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Last Saturday I did my first runDisney race for the Wine & Dine 10k! It was so much fun and I definitely understand why people do all these races now. This was an experience like no other and really made me feel proud of myself. There are lots of different runDisney races and lots of ways to get in to run them so I thought I would share my experience with you all and of course the millions of pictures I took! If you have ever thought about doing one of these races I highly recommend it! Running for a cause For every runDisney race, there are charities that purchase bibs and then let people take those bibs with a promise to fundraise a certain amount for that charity. You can find a list of participating charities with each race here. I was honored to do the Wine & Dine 10K with the Dragon Master Initiative. This is an incredible organization that not only funds research for childhood cancer but also supports families battling childhood cancer. Dragon Master passed put cards with kids they have supported and their story for us to wear on the race and I thought this was so incredibly special. I was so honored to run for that child, raise funds for Dragon Master and support them. If you would still like to donate to the Dragon Master Initiative you can do that here. This is an amazing way to support great causes and try out the runDisney races. Training I will be honest here, I had big plans to really train and feel super ready for this race, but that did not happen. No excuses, just life happening and not prioritizing the time to do it. I don't advise this, although I had a great race it would have been better had I been better prepared. You can find training guides on the runDisney website for all levels of runners and all types of races. These offer great ways to get ready for the races! The Expo The Thursday before the race runDisney started the Wine & Dine Expo at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. This was wild! There was so much there. We had to join a virtual queue through My Disney Experience at 8:30am to get a time slot to go into he part of the expo where all the actual runDisney merchandise was available. Other than that you could go anytime to pick up your race bib and t-shirt and shop the vendor room. This was also a great opportunity to get our refillable runDisney beer cup. There were lots of characters and photo ops all over the expo, tons of merchandise and even food and beer trucks. We met friends at the expo and shopped and took pictures. Of course we got beers too, they had a Runfetti beer from Playalinda Brewing Company right here in Florida that I thought was pretty good! This would end up being my after race beer too. The vendor room was probably the craziest. There was just so much going on in there and so much to look at. Everything from running outfits to shoes and watches were available. I got a tank top and some support compression socks for the race. Staying at Disney I had planned to stay with my friend Pam at the Wilderness Lodge since she had a room there already but at the last minute I was able to get a cast discount room for Friday night!! We were so excited about this since we had not stayed there since our honeymoon 21 years ago. As is turned out, even though we were just in a standard resort view room, we could see Happily Ever After fireworks from our balcony! This was such a cool surprise! We had a fun dinner at Whispering Canyon, roasted marshmallows and went to bed early after fireworks. I recommend staying at a Disney resort the night before your race. It made it so much easier to get to the race and you get to sleep just a little bit longer. They have buses running from the resorts to the race that started running at 3am. I had originally planned to take the bus so I could have the full experience but I got nervous that I wouldn't get there in time for the Dragon Master group photo. Make sure you look at the bus route for your resort. Pam had let me know that our bus was going through the campgrounds first, then us and then the Contemporary before heading to the race. Which was why I was worried I wouldn't make it by 3:45. Race day! Pre Race The day of the race I got up at 1:50am to get ready and we left the resort about 2:30am to head to Epcot where the race started and finished. Once I got there it was really a hurry up and wait situation. We parked and walked through Epcot security to the bag check. This is where you can drop off your clear runDisney bag you get at the expo with any belongings you don't want to take on the race with you. After that we had some time to poke around and take pictures. I didn't get in any of the character lines but did take a picture with the Figment prop. They had Belle and Lumiere together and Bruno form Encanto out before the corrals. At 4am we could go to our corrals. They had corrals A-E, I was in corral C so I had a decent start position. They had stages set up with a DJ and speakers keeping us pumped up for the race and even people out talking to racers in the corrals, it was pretty cool! But honestly this was the hardest part, just standing there waiting for the race to start and your corral to get moved to the starting line. I was anxious and nervous and it was kind or chilly so I was trying to stay stretched and warm but you are in a crowd of people....truly corralled! Hahaahaha Race time! The race officially started at 5am. They had someone sing the national anthem right before and we had a moment of silence for fallen soldiers which I thought was amazing! Then they had the athletes with disabilities start while they were bringing the first corral up to the starting line. I was surprised how quickly they went through the corrals. Like I said I was in C so A and B went before me then we started to funnel into the starting