I had trouble falling asleep and fell asleep before 9 but woke up from the Star Wars firework at 9:15. FAIL! I got up at 3:15, got ready quickly and was on the bus at 3:45. I decided to just wear the sunglasses I bought on top of my head and not the cap I bought-good choice as the humidity was very high! i did not have a long wait which cannot be said for other hotels as I heard horror stories. The walk to the start area was a long one. I dropped my bag off and met up with some BOGPLizards.
Since this was a new race start I headed to the start early to make sure I could get in the corral on time. The Porto area was large right when you entered the runners only area but they were in a circle which made for some crazy lines. We started the walk to corral that I thought would be quick but nope-it seemed about the same walk as the half/full from marathon/princess weekend. It kept coming to a dead stop and it was a mess. I knew we would have to leave early the next day as there would be almost double the number of people.
I used the Porto once more and headed to A corral. We started right on time. As this was a new course,we basically started at mile 1-5 or 2 of the 10k course from princess/marathon weekend. It was very crowded as we headed towards the curve to head backstage at Epcot. R2d2 was right before mile 1 just like the day before so I stopped. One thing that I loved was by the time I got through with the picture, I was towards the back of corral A so it was pretty wide open! We took a right in Epcot towards international gateway. I don't think I've ever run this way before! We passed spaceship earth and fail on Disney as they didn't lit it up as the Death Star! Fail fail fail!
5k split: 49:47 (16:02 pace)
Actual running splits: 10:29/10:06/10:10
At this point, it was basically the reverse of wine and dine without Animal Kingdom (aka the half of a half course). I knew we just had to head to WWoS and we would be done.
As we hit Osceola parkway, we did a small out and back by the medical stop before heading to wide world of sports. I was feeling pretty good and the sun was starting to come up which actually cut the humidity. We hit the turn off to WWoS and had trail running! It was gravel and was packed and much better than I was expecting. The random At-At leg was out but my camera froze when I went to take the pic. I had to restart my camera and it fixed it. I think I got sweat in my phone-oops.
Well WWoS is not complete without some weather and it started raining! It was just sprinkling but still-4 trips to WWoS during a race and 4 trips involving rain! We wound through WWoS and it was pretty open. I was able to get some good pics and finish strong.
Finish time: 1:27:35 (14:06 pace)
Running finish time: 1:04:44 (only 23 minutes of photo stops and bathroom stops haha)
Last running mile splits: 10:09/10:51 (on ramp haha)/ 10:23/9:36 (final .3)
The ending was new and very open. I got my finishers pic, food and headed to get my bag (gotta have one to hold all of your stuff!), the ending was confusing as one way went to the buses and one to the reunion area. I was able to meet up with some of the stormtrooper crew for a pic with Darth maul. While in line, I ate my entire snack box. This trip was weird for me as my eating was off the whole time! I had a hard time eating but soon got hungry. I know there were bus issues but I got right on one!
Overall, i enjoyed the course but the anxiety over the narrow path was a lot-I wish they would use the roads instead of that path. I am excited to see what they do with this course as it evolves. I know there were bus issues (supposedly a bus broke down which blocked the pathway in and out) but this is definitely something that needs to be thought about for a point-to-point course.
and let's be real-these photopass pics are AMAZING! I can't believe they are all free with my Annual pass.
Anyone else run the Star wars 10k? What is the last 10k you did?