Coast to Coast and Back Again: A runDisney Journey

[Mimsy Borogove]

Friday, 4/21 – Let the Games Begin

Once the stormtroopers informed us of the Level 1 testing, it was time to get things going. The Star-Spangled Banner was sung (with no accompanying fireworks to “bombs bursting in air”) by a Disney featured artist, then the race announcers began to release the corrals, starting with the wheelchair division. Small burst of fireworks and this race was on. Next came the mini-waves in corrals A, B, and C, it was almost our turn! I think we were in the second or third wave for D. DH seemed surprised how many people were all crammed together in the corrals. And then, it’s go time!


Runners, set….GOOOOOOOOOOOO!


Starting line and race announcer stage

As we slowly walked towards the start line, there was some commotion off to our right, and oddly enough even though we were at the far right mere seconds before, suddenly a throng of people had migrated over because Carissa was interviewing people at the start line!


Race announcer Carissa.

And soon we crossed the starting line. It seemed like a goodish number of people were also walking and there was a decent crowd conversing and lots of spectators. The course took us on the frontage road around Epcot, where we made the sharp right turn present at all the Disney 5Ks at WDW.



Not too long into the race was the first character stop: Ewoks! I asked DH if he’d like to stop, but he thought the line was too long. I was a little disappointed because, hello, untimed 5K, but I was also worried about him even though we walk 3 miles together all the time. So we passed the little murderous furballs. Yes, I said it. Everyone thinks that they’re SO CUTE OMG, but they are stone-cold killers. They were ready to roast up some scruffy-looking nerfherder and Jedi Knight before Leia and Threepio intervened. And speaking of Leia, how do you think they had clothes ready to go in her size? Because they’d eaten people her size before. It’s not like they have a guest hut where there’s a selection of bathing suits and leisure outfits in various sizes newly-purchased from the store and hanging in the closet. Nope. The clothes are basically hunting trophies.


Ewoks

We then walked a little more along the frontage road to backstage Epcot where the next photo opportunity greeted us: the Emperor’s throne. The line looked somewhat long for such an attraction, so we kept going and I just pulled over quickly for a photo of the throne. I hope the CMs had some Clorox wipes on hand and periodically used them. And then we saw Test Track! It’s Epcot time, y’all!


Emperor Palpatine’s throne


Test Track

I don’t really remember much about the backstage area, because the next thing I remember after Test Track is entering World Showcase between Mexico and Norway.


Backstage WS between Mexico (at right) and Norway (at left).


Entering WS!


Time for a selfie – first runDisney race together! IF you've read my other TRs you already know how terrible I am at the selfie game, but I've found I'm better at it when there is another person beside little old me. Someday I hope to have the selfie skills of an adolescent girl.

This is the part where I think DH started to really have fun. We enjoy walking around World Showcase anyway, but doing it before park hours and relatively less crowding (and everyone is going the same way!) was fun and he was rolling with the punches so to speak. I told him that we’d start seeing PhotoPass photographers soon in their neon green tents and if he saw one to walk very closely by me since they have a tendency to keep one person the focal point of the photos. Which I get, but when you’re running with friends can be frustrating since a lot of the time one of you will be bisected or you might see only an arm or leg accompanying your partner. So with those instructions in mind (as well as the primary objective of FUN!) we continued onwards through the World Showcase.


Next: Been Around the World and I-I-I, I Can’t Find My Baby

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Friday, 4/21 – Been Around the World and I-I-I, I Can’t Find My Baby

I won’t keep you in suspense – I totally didn’t lose track of DH, it was just the first song that popped into my head that had “world” in the title. No idea why because I haven’t heard that song in decades. Whatever!

We continued along around World Showcase, mostly just taking in the sights and sounds (Star Wars music, woohoo!) and enjoying the experience. And every time we spotted a PhotoPass person, I tried to pull DH closer towards me, but apparently he doesn’t like me all that much.


PhotoPass shot by the stave church in Norway.

The next character spot belonged to R2-D2 and since I’d had a great photo op with him in California, the line seemed really long, and DH seemed unenthused about waiting in said line for said photo op we just kept going. But who doesn’t love Artoo? Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know that such people exist in this world.


Artoo Daytoah, if you speak Huttese (I probably used this joke before). You can also see how crowded it was to see him!

As we continued through Germany, DH actually started to get into the swing of things (i.e. my silliness) and when he noticed the green paparazzi decided to shoot me a Zoolander-worthy Blue Steel expression.


Blauer Stahl – sehr schoen!


While not a great photo of me, I love DH’s expression of joy in this photo. Two months ago, I never thought we’d be doing this race together as I watched him hooked up to all sorts of machines in ICU. So grateful.

After France, we banked left out towards International Gate and then around the backside of the United Kingdom, where the galaxy hug champion, Chewbacca waited for his adoring fans. This was just past Mile Marker 2 and I tried to snap a photo of him as we passed but my iPhone camera decided to freeze up, so no Wookiee photo for me. Boo. Then it was through the gate and backstage from the UK.


UK-bound

We then wrapped up the World Showcase with a jaunty gallop past Canada, ya der hey, past the gorgeous Flower & Garden Festival decorations (so, so pretty!) and towards Future World and Spaceship Earth.


(Future) World of Color!

As we approached the backside of Spaceship Earth, we noticed movement on the stage in front of the fountain. Stormtroopers! I wanted to get a photo, but DH wanted to finish, and the line looked pretty long, so we kept going. My only regret from the 5K, I just thought troopers in front of SSE looked bada$$.


