Well guys I did it I finished my 1st Disney race and while I’m no expert I did learn a few things so I thought I would share. Keep in mind these are my hints from the 10k the 1/2 marathon has over twice as many runners so I’m sure things for that event are very different.
- If you can stay on property, unless you live in the area I’ve heard the drive in wasn’t so bad. None of the shuttles I called ran that early and a taxi was crazy expensive…higher than the cost difference for a cheaper hotel. Plus the bus service from my hotel was highly efficient.
- If your staying on property check your food court for the ‘breakfast box’ the night before. It was around $6.00 (not bad really for resort prices) and included a water bottle, banana, plain bagel, peanut butter, granola bar and 2 other things I’m forgetting. Perfect pre race food, at least for me, cheaper than buying a la cart and the restaurants aren’t open that early.
- You can ‘hang out’ with your family before the race (at least this year.) My brother and I went separately because I was under the impression we wouldn’t be able to hang out prior to the race and I didn’t want him to just stand around. Turns out he could have hung out with me until about 20 or so min before the race when they close the walkway to the start corrals (it crossed the start line.)
- You don’t have to pay for pictures, they will take character pics with your cell phone. In fact they have one cast member just for this.
- If you want pictures look for an e-mail with a pre-paid deal. I don’t know if they will offer this every year but this year it was $65.00 for $100.00 credit. For one digital download it costs $29.95 and for the full album its around $80.00 so even if I just bought the album I saved $15.00.
- Stop for pictures. For some reason this was really hard for me, it was so against stopping and waiting in a short line for pictures. They kept the lines moving pretty quick and for my 4 character pics I estimate it added 20 min to my time. Its a DISNEY race you will want to remember every part of it. My compromise was to run the first 1/2 and then stop at the next picture opportunity, I ended up running the first 3.5 miles or so.
- Bring someone with you if you can afford. Having my brother there was priceless, I’m going to run another one and take my whole family with me. In my dream world Apple will want to run the family fun run with me.
Why the 10k? For me there were a number of reasons, its winter in MN I knew my distance training wouldn’t be great, on top of having a baby 7 months before, that by itself was enough. However my other reason was because I wanted to be able to enjoy my time in Florida around the race. I knew a 10k wouldn’t wear me out like a 1/2 marathon would. I also knew I wouldn’t have to be so mindful of my sleep schedule and eating for multiple days before just the night before. I was able to enjoy 3 days at theme parks and still run a great race.
Want to read about the race check out My 1st Disney Run post here.
