A Mardi Gras of Miles – Wine and Dine 2024

 

So like with all RunDisney recaps I like to get the Run The Year progress report up first and unfortunately it’s not looking good. It will be nearly impossible to make it to 2024 miles this year…heck I don’t think I’ll even beat last year's mileage of 1896 (but I’m hoping to get close to that, fingers crossed) But it’s okay… I think I will double dip on my 2025 Challenge until I ‘Earn’ my medal and I’ll be content…

Anyway as of today I’ve earned 1,486.81 miles and here are my badges to show for it…

 

And now onto the main event

CHEERS TO FIFTEEN YEARS! Okay, so technically this is the 9th running of the 10K/Challenge portion of this event and the 8th time it’s been run in person at that, however it’s still a milestone year over all so it’s cause for celebration.

Once again there was a VQ for the event and while last year we got our lowest pull yet this time we got our highest in group 68!!!

I never marked the actual time we arrived at the venue however once we arrived we headed over to the field hours which after a 27 min queue to get in and another 7 mins to grab our bibs (Coral C for both events) we headed to where the characters were meeting.

There was a muppet themed magic shot, Remy, and Louis however as we got to Louis’s line they were announcing the characters would be leaving soon for a half hour break. It was just shy of 12:30 and we decided to exit the building and head towards the Athletic Center instead.

Exiting the Field House we were instantly funneled into a line taking us into said building and after queuing 11 mins in that line we entered the Athletic Center and instantly got the push notice that our shopping time was here. After spending about 14 mins in there getting shirts and looking at a few vendors we crossed the grounds with ease and tapped into the Arena at 1pm.

Another 14 mins of queuing and we were ready to shop.

I got my magnets which were my top priority as well as one of the cord bracelets which was a new addition to the ‘core’ line this year as well as the event spirit jersey. I wanted to try the event Tee but they only had it in sizes xs-m and had heard they over corrected and instead of a more relaxed fit that people had to size down 2 sizes if they wanted a more compressed fit the cut was more narrow and tapered and now people had to size up 2 sizes for anything to fit comfortable. Considering I already wear the largest size they make even if they had a XL or XXL it would be like a M or L fit wise.

We also took our obligatory mile marker signs before checking out.

It took another 5 mins to queue back into the field house and as we entered Louis’s line for round 2 we were told it could be him or it could be Tiana and if they made the switch Louis would be back at 3pm. It was about 2:03 when the announcement was made and it was implied that Tiana would arrive at 2:30 so we chanced it and ended up being the next to last party with Louis before he had to go and taste Tiana's gumbo.

Even though Remy wasn’t swapping out with anybody his line was super long so we decided to pass. Though, we did do the magic shots.

It was roughly 3 hours total at the expo before checking into the hotel where I had a mild panic moment.

I had somehow left my Garmin charger in my bedroom and didn’t pack it. Thankfully it had only been 69% at the time and doubly thankfully it ended up staying alive not only through the races but till I got home on Sunday afternoon (It was 27% at that time)

I set my alarm for 1:15am and probably would have hit snooze if I didn’t need to go to the restroom. I did my business and got myself ready for the race. In honor of the muppet theme and considering I already had some accessories from last Halloween I dressed up as Lady Liberty Piggy from the finale of muppet vision. For this costume I did a skort and shirt out of a green colored mystique fabric. In addition my mom crocheted my torch and crown. The crown I taped to the pig ears I got for last halloween and I wore my nose and some pearls around my neck. I finished it off with a green bondi band and my Asics.

I left the room at around 2:09 and walked toward the lobby. I know it would be a long walk as we were in the furthest back building. The walk was about 14 mins. 

I sat on a bench and had my breakfast. At about 2:30 another couple came and left when I told them buses started at 3 and not 2. I soon walked back inside to use the bathroom.

When I got back outside I did a weather check. It was 67 feels like 66 and so I decided to toss out my empty water bottle and wait with the one other runner who arrived at the time I did my business. 

At 2:42 three buses came and promptly left and about a dozen people arrived right around this time. They said that some of their friends at all stars and a few other different resorts had already gotten picked up and were waiting at security. Meanwhile another bus arrived at 2:48. At first we were told it wouldn’t load until 3AM however it loaded a minute later though it sat until 3:02.

At 3:13 I got off the bus and once I headed to the staging area I hopped in the shortest looking line blindly.

The line ended up being for Tiana in her Bayou Adventure outfit and the wait was only about 8 mins. 

When I was done I looked at my watch. Corals didn’t open for another 10 mins and Coral C didn’t close for another 70 mins after that and so I decided to hop into the line for the Muppet Chickens mentally giving myself a hard out time in case the line moved slowly.

It was only about 28 mins in that line and I did see someone who was dressed as Beverley which was fun.

I did a quick restroom/pre coral water break before locking myself into my spot at 4:18. There was no audio playing in the area of the coral but I chatted a bit with fellow runners (including taking a pic of a really cool Jim Henson costume) and soon after the national anthem began to be led toward the start shoot..

When we finally were able to hear what was going on at the starting stage it looked as if John and Carissa had a surprise guest

I was in the first wave of C and crossed the start around 5:12

In the first mile was a screen with various muppets giving words of encouragement  as well as a DJ.

I reached mile marker 1 in roughly 17 mins 

After the  marker was a marching band before entering on stage in the area that in the past we were exiting towards the finish line. Lots of people commented about how weird it was to be entering into World Discovery vs exiting out of there as there soon was another muppet encouragement screen just outside of mission space.

