I love west coast runDisney races.
Waking up at 4:45 is like waking up at 6:45 in my brain, and walking to the start from my on site hotel took five minutes. Genius. That may be why I don’t look so exhausted in my pre race photo.
Bobby and I headed down to our corrals right as the 5k winner was coming through. They were not yet letting people into the corrals, so we hung out in a giant mob of people until nearly 6:00 for a 6:15 start. The National anthem was sung, and the race had started! Bobby was running for time so he was up ahead of me. My plan was to have as much fun as possible. After a quick wave at Carissa and a shout out from her, I headed off for my first runDisney 10k.
Within a couple of minutes, Meghann found me, and we found Brian from Pavement Runner! We have been talking about meeting for so long and how fun to see him on the race course. I also saw Karen, and Christine and Pam.
I ended up running with Meghann for the first few miles, and we had a blast!
We made it into Cars Land and the photo taking began.
You can’t tell I’m having fun or anything…
(photo from Meghann)
We didn’t stop for this photo, but Mike did a crazy wave for us.
my attempt at a selfie with the castle in the background.
Somewhere around this point I stopped to take a GU and lost Meghann in the crowd. I continued on my picture taking spree and did some waiting in line for photos.
It IS a small world after all. I ran into SO many awesome folks who read my blog, I stopped counting after 15. It was fun to see how runDisney connects up all in one place and one race! A big HI to everyone I ran into on the course!
I told the guy to count so I could jump, he looked confused, but he did a good job! Hooray fall!
I love animals Not horses particularly, but seriously, how often do you take a picture with a horse on a race course?
Loved this sign.
These ladies were fun, I don’t see them out often.
I’m late! The white rabbit shooed me along after this photo.
I had to get a photo in front of the Dumbo ride!
I jumped in line for these guys and told them I had fun seeing them yesterday at the meet up. The Mad Hatter seemed shocked that I missed him already!
I got this one for my buddy Kelly, the red queen is her favorite.
Castle!
WWWEEEE! I’m running through Disneyland!
I got this one for my bestie Jen who had to miss the race. These guys are her favorite.
I ran through Frontierland to another backstage area before heading out into Downtown Disney. I knew we had to be getting close as the finish we near the Disneyland Hotel. I loved the final stretch through DTD, so much crowd support!
You can tell by my red face the heat was starting to get to me. Ok, time to be done!
I saw the mile 6 sign and gave it all I had. Bobby took video of me crossing the finish with a smile on my face. After another shout out from Carissa, I was done.
Hooray finish line!
I grabbed my medal, water and snacks and found Bobby among all the runners. I finished in 1:11 and change, which is pretty good considered all the stopping and standing in line I did for characters and filming!
Bobby did a great job and came really close to a PR.
Please check out this fun little video I made while running on the 10k course. It was fun to video as I ran through the parks!
Final thoughts: I LOVED this race. I loved loved loved the course. It took you through so much of the parks…it felt like the majority of the race was IN the parks which was fantastic and so much fun. There were a lot of character opportunities, and ending running through Downtown Disney with the crowd support was phenomenal. runDisney did a great job, it’s so tough for inaugural events to know exactly how to plan things, and I think they hit the nail on the head in almost every aspect of the race. The only minor hiccups were not letting us into our corrals until nearly 6:00, and I do think another water stop on the course would be great (with some electrolytes). I missed having electrolytes on that super hot day, and found myself looking for water fountains a couple of times on the course. Oh, one other concern was not all character stops had marathon foto photographers, which I didn’t realize until after. I was bummed I didn’t get professional photos at all of my stops. Minor details of course, still an amazing race!
QOTD: What is your favorite race distance? Are you excited about the addition of a 10k to runDisney races?
Disclosure: I attended this race weekend as media. My registrations, hotel, park tickets and some meals were provided to me by runDisney. However, all opinions are my own.
Looks like so much fun!!! 🙂
It was fun seeing you during the race Heather. Great pics too!
you too! <3
I agree! The course was great! Loved that it was (or seemed) to be almost entirely in the parks! But the water stops were pretty bad, plus 2.5 miles between a water stop? In that heat? Loved your pics! It makes me miss Disneyland even more!
we just kept winding through the parks, so awesome. wish i had signed up for tink 10k before it filled up!
Looks like tons of fun, I would love to get my coast to coast medal someday! I’ve never been to Disneyland and I think a race is the perfect reason for a visit!