Troopers

We were walking along the left side of the fountain (next to Club Cool and Starbucks) then went through Innoventions (sidebar: why does it always smell like the sewage is being treated there?) towards The Land. Next to Journey Into Imagination was another character stop: Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels! I really enjoy that show and they are really great characters (they are contemporaries of Luke and Leia), but I already have two photos with them: one from last year’s Dark Side Half and one from January’s Light Side Half. So I wasn’t jonesing for another photo dressed as BB-8.


Ezra and Sabine - I like the congruity of the TIE fighter wing struts and the triangle shapes of the attraction in the background.

Back around past The Land and Nemo and Friends then through Innoventions again (hold your breath!) and on our way out towards the breezeway under Spaceship Earth. DH grabbed my hand and we walked the rest of the way hand-in-hand.


I wanna hold your haaaaaaaand.

Then it was smooth sailing to the finish line. Lots of crowds cheering, race announcers announcing, runners running, and so forth and so on.


Stay on target! Allllmost there!

Next: Never Mind the Dark Side, Behold the Power of Cheese!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Friday, 4/21 - Never Mind the Dark Side, Behold the Power of Cheese!

Or cheese product anyway!

We finished our first joint 5K holding hands and relishing the moment, were given our medals, and we proceeded down the finishers’ chute to collect our water/Powerade, food box, and banana. And then on to the finisher photo!


We did it!


I mean, we really did it!

I wasn’t expecting to like this medal, but I think it was because I didn’t understand why it was shaped like military decorations. After the stormtroopers informed us pre-race that we were passing training levels for the First Order, it all made sense. A story binding us all together like the Force!

DH was feeling tired after not sleeping well and getting up so early, so we decided to forgo any post-race photo opportunities and headed out to our car. Unfortunately, neither one of us made a mental note of which row we were parked in – momentary panic and then we remembered the general area and found our Jeep pretty quickly. Whew!


We didn’t get the cheese product in our runner’s boxes during January’s Light Side races, so I was elated to see it in this one. I tend to crave salt after races, so I devour it within minutes of returning to whatever accommodations I may be staying in for the races. So yum!

We have the Gold level annual passes (mostly because the blackout days are days we wouldn’t ever go to the park anyway) so we were still blocked out for Friday. But we had other plans! For one, we had to head back to the expo to exchange my 10K shirt for the proper gender/size. And I really thought that DH might like a commemorative item for his first 5K (spoiler alert: nope). Then we thought we might hit up the Vineland outlet to see if anything interesting had popped up. Then the rest of the day was Disney Springs and checking in to our on-property resort.

We made it to the expo 5 minutes before open and traffic wasn’t too gnarly yet, but then you have that 5-mile walk to the expo. Just a slight exaggeration. Before we left the car, I decided to grab my gear check bag and the other two shirts for the challenge (I was thinking that’s how I’d prove my 10K shirt was wrong) and we headed inside. At the shirt exchange counter, I pulled out the 10K shirt and a CM literally swooped down on me (he was tall, OK?) and said I’d have to exchange all three shirts. I told him that only the 10K shirt was wrong, told him the story and his response was, “God bless volunteers.” I gathered from some of his remarks that this wasn’t a rare instance this weekend. So I told him that this was my 11th rD weekend and the first screwup for me, so no worries. He took my three shirts and bag (I barely had time to grab my bib from the bag) and went backstage to get me another challenge bundle. When he gave it to me, he told me to check them all, so I did and all was good now! Woot!

We left the expo, got in the car and made the annoying drive to the outlet mall (seriously 535 is the main reason why I’m glad we no longer live in Orlando; what a cluster). At the Disney outlet, there were some Star Wars and Avengers Dooneys, but none of them really called to me (I LOVE my Light Side Dooney and get loads of compliments on it). DH didn’t see much, though I found some WDW Half I Did It magnets for $2.99 (so funny!) and some PHM magnets. Outlets are hit or miss for us and it seemed this one was a miss.

Back to Disney! This time to Disney Springs where we thought we’d get a bite to eat and walk around. We parked in the Lime Garage and as we went down the escalator, I saw The Polite Pig, which was one of the three places I’d suggested to DH for lunch. He looked at the menu and seemed agreeable, so we got in line. As we waited, I looked around and snapped a few photos and I think I recognized @Dis_Yoda and her husband at a table, but by the time we’d ordered, they were gone. So I’m not 100% sure.


Polite Pig menu and counter.


Bar and seating, there was also a counter full of various sauces and vinegars.

I ordered the Southern Pig which was a pulled pork sandwich, and tacked on a potato salad side ($4). DH ordered the Pork Shoulder, which came with two sides. We each ordered a soda, and those were $3.50 which seemed spendy, but whatever. Our grand total came to over $40, which seems kind of expensive for a quick service meal. But we were curious and it was nice to try someplace new.


Southern Pig and potato salad. The potato wedges were huge, which kind of gave the whole thing a weird texture, and was made with purple and yellow potatoes. It was OK, but totally not worth $4 upcharge.


Closer view of the sandwich, which was delicious.


Pork Shoulder with sweet potato tots and coleslaw.


The booth adjacent to our seating.

Overall, I like the industrial-esque decor and the food was pretty good, but I'm not sure we'd seek it out. Or at least we'd bring our own beverages because they are totally making a killing at $3.50 a pop (no pun intended). Once our appetites were sated, we were ready to conquer the rest of our day!

