So after becoming insanely and intensely busy at work days before leaving for Disney World for 10 days and then returning to more insanely busy days at work and then heading down to
Disneyland with my nephews last weekend I am finally caught up with this thread. Congratulations to everyone who finished a race or two. And even if it didn't turn out the way you hoped, take time to appreciate what you did accomplish.
So, brief race recaps from Dark Side:
5K. My very first. I took it slowly. Stopped for a lot of character photos and didn't care about the long lines. Lost my drivers license and $20 at the Emperor's Throne photo stop, but during the race a runDisney person called me and left a message about where to pick it up after the race. That was a relief. Even found a Facebook message after I got home from another runDisney employee, so I really appreciated that. As for my time, well, let's just say that my 5K time can improve. A lot. As in I ran the 10K the next morning in 1:42, which is roughly 12 minutes slower than my 5K time. But that's okay. I intended to take the 5K slowly and did.
10K. This was a lot of fun once again. The more I race at Disney, the more I realize what kind of time I do have to play with before the risk of being swept. Some day I'll have to get a time that keeps me out of the last corral, but that's okay.
Half. I viewed this race weekend as a quiz of sorts about a much bigger challenge, namely Goofy or Dopey in 2019. How do I hold up after 3 races? How did I feel the day after the half? How brutal is it to wake up early 3 mornings in a row? I understand that Goofy or Dopey is an entirely different matter, but still this could teach me a tiny bit. The race was great fun, as always. I decided to stop for the Ewoks. Running through Pandora was nice. As an FYI, be careful when using a cell phone for photos. Somehow during the half, my phone was opening up different apps and I managed to accidentally delete my Flight of Passage fast passes for the next day. Thankfully, when I realized what happened, Disney helped me out and guest services restored those fast passes. Had a fun moment during the half when some nearby runners were singing "Everybody look left, everybody look right, everywhere you look, I'm standing in the spotlight" and I replied "Well, not yet!". This got some laughs which is precisely the reaction I wanted. So if you were among those runners singing, thank you. It was fun.
After Animal Kingdom, I found myself consistently with the 3:15 Galloway pace group. I used this as a marathon weekend test of sorts to see how I did running with a pace group. I was also able to ask some questions about the marathon itself. I knew I could stay with them, but once inside the Studios, I veered off for a character photo with Rey and Kylo Ren together. I briefly attempted to see if I could catch up with the pace group again, but my knee responded with a small amount of pain, so I dropped that idea immediately. I knew I was on track to finish and wasn't going to risk injuring my knee again. Continued on through Epcot. Near the area between Future World and World Showcase, I heard a girl crying tears of pain. She said that she was okay, but her blister were really painful. Still, she knew she could finish. She probably finished ahead of me. What I was pacing to finish at, I don't actually know because I decided to get in the very long line for a photo with Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, the Imperial Guard, stormtroopers, and Imperial officers right after leaving Epcot and fast approaching mile 13. My official finish time was 3:36, marking my slowest half ever. But I'm okay with that. I'd estimate that imperial photo op line to be anywhere from 15-30 minutes. It was worth it.
Race weekend goals accomplished, namely to finish all 3 races. Now to answer a few questions of the day that I wanted to answer as I was slowly catching up with the thread.
1. Star Wars. Obviously, I love these movies. All of them, even the much maligned prequels, which do have their moments. Favorite character is Yoda, which is also why The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite Star Wars movie. I've watched Yoda training Luke to psyche myself up for Star Wars races the night before I leave if time permits.
2. Next big running goal. I really struggled with this last year. I had trained for the 2017 Kessel Run for nearly 2 years, so when it finished I very much had a sense of what next. It didn't help matters any that the uncertainty surrounding Disneyland races at the time further made it easier to accept my excuses to not run. But the 3 week training for Avengers last year taught me a lot of things. It wound up leading me to sign up for 2018 Dark Side and during the Avengers training, I began to believe that a marathon was possible.
Which leads me to my next big running goal, namely running the virtual shorts this summer! Actually, it's a little big bigger than that. Namely, I ran numbers through my head and while in Disney World I made a commitment. Specifically, I upgraded to an annual pass, so I need to make one more visit to Walt Disney World before next February to justify the annual pass. Hmm. Does anyone know of a running event at Walt Disney World next January? While it's not official yet as I could switch that visit to a December visit to experience Walt Disney World at Christmas time, I'm strongly leaning towards running Goofy or Dopey as part of my first marathon.
3.
@LSUlakes mentioned something about his Carousel of Progress Halloween costume for
MNSSHP. Having now had the opportunity twice to be in Disneyland dressed as a Jedi, I completely and fully endorse any opportunity to be an adult wearing a costume at Disneyland or Disney World. It's nearly impossible to describe just how magical this experience is. Just last week I attended the Disneyland After Dark Star Wars Nite in my Jedi robes. Darth Vader and Kylo Ren were furious, especially Kylo Ren. Chewbacca actually gave me a slight bow. Rey addressed me as Master Jedi and said the Resistance needed my skills. C-3PO asked my if my home system was safe for droids. There is something truly magical about wandering Disney parks in a costume as an adult. For obvious reasons, they rarely allow it. But when you can, I can only describe it as all the magic of being a child in a costume, except when you're an adult you're old enough to appreciate just how special the magic is.
