ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE (Springtime Surprise 2024)
It’s time once again to lace up our running shoes for another RunDisney adventure. And since I’m not doing a challenge and it hasn’t been months since my last race recap I’m not going to front load things with my Run The Year progress and instead will head right to the most Magical Running Series on Earth….
With the VQ situation we had it all planned out. I’d drive toward a location I knew was in the 45 mile range… watch the world clock and …. BANG… however Traffic had other plans and we were gifted with group number 58 the highest number I’ve gotten to date. The initial time quoted to shop was 11:31 and while we did monitor the time as it kept dipping back I didn’t take notes of each and every progress update so moving on.
We were dropped off at the expo at 10:18 and made our way into the queue to get into Field House by 10:27. It was about a 10 min wait to get in and snag our bibs. B/B for me and C for my friend running the 5K with me.
This time around the photo ops were moved from the Arena to here and the options were a Pixie Hollow Backdrop with a dandelion prop which we skipped, A simba statue (5 min wait), Stitch (37 min wait), and Hook & Smee (31 mins).
We hung out in the Esplanade taking a few photos to kill time as out VQ was set to be called in minutes and at 12:15 we entered. There was a photo op with a Tick Tock Croc statue but since it wasn’t photopass we went down the hall to the room of pain.
We grabbed a drink and made our way back towards the Athletic Center for our shirts and to poke around at venders. As we were leaving one of the food items they had for sale peaked my interest. It was a popcorn trail mix where they took rainbow popcorn and your choice of sweet and savory snack items and mixed them together with a bit of liquid nitrogen.
With the snack stop it was about 31 mins in this building and about 3 Hours 38 mins from getting dropped off to getting on the bus to the Hotel.
Time to find the second star to the right and fly on over to the Neverland 5K. When I initially saw the theme for this race I knew instantly I wanted to do Captain Hook that way I could double dip and have a costume for one of my Gasparilla events. So, for this look I went with an Old Navy running tank with some ribbon embellishments as well as a red jersey knit skirt with the same fabric and pattern I did my Merida skirt for last years 10 miler. I paired that with my pirate bondi band, a Hook that my mom had purchased for Pirate Night on one of our Disney Cruises and a Pirate Hat Headband from Spirit Halloween.
Even though we were much closer to the lobby than last year…if it ain’t broke why fix our wake up/walk out time and so we left the room at 2:10 am and were in the lobby at 2:14am. I ate my breakfast and we took turns using a real restroom before we headed outside at 2:27am. A bus pulled up a minute later with about a half dozen people from Sports already on it. It picked us up, pulled out a minute later…picked up four runners at Movies and was on the road by 2:31 am letting us arrive at Epcot and queuing up at security by 2:45am making us close to the front of the line.
Security opened at 3am on the dot and as my friend went to stop at another real restroom I walked with purpose to the staging area to see what ‘Adventure Friends’ would be waiting for us. To the left of the DJ were Peter & Wendy who were the race hosts of the morning (and Wendy was a new to me character meet) as well as Duffy. To the right of the DJ was Wreck It Ralph and the Challenge Hosts Lilo and Stitch. Duffy had no line as it was so early and so I ran over and waited maybe 3 mins. I told him his friends need to give Florida a visit as I want to give Shellie Mae and Stella Lou hugs too!!!!
That meet took about 23 mins and when it was done it was still about nine minutes until the coral area opened up. My friend decided to wait in line to coral up while I decided to look at Ralphs wait. There was about 79 mins until my coral closed and I mentally gave myself a ‘hard out’ time to hop out if needed and head to corals. I didn’t have to activate this out however as it was about a 21 min wait. Though I was about maybe a handful of people back in line when the DJ commented about the characters leaving in 5 mins…weather it was a break or if it was until post race I have no clue. However if it was the latter it’s interesting they didn’t outright close the line like they did at Wine and Dine 2023 when we were one of the last groups to see Miguel pre race.
I did a weather check and in the moment was 67 feels like 68
I was off… and during the first mile we had a screen playing a ride through video of Peter Pans Flight as well as a DJ.
