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2016 Star Wars 10K Race Recap

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While I was running the Walt Disney World Marathon, I had one thought:  NOT running the Star Wars 10K or Half the following week.

That sounded like the worst idea EVER to me, to be honest.

Even after I got home and decompressed a bit, I wasn’t too thrilled about turning around and doing it all over again.

But off to Disneyland I went.

I’m happy to say the whole weekend was fantastic.  Errr… mostly, anyway.

Here’s the recap of the first race we ran that weekend.

Star Wars 10K Recap

 

SW jams

First things first: the nails.  Had to be done!  I love matching my Jamberry to the race theme.

When I got to the hotel, I dropped my bags and headed out to the Expo.  Within 10 minutes I had my bib and shirts and was peacing out of there.

Dinner was calling, and we had an early wake up in the morning!

I went with a simple costume this time around.  I was an X-Wing Fighter.  Some people got it, which made me happy.  I think it makes more sense when you see me with Nicole, who also took the literal turn on her costume.

Tie Fighter vs. X-Wing Fighter: get ready to rummmbblleee!

Tie Fighter vs. X-Wing Fighter: get ready to rummmbblleee!

The weather that morning was cool but humid.  I guess I brought a little bit of Florida along for the ride!

I was comfortable once we started running but stayed wrapped up in a mylar blanket that morning.

This course was all new.  And I liked it a lot!

I think this is the most on-property time we’ve had in ANY runDisney 10K.  A lot of it was backstage, but it was NEW backstage, so I was cool with it.

And even better?  They took out the two hills at the beginning that we had last year.  That was a beautiful thing for this runner!

The lines for characters were deep, as was expected. This line was for Boba Fett, the first character.

SW 10K lines

It looked like it was moving pretty fast, but we weren’t sticking around for this one.

I was running with Jane, fresh off her huge Dopey experience.  So neither of us were feeling much in the way of racing for time goals, or for standing around too much in lines either.

One part of this race that I loved was going through the newly Star Wars-ed out Tomorrowland.  The last time I was here, things weren’t kicked off just yet.  So this was my first experience with the area.

SW 10K 1

Everything was lit up- and I spied Hyperspace Mountain.  That is one sweet ride, and it’s a shame it wasn’t open during the race!

What?  You know you’d ride it too!

sw chewbacca

I’d rather kiss a Wookiee!

That can be arranged!

I do love me some Chewbacca.

The other fun part of this course is the brilliance that is it’s a small world Holiday.  I love what Disneyland does with this attraction and love even more that it’s still open during Star Wars weekend!

sw small world

After this stop, we booked it over to the BB8 line.  I can’t tell you much about that mile, except that it was a 12:12 mile- and you know I was motivated to get there if that was the time I put down!

I think we ran through Adventureland, which is a runDisney first for me.  Yes, I’m sure we ran through there.  But again, I was on a mission, so I didn’t stop for pictures and now have blogger regrets.  Sorry!

SW main st

Over in DCA, we finally found the line.

And y’all, it was LONG.  I was surprised they were allowing people to get in line, but so far they had not made the call to cut it off.

Worth it!

sw BB8

In this line, I discovered that I do not love running in wings.  This was a first and likely last experiment for me.  I kept hitting people while in line, but I don’t think I did too much of that when running as I felt we had room on the course.

There were some crazy switchbacks going on at this point, but I was too stoked about getting this picture to have any complaints!  We were crowding here but still able to keep our intervals going without issue.  In my book, as long as I can do my intervals and find holes when I need to run, I’m happy with the course.

We ran through Bug’s Land too, and I don’t think I’ve done that before!

sw bugs

Some of Jane's boyfriends.

Some of Jane’s boyfriends.

There was evidence of great photo-ops, but we burned too much time in BB8 to catch those lines open.

A trash compactor scene, R2D2 and C-3PO, and the Endor Speeder Bike scene were three we passed up.  Ah well, maybe next year!

At this point we got a text from our friends Andria and Joe: the coffee was getting cold, and they were going to be late for brunch.  We needed to book it out of DCA and finish this race.

Found them!

SW PS sign

After this, we headed through the finish line and grabbed some medals.

My friend Sally was working as a volunteer, and I ran right past her!  With a quick U-turn, I found her, got blinged and a hug, and was done!

SW 10 medal

I loved this race.  It was an excellent course: flat, and packed with picture ops if you were lucky enough (ie, fast enough or had friends in line) to grab them.

I think I still rank the Captain America 10K a bit higher since we had more room to run outside of the parks (literally- more space to spread out and move!). Nerd alert confession: I’m digging Marvel a bit more than Star Wars these days, so that might have something to do with it!

After this race, we hit the parks for a bit.  I didn’t want to stay out too long because I was feeling the exhaustion from travel and running and early mornings catch up to me. 

But this attraction HAD to be done!

sw medal

Around 5 pm, I had a semi-breakdown.

True story: I was thinking of bailing on the half.  In fact, I was looking for any excuse to do so.  Thankfully no one (i.e., Jane & Rob) gave me the out I was looking for as both basically said, “suck it up, buttercup.”

Dang.  Friends and family often know when the tough love needs to come out.

I did make one significant change to the weekend and adjusted my flight home.  Instead of flying out at 9 pm and getting home at 11, I changed it to 6 pm on Sunday.  And immediately felt relief.

Jane kept saying I needed sleep and I’d feel better.  I kept flashing back to the night before the marathon when I got a little over 2 hours.  I didn’t to repeat that again.

But once the flight was taken care of, I went ahead and crashed.  I slept great that night and in the morning had a whole new perspective on the race.

Jane: she’s one smart cookie!

Did you run the Star Wars 10K this year or last?  What did you think of the new course?

I’m linking up with Nerd Girls on the Run this week!

nerd girls

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Lesley

Friday 29th of January 2016

I really like what the course looked like online. I know Tink will need to change due to the Star Wars construction, and I'm not good at waiting. I looked up the Star Wars 10k course to see what could be involved for the Tink 10k.

patty

Friday 29th of January 2016

If they use the same course, I think you'll like it. But Tink 10k had last 2 miles outside the parks, right? It might be something they can still work with. I'll need to check maps to refresh my memory on that one!

Jani

Thursday 28th of January 2016

Loved the new course, but wish it was changed up a bit more from the 5k. Frustrated by how aggressive "they" were at sweeping (a friend was one of them, but she expected to be swept). There were still a TON of people out there. Think I will actually train for my next 10k ;) Glad I got to see you, even in passing.

patty

Thursday 28th of January 2016

It was a good high-5 moment. Lol.

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