Before we talk about the race, let me tell you about the costume that I put together!
As a big fan of Tangled, I had planned to have a Rapunzel themed outfit since long before the theme was announced. My original plan was just to dress up as Rapunzel, but I figured that was going to be a bit overdone after the medal was released, so I decided to make a skirt that would resemble the lanterns that you see throughout the movie.
I started by making a basic circle skirt, then sewing pleats into it to indicate the different sides of the lantern. Once the initial construction was done, I made a stencil to use for the suns, and drew them onto each of the panels, then filled them in with fabric paint. I also painted a small border along the top edge of the skirt.
Once the decorations were done I glued in LED string lights on the underside of the skirt, and used Velcro to attach the battery packs to the waist band. I wasn’t sure that the lights would be super visible on race day, but I loved how they looked at home! There was some wiring on the inside of the skirt, so I was a little worried about having it in a carry on bag when we flew to Florida, but we got through security with no issues.
For the rest of my outfit, I bought a tank top from Raw Thread Athletics and a pair of leggings from Brand By You, that had floating lanterns running all down the legs.
Now that I’ve talked about the outfit, onto the race!
For the first of several early mornings, I set my alarm for 3:08.... for some reason I just couldn’t go for the 3 am alarm, and somehow those 8 minutes made the alarm seem way more realistic. But of course, I was up before the alarm went off.
I rolled out of bed, having not slept very well, and started preparing myself for that mornings race: The Disney Princess 5k. I had assembled my race day bag the night before so that I could grab it and go, so all I really needed to do was get dressed and pull my hair up. I was meeting up with my cousin and his wife before the race, and we agreed to meet at the hotel and bus over