After a day full of fun at the RunDisney Princess Half Marathon Meet-up, Fit for a Princess expo, and hours at Epcot with my family, it was time to get ready for the Mickey and Minnie Royal Family 5K! Mom really wanted to take part in the Princess Half Marathon weekend, but a knee injury prevented her from the opportunity to do the half marathon. The 5K and kid's races took place on Saturday with the half marathon Sunday, so we decided that we would do the 5K together. Of course no race at Disney is complete without costumes!!!! After thinking about what Disney character(s) we wanted to be, we finally decided to be matching Tinkerbells! For our costume, we purchased green skirts and racing wings from Team Sparkle.
The 5K had a 6:30 start with the start corrals closing at 6:00. Since we stayed on Disney property, we had complimentary bus transportation to and from the races. We knew we wanted to be on one of the first buses, so we had a nasty 4:30 wake-up! We got our costumes on and were out the door around 5:00 to catch a bus to Epcot.
Just like the half marathon, the 5K had start corrals done by projected finish-time/pace. The corrals were lettered A-E with A being the fastest/elite runners while E was the stroller division. I received a corral B placement and mom received D. Since mom could not move up to B, I moved back to D with mom. There was a 7 minute break between corrals being sent off, so we actually got to see the winner coming into the finish area before we were even sent out.
As each corral was sent out, it was done so in true Disney fashion. Each "wave" had a celebration at the start line with fireworks!
FINALLY it was our turn!
The 5K started in the parking lot of Epcot and took a short back road into the park - the back road made up about the first mile. It was fun to have a short "behind the scenes" look at Epcot.
One of the best parts of RunDisney events is seeing the costumes that people come up with. We saw group costumes, matching costumes, etc.
RunDisney 5K's are not timed events and are treated more like a "fun run." The only time requirement (as with the half marathon) is that you are required to keep a 16:00/mile pace. The 16:00/mile starts as the last person starts the race, so the sooner you start before the last person buys you additional time. Even walking the 5K, keeping 16:00/mile pace is not a problem. The problem that mom had was me making her stop for pictures! She just wanted to keep power walking through the course. I told her "you can just walk a 5K at home, we are at Disney..."
After persuading her that it is ok to stop, we finally made our first character picture stop.
After mom accepted that it was ok to stop and take pictures we turned the 5K into a mini-photo shoot.
After 3.1 miles, it we made it to the finish line! Once again in true RunDisney fashion, the finish line was a big party! Whether it was your first 5K or your 100th, we are all here because we LOVE Disney and fitness so why not celebrate.
The "medal" for the 5K is actually a medallion. It is a huge full-color medallion made from a rubber material. Even though it isn't made of "medal" it is still a great medal for my collection of race bling.
Big kuddos to RunDisney for how their post race activities went. As you exited the finish line with your medal and did your official finisher photo you then received your post race food. Runners received water, Powerade, and snack boxes. Yes, snacks were prepackaged in boxes! I love when races do this because it allows runners that finish last to still get food plus the lines are minimal since you just take a box and go on. Personally, there wasn't much in the snack box that I wanted to eat but it was nice to see that they had Gluten-free snacks included for those with that need. Outside of the box we received fruit snacks and bananas.
The Royal Family 5K shirts were handed out at the expo during packet pickup. The shirts were a cotton shirt with a full color design. I love that the design on the shirt matches the medal.
After the 5K we went to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon then went to dinner at Studios so I could get my carbs for the half marathon....
Time to Run,
Brandi
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