I agree!
LOVE your recap! Looks like so much fun!!! I’m running the 10K and half in January at WDW! I hope the 10K is this much fun!!
I hope so too!
I LOVED THIS RACE! SO Fun and over so quickly!
runDisney did a great job with the 10k course…lots of park time and running through Downtown Disney was fun….I saw you and Bobby cheering as I ran through but didn’t have enough time to jump over and say hi…maybe next time 🙂
aw bummer!
Great job!! This race looks like so much fun!!
You look like you’re having a blast! Great pictures. So fun to meet lots of bloggers, too!
Great job!
I disagree about the water stations though. Most 10Ks have 1 to 2 at most. Having three out there was nice even though the water was a little warm.
Love everything about this post… the video is great too…impressed how well you can talk while running. I would sound like a stalker from a horror movie with the heavy breathing.
OK – not ONE bad race picture… how do you do it?!?!? 🙂
there were bad ones I just didn’t post those lol!
Looks like so much fun! Reading this gets me so excited to run the Tink 10k in January!! 🙂
I’m so sad I didn’t sign up in time for tink 10k. I am doing the half though and the 5k!
I was there, too!!! I have to admit, I LOVED THIS 10K!!!! It was Disney’s first 10K, and now I’m going to have to blog about it to give it my perspectives…..such an amazing weekend! Toooooooo much to write about! LOL!!! Your blog was awesome. Thank you!
Thanks for the sweet comment! It was SO fun!
Amazing pictures. Who takes all the pictures for you? They were awesome! And Congrats on another race weekend Heather.
I bought the race photo digital photos from marathon foto 🙂
Cannot believe how awesome the 10k looks – all through the parks! You really looked like you had a blast and got some amazing pictures. So sad I had to miss it. 🙁
mmeee too. 🙁 did you see your shout out in my video? lol
You seriously have the best race photos! So cute! The photogs completely missed me somehow throughout all of DCA. Oh well!!
I agree with you, the 10K was truly awesome. The only things that really could use improvement are the corral situation beforehand (so unclear where to go!) and that they needed more water/electrolyte drinks since it was so hot.
I agree on both counts!
Wow. From reading the reactions to this race, it seems the 10K will be a very popular option. Hope the one in WDW is just as good. Great pics by the way.
I hope it is too. I’m excited for it!
In Disneyland it seems to work, for marathon weekend I feel like I’m just going to be spending a lot of time in EPCOT except without all the eating I normally like to do while I’m there… I’d love to do Disneyland again, but Disney has officially found my financial limits.
bummer I’m sorry 🙁
That looks like SO much fun!!
What a GREAT idea to do video clips and make a longer video out of them! I might have to do that in February to share the course with my family and friends that won’t be there, or just look back on it one day. I’m glad that they are adding some 10k races now. Right now we are running 5k races as a family, but Ethan is looking to work on longer distances and I think the 10k would be a perfect family race for us in 2015 (or maybe later in 2014 if we decided to take a second RunDisney trip!).
You totally should. 🙂
Great recap! Loved this race!
Great recap! Loved this race! Was fun seeing you on the course, too!
Did you and your husband go to Downtown Disney (after you finished) to cheer us later arriving runners on? I thought I saw you guys there. However, with so many faces lining the course throughout Downtown Disney, it’s hard to know for sure. I just saw a couple that looked like you and your husband as my wife and I were running by (we were in corral G) and I was thinking that was cool to see you guys offerring your support to the rest of us after your race had finished.
yes! We hung out around mile 6 and cheered on everyone until the very last runner came through!
I love the video! I think that’s something you should do at all of your races (runDisney and non-runDisney). It gives a unique perspective and it is awesome for people who haven’t run that particular race. I loved it!
haha no way I could do it on races I was actually “racing” I use all my energy and focus to run. But Disney races, yes I can do that!
The 10k looks like it was a lot of fun! I can’t wait to run the inaugural Disney World 10k in January. And I love your video! Did you use your phone to take the clips, or something else? My husband wants to do a video for Dopey to share with our families, but we don’t want to have to buy yet another camera.
yes my iphone!
What a great race! It looks like so much fun and I loved the race video! Congrats!
thanks!
LOVE love love your recap! Can’t wait to have my turn running it next year!! I am very excited about the addition of the 10K races! I am 3 for 3 at the moment for being registered for them in 2014!
awesome!
The one photo I regret not stopping for us Clarice & Daisy!