Next: Sold out!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

If it was the girl in a pink top at the table behind the condiments, that was us! Too bad the timing was off!

I'm with you on that plastic cheese! Its so yummy!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

If it was the girl in a pink top at the table behind the condiments, that was us! Too bad the timing was off!

Looks like it, when I zoom in from the above photo! Sorry we just missed you!

I'm with you on that plastic cheese! Its so yummy!

SO good!

 

[BigEeyore]

Enjoying your TR! I did the Kessel this year too so really fun to read along about your experiences. How very scary about your DH and so glad he recovered and could do the 5K with you!
You are cracking me up about the ewoks! I have always loved them (my DH does not and thinks they are just marginally less offensive than Jar Jar Binks) so I waited in their line for the 5K and the half.
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your weekend!

 

[iivye]

I'm happy your husband was able to do the 5k with you. Your pics together are so cute! I don't know if I could have passed up the Ewoks photo op. I loved the Ewoks when Return of the Jedi first came out and can remember having a Wicket teddybear and watching the Ewoks tv movies. Can't wait to see how the rest of the trip went.

 

[cavepig]

Loving your Darkside report, you write so well and get it out so quick (I'll see if I actually get one done). Yes, I always wonder how the Ewoks had clothes to fit Leia! Your photos are so good, your husband's zoolander face is awesome. So glad he enjoyed it! I was so excited they had Ewoks out, when I stopped there was just one & I couldn't even see it, just hoped the music was really for an Ewok and not just the AT-AT parts! Oh and your outfits are great, those hats are awesome!

Glad you got your shirts all straightened out too.

I liked the paddles after to hold, what did you think of them? I'm still missing my 5k one however.

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Enjoying your TR! I did the Kessel this year too so really fun to read along about your experiences. How very scary about your DH and so glad he recovered and could do the 5K with you!

Thank you so much! I enjoy writing these so it's nice to know that people actually read and enjoy them as well! Congratulations on your 12-parsec accomplishment! And thank you, I am really glad we got past the scary times and were able to do the 5K together as well.

You are cracking me up about the ewoks! I have always loved them (my DH does not and thinks they are just marginally less offensive than Jar Jar Binks) so I waited in their line for the 5K and the half.
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your weekend!

Haha! Well, I think the Ewoks had better purpose in the film series; Jar Jar could have easily been removed and had little effect on any outcome (except the part where he was the catalyst for Palpatine's rise to power). I am jealous you got a photo with the Ewoks!

I'm happy your husband was able to do the 5k with you. Your pics together are so cute! I don't know if I could have passed up the Ewoks photo op. I loved the Ewoks when Return of the Jedi first came out and can remember having a Wicket teddybear and watching the Ewoks tv movies. Can't wait to see how the rest of the trip went.

Thank you so much! I also loved the Ewoks back when I was a kid (somewhere, there's one of those horrible plastic Halloween costumes in my parents' basement - Wicket) and watched the Ewoks TV movies, but remember being really disappointed that none of the main characters showed up in those movies. Do you remember the Saturday morning cartoon, too? Not that I'm dating myself here...

Loving your Darkside report, you write so well and get it out so quick (I'll see if I actually get one done). Yes, I always wonder how the Ewoks had clothes to fit Leia! Your photos are so good, your husband's zoolander face is awesome. So glad he enjoyed it! I was so excited they had Ewoks out, when I stopped there was just one & I couldn't even see it, just hoped the music was really for an Ewok and not just the AT-AT parts! Oh and your outfits are great, those hats are awesome!

Thank you! And thanks for reading. Like I said above, I really enjoy putting these things together, so it's nice to know that there are real, live people actually reading and enjoying them! Haha, the AT-AT parts! I remember seeing that last year in WWOS and kind of went and kept going. So happy you were able to get an Ewok photo op!! And thanks for the hats - I wish the Poe helmet was more obvious but it was the best I could do with the fabric paint I had on hand. And DH was happy with it, so that's all that matters!

Glad you got your shirts all straightened out too.

I liked the paddles after to hold, what did you think of them? I'm still missing my 5k one however.

I'm kind of torn on the paddles. I guess I assumed they still did the banners like last year, so I didn't grab the paddles to begin with - the PP CM basically shoved it in my hand for the 5K, so I was just kind of like, "OK." I ended up not grabbing them the rest of the weekend, but only because I wanted my costumes to be visible in the photos. I hope you get your 5K finisher photo!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

P.S. @cavepig I just noticed your avatar photo - LOVE IT!!! That. Is. Awesome.

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Friday, 4/21 – Sold out!

Because we knew we’d be blocked out of the parks on this day, we’d planned on a leisurely shopping/wandering day at Disney Springs and part of that plan was to check out the new retro dresses at Cherry Tree Lane in the Marketplace Co-Op. The dresses evoked certain characters and attractions, like Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion, and the Enchanted Tiki Room. I am a huge fan of mid-century modern style (architecture, fashion, décor) and I become absolutely obsessed with the Tiki Room-inspired dress, even though I’m not typically a dressy kind of gal. Being a field biologist kind of puts the kibosh on any of that except for special occasions. And even though I knew that they were in the $100-200 range in price, I was willing to at least check it out in person and try one on to see if it worked for me. You can check the collection out here: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...himsical-collection-inspired-by-disney-parks/

So DH and I headed over to the Marketplace with a slight detour into World of Disney to see if there was anything of interest there in the Star Wars oeuvre. No dice, but we did meander around the giant store for a while, then backtracked to the Lego Store because we’ve been debating over the Yellow Submarine kit since January and finally decided “eh” on that. But then we finally headed over to Marketplace Co-Op so I could drool over tons of things I can’t really afford right now (starting your own business is a financial drain, y’all, but SO worth it) like The Artist Shag’s Star Wars Cantina prints (again, a mid-century modern artistic take on Star Wars, he does tons of art I love, you can follow him on Instagram) and I made a beeline to the back of the building, where there was not a Tiki dress to be found. Sadness. Hopefully it wasn’t a limited time only collection and they’ll be bringing them back soon.


