Official Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend 2016 Thread (Jan. 14-17, 2016)

[FlowersCroon]

I finally have all my race recaps up and, in a nutshell, it was a great weekend! I really enjoyed all of these races! I'm excited runDisney pulled this off again for a second year straight.

Expo: I was one of those people in line at 7:00am. Why? Because I wanted a wine glass. Seriously. Collecting runDisney wine glasses had been my thing until they stopped making them. I was so happy they made one for Star Wars that I waited. Wine glasses and pins are all I buy now.

5K: Because of an injury I was forced to walk all the races. Knowing that, I knew character photos would have to sacrified in order to finish in a timely manner. Well, I cut loose and stood in line for BB-8 and my fave droids R2 and C3. Glad I did because those lines were too long the rest of the weekend! The whole recap is here.

10K: The lines for this race were insane! Since I "ran" as a Rebel I only stopped for a photo with the Rebels. That whole recap is here.

Half Marathon: LOVED! I love this race so much. I love that the course is super flat, that there is a good amount of park time and that the cosplayers along the course are so legit. I didn't stop for any pics at all because I knew the walking was going to wear me out early on and I didn't want to be swept. I stopped for R2 but that's it! The whole recap is here.

How many of you are also running the Dark Side??

 

[evenstar]

Great recaps Jindy! How cool that runDisney tweeted your pic at the half start! I'll be running the Dark Side Challenge also. Can't wait to get that Kessel Run medal and coast to coast.

 

[SFGamerBabe]

Jindy - I am super jealous of your BB-8 photo! That turned out so well. It almost makes me wish I had stopped for one of the loooooong lines, but alas, my competitiveness with myself to get a good finish time won out.

Anyway, I wanted to post a recap of my first runDisney weekend! My stat of the weekend is 40.3 miles, which per my FitBit was my total mileage Friday through Sunday between being in the Parks and running the Rebel Challenge!

My fiance and I arrived Thursday night and went to the Expo around 7 pm that night. I was very impressed with the organization of the packet and shirt pick-up (granted, the only thing I have to compare it with are the large half marathon races I've done here in Colorado). Things had quieted down and we could walk right up at each station, I was also able to quickly exchange my small shirts for mediums (at many other races, if you want to exchange a size it's a big hassle or they won't let you). Btw, the tech shirts for the races were really nice! We weren't looking for any particular limited edition merchandise, but we snagged some pins and I bought some colorful run Disney leggings.

We spent a great day in the Parks on Friday (9 miles walked), stayed for World of Color on Friday night and then and got up at 4:20 (soooo early!) on Saturday for the 10K. We stayed at the Candy Cane Inn so our walk just to get to the start line was about a mile and a half, which felt long at the time but turned out to be a perfect warm up. Though I'd been assigned to corral A I moved back to corral C to run with my fiance. The race started pretty crowded (tunnels and backstage areas got kind of bad) but it gradually spread out. I loved all the people out cheering us on in the plaza between DL and California Adventure!



It was also super cool running past it's a small world all lit up for the holidays. We stopped to take pictures along the course here and there, but not for characters as it looked like a minimum 20 minute wait to get through any of the lines. If I do a runDisney challenge again, I would stop for characters in the shorter race even if it means not having a great finish time.





After the race we went back to the hotel for a soak in the hot tub, which felt sooooo good! We spent the morning relaxing and then head to DL for lunch at Blue Bayou, then stayed in the Parks through the end of the Paint the Night parade. At this point we'd logged 23 total miles running/walking, I couldn't believe I was about to run another 13.1 in just a few hours!

Waking up on Sunday morning was somehow easier than the day before, maybe it was the extra adrenaline knowing I was about to run a half marathon (my third ever). I ran this race by myself, and starting in corral A was definitely nice! (Although it still took almost 6 minutes to get from the back of corral A to the start line once the race had begun, so many people!) I saw very few walkers in corral A, it seemed that just about everyone in that corral belonged there.

I was able to get through the race without any walk breaks, which I couldn't believe I managed after two days in the Parks! The support from cast members, family/friends of runners, Storm Troopers, and all of the Southern California area high school bands and cheerleaders was awesome. It definitely kept me motivated to keep running. Plus, the weather was perfect, a little foggy but right around 50 degrees which is my favorite running temp. I was able to finish the half in 2:12:27 (a personal best by several minutes) and my fiance was there at the finish line. I did tear up a little, I couldn't believe what I'd just accomplished (or maybe I was just exhausted, haha)!



Overall, it was a very positive experience, the events were very well organized considering the thousands upon thousands that ran them, and I can't wait to run another runDisney race (hopefully, W&D this November to complete my Coast to Coast). I couldn't afford to run these every year, but I know it's something I'll always remember fondly. And the medals are awesome!!