area. Not only do the corrals start at different times but even within your corral there are different groups. They set off the fireworks and countdown to start for every group which is cool. I would guess there were at least 8-10 starts just in corral C. You have a group start then move up, group start move up and then finally it's your turn and you get to go! I had planned to start kind of slow because Pam was in corral D and I wanted to meet up with her but I was on the wrong side when we started and in the middle of everyone running so I really didn't have a choice but to run. I ran until I could get over to the right side and slow down but was still walking pretty fast. As my mom would say, I had my Disney walk going! I turned my music on and decided I would walk quickly and run for at least one chorus of each song. I wanted to be able to have enough wiggle room to stop for a character or two so I decided to just keep trucking. On the track there are DJ's and characters and local bands and drill teams cheering you on and even a choir at one point! There are also cute mile markers so you know how far along you are. All of this made the race fly by even though I am not fast at all. It took me about 2 hours to complete the 6.2 miles and I ended up stopping for 2 characters. I had told myself if I saw Robin Hood I had to stop no matter what and as I entered Hollywood Studios there he was with Little John! So I stopped there and towards the end when I knew I was gonna make it and not get swept (we will talk about balloon ladies later) I stopped for Perry the Platypus!! The course started in the Epcot parking lot and ran the Disney highways to get to Hollywood Studios where we entered from behind Rockin' Rollercoaster, ran down Sunset Blvd and out of the front of the park. We ran the path going to the Boardwalk and from Atlantic Dancehall to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. The Boardwalk section was my favorite because it was so pretty and the perfect time of morning! We went to the left of the Skyliner and entered Epcot from behind the UK pavilion and up to the back of Test Track where we could see the garage where they hold the cars from the ride. This was a cool thing about the race, to see all the backstage stuff you never get to see as a guest. This took us around to the finish line just outside Epcot and crossing the finish line was such a cool feeling! I know it's only a 10K and not a major race but I felt so good coming up to the finish line and seeing Thatcher and Jay there cheering me on and videoing. Thatcher was so excited to see me! Jay had been texting me along the way being my biggest cheerleader as he always is and I just felt really proud of myself. Don't be fooled though.....once you cross the finish line you still have a lot of walking to do! Hahahaha! Post race After you cross the finish line you start to walk back to the pre race area. They take you straight to the bag check area where you can get your bag you dropped off that morning. And of course where you can use that refillable cup to get a post race beer even though it's only 7am! This is a whole thing and I certainly wanted the full experience so I got another Runfetti. We took a couple pictures and then walked back to the finish line to cheer Pam and David on as they crossed the finish line. My phone had died so after we cheered them across and I touched base with Dragon Master we headed back to the Wilderness Lodge to enjoy a little more time at the resort and get some breakfast. We enjoyed the last bit of time we had at the resort and then headed to Magic Kingdom to take some pictures and ride a couple rides! I realized after the fact that this was crazy to keep walking so much and my hip was really starting to hurt. I was worried I had injured it but thankfully the next day it was much better. We tooled around Magic Kingdom for a bit rode Jingle Cruise and Thunder Mountain and then headed home to get some rest. Disney Photo Pass All along the course they have Disney Photo Pass photographers doing their absolute best to get pictures of all the runners along the way. I got some great pictures from this and so appreciate that they are out there doing that! Of course I took tons of pictures of my own too because, if you know me you know I love to have pictures of everything. It's not a core memory if I didn't take tons of pictures. Conclusion Needless to say I had a FANTASTIC experience for my first runDisney race! 10/10 recommend! I feel so accomplished and proud of myself and like I could do an even longer race. I am excited to do the runDisney Princess 5k and 10k in February and have no doubt I will have a great time then too. I am also volunteering for the marathon on Sunday to pass out medals with my Corkcicle crew. I promised that we would talk about the balloon ladies so I'm gonna do that here. In case you don't know, the "balloon ladies" are pacers that start after the last group of runners and if they pass you during the race you have to stop the race and get on a bus that takes you to the end. So you don't get to finish the race. I. Was. Terrified. They. Would. Catch. Me! Hahahaha! Thankfully I was never in any danger but I am not a runner or very fast so I was very scared I would get swept by the dreaded balloon ladies. That was really my only anxiety about the race but now I know I didn't have to be as scared as I was. I truly loved this experience and I feel like everyone would! I can't wait to do two races in a row. As always I so appreciate you reading along and I hope you enjoyed this weeks post and want to sign up for a runDisney race now! You won't regret it if you do. Thank you so much to everyone who donated to Dragon Master for my run and cheered me on near and far. You all made me feel so special! You guys are the best and I hope you have a magical day!