And I’ll bet you a Dole Whip right now that there were a ton of those dresses on display at the parks this past weekend during Dapper Day.

After my sadness dissipated (I at least wanted to try one on), we decided to get a little sweetness and made our way over to Sprinkles. I’d first tried cupcakes there during Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend last November, and because I had been wearing my medal that day, the cupcakes were BOGO. Score! We’d also stopped in there late December during another parks blockout for my birthday treat, and had intended to stop again in January during Marathon Weekend, but never made it there (see earlier posts in this thread). There was no mention of BOGO cupcakes in the Disney Springs runDisney discount list for Dark Side weekend, so I went in there fully expecting to pay for two cupcakes. And nope! BOGO once again. I ordered my favorite (I’ve tried 3 flavors so far and am gravitating back to one) salty caramel and DH decided to try the dark chocolate banana.


Yumminess (salty caramel at right, dark chocolate banana at left).


Picturesque Sprinkles at the Springs!

We sat outside Sprinkles and enjoyed our cupcakes in the shade, since it was about 18 Kelvin outside (slight nerd exaggeration), and we decided that even though it was only around 2pm that we’d head to our resort since check-in was 3pm and we could purchase our reusable beverage mug and just check out the surroundings. So we headed back to the Lime Garage and made the very short drive to Port Orleans French Quarter. We’ve stayed in Riverside multiple times and loved it, but this would be our very first time at POFQ and we were looking forward to it.

We made it through security, parked nearby the front entrance, and walked in. Last time we visited POFQ was this very race weekend last year when we walked over from POR so that I could get some beignets for breakfast one morning. At that time, the dining area was under some renovations, so we didn’t really get a feel for the ambiance. But now it looked like everything was finished up.


Lobby of POFQ, so festive.


Sassagoula Float Works – seeing the décor finally made me realize that the floats in question weren’t ice cream!


Quick service choices, lots of Cajun cuisine!




And I snapped this photo for future reference, because you never know when transportation information during race weekend comes in handy!

We purchased our reusable resort mugs (I’d done the same thing during Dopey last year, and it was so nice to have a hot chamomile tea at night to relax) while we waited, filled them, and sat in the dining area to wait for our check-in. And a special note about the beverages here, I’m not sure if every resort with quick service restaurants has this now, but POFQ had those Coke machines where you could mix and match flavors, so if you wanted a grape-flavored Coca-Cola, you could. I’m not saying that I would, but you could. There were literally hundreds of options for your cold beverage. But I noted no chamomile tea packets, just Earl Grey, Breakfast Blend, and green tea. Bummer!

We then finally received the text and email that our room was ready. I’ve been doing the online check-in things for a few years now, and since the advent of the MagicBand, I really love that you can do online check-in, they text you your room information and then you can simply go to your room, completely bypassing front desk check-in. Of course, this drastically minimizes any potential for room upgrades, but we’ve never been lucky in that department anyway. And given our current location (literally in the same building as registration) during this time, was kind of silly, but I’ve done it before where we get the text while we’re at the expo or in the parks and we just scoot on out straight to our room.


Email from our resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, that our room is ready.


They even include a link to a map of your resort



Next: Laissez les bon temps roulez!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Friday, 4/21 - Laissez les bon temps roulez!

We were in building 7, which is as far away as you can get from the lobby/transportation – and my only special request for room was close to transportation! – but at POFQ, that is still pretty close. DH and I then drove the short distance to our building and parked outside. Our room faced the parking lot/dropoff circle in front of the building but (spoiler alert!) never experienced any loading/unloading commotion or noise during our stay.













All in all, this was your standard moderate resort room. I will note that it seems like POFQ is in need of some updating, relative to other moderates we’ve stayed in recently. Just little things like USB plug-ins on the bedside table and other things to accommodate the increasingly advanced technology everyone seems to travel with these days. Not a deal-breaker by any stretch, but it was noticeable to us. It also seemed like the décor could use some updating as well versus the other moderates we’ve stayed in. But it was perfectly satisfactory accommodations for race weekend. I will also note the air conditioning was not on when we arrived, which we didn’t notice until I woke up around midnight wondering why I was so warm. Not only was the A/C not on, it didn’t seem to respond to any temperature changes on the control panel until I cranked it way down. But it held for the rest of our stay after that, just not welcome to wake up like that when I’d have to be up in a few hours for my 10K race. DH managed to sleep through all of this. Because of course!

We settled in to our room, caught up on social media and then it was time to think about grabbing some dinner so I could get to bed early. We walked the scenic route through the NOLA-esque squares – I’ve never been to New Orleans, but I’ve been to its sister city Savannah many times and I love it – and took note of some of the details.


Amusing street signs.

