Official Castaway Cay 5K Thread

[bumbershoot]

I am not confident in my ability to get up before the sun or run/jog that far. This will be a good test!

You should train for a 5K. Especially a 5K on an island in the Bahamas where you'll be starting around 9 and it could very well be 85 degrees. This shouldn't be a test, this should be the culmination of training. Please.

I may ask them about it

Ask them about what?

The rubber medal on the right in the pic is the new CC sort-of-5K medal. I assume they'll have proper-year ones, but if they don't it's still worth it. Heck, look at the "medal" they used to give out (pictured in the first million pages of this thread). We ran with THAT at the end. And even that wasn't always given; it got consistent only in early 2013. Don't run because of the medal.

And please train for it.

 

[smilezlie]

We may do it anyway, but I would love to do it for the rubber medal.

I am one of those people that is motivated by things like medals. If I had the Castaway Cay 5k rubber medal it would motivate me to do the Tinkerbell 5k, which would motivate me to do the Avengers or Star Wars 5k. It is a goal to strive for, to collect medals.

My knee gave our while working at Disneyland in Summer 2005. It let me permanently partially disabled. Things such as 5ks are difficult. I am not sure I can complete a 5k, so paying for one through Disney (I am local) is a dice roll. The free version is a great chance.

I am really looking forward to completing a 5k just to show I can. A medal rewarding me would be motivation for future runs. If I complete it I will continue for future Disney 5ks.

 

[SillyInventor]

You should train for a 5K. Especially a 5K on an island in the Bahamas where you'll be starting around 9 and it could very well be 85 degrees. This shouldn't be a test, this should be the culmination of training. Please.

Totally agree. Don't risk ending your 5k in the medical bay with forced joints or muscles. It should be fun and it will be fun if you are well prepared.

 

[bumbershoot]

We may do it anyway, but I would love to do it for the rubber medal.

I am one of those people that is motivated by things like medals. If I had the Castaway Cay 5k rubber medal it would motivate me to do the Tinkerbell 5k, which would motivate me to do the Avengers or Star Wars 5k. It is a goal to strive for, to collect medals.

My knee gave our while working at Disneyland in Summer 2005. It let me permanently partially disabled. Things such as 5ks are difficult. I am not sure I can complete a 5k, so paying for one through Disney (I am local) is a dice roll. The free version is a great chance.

I am really looking forward to completing a 5k just to show I can. A medal rewarding me would be motivation for future runs. If I complete it I will continue for future Disney 5ks.

Yes medals are awesome.

Not doing a 5k bc the medal is less than wanted makes no sense to me though. Be disappointed if you wish, if you get a 2015 or the old Mickey head plastic medal, but still participate. The island run is free.

But again I'm hearing that you're going to go into this unprepared. There should be no wondering if you can do it. Google "couch to 5k", google "Galloway" or "walk/run method", get a training plan, and start practicing for a 5k.

Aside from illness or injury or extreme weather the day of a run, one should never not know if one can make the distance. Gotta practice!

And do cheaper local runs, too! Honestly the local runs I've done are so much better than the expensive Disney runs I've done. I haven't found magic in ANY mile, let alone "every" mile with RunDisney events. Local runs are terrific IMO.

But ya still gotta practice for them.

 

[lillygator]

Totally agree. Don't risk ending your 5k in the medical bay with forced joints or muscles. It should be fun and it will be fun if you are well prepared.

I have literally done a couch to 5k - as in did not train and ran.walked a 5k with no issues, but I am a Floridian and am used to the heat. You can walk a 5k with no issues.

 

[smilezlie]

Yes medals are awesome.

Not doing a 5k bc the medal is less than wanted makes no sense to me though. Be disappointed if you wish, if you get a 2015 or the old Mickey head plastic medal, but still participate. The island run is free.

But again I'm hearing that you're going to go into this unprepared. There should be no wondering if you can do it. Google "couch to 5k", google "Galloway" or "walk/run method", get a training plan, and start practicing for a 5k.

