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I’ve been a bit, oh, let’s just say crazy, since November.

Wait- since October is more accurate. So it didn’t surprise me when I was writing the Walt Disney World Marathon recap yesterday to realize that I hadn’t posted about the Doctor Strange 10K recap yet.

Doh!

A bit late, but here it is!

Doctor Strange 10K Recap

This was the big race of the weekend for us. Claire and I ran the Captain America 5K on Friday as her first ever 5K. She did great and seemed to enjoy the whole racing experience.

I give my girl big props here. She walked to the start and said she wanted to run the 10K on her own.

No offense Mom, but, um, you don’t run enough. 

Ouch. Apparently, my 15/45 intervals were not quite what she envisioned for a race. Ha!

Okay, kid, you got this.

After a corral selfie, we started the race.

She headed out and was just far enough ahead that I could keep my eye on her. I expected her to fade somewhere along mile 2, and knew we’d end up running together, but for the first part I just let her go.

That was fine until about half a mile in. That’s when we discovered she was having a wardrobe malfunction and we had to make some adjustments. She was getting a little aggravated at this point and I kept reminding her that I was always going to be right behind her if she needed to stop and wait for me.

Off she went again. And off I followed her, watching from a distance.

That’s when it happened. Big ol’ Mom fail.

I saw her approaching the 1 Mile sign and suddenly she stopped. Her shoulders slumped, her hands went to her face, and she turned around searching for me.

I ran. I thought maybe she pulled something or was hurt somehow.

No- she wasn’t hurt. Except her pride. She saw the time on the 1 Mile sign and thought it took her over 36 minutes to run a mile.

Because, yeah, I forgot to tell her the difference between clock time and chip time. Thankfully I was able to show her my Garmin and explain that we were well below pace and doing just fine!

After the Mile 1 Meltdown, we decided to just stick together. And it worked out great.

I let her lead when it came to the intervals and we ran when she wanted to and walked when she wanted to. We stopped for a lot of pictures and selfies, and overall just enjoyed being together on the course.

Look at that smile!

She was getting tired of the backstage area before we hit Disneyland and decided to walk a bit more through there. I had a feeling that once we got back onstage, she would perk back up.

And she did.

We were merged with the runners who were rerouted right after we stopped for Doctor Strange, so our castle pictures were of us walking with a few thousand of our closest friends. Whomp- I was ready to run through for epic mother/daughter castle pics!

But we did get Doctor Strange, so that made up for it!

She decided that six miles was really long.

Yes, sweet child, it is. 

She didn’t want to stop for a mile marker picture until we hit six, so I made sure we grabbed this one.

As we finished, she was all smiles. And immediately thanked me for bringing her and asked if she could do it again sometime.

This was what I hoped to hear! I figured it could go either way: she’d never run another step, or she’d jump on board my not-so secret “How To Go To Disney” plan.

If you are running with kids for the first time, remember a few things.

1. They are young and have no idea what pacing is. So they are going to want to RUN. If you can keep up, more power to you. If you can’t (like I couldn’t!) work out a compromise and try to find a way to let them run, but also stay within sight.

We agreed that she would stop at each mile marker until we made eye contact, then she was allowed to go ahead again. Of course, that plan was scrapped after Mile 1, but we did have a plan in advance.

2. Be flexible! Plans may need to change, especially with a child running their first race. See how it goes for the first mile and then adjust accordingly.

3. HAVE FUN. You don’t want to ruin running- or God forbid- Disney for them. I wouldn’t focus on pace or time unless your child is the competitive type who loves that kind of thing. I suspect most of them are happier just to run with their parents and soak up the Disney magic.

So Claire had a fantastic weekend and I had so many wonderful moments of mommy pride with her.

You may wonder how her brothers took her experience?

As expected.

Hey mom, when do WE get to go?

Ahhh, yes, the runDisney love is back. Fist pump!

Why boys, there is another race coming up that I think you’d enjoy- and that’s why we are all running at the Light Side this weekend. See you at the 10K!

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