You’ve Got a Friend In Me (Springtime Surprise recap part 2)
For this race as well as tomorrow I was on my own and once more I was up early overestimating how long it would take to ready myself and walk to the lobby. I left the room at 1:59 and arrived in the lobby at 2:07. I already had extra time to have my breakfast in my room and nursed my water while walking so I thought I'd try to refill it at the lobby water fountain. Even the residual Watermelon flavor couldn't mask the Florida Water taste.
It looked like a bus had been outside once I came back from using the restroom however in the time I took to pin my bib it had been gone. I assume it must of been an airport bus as when I stepped outside a moment later there was a line of four or five runners ready to go.
At 2:38 a bus pulled up and left about a minute later. The bus pulled into All Star Movies and for a moment I worried we would be going from bus number one to bus number four however as soon as it pulled in it pulled out and was en route to Epcot.
It wasn't even 3 before the bus arrived at Epcot and I made my treck to security only to see that it had yet to even open yet.
Once security opened up it took me about ten minutes to arrive at the runner village where Mater and Wall-E remained and the Monsters Inc Backdrop now housed Mike and Sully while the Toy Story Backdrop housed Jessie
Mike and Sully's line looked long but was only about 25 mins and since corals were not opened I waited about 10 minutes for Jessie.
About 10 mins passed and I was in thoe village with Mater & Wall-E present once more along with Mike, Sully, and Jessie.
Once I was done I had enough time to use a port-o-let before heading toward the coral area grabbing a pre-coral water to hydrate while I waited.
I was locked into the coral by 4:06 and at the time the weather was 68 feels like 70 no rain in sight.
Time seemed to fly as soon I was off once more.
Right out of the gate at just shy of a half mile was Merida. Her line wasn’t too bad but it was early on and we hadn't even hit the parking lot toll plaza yet.
I exited the plaza and was on the open road and soon 17 mins had passed and I'd reached mile one (1.02 via fitbit)
About a tenth of a mile later there was a turn around looping up the overpass and shortly after this was Dapper Dan Mickey followed directly by a marching band.
At this point I was able to look down and noticed that runners were still passing through the toll plaza so I knew I had a little bit of a cushion.
As I continued down this mile there was the first water stop as well as Carl from Up.
I debated tempting fate but the line looked long-ish.
I made a good choice as just after that line was another turn and as I looked out toward the road where the toll plaza was there were no more runners just bikes and street sweepers.
Another 17 mins later (34 total) I was at mile marker 2 (fitbit 2.05)
Inching closer to the park and the midway point we had a friend on course in Woody as well as a scary good time backstage passing Needleman.
After passing a screen playing some Monsters Inc clips I couldn't help but take a picture of the backside of the land.
There was a DJ before making it on stage. There was also a random figment statue when 18 mins later (52 cumulative) I hit mile 3 (fitbit 3.11) and two minutes later I hit 5K
5k split 54:56
When I got into Canada there was THE BEST on course entertainment with 4*town.
If there was an attendant and not just selfies or I wasn’t solo I’d of stopped a spell instead I noticed the character stop at the World Showplace gate had a significantly shorter line than the 12 min one from Slim the day before.
It was a 6 min wait for Frozone which included a switch out just before the party in front of me.
Rounding backstage was a second water stop as well as a screen playing Incredibles clips. before heading toward the Crescent Lake Loop. Thankfully it hadn't been rainy however I always am nervous and move slowly and cautiously across the boards.
In front of Atlantic Dance was Springtime Minnie
24 mins later (1:16 total…1:10 running) I reached mile four (fitbit at 4.29)
About five minutes later as I was getting ready to renter the park I spotted the dreaded balloon ladies heading towards Yacht & Beach club. I knew then to just keep moving forward and not make any pit stops if I was to remain ahead of them.
The next character line was Chip & Dale in beach gear…the attendant for them was saying if you joined the balloon ladies would catch up and you’d be at risk… next was Remy & Emile whose line was quite long and they were NOT making any warnings
There was a screen playing Ratatouille clips during a brief backstage interlude before getting back to the showcase and the final water stop
I reached mile 5 in 19 mins (1:35 total 1:29 running fitbit at 5.36)
Next character wasn’t a Pixar Pal or a member of the Elite Eight with Pinocchio in Italy. At Port of Entry just as we were exiting the World Showcase there was Springtime Goofy looking all dapper. Idk if I heard that the line was ten mins or the balloon ladies were ten mins away I just heard ten mins and that the line may or may not of been capped.