Aside from illness or injury or extreme weather the day of a run, one should never not know if one can make the distance. Gotta practice!

And do cheaper local runs, too! Honestly the local runs I've done are so much better than the expensive Disney runs I've done. I haven't found magic in ANY mile, let alone "every" mile with RunDisney events. Local runs are terrific IMO.

But ya still gotta practice for them.

I understand where you are coming from. If I saw another person posting that they wanted to do it just for the medal I would say the exact same thing. You are not wrong.

I have no intention of just showing up the day of the 5k and seeing if I can do it. I also have no intention of running the entire thing. It will probably be a mix of walking and jogging. I know my limits, even if I decide to push them. If I had 6 months to prepare and test myself I would be a lot more confident in my ability to do it. Right now I am looking at about 2 months.

Because of the pain I experience daily it is a mental battle to do certain things. I won't injure myself further but deciding if the pain is worth it is a real struggle. For me, having a visual reminder of an accomplishment will motivate me and remind me that I am stronger than my injury. If they do have medals (even if it says 2015) or the plastic Mickey heads I plan on hanging it on my wall as a reminder that I can do this. Also, it is easier to hang a medal on the wall than a tshirt... which I will probably get as well.


And no worries about ending up in the medical bay. I would either walk or stop if it got to that point. I will be bringing a supply of KT tape, my knee brace, and ibuprofen just in case. And not terribly concerned about the heat. I live in Southern California. This year it has been so hot that 85* is almost sweater weather!

 

[AmandaRG]

I will be sailing with my daughter that will turn 10 on our CC day. Would it be possible for her to run or would the system still see her as 9? Just curious as she loves to run, but I wouldn't mention it if she might run into an issue.

 

[wvdcl cruisers]

I haven't read through all 59 pages so if this has been discussed please excuse my post....has anyone else had to run the 5k onboard? We were on the 4 day that arrived home yesterday (11/20) - wind and sea conditions on our CC day were proving to be difficult for Captain Henry and crew, so they decided to run the 5k on the ship while a final docking attempt was made. Ultimately they were successful in docking on the 3rd attempt as we were finishing the race, and it wasn't as bad as you would think to run the race onboard with the exception of folks playing shuffleboard who wouldn't move out of the way. We were also surprised that the crew organizing the race offered to hand out medals before the race was even run, but more surprised at how many people took the medal and did not come back to actually run!

 

[bumbershoot]

And not terribly concerned about the heat. I live in Southern California. This year it has been so hot that 85* is almost sweater weather!

My SoCal runner friends haven't been running outside the last couple months. Being in that weather is different than running in it.

If I saw another person posting that they wanted to do it just for the medal

I have zero problem with someone running for a medal.

But not running because they don't have a medal...makes me wonder.

I have no intention of just showing up the day of the 5k and seeing if I can do it. I also have no intention of running the entire thing. It will probably be a mix of walking and jogging. I know my limits, even if I decide to push them. If I had 6 months to prepare and test myself I would be a lot more confident in my ability to do it. Right now I am looking at about 2 months.

OK, so you *are* going to train for it? So that's cool. No concerns then. I wasn't hearing/reading that you were going to be training. 2 months of training is better than zero training.

I walk/run, too. The official trainer for the rundisney stuff is the guy who really popularized walk/run.

I will be sailing with my daughter that will turn 10 on our CC day. Would it be possible for her to run or would the system still see her as 9? Just curious as she loves to run, but I wouldn't mention it if she might run into an issue.

I'm not sure what their current ages are. I personally wouldn't mention it. Get onboard, check with the port adventures desk about the age.

has anyone else had to run the 5k onboard?

I haven't, but I have read of it.

We were also surprised that the crew organizing the race offered to hand out medals before the race was even run, but more surprised at how many people took the medal and did not come back to actually run!

