Walt Disney World 10K Race Recap

This morning I ran the Walt Disney World 10K as part of the Dopey Challenge (race number two out of four for the weekend). 

Flat Carlee!
I asked Ryan what color socks I should wear and he picked orange :)

Originally my hubby had signed up to run the race with me. Unfortunately (for me) about 2 months ago he found out he would need to go to Canada for a photo shoot with work this same week and would therefore miss it (and the vacation with my parents) - BUMMER-RUSKI! Thankfully my BRF (Best Running Friend), Megan, and her hubby were running it so they said I could tag along (no shame in the third wheel game). 

Although the wind wasn’t as strong as during yesterday’s 5K, the temperatures still hadn’t warmed up a ton (not to mention the race started at 5:30am instead of 6:15am like the previous day). While waiting for the race to start I kept my Brooks running jacket and a Mylar blanket for my legs. I know, I know, I am originally from Michigan and I should be like Elsa (the cold never bothered her anyway), but because I have lived in Southern California for the last 8 years my blood has thinned and 43* is a little nippy.

Jen, Megan and I trying to stay warm

Oh yeah, and how can I forget about the socks I bought at the Dollar Store yesterday and turned into arm warmers?! Except for the heel portion looking like a gizzard of a turkey they worked out SUPER (I think I might even wear them for tomorrow’s half marathon depending on the temperatures in the morning). [By the way, I think the Dollar Store has been our second home this weekend ;) ]

I cut the tips of the socks off for my fingers and a little slit for my thumb

Thankfully the rain held off until after we got home

Since my parents weren’t running this race with me (they only wanted to run the 5K, but maybe one day I’ll be able to get them into a longer distance race with me!), I knew I could throw them my jacket once I saw them about a quarter mile after we crossed the starting line. I did keep the Mylar blanket for the first mile or so to help warm me up, but threw it aside once I was a little more comfortable.

The starting line from where my parents were standing (with Spaceship Earth
 in the background)

Starting fireworks

A couple blurry pictures from near the start

Megan and Brent (running so fast they were blurry!)

And one last speed shot!

[BY THE WAY - A HUGE THANKS TO MY PARENTS FOR BEING SPECTATORS ALL WEEKEND, I KNOW HOW HARD IT CAN BE {who am I kidding, I don't regularly spectate} I TRULY APPRECIATE IT!]

Megan and Brent had been training with the run/ walk method that the one and only Jeff Galloway teaches. Their intervals are 2 minutes of running and 30 seconds of walking. I had never technically done legit run/ walk intervals (my mom and I did some “non-structured” intervals yesterday for the 5K, i.e. run when she could breath, walk when she couldn’t ;) ). I was excited to see how it would work out (especially since I will be running with Megan and my running coach and friend, Krissy, for the marathon and we would be using the same intervals). 

We ran through the first couple of designated walk breaks, but that was mostly to try and get through the hoards of people (since this was Brent’s first 10K {YAY for an automatic PR} he had to estimate his finish time, which landed him in Corral C, so Megan and I moved back with him). The course started the same route as the 5K did the day before, so I was pretty familiar with where we were headed.

Once we broke out of the first big group we started listening to Megan’s watch for our walk signals. On the first overpass we ran under we saw Anna and Elsa up top. The Disney magic even had it SNOWING! (Since they were on the road above us I don’t know for sure, but would assume it is similar to when they make it snow at Disneyland during the holiday fireworks {a type of foam bubble that floats in the air and even smells like cinnamon}.}

We did a bit more running outside of the Epcot today than yesterday, but that makes sense because they have to double the mileage and the easiest place to do that is out on the roads, rather than winding through the parks. While we were out on the streets we saw Lilo & Stitch. In the backlot of Epcot we saw some Mardi Gras dancers on stilts. When we entered Epcot we saw Mushu in China. We also came across Chip & Dale, Genie, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, and some cool Mike Wazowski & Sebastian that lit up. (I saw on Instagram there was a sporty Mickey Mouse and the White Rabbit but I didn’t see them while we were on the course.)

Since we were cruising along and had found our rhythm with the intervals we didn’t stop for any pictures. We did see Sarah and Ty while on the course (I swear I need to get better with middle-run selfies like Dani from Weight Off My Shoulders. 

Megan and I haven’t run together since my first half marathon (the 2012 Disneyland Half), so it was great getting to chat along while we ran. Having someone to chat with (and all of the entertainment Disney provides of course) just makes the time fly by! Before we knew it we were passing by the Spaceship Earth again and heading towards the finish line.

Spaceship Earth

As we were coming down the stretch we heard them announce “Is that an engagement?”, so I knew everyone would be focused on the couple that had just gotten engaged. I had to shout at my parents as we ran by to get their attention. My dad was able to grab a couple pictures of us making our way towards the finish line. (They do have bleachers set up for spectators, but I believe they are for the folks that purchase the chEAR squad packages.)

I hope she said YES!

Here I come! 

Thumbs up! WE DID IT!

We are almost done!

The force is still strong with us! 

Heading towards the home stretch!

There we go!

The force was strong with us! We crossed the finish line with smiles on our faces and Brent become a 10K finisher! I was able to grab a couple pictures of Brent and Megan receiving their medals and then we saw my parents along the fence.

Brent getting his first 10K medal! 

He looks thrilled, huh?! 

Megan was stoked to be done!

It's all about the bling!

Megan got us matching shirts! LOVE THEM AND HER!

We did it!!

Hold your medals!

We made our way through the finisher area, grabbed our goodie boxes, and took our “official” finisher pictures. 

Finishers! 

Just like yesterday, I had to walk through the Dopey tent on the way out, but I didn’t see anything special about it… Not sure if they change this for the half and full, but as far as I could see, it was just a way to send folks to different photographer lines.

We met back up with my parents and I had to grab one last picture with my spectators before we made our way to the car. (Although we warmed up by mile 1 or 1.5, once we stopped running we got pretty chilly pretty quickly and they didn’t give out any heat blankets so I was glad my parents still had my coat.)

Me and my cold spectators!

The Minnie medal is super cute and I might even wear the shirt from the race (it fits and is cute) before I start hoarding collecting shirts for my next tshirt blanket [Project Repat link]. PS I love how the shirts have the parks that the race went through on the sleeve! Sometimes it is the details that really make me happy :)

The medal and finisher shirt!

**FYI - I AM BUYING THE MARATHONFOTO DOPEY PACKAGE, WHICH WILL INCLUDE ALL OF MY "PROFESSIONAL" PICTURES THE PHOTOGRAPHERS TOOK. ONCE ALL OF THE PICTURES ARE CATEGORIZED AND ASSIGNED I WILL GET THE PICS AND ADD THEM TO THIS POST.**

Have you ever run a 10K before? If so, what was your first?