Due to my foot injury, I decided to purchase a last minute entry into the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend 5K through the Teaching & Learning Collaborative. Since we are participating in the Castaway Cay Challenge, I was concerned about finishing the Half Marathon and wanted to make sure I earned my challenge medal. Being a charity runner, I decided to support the charity and did not wear a costume. Thanks to everyone who voted for which Sparkle Athletic skirt I should wear!
Walt Disney World 5K Course
If you’ve ever run a runDisney 5K at Walt Disney World, you’re familiar with the course through Epcot. Runners begin in the parking lot and complete the first mile before entering the park. The big downside to this race was that we had to run past the finishers from the early corrals for about half a mile. This can really affect your motivation in the beginning of the race.
After entering the park, it is a beautiful loop through the World Showcase and exiting through Future World by Spaceship Earth. There were plenty of characters and PhotoPass opportunities inside the park. I didn’t get to stop for any characters because the lines were extremely long! Horace Horsecollar waved at me, though, and that made my race!
runDisney Finish Line
After running quite a few runDisney races, I can easily say this was the most congested finish line experience I have ever had. It took close to five minutes just to get my finisher medal; I believe this was due to a lack of volunteers. After that, I moved over to get a runDisney mylar blanket, and there was almost an altercation with some runners waiting to get blankets! Luckily, there was not issue in getting my snack box! It was also very easy to find Spencer in the family reunion area, and I was so thankful that he was there to cheer me on.
Overall runDisney 5K Experience
Overall, this race was my insurance policy for the Castaway Cay Challenge. If this was my only race during Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, I would be disappointed. The course and finish line were too congested and running past finishers was disappointing. The characters have improved and the course is still stunning during sunrise. If you are planning on running next year, I would recommend the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend 10K or Half Marathon.