That's nice of them to hand them out up front. I'm not surprised by people not coming back. There are people who buy medals on ebay, after all. It's just a collector's item for some. (hopefully people don't lie and say they ran them, but if they do, eh, no skin off my nose)

 

[bobbiwoz]

Are you allowed to walk?

 

[Quellman]

Are you allowed to walk?

You are able to walk the course! Of course the longer you take the less likely it will be that they are still at the finish line handing out the medals. When i have raced they have designated an alternate pick up time. But if you are an accomplished walker you should finish before 50 minutes.

 

[Jkpark]

I haven't read through all 59 pages so if this has been discussed please excuse my post....has anyone else had to run the 5k onboard?

I personally haven't, but I was talking with someone at Disneyland during Avengers race weekend and she had that experience. She didn't mention shuffleboard players, but did mention that many crew were there cheering them on. She said it was fun and happy she got to at least do that since they didn't get to dock at Castaway. I am hoping to do it on Jan 1 - depending on how New Years Eve goes...

 

[preciouspups]

I did the Castaway Cay 5k this past Friday and it was freaking miserable. It was 85, there is little to no shade, it was humid! I live in GA and run in high temps, sun and humidity and I struggled so I don't know how the people from the cold climates managed it! I'm pretty sure I walked most of it and yet ended up with a great time. I have heard that since it is a Run Disney event, they limit you to an hour for finishing. Not sure about that because as soon as I was done we headed back to the boat to change. The rubber medal is cool and I bought a t-shirt after. There was a pregnant woman out there and I seriously don't know how she did it.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

Yes medals are awesome.

Not doing a 5k bc the medal is less than wanted makes no sense to me though. Be disappointed if you wish, if you get a 2015 or the old Mickey head plastic medal, but still participate. The island run is free.

But again I'm hearing that you're going to go into this unprepared. There should be no wondering if you can do it. Google "couch to 5k", google "Galloway" or "walk/run method", get a training plan, and start practicing for a 5k.

Aside from illness or injury or extreme weather the day of a run, one should never not know if one can make the distance. Gotta practice!

And do cheaper local runs, too! Honestly the local runs I've done are so much better than the expensive Disney runs I've done. I haven't found magic in ANY mile, let alone "every" mile with RunDisney events. Local runs are terrific IMO.

But ya still gotta practice for them.

I would whole-heartedly agree with everything you said except for the part about the Run Disney races not being magical. I've run the WDW Marathon 5 times, the first time in 2003 the most recently in 2014, and I did the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in 2013, plus the old Disney 10K Classic (2002). And pretty much every mile was "magical" to me (and most around me, judging by their reactions). Are there drawbacks to Run Disney races? Absolutely. You normally pay more, have to get up earlier, have to wait around before the race starts, and running past the water treatment plant at WDW is not a highlight. But the on-course entertainment is awesome, and the logistics of the race are always professionally managed (traffic closures, aid stations, water stops, etc.). I've done plenty of other non-Disney races as well. Some have been great (like anything put on by Track Shack in Orlando), and some not so great. Of course, as always, YMMV.

But, again I agree with the advice to train. Giving yourself heat exhaustion, heat stroke or worse is no way to end a DCL vacation.

 

[Tama-chan]

Are you allowed to walk?

yes!!! I ran/walked and finished at around 33mins....while my husband walked whole thing/taking pic, so obviously he was taking his own time, and took him about 45-50 mins and he was not the last person to finish at all. And of course we both got a medal

 

[GoofyTraci]

does this cost anything? Any pics of the rubber medal? oh and what time is it bc I want to get a massage that day. Oh and I have to book everything tonight.

 

[Linden Lady]

Free. Happens first thing on CC day, time differs depending on docking, but race usually starts around 9 am or 10 am.

 

[GoofyTraci]

thank you for the info

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Here is a picture of the medal. They are quite nice...

 

[lillygator]

anyone think they will change for 2016?