We arrived back at Sassagoula Float Works and set about to order our dinner. I decided on a carbtastic cheese pizza, DH tried the more adventurous jambalaya. I also caught sight of a beautiful Mardi Gras King Cake and decided to try that as well. We ended up splitting the cake, which turned out to be essentially a cinnamon roll with colorful frosting drizzled over the top. It was delicious!


Boring cheese pizza and more interesting king cake.


Closer view of the prettiness.




Next: I Am No Jedi

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Saturday, 4/22 – I Am No Jedi

This morning, I had set my alarm for 2:45 since I knew my 10K costume was a little more involved than my normal race attire and that it would take me some time to pull it together before heading to the race transportation. For the 10K, I’d decided to go as Ahsoka Tano, former Padawan learner of Anakin Skywalker. She was first introduced in The Clone Wars animated series, kind of annoying “kid sister” character at first but grew into a kick-butt warrior and friend. If you haven’t seen the series, it is on Netflix so you can binge to your heart’s content. The series also features stories of individual clones (e.g., Captain Rex, Commander Cody, etc.) prior to the tragic execution (no pun intended) of Order 66. Lots of great characters here and I won’t spoil Ahsoka’s fate, but she is a very popular character who is voiced by Ashley Eckstein, the creator of one of my favorite products: Her Universe nerd-girl apparel. And she follows me on Twitter!


Ahsoka Tano at left, my attempt at her costume (runner-friendly version) at right.

Here’s the part where I geek out about race costumes, so if that isn’t your bag, go ahead and skip this paragraph. Ahsoka also shows up as an essential character in Star Wars Rebels. She’s now all grown up with a different outfit (see up top) and I pondered for a long time just how I’d manage her Togruta montrals (horns up top) and lekku (head-tails) to be runner-friendly. I finally ended up making the montrals out of layers of craft foam painted with blue sparkly fabric paint (I also mixed in a little black to make it less turquoise) and decided to just braid my hair with white and blue ribbons! After all, the real challenge of race costumes is to evoke the character and keep it relatively easy to run in. For her armor, I also made all of the pieces out of gray craft foam and painted the embellishments on with fabric paint (the little $1.50 bottles at Michael’s), some sparkly red with black mixed in. The great thing about craft foam is that it’s cheap, it’s easy to manipulate (you can slowly heat it over your stove or other heat source and then shape it to however you want), and best of all for running it’s lightweight. I made armor for her forearms and for the legs (just not the knees or hands) and also the embellishments on her skirt. I ended up scrapping the leg armor and skirt embellishments for the race just because of the weather forecast and instead wore gray Zensah calf compression sleeves to evoke the visual of her leg armor. But I have it if I ever want to cosplay! All of these layers took some time to put on the morning of the race.

OK, it’s safe to come back in the water if you’re not into race costuming! The previous day, runDisney had tweeted/Facebooked a heat advisory warning to all runners, which is not atypical of April in Florida, but I thought it was wise of them to do so. As someone who trains in the heat and humidity all year, we’d had a blessed break from both for quite a few months now and even I wasn’t acclimated to it! It was a good precautionary measure for folks who were traveling from more northern climes. And it was my justification for not going full-on race costume for the 10K. As a field biologist, I’m sensitive to heat because I’m out in it all the time and suffered heat exhaustion many, many times while in grad school, so it’s something I don’t mess with anymore. I’ve had two post-race instances where I’ve almost passed out from electrolyte depletion (one was just a month ago, Excalibur 10-Miler in Viera, Florida) because I pushed myself too hard in hot, sunny conditions.



So here’s the part where it’s just me being me. I wrapped up my costume readiness and sat on the bed to put on and tie my shoes. And then kkkkkkrrooouunkkk. My back tweaked out. How stupid is that? I occasionally have issues where my lower back just decides to crap out on me (and yes, I need to work on strengthening my core more, but that wasn’t going to help just then) and I end up walking crooked for a while or if it’s bad, flat on my back in bed. I think it happened because the bed was about 4-6 inches higher than my bed at home, where I typically put on my shoes before leaving for a run, so I strained my lower back those extra inches. Luckily, this seemed like one of those times where I could take some Tylenol and just try to stay upright and moving. I was gingerly walking around the room (DH still fast asleep and blissfully oblivious to my pain and suffering), and put the Dark Side Challenge medal at the forefront of my mind. No 10K, no medal. I would soldier on, it’s what Ahsoka would do.

I grabbed a banana, an Uncrustable (so much easier than messing with bagel/peanut butter), and some water to take along with me for the long wait and I was on my way to the bus at POFQ. Bus pickup was pretty smooth, and we made the short drive to the Transportation & Ticket Center (TTC) parking lot, where I arrived on to the pre-race scene shortly after 4am. Plenty of time to wander, get some character photo ops, and just get ready mentally. There was a sign for character wait times again – DH and I didn’t see it the previous day due to the crowding and lines, but I happened upon it during the 10K pre-race and think it is such a great idea because then you have an inkling of whether you’ll be able to fit in a photo before Disney pulls the characters. I’d be pretty upset if I waited in line for 45 minutes only to have the character pulled just before my turn!



The First Order stormtroopers took the stage again, announcing that today we would complete our Level 2 testing, Captain Phasma would be watching and doesn’t like to be disappointed, blah blah same schtick as yesterday.




Everyone's favorite galactic DJ - DJ Elliot!