I reached mile one in roughly 17 mins with my fitbit saying I’d only moved .99 miles with a 17’09 m/m pace
There was a school band backstage before making it into Epcot where right way the Three Caballeros were in Mexico. Meeting them all together would of been a real treat but considering I’ve met ⅔ of them before and the line stretched all they way into China almost to the bridge I passed. Besides I make it a habit not to stop at the first character if I can help it.
Next was the Incredibles in America. Sure, while they were “New To Me” I can easily meet them on the daily in Hollywood Studios but I decided I needed a bit of a breather so I’d assess how bad the line looked. It was roughly an 11 min wait and while in that line my friend who was in the coral behind me managed to pass me giving me intel on the characters yet to come.
Still in this mile we had our sole water stop just steps after the character meet as well as some of Stitches ‘Cousins’ meeting at the World Showplace Gate. That line reached all the way past Refreshment Port and was probably just as long if not longer than when I met Queen of Hearts back in November so it was a pass and instead I took a selfie by the Tick Tock Croc topiary
I reached mile marker 2 in 29 mins (46 mins cumulatively…35 moving) My fitbit said I moved 2.08 miles with a 22’13 mm
The next character on course was Springtime Daisy and since I knew the last character on course was most likely either Hook or Tink and while I’d of loved it if it were the latter and she did have her Pixie Pals I decided why not gamble… no risk no reward.
It was roughly about a 10 min wait and I was behind the same two girls who were dressed as Lizzie McGuire and Isabella that were in front of me all the way back in the incredibles line… it truly is a small world after all.
After this I skipped the photopass line at the Mickey and Minnie Topiary, had someone take my picture at the Figment Topiary and waited for both the Walt Statue and Star Jumper pics.
After the Star Jumper pic I noticed people taking pictures of the amazing 626 costume that they had showed on the announcer screens pre-race
There was a pirate themed band in front of mission space followed by the marching band again backstage. The meet back here was Hook and Smee and since I met them at the expo I decided not to brave the line and instead passed by them and the gospel choir before reaching mile 3 in 34 mins 1:20:25 cumulatively 53:25 moving with a fitbit time stamp of 3.26 and a 24’36 mm
I crossed the finish about two minutes later with a finish time of 1:22:39 (55:29 moving) with a 24’25 mm
Post Race I had a fun interaction with a small child who congratulated me and gave my hook a fist bump as well as took one of my funniest post race pics ever. After the Race I even got my first friendship bracelet at lunch from the people we let share our table (and another one at Dinner Sunday night also pictured even though it’s not race related)
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Adventure as they say is out there and so I decided I’d be adventurous and think outside the box of the theme. I had pondered a few options before seeing some neon pink fabric at Joannes sealing the deal of being Zenon Girl of the 21st century. A few people got it…a few thought I was Barbie from Toy Story…but regardless this Super Nova Girl just wanted to PR in Fun.
My OOTD consisted of my blue skort re-used from Belle back in November as well as a vest and hair ties made in that same fabric as well as a top made with the above mentioned pink fabric and my hot pink bondi band.
I left my room around 2:03am hit the lobby at 2:06am and after using the restroom and having my breakfast I was outside at 2:10am.
One person joined me…than another…than another. There were almost a dozen of us waiting when at 2:37am about 4 busses pulled up and the first one began to load. It stayed loading/parked and eventually pulled out at 2:50am heading right to Epcot.
Looking at the Road I could gage a few character stops…one was Vanelope’s race car and the other was an Archery Target.
I got off the bus at 3am and walked with purpose through security and over to the staging. To the left of the DJ was Russel and Dug as well as Marie and to the right of the DJ were Joy and Sadness as well as Lilo and Stitch again.
I got in line for Marie as she was the only “New To Me” Character and waited about 8 mins…though afterwards I realized I had my empty water bottle tucked in my waistband…oops.
I was waffling about using a port o let as I didn’t want to carry my bottle in there and than drink out of it. Thankfully I saw people place their items on the ground in front of the door which I did with my bottle and phone before filling the bottle and loading in to my coral at 3:56am.
It was 66 feels like 67. While it was actually a degree cooler the humidity was already feeling brutal.
As the pre-show entertainment went on there was a bit of a fake out as it seemed an announcement was about to be made about the possibility of next year’s event being Star Wars themed. It was not and instead it was just a preview for the Acolyte.
