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!