At this point, I was debating getting in line for Vader, since it would be a quasi-reenactment of the [SPOILER ALERT] Ahsoka/Vader lightsaber battle in Star Wars Rebels, but the wait was a bit iffy, so instead I headed to Jabba the Hutt. When my turn arrived, the CM who took my phone said that he looooooved my costume OMG, especially the sparkly skirt!


“You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth he’ll get no such pleasure from us!” With bonus Salacious B. Crumb.

By this time, I’d eaten my Uncrustable and decided to start heading to the corrals because it was too late for any other photo ops besides the Rogue One backdrop. As I headed there, I spotted some Death Star-shaped balloons, and…the Balloon Ladies! If you’re unfamiliar with the Balloon Ladies, they are the unofficial pace-keepers for runDisney races. They are typically the last (or among the last) people to cross the start line and maintain a 16-minute per mile pace, so if you see them coming, you’d better pick up the pace since you’re fair game to be swept from the course after that. This was my 18th runDisney race (not including the canceled WDW Half in January), and I’d never even seen them before, so this was a first! They seemed very sweet, taking photos with runners before the race and just generally being very encouraging.


The Balloon Ladies!

This 10K would only be my third 10K at WDW, and the course was different from the typical Epcot/Epcot resort loop and the first time ever a race would start in the TTC parking lot! The course looked pretty great for a 10K and I was curious how it would turn out.


10K course.


Then I walked to my corral (E for the 10K since I didn’t submit a proof of time for this race weekend) to get settled, eat my banana, and just wait for the party to get started. As I enjoyed my banana (I’m a perfectly yellow-ripe banana lover, no green or brown for me, please!), people started to surround me and the race announcer banter started, they played the Episode VIII teaser trailer again, the trailers for Episodes IV and V again, and as I finished my banana, I tried to find a garbage box to throw it away. No dice and now I was trapped where I was because I couldn’t really go and wander around without irritating people. At nearly every other race I’ve run, there have been garbage and recycling boxes every 20 feet or so along the corral dividers, but not this time. So I ended up holding the stupid banana peel until our corral started shuffling forward and I could toss it in a garbage box at the front of the corral. I think I ended up hanging on to it for 20 minutes or so, ick. So that would be one thing I’d suggest for next time: more garbage boxes in the corrals.

By this time, we’d made the sharp right-hand turn into the main corral area (we’d then make a turnaround again) and I noticed a familiar costume. I follow a lot of fellow runDisney folks on Instagram and this guy John Biel (@builtbybiel) happens to also have a podcast (Not Real Runners) where he and his friend Sarah talk about races, race costumes, and other running-related topics. He tends to make really elaborate and wonderful costumes, so I approached him and his running partner to compliment them on their costumes. He was gracious but seemed disinterested and then I mentioned I listen to the podcast, he immediately perked up and said I should have led with that! We had a nice chat, he asked some questions about the 5K for his podcast, gave me a sticker and then we bid each other a good race as our corral wave was on the verge of being released. Great to meet him, even though I am terrible at selfies and am also very shy and not very good at approaching people.


Selfie with John Biel in the corral shortly before starting.

Our wave finally reached the starting point, where we listened to race announcer spiels a bit more and then it was our time!

Next: I’m the One With Enthusiasm

 

[cavepig]

Love your Ahsoka outfit, your hat and braids is very clever! Yeah I thought lack of trash bins in the corrals was odd, I was looking for one too. The wait times was great for characters for sure!

That king cake looks delicious! French Quarter is so cute I think!

You can add stickers to your photos I noticed in photopass, so that's nice if you didn't do the paddles or in my case they did loose my 5k one, oh well. It's funny he took 2 also, so I guess they got corrupt.

P.S. @cavepig I just noticed your avatar photo - LOVE IT!!! That. Is. Awesome.

Thanks!

And then kkkkkkrrooouunkkk. My back tweaked out.

Oh no! Hopefully, it didn't hinder you running.

 

[iivye]

Do you remember the Saturday morning cartoon, too?

Don't know how I missed that; I was the perfect age for that.

For the 10K, I’d decided to go as Ahsoka Tano, former Padawan learner of Anakin Skywalker.

Love the costume! Costume foam is amazing. I love costume talk. This is my daughter and I for our superhero run. I made all the resin gems, her cape and fingerless gloves, my neck piece and forearm cuffs (both craft foam).

I follow a lot of fellow runDisney folks on Instagram and this guy John Biel

You got me hooked on that show. Are you the Kim he gave the shout out to in his Dark Side recap???

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Love your Ahsoka outfit, your hat and braids is very clever! Yeah I thought lack of trash bins in the corrals was odd, I was looking for one too. The wait times was great for characters for sure!

Thank you! I was originally going to make lekku out of craft foam, but decided to just do the braids, which turned out to be just fine. I'm glad I wasn't the only one looking for trash bins.

That king cake looks delicious! French Quarter is so cute I think!

It was! It is!

You can add stickers to your photos I noticed in photopass, so that's nice if you didn't do the paddles or in my case they did loose my 5k one, oh well. It's funny he took 2 also, so I guess they got corrupt.

Oh, good! I'll have to look into that. I hope your 5K photo isn't still lost?!

Oh no! Hopefully, it didn't hinder you running.

Stay tuned...

Don't know how I missed that; I was the perfect age for that.

I may have been a Saturday morning cartoon junkie.

Love the costume! Costume foam is amazing. I love costume talk. This is my daughter and I for our superhero run. I made all the resin gems, her cape and fingerless gloves, my neck piece and forearm cuffs (both craft foam).