As excitement was filling the air as they were announcing John running his first 10k I was busy setting an alarm for 6:53am letting me know the balloons would be approaching crescent lair if on par with last years.
I was off and in the first mile there were stops for Miribel & Bruno as well as Vanelope. They weren’t new to me and my strategy was to only stop for new to me.
I reached mile one in 17 mins with an elapsed unofficial time of 17:07 and a 17:06 mm with my Fitbit saying I moved 0.99 miles
I hit my first roadway turn around before reaching a band,
At about 5:32 it was apparent waves were still being released from the start.
Still in this mile I passed Little John (as well has had Jogging Jack pass me) tossed my bottle at the first medical stop, grabbed a drink at my first water stop and made my second on road turn.
Woody was also out during this streach but I didn’t note where but soon I was at mile two.
It was 17 mins (34 cumulative) at 1.98 and 17’26 mm
At this point you could tell waves might still of possibly been going off around 5:45
There was a DJ and Carl in the parking lot and while Carl was the first new to me character on course he was race host so his line was massive. I did take another fun costume pic of a Kuzko I was playing cat and mouse with all race.
Turk heading backstage. That line looked short and as I was about to jump in I heard personal phone/camera only so I skipped.
There was a screen playing Up clips before my obligatory picture of the backside of the land
There was another DJ before marker 3 just before hitting onstage.
It was 18 mins with a cumulative time of 52’44 unofficial 17’27 mm
There was the figment statue before finally hitting the 5K mat a few moments later in 54’41 unofficial 54’48 official
There was a Hawaii musical act before I approached the obligatory world showplace character line. It was short compared to other meets in that spot so I was all set to stop when I saw it was Chip & Dale. I knew I would be meeting them later for lunch so i decided to just check and see if they had a costume on. They did and while Rescue Rangers wasn’t new to me it was well worth the 8 min reprieve
There was another water stop and DJ as well as a screen playing Lilo & Stitch clips before exiting and hitting up the crescent lake loop.
I hit mile four in 26 mins for a 1:20:33 cumulative time (1:12:33 moving) with a Fitbit stamp of 4.07 19.44 mm
I passed by Wilber Robinson as well as a fun sign
I soon overheard someone say Safari Goofy was meeting just inside Epcot and Starlord & Gamora were by their ride. I knew now to just move as fast as I could and try to hop in that line even if I was risking getting swept.
I passed where Goofy was set up (he was on a break), a third water stop and a music act in Germany before reaching marker 5 in 19 mins 1:39:31 cumulative (1:31:31 moving) with Fitbit stats of 5.12 miles 19’23 mm
The next character was my pal Duffy and as my alarm went off I knew if I wanted to take pics with the guardians I’d need to move.
I skipped the Mickey & Minnie topiary op again as I bolted towards World Discovery
As I got into the guardians line I heard the girls in front saying the balloon ladies were expected to finish at 7:38am it was now 6:55am
It’s fine…. It’s FINE…I can get a boarding group for cosmic rewind and it only ended up being 10 mins
I took a moment for a photo with the Star Jumper before heading backstage and seeing a fantastic Japanese drum group before the final character meeting Nick & Judy.
I reached mark six in 29 mins 2:08:17 cumulative (1:48:17 moving) with Fitbit state of 6.17 20’45 mm
I paused to take a selfie and congratulate John
My final official time was 2:12:08 (10 secs less than unofficial) with moving time of 1:52:08
Post Race I took my adventurous spirit to Animal Kingdom and while I won't share all my park pictures I will share my Russell and Dug character meets as well as a cute medal picture with a Dug statue and a photo with Tracy Tree in Rainforest Café for the Lolz!!!!
I can't wait to do it all again in November!
Run The Year update 609.85/2024 miles moved so far this year
Upcoming races
Seven Seas Food Fest 5k 5/4
Mayfair 5/11
Watermelon 6/8
Watermelon 7/13
Watermelon 8/10
Wine and Dine 5K 11/1
Wine and Dine 10K 11/2
Gasparilla 15K 2/22
Gasparilla 8K 2/23
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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