Inching closer to the finish we’re the Jamminators & a Pluto meet
I hit the mark…the six mile one that is in 18 mins (1:53 total…1:47 running)
Going through the final push was the Queen choir followed by Donald waving from the scaffolding.
I clocked in at 1:58:00 official time… 1:52:00 running miles
And we’ve reached the final race of the weekend. How fitting to cap off my 10th in person RunDisney weekend with the Toy Story 10 miler!!!
Breakdown of the look was a shirt from Belk (zeleos branded) with iron on from Etsy, brown old navy compression shorts, home sewn over skirt, crowned athletic scrunchie, red visor
Once more I left the room on the earlier side at 1:53 especially after yesterday. Arrived in the lobby at 2:03 and nursed a water as it was going to be warm, used the restroom and pinned my bib.
At 2:24 I headed outside as a small group was gathering and soon a bus came at 2:30.
While I was on the bus it began to rain which was making me slightly more anxious especially considering where a few places the course went.
We pulled out at 2:45 and I arrived at Epcot at 2:59
It was still drizzling and I figured with it being wet and the fact that I met three of the four characters that were out (Mater, Wall-E, and George Sanderson who was at the Monsters Inc Backdrop) I decided to just wait for the real restrooms and see how long Gear Check would take as I've never done that before at a Disney Race
By the time things were done I decided against seeing if Buzz and Woody were still letting guests into their queue in favor of waiting for corals to open to allow myself to be as close to the front as possible.
Making a quick port o let stop and grabbing some pre coral hydration I was settled in the coral at 3:58
It was 70 feels like 73 as the race MCs kept hyping to hydrate hydrate hydrate start slow and maintain a pace at least two mins slower than average to accommodate for the heat... FYI the balloon ladies were still at a hard 16 min mile from when they started.
I had about a 3 min head start from the wave behind me and I don't know how many more waves would follow and so I set myself some mini goals along the way to ease my nerves.
During the first stretch of parking lot/back stage there were banners advertising all the Pixar content you could find on Disney+ which would be a heavy handed part of on course entertainment for the day as you will see as the next thing up was the first of many screens featuring a scene from Toy Story.
The 2 hour 10 min pacers reached me and I contemplated keeping up with the 30 second run 30 second walk approach however in the time I took a blurry snap of first character on course Lotso and the mile one marker they breezed past.
Speaking of mile one I reached it in 17 mins
Entering EPCOT just off to the side in Mexico was Miguel from Coco and soon after was the first water stop where I just took one water to pace myself.
There was a screen with scenes from finding nemo and soon another 17 mins seemed to breeze by and I was at mile two (34 total)
For this mile we had a DJ, Carl Frederickson and a screen playing scenes from UP
And then the BOARDWALK it’s a stress on a normal run but after the morning rain…
Thankfully in those 0.22 miles my average pace didn’t creep up.
At the end of the boards was Russell from Up.
I took a deep breath and braced myself for the path to studios especially as it contained the second water stop. This time I got two waters and a poweraid.
In what took life forever but was only 19 mins I got to marker three (53 mins overall) and hit the 5K mat officially at 55:20 (3.27 miles via fitbit)
With that I reached my first goal GET TO 5K FLAG WITHOUT INJURING MYSELF ON THE BOARDWALK
There was a DJ celebrating the 5k occasion and Daisy Duck looking her red carpet best just outside Hollywood Studios.
Shortly after passing Daisy as I was approaching the entrance to the park the 2 hour 20 pacers passed me
I had to take a pic of Gertie
As I’ve never raced this side of the park before.
Edna Mode was just outside the Frozen theater and soon I was being whisked off to a galaxy far far away
There were storm troopers on the rafters that I tried and failed to take a selfie
Between the slog to studios and taking it all in it was about 18 mins till mile four ( 1 hour 11 total)
Soon we entered Andy’s toy box where for being a Toy Story themed race had an underwhelming vibe.
