I run on my Vacay… Castaway Cay 5K

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Before I get started with this being the first race recap of 2023 I figure I should start with a wee bit of housekeeping….

Final 2022 Mileage: 

  • 2114.11 miles move overall
  • 529.88 running miles

Final 2022 Race Count: 

  • 7 5Ks LIVE
  • 2 5Ks VIRTUAL
  • 3 10Ks
  • 1 Half (NEW PR)
Present 2023 Run The Year Status: 

  • 151.95 miles moved
  • estimated finish December 13th

My “Marathon a Month” for December was 8:01:00 I have decided that after 32 months I am no longer going to track how much it takes me to run the first 26.2 miles each month… I may give myself some new challenges as time goes on… another challenge that I am dropping is the Most Magical Virtual with 138.34 miles I’ve completed a second loop and especially considering most of my stopping points were some pretty unmagical roads I’ve decided against a third loop 

Okay so now that this is over time for the Castaway Cay 5K




So there are TWO versions of this race. The first is the Castaway Challenge which happens on the four night sailing after marathon weekend. For this you need to be booked on this cruise itinerary at the time of race registration in order to add this on to an actual LIVE race during Marathon Weekend. I’ve heard conflicting information as to weather it can be any distance or if it HAS to be the Half, Full, Goofy or Dopey but since this isn’t that option I’m not fact checking. Than there is the FREE option. Pre pandemic once you boarded the ship you went to Port Adventures to get an excursion ticket than would meet up in one of the lounges for a group walk out and start. Now it’s on your own.

I decided since it wasn’t the group walk out that I wouldn’t bother packing a costume (though to be fair I only dressed up on one of my three prior cruises) and ended up wearing my Pirates of the Caribbean shirt, Livi Blue skort and black and red marble bondi band.

I disembarked the ship once the gangway was open and by the time I took the trams and walked toward the marked start area it was just after 9am. I didn’t need to use the bin that was there to place your personal belongings but there is one there in case you are reading this and plan to go on a cruise one day.

I made a note as to what the mileage of my fitbit said because while my phone was in airplane mode I figured I’d attempt to use the GPS on my Charge 5 to track things but just in case I wanted a back up…it said I’d already moved 0.58 miles 

It was about five minutes to get from the start down towards the bike loop and about nine minutes later at 915 I decided to slow down to take a sip from my water bottle… at this point A) my fitbit said GPS was lost (it came back and I don’t know if it briefly dipped out any other times) and B) I decided to keep an eye on my clock and take a sip every fifteen mins or so.

It was another 10 minutes or so until I was out of the loop the first time 


 


A few moments later I needed to tie my shoe and figured it was just shy of 930 so I’d just take my second sip as I headed down the airstrip toward the adult beach. 

Once we got to the beach you turn around and head back toward the bike loop to do it again…oh joy..oh rapture though I will say January was definitely more pleasant humidity wise than September, October and April.

At 945 I was roughly where I was at 915 and I finished my water before getting out of the loop and making my way back where I started from at the bike rental booth.



It was exactly an hour even though my fitbit clocked it as 59:53 and both my fitbit and looking at the before and after milage and doing the math manually said I moved 3.05 miles… not too bad a discrepancy as it’s not an officially timed/measured course and it’s purely a fun run.

Anyway after I grabbed my medal at the bike rental booth there were a few people taking pictures by the finish sign and a friendly guest took mine for me.



And it typical Disney Fashion you “exited through the gift shop”

During my first cruise in 2016 I ended up getting a shirt and since there was a new design since then there was tons of new merch from shirts to tanks to sweatshirts to shoe ornaments.


I didn’t get anything pictured but I did get a headband and from the other merch kiosk on the island I saw that they had a pin.

All and all I had a great time.


Upcoming races:

2/25: Gasparilla 15K

2/26: Gasparilla 8K

¾: Promise Run 5k

4/14: Springtime Surprise 5K

4/15: Springtime Surprise 10K

4/16: Springtime Surprise 10 Miler

Race PRs

1M {15:26} 3K {30:59} 5K {42.46} 8K {1:13:59} 10K {1:42:52} 15K {2:19:09} HALF {3:54:55} FULL {7:08:15*} *virtual full run in increments


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