which you should contrast later to my pictures in the half marathon post, I was killing myself in this race. But it was worth it for the PR! There were a lot of character stops on the course, including a great showing from the 501st Legion; however, since I was going for a PR I did not make any stops. I saved that for the half marathon.
When it was done, I had my PR, not the sub-50 that I wanted, but I will gladly take a new PR. I enjoyed the course. That was the first time I had ever got the opportunity to start in Magic Kingdom and finish at Epcot. Miles 2 and 3 were a little boring, so hopefully in years to come, they will add some entertainment there, but other than that, I enjoyed the route.
In the finish area, they once again had the characters available to take pictures with. Becky stuck around and waited for me to finish, and we took in the character photos together.
BB-8
Captain Phasma
Becky & I with Captain Phasma
Kylo Ren
Boba Fett
Darth Vader
Boba Fett arresting me
The spoils are always good after a RunDisney event. Here is to another completed race.
We have great fashion sense, I guess!
Thanks to my “0.0 Someone Has To Take The Pictures” for capture this picture of running friends!
Oh, and for those wondering…. Yes, there was a post race cupcake in the parks that day!
Well we spent most of the day post race at Magic Kingdom. Then it was early to bed again to get ready for the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon the next morning. That recap should be available soon.
Thanks for following!