In front of Connections Cafe was a meet with Chef Daisy that I passed on and instead kept going towards World Celebration and eventually World Showcase. In Mexico was Chef Donald whose wait I later heard was ‘deceptively long’ 

In Germany there was a live musical act dressed as muppets singing Grim Grinning Ghosts as I passed and in the America Pavilion was another encouragement screen and the sole water stop. At this point I’d already seen on instagram who the other characters were on course and none of them were new to me characters… heck they weren’t even new to me during a runDisney race characters. 

I hit mile 2 in about 35 mins

In France there was Duffy the Disney Bear still not with Shellie Mae or other friends and the line looked fairly long so I passed…

By the time I reached the chef Chip and Dale line by the World Celebration Locker Area I looked at my clock and saw it was 6:01. This year they shared the predicted coral release times and as coral E was supposed to finish releasing at around 6:06 I decided to just hop into that line. It was roughly a 14 min wait.

Directly after them was a Spaceship Earth photo op… I waited another 5 mins for that as well as took a good picture of the Mickey!Rizzo I was shoulder to shoulder with making the turn into the start shoot earlier.

I finally made it backstage where I passed the usual choir before reaching marker 3 in 1:15:00 (56 mins moving)

I took a failed selfie and than a regular snap of Sweetums on the finish line scaffolding before crossing the finish in 1:17:37 (59:37 mins moving)

Post Race I waited 14 mins for Remy and 34 for Mickey and Minnie as well as took an I Did it Photo and another quick port-o-let stop before heading to the bus back to the room.

Time for Round 2 of the weekend. I left the room at 2:15 and at 2:28 a bus came and once again left without stopping before another bus pulled up at 2:46 and loaded saying it wouldn’t leave until 3am which is when it did on the dot.

Since I didn’t try to use the restroom in the lobby and since I figured there would be similar characters as we got off the bus at 3:11 I told my sister to go ahead and start meeting characters while I used the restroom.

For this race I was dressed as Ember from Elemental with a black skort and orange top made from mystique. A Black mesh crop top. Orange bondi band, gloves and blinky light necklace and once more my Asics

Weather when I checked was 68/68 and super humid.

By the time I finally made it to the staging area my sister who I was running with was in line for Baloo as he was the shortest line and I hopped into Bayou Adventure Tiana’s line to hold her spot. When she was done with Baloo I hopped in thinking I’d be done with him in time to join her back at Tiana but in reality she finished before I was done. The other characters out were Emile and Chef Minnie for the record which we didn't end up visiting either before or after the race.

After a port of let, water stop, and pic of a fun castle cake costume we were locked and ready in C by 4:15.

Once Again there was no audio in the coral and once again we started at about 5:12 in the back of the first wave of C. For this race, since time counted I looked at the estimated coral release of and set alarms to try to gauge where the balloons might be as well as followed an account on threads that was giving me push notifications…

In the first mile there was a band before crossing under the toll plaza and soon was the first character of the run. Prince Naveen and despite him being the first character and a ‘host’ character we knew thanks to the above mentioned coral releases that we had a solid cushion from the balloons and we knew from instagram that we probably wouldn’t be stopping at the next two stops and so we decided to wait.

Shortly after we met him we had reached marker 1 in 24 mins (16 moving)

Our next mile still on the open road gave us a screen playing the finale of Princess and the Frog, the mini overpass turn around, a DJ Booth, Chef Goofy, a Water Stop, King Louie Meet and another little turn around.

We hit mile 2 in 42 mins (34 moving)

There were some Jazz Musicians, and a DJ as we rounded out the road and another DJ Truck as we dipped backstage. In the Backstage stretch were some friends from the Lion King who were on break as we passed and had accumulated a bit of a line as well as Big Al who we did wait for.

It was about a 3 min wait for him and sometime between here and reaching mile 3 which we reached in 1:01:00 (50 min moving) that the balloons started their race.

Next on course was Pooh and Eeyore who was probably our longest wait of the course at 11 mins

Before finally and officially reaching the 5K mark with a time of 1:16:34 (54:34 moving which was about 5 mins less than yesterdays moving time)

There was another live Jazz band before heading from the front of the park into the countries. There we passed Jiminy Cricket at World Showplace, and backstage another DJ, Water Stop, and Chef Chip and Dale before reaching Crescent Lake.

It was super slippery but soon we slid our way to mile 4 at 1:36:00 (1:14:00 moving) and passed Chef Mickey and a few fun signs and a screen playing the “Dig a Little Deeper’ sequence of Princess and the Frog before sliding back into the park.

As we passed Remy in the France Pavilion a push note came up letting us know the balloons had reached the 5K mark just as we were approaching mile marker 5 in 1:56:00 (1:34:00 moving)

There was a final water stop in america as well as Duffy which was a quick 4 min stop

There wasn’t much else to see or do on the back half of the countries aside from some more live music in Germany and soon we were back in the World Discovery/World Celebration vicinity.

Chef Daisy was once more by Connections joined by Donald by the time we reached the front of the line in 7 mins

There was also a ball pic in that area that we skipped.before finally making it into the final backstage stretch where marker 6 was right next to the choir as we passed in 2:24:00 (1:51:00 moving)

I don’t know the discrepancies between my screenshot passing mile 6 and the last quarter mile push as my official net time was 2:24:40 (1:51:40 moving time) 

If my math was matching the Balloon ladies crossed the finish line about 12 ish mins after us as we were waiting in line for our I Did It Pics

Once again it was a great weekend and I can’t wait to see what next year brings with the 10th anniversary 10K plus the earlier race dates (it being the last weekend in October vs the first weekend in November)

 

Upcoming Races

• Gasparilla 15K 2/22

• Gasparilla 8K 2/23

• Promise Run 3/1 * (will be registering later this week)

• Springtime 5K 4/4

• Springtime 10k 4/5

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