2015 Inagural Star Wars Weekend - Rebel Challenge

This year, runDisney presented the Inaugural Star Wars races with a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and a Rebel Challenge ( 10K + 13.1 miles = 3 medals).  As many of you know, I am a BIG Star Wars fan. If I had twins,  I probably would have called them Luke and Leia!

For this reason, I signed up all of us for the 5K, including my husband and kids.  I also registered my husband for the Star Wars Half Marathon on Sunday. I, on the other hand, signed up for the Rebel Challenge.  This was five days after the Dopey Challenge in Orlando. And why not? This is 71 miles in 10 days!


Thursday, January 17th - Expo

After being stuck in traffic for almost two hours, we arrived at the Expo with only a few minutes to spare. We picked up our race packages and left soon after.

These are the official shirts for the Star Wars 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Rebel Challenge. Beautiful, huh?  I loooove every single one of them! For once, they were way nicer than the official merchandise available for purchase.

Friday, January 16th - Star Wars 5k - Day 1/3

I woke up my kids at 3:30 am to get ready for the race.  My daughter slooowly opened one eye, then slooowly openned the other and said "I find this lack of sleep disturbing!" in her Darth Vader'ish voice. hahaha. This woke up my son. They were both in a surprisingly good mood, considering the early hours.

My C-3P0 outfit

My Dark Vaders

I know my son would have been a perfect Star Wars kids in this Volkswagen commercial!


We walked about one mile from the hotel to our corrals. The race was scheduled to start at 5:30 am. As we crossed the starting line, my friend and race announcer, Rudy Novotny, shouted "And there goes Ciry and Nati". My daughter was all smiles "He just said my name, mommy! This is AWESOME!".

Thanks Rudy!

My daughter then proceeded to tell me that she wanted to PR at this race. "No problem, I'll try to keep up with you!", I replied.  Her plans, however, changed once we stepped into the parks and she saw the Castle, the Storm Troopers, Chewbacca. "Ohhhh this is cool! Let's take some pictures, mommy!".
Like mother like daughter! Forget about PRs at runDisney events. This is just for fun!

After many stops for pictures and a quick bathroom break, we were about to cross the finish line when Rudy spotted us from the podium "Here comes Ciry and Nati. Hey where is your brother Nati?", he asked. My daughter laughed.

My husband and son arrived soon after.

What an amazing race! We will cherish these memories forever!

Star Wars 5k Finisher's Medal

Saturday, January 17th - Star Wars 10k - Day 2/3

I woke up at 3:40 am. Zzzz! beep! Zzzz! beep!

My R2D2 Mickey costume

My goal for today was to stop for only a couple of pictures and run back to the hotel and sleep ( saving my legs for the half marathon the next day)

I stopped four times for snaps and finished in 1 hr 06 min. It's a new Disney PR!.  My finishing time at the Walt Disney World 10K, the weekend before, was 1 hr 52 minutes. hahahaha only at Disney.

Star Wars 10k Finisher's Medal

Sunday, January 18th - Star Wars Half Marathon - Day 3/3

This was the third and last race of the Rebel Challenge. Ready or not, here we go!

With my friends at the staging area before the race

To be honest, I can't recall much about this race except that my legs were really tired and needed a break. However, I didn't let this feeling defeat me that morning. I ran strong until mile 8, slowed down for a couple of miles and picked it up at the end. As soon as I saw Disney's Paradise Hotel in the horizon, I got excited.  "This is IT! 7 races and 4 challenges in 10 days, for a total of 71 miles or 114 km".  With all those stats in my head, I proudly finished the race and received my last three medals ( one for the Star Wars Half, one for the Rebel Challenge and one for the Coast 2 Coast Challenge - for completing half marathons in FL and CA).

My prrreciouss!

Big congratulations to my husband too! He ran the Star Wars Half Marathon with practically no training. He usually runs 3-milers several times a week. His focus, at the moment, is on speed and not necessarily distance. This, however, was a slow race for him due to some injuries. Still, I am super proud of him! 

  

2015 Dopey Challenge Race Recap

Hello friends! It's been almost two months since I completed my first official 2014 Dopey Challenge but hey better late than never, right? Anyway, what is this Dopey Challenge? You run the Walt Disney World 5k on Thursday, the Walt Disney World 10k on Friday, the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on Saturday and finish with Walt Disney World Full Marathon on Sunday.

This is 48.6 miles ( 77 km) or 4 races, 5 parks and 6 beautiful medals.  The real challenge is not necessarily the overall distance covered at the event but all the walking after each race with few hours of sleep in between.  Picture this: You wake up at 3:00 am, race at 5:30 am, head back to the hotel, shower, have breakfast with your family and walk the parks until 10 pm. Then you do it all over again, the next day (well technically 5 hours later), and again and again. 4 days in a row. I bet you just got tired reading this, huh?  It's Dopey!