I stopped for a minute to take a photopass pic with the giant Woody statue at the entrance and than continued on my way through the park.
Just outside the land was Slim from a bug's life and outside the theater was Mickey and Minnie ready for a Hollywood night on the town.
Turning onto Sunset there was Mr & Mrs incredible.
And by the tower of terror there were the Bellhops I didn’t get a clear click and go pic but here is a good tower shot
In front of Fantasmic was another DJ and exiting the park was a water stop (just took water this time) as well as flick.
That was a wrap on Hollywood Studios and parks for the back end of the course. I had reacted my next mental check mark (clear studios) and was about to approach what I refer to as the Highway From Hell and so I did something for the first time in all my RunDisney races and that was turn music on.
Another 18 mins past (1 hour 29 total 1 hour 28 running) and I reached mile five
HALFWAY THERE!!!!!
Next character was Princess Atta and she had a super short fast moving line so I thought I’d wait till I get my pic or she swaps whatever comes first…
Two minutes later I was back on course after a successful meet
Next character was Jessie and honestly if I were in charge I’d have done a little 3 way swap…Jessie outside of Toy Story land/Slim outside Studios/Flick in this location but that’s just me.
I then got to a point where I could look up to see racers behind me no balloons yet
There was a super long line and I knew it was the onward boys and as tempted as I was to wait especially seeing the people behind me I wasn’t at the 10k mark yet and I didn’t want all those people to catch up to me so I lingered to get just a clear pic with nobody in it to post
18 mins later ( 1 hour 47 total 1 hour 45 running) I reached mile six
There was a fun musical act after this
And then a food stop. Since I don’t know if I would like sport beans I used this point to take one of the fruit leathers from my pocket.
I did it… I reached the 10k my next mental check point…anything beyond this would of been an accomplishment.
My official split was 1:51:43 (fitbit has me at 6.61 miles)
Another water stop (two waters & poweraid)
And a screen playing coco clips before a turn around. Seeing parade busses I wondered if that would of been my ending if I chose the lightfoots before over thinking and pressing forward.
Once the turn was made there was a screen with an inside out scene and I was passed by the 2 hour 30 Galloway Group
This was the sarge hill
Just after sarge I looked down from the overpass at the crowd behind once more who we’re heading up the ramp..
19 mins later (2 hours 6 min total 2 hours 3 mins running) I reached marker 7
Once we approached the marching band of course and I saw it was from one of our local High Schools I just became an emotional mess…
Idk if it was because of them or because I knew I had less to do on course than my normal Saturday jog and I could do this!!!
There was another water stop (powerade and two more waters)
And Western Chip & Dale
After them we were at another point where I could see the runners behind me just as I made it to mile 8 in another 17 mins (2 hours 23 mins total 2 hours 20 running)
As I nibbled on my second fruit leather there were some fun signs with Pixar themed dad jokes
There was Red Carpet Goofy as we arrived in the Epcot parking lot and Mike (alternating with Sully) backstage before the final water stop (powerade and one water)
There were a couple of streetmosphere performers and DJ before reentering Epcot proper and turning my music off.
I arrived at marker 9 in 19 mins (2 hours 42 mins total, 2 hours 39 mins running)
At that point I decided to wait for all the characters from here on out…
Starting and ending with the figment statue
Not due to the line being long it was only a minute but due to the next character on course being Frozone who I already met (with a significantly shorter line) at the 10k.
I reached the 15k with my fitbit saying 2:48:44 (no official split) in 9.89 miles
The Jamminators were once more aping up the crowd as I headed backstage.
Approaching the final character, it was Bo Peep who I’d met during the 5k.
Followed by the choir before heading towards the finish shoot.
On the shoot there was Woody Mickey (or Buzz Minnie who were super cute)
I finished with an official time of 3:01:51 running time of 2:58:01 and my fitbit saying I ran 10.64 miles
Race PRs
1M {15:26} 3K {30:59} 5K {42:46} 8K {1:13:59} 10K {1:42:52} 15K {2:19:09} 10M {3:01:51} HALF {3:54:55} FULL {7:08:15*} *virtual full run in increments
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