Thank you! And your work is AMAZING! Resin gems!!! I wish I was familiar with the characters so I could give them the full appreciation they deserve.

You got me hooked on that show. Are you the Kim he gave the shout out to in his Dark Side recap???

Haha! They are entertaining, aren't they? My only complaint is the sound quality, I feel I have to turn the volume WAY up. And yes, that was indeed a shoutout to me!!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Saturday 4/22 – “I’m the One With Enthusiasm” (- Ahsoka Tano)

The fireworks this race weekend had so far been pretty lackluster, though the 10K had a few more than the 5K, so perhaps fireworks were to be progressively grand?


Runners….seeeeeeet…GOOOOOOOO!


Love the Star Destoyer backdrop on stage!

We set out along the edge of the parking lot, soon turning right and almost immediately a character stop came into view on the left-hand side: R2-D2. I snapped a drive-by photo and kept going.




A little way farther, we were headed towards a familiar sight from a different angle: the backside of the Magic Kingdom toll booth!


It almost felt like you should run through it backwards!


Quick snapshot of the front side once I’d passed through. Lots of people were stopping for selfies and whatnot, so I tried to pull over to the right as far as I could and grab a quick shot, hoping it wouldn’t be blurry!

I think somewhere around here was the Emperor’s throne again on the left side of the road, but I can’t remember exactly where on World Drive it had been placed and I wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo. Or it may have been between miles 2 and 3 later on. Sorry, Trip Reporter fail!

But I do know for a fact that the next character stop was before Mile 2, the line was short, and my costume was photo-op-appropriate: it was Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren! As a sidenote, I love how Disney face characters research their roles thoroughly and become that person. I just appreciate good and thorough work, and these folks are the best. Up until now, I was having to explain to many people who I was, but as I walked up to Ezra and Sabine (waited in line maaaaaybe 2 minutes?), Ezra immediately said, “Mornin’ Ahsoka!” and then Sabine chimed in with “watch out for those bucketheads along your way” and as I left, Ezra told me to stay safe out there, I gave them both a jaunty little salute and was on my way. What a fantastic interaction, and it’s the little details like this that make a runDisney race so very special.


Ezra, Ahsoka, and Sabine with Sabine’s handiwork on the TIE fighter wing.


Mile Marker 2 - the Seventh Sister (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy herself!) from Star Wars Rebels.

Now it was time for some highway miles, so maybe I was mistaken and the Emperor’s throne photo op WAS somewhere in here, because I have no photos between the 2-mile and 3-mile markers. Highway miles at WDW (or even in Anaheim) don’t bother me when there are things to break it up a little. They are also fantastic opportunities for the field to spread out and avoid bottlenecking and crowding. So I am not opposed to highway miles in a general sense.

Then we went up the ramp to Buena Vista Drive – it was almost time to go into Hollywood Studios! I was really looking forward to this, because it was the highlight of the half marathon race last year (I did not run the 10K last year). The main stage had a First Order banner with Kylo Ren accompanied by stormtroopers directing us to keep running (selfies were the only photos allowed) and then when we reached the Fantasmic area, it was filled to the brim with 501st Legion members and they were just fantastic! All-around great folks, very willing to take photos and there was hardly any wait for any of them.


Mile Marker 3 - Sheev Palpatine.

We soon arrived at DHS (you know this because you can see the Tower of Terror, it’s also the same way you enter the park during the marathon) and there was a character stop just outside the gates. Unfortunately, I didn’t know who it was until I went past the huge line: Darth Maul! He was one of my favorite characters to watch during the now-defunct Star Wars Weekends in DHS because for his photo op, if he saw kids in line with lightsabers or other Jedi attire, he’d make eye contact with that kid and pace like a cat outside the queue between photos with other people, pointing at the kid, and basically making them pee their pants (figuratively, I hope). He’s really intense! But I was only able to snap a drive-by photo.


Darth Maul.


You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. And maybe via Party Bus?
Man, I hope they bring the Tower of Terror 10-Miler back, it was so much fun!

We then entered DHS through Fantasmic, going up that huge backstage ramp (if you did Tower of Terror 10-Miler, you know what I’m talking about) and there were some 501st folks there, but nothing like last year. I don’t know if it’s because they were stretched thin due to the previous weekend’s Star Wars Celebration in Orlando or if there were liability issues or what. At any rate, while they are a fantastic organization, it just seemed a bit lackluster after last year’s turnout and also my experience for two Light Side races in California. Not that I don’t appreciate them being there, but I almost didn’t realize it was them until I’d passed by.

Next: She’ll Always Be Royalty to Me

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Saturday, 4/22 - She’ll Always Be Royalty to Me

As I mentioned, I didn’t even realize the 501st folks were at Fantasmic until I’d almost passed them, too late for stopping. All of them were on the left side of the course as well, which didn’t help (there may have been one small group on the right near the end, but I don’t remember for sure) in getting photos so I just snapped a few along the way and then started down the incline of the Fantasmic entrance. We curved around the entrance to Tower of Terror and down Sunset Boulevard towards the entrance. There was a long line on the right for two First Order Stormtroopers and then just after that a PhotoPass photographer.









I experienced a lot of course crowding here, which just worsens when people spot a photographer because they do all sorts of silly things to ensure that THEY get a photo even if that means stopping in the middle of a race or jumping in front of people or other such nonsense. As such, I have no photos from DHS PhotoPass. There was a second set of stormtroopers on the left just after this and then a second set of PhotoPass folks as we turned the corner onto Hollywood Boulevard and exited the park through the side near the entrance restrooms and Oscar’s Super Service. We then ran past the park exit and towards the parking lot where I noticed the beautiful sunrise.


Sunrise - Ooh! Aaaah!

At this point, we were headed towards the sidewalk alongside the bus stops, so a standard-sized sidewalk. Not great for a herd of runners and as we turned the corner, everything came to a slowdown. Not a dead stop, but I definitely was walking at this point. A very Special Person, came clamoring along the left screaming that “walkers to the right!” over and over. I muttered that pretty much everyone was walking at this point. We were on the sidewalk for about a couple hundred feet and then turned left down the sidewalk to Boardwalk. Again, this is a narrower area but wider than the sidewalk we’d just left. It was difficult to run, but I gave it Ye Olde College Trye. Just before the overpass, there were two speeder bikes set up, but I’d had an absolutely perfect photo op with those during the Light Side Half Marathon in my Endor Leia costume, so I kept going.


Speeder bikes.

Soon enough we made it past Boardwalk Inn and headed up the bridge towards Yacht Club and around the lake, where I glimpsed another view of the beautiful sunrise.


Going up the bridge!


Sunrise from Yacht Club.

Made it off the wooden boardwalk to a more concrete pathway as the Yacht Club graded into Beach Club. It was right around Hurricane Hanna’s and the Stormalong Bay shipwreck water feature where I spotted two people running in tribute to Carrie Fisher. Aw.


Leia tribute. "In Honor of Her Worshipfulness"

Then it was past Beach Club and the wonderful spectators and up the hill towards Epcot’s International Gate. We turned left just before that entrance and up ahead was Chewbacca in the same spot he’d been yesterday during the 5K.


Chewie waving to his fans between takes.

Next: He’s No Good To Me Dead

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Saturday, 4/22 - He’s No Good To Me Dead

We entered the backside of World Showcase in Epcot right around mile 5.5 and between the UK and Canada, quickly passing the Great White North (eh) and towards Future World and the exit.


[Jedi wave] You aren’t getting tired. You will finish strong.

As I came upon Spaceship Earth, I was hoping against hope that the stormtroopers would be out. And they were! But literally, as I got in line for a posed photo in front of Spaceship Earth, they went on break and didn’t return in time to be in the background of my photo. Sadness.



We headed along the right side of the fountain today and down through the breezeway under Spaceship Earth and soon after that, a very welcome sight: Mile 6!


Mile Marker 6 - Darth Vader.

The finish line was at the same place for every race this weekend, and we made our way out of Epcot towards the parking lot sidewalk and curving around to the right to finish up.


Almost there!


Stay on target!

Same drill as the previous day: obtain medal, grab water/Powerade, get runner snack box and banana, get finisher photo.


Finisher photo

And then I went out to the post-race area to see what the wait times were like. Most of them were pretty reasonable:



So I got in line for Boba Fett and Han Solo frozen in carbonite, which I thought was just a really cool photo op. I’ve done a number of post-race photo ops and what I really noticed about this one was that they had put out tables where the CM takes your phone so you can set down your belongings on that instead of on the ground and then having to bend over and pick all that stuff up when you’ve just finished a race. People like to bag on Disney all the time for things they’ve done wrong, so I’m a firm believer in giving praise when praise is due, such as in this instance.






This was actually my second photo with Boba Fett; the first was during the last Star Wars Weekends in 2015 when DH and I participated in the Galactic Breakfast event at Sci-Fi Café. I’d been wearing my Her Universe Han Solo cosplay dress and when Boba saw me waiting outside, he stood in the restaurant’s doorway, pointed at me, and basically just stared menacingly at me. At least, I assumed it was menacingly, since he has that whole helmet thing going on. And when DH and I were called for our breakfast reservation (photo op at that time), he immediately grabbed my arm and held it up as if he’d really captured Han Solo. I’m telling you, it’s these little touches that really make the experiences so memorable. And we used that photo for our Christmas card in 2015.

But back to this photo op, I did my Jedi wave, and when the photo was taken, he said “Be on your way.” And that was that! The line for Darth Vader was still a little long, and I wanted to get back to the hotel room so I could shower, clean up, have some snacks, and then head out to the parks for the day. For today our spring break blockout had been lifted! Huzzah!



Next: Light the Lamp, Not the Rat!

 

[cavepig]

oing up that huge backstage ramp

Yeah, nice ramp, I had no idea that was back there.

because they do all sorts of silly things to ensure that THEY get a photo even if that means stopping in the middle of a race or jumping in front of people or other such nonsense.

Yeah, I was reading a blog and it was all about look for a 'pocket' to run into to pose, but that 'pocket' might not be as clear as they think when they go all jump crazy.

A very Special Person, came clamoring along the left screaming that “walkers to the right!” over and over.

your "very special person" makes me laugh!

ter feature where I spotted two people running in tribute to Carrie Fisher. Aw.

That's awesome. Not sure I could have run in a full jammy like suit, but still very neat.

But literally, as I got in line for a posed photo in front of Spaceship Earth, they went on break and didn’t return in time to be in the background of my photo. Sadness.

Darn, that's the worst. Still a great photo!

Your photos turn out so good & your Jedi wave is spot on! Great 10k & recap. The tables by the characters are nice to set stuff on, it all seemed pretty organized to me which was nice.