Now, this was my second time completing a crazy WDW challenge. In 2013, I ran the 5k + Goofy Challenge ( half marathon + full marathon). This was unofficially called a Dopey by runDisney fanatics like me. Since registering for these three races became so popular, in 2014 Disney decided to make it official. Do you want to be called Dopey? Fine! One caveat, you need to complete a 4th race, a 10K ( because a 5k followed by a half marathon followed by a full marathon in 3 consecutive days is not going to cut it). Hence, the official Dopey Challenge was born!  A little bit of history here! ;-)



Thursday, January 8th - Walt Disney World 5k - Day 1

My daughter and I left the hotel at 4:00 am. We were "frozen" literally! It was 34 degrees with crazy winds ( 20 mph). It felt like 20 degrees. We didn't bring warm clothes, just shirts with short sleeves and leg warmers.  I questioned my insanity that morning as I saw my daughter struggling with the temperature. At one point I remember thinking "I am OUT! No Dopey Challenge for me! I can't put her through this!". Lucky us, a couple of total strangers dropped their unused space blankets ( I really want to think that they were unused) in front of us, right before the race started. The first mile was tough since we needed to cross the deserted parking lot (no wind protection) and a forest, but it got better after that. We didn't stop for a lot of pictures this year!

After the race, we went to the hotel, took a warm bath, had a hefty breakfast and headed to the magical parks until 10 pm.


Friday, January 9th - Walt Disney World 10k - Day 2

The second day it was 10 degrees colder but there were no winds so it actually felt warmer. I met with many of my soCal and LV friends at the start of the race. We all ran together until the end of the race. We stopped at each mile markers for pictures and took it really easy ( saving our legs for the full marathon).

After the race, I went to the hotel, took a shower, slept for one hour. Everyone was still asleep! We had breakfast at Boma Flavors of Africa and headed to the park until 10 pm.  Notice the pattern?


Saturday, January 10th - Walt Disney World Half Marathon - Day 3

After waking up so early 2 days in a row, you start getting used to it. My body however was feeling heavy. I was not worried, though. I was more concerned about the weather. It was reeeeally cold outside. Lucky us, there was a tent located at the start of the race with official merchandise.  We ended up buying the last mens size thick-cotton sweaters available.

They were cosy but a tad heavy. I can't believe I ran with this sweater until mile 10!

This was at mile 6 in front of the castle

I love this view. This is at mile 10

After the race, I went to the hotel, took a shower, had breakfast and headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio. We returned to the hotel around 11 pm. What a fun crazy day! I had almot forgotten that I had a full marathon the next day!

Sunday, January 11th - Walt Disney World Full Marathon - Day 4

As the alarm went off at 2:45 am,  I looked outside the window.  We were staying at the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge and the views were spectacular. I could see a giraffe in the horizon on a very bright night with clear skies. Breathtaking!

"The last 26.2 miles. Go strong or go home! Yes, we'll survive to tell the story" - I texted my friends!

"Ohhh what did we get into?"

"My goal for today is to finish the challenge! Only 26.2 miles to go!"

 First stop, Magic Kingdom. Of course, I had to take another picture in front of the castle.

Second stop, Animal Kingdom's Expedition Everest.

Up until a few months ago, I didn't know that my favorite roller coaster was going to be open to the runners during the race. The only problem was that I didn't time it correctly and ended arriving 15 minutes before the attraction was opened. What did I do? I waited in line for my turn! Whaaat? Yes, I waited in line! Of course, I would never do this at a different race but I was at WDW and I wanted to experience the thrill.  After all, I didn't know if I would ever come back for another Dopey Challenge.

Riding Expedition Everest was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I don't think I've ever screamed and laughed so much in my life!

After Expedition Everest, I met my friends Nadia and Venus and decided to follow them until the end of the race. At mile 15,  we stopped at the cementery :-)

Almost dead!

At mile 18,  it started to rain as we entered the ESPN Wide World of Sports ( my least favorite part of the race). The next few miles were kind of boring, on the highway. At mile 22 or so, we entered Disney's Hollywood studios. I was so tired. I could barely run. At mile 25, we arrived at Epcot. It was still pouring but seeing the Spaceship Earth in the distance put a big smile on my face.

"This is it! One more mile to go! We've been here before", I told myself. " Italy, Germany, China, Norway, Mexico... yeah we are almost there".  I think I cried as I crossed the finish line.

With my running buddy, 2015 Dopey Finisher and actor Sean Astin!

This is an amazing challenge and something all runners addicted to runDisney should experience at least once in their lifetime! Would I ever do it again? I think one Dopey Challenge is enough. I'll be back for the 25th Anniversary of the Walt Disney World Marathon in 2018 or a WDW Princess race before then, who knows?!

5 Days after the Dopey Challenge I completed a Star Wars 5k +  Rebel Challenge ( Star Wars 10k + Star Wars half)  but I'll cover this on my next blog post!

Hope you enjoyed my recap!  If you want to learn more about these races, feel free to leave a message in the comments section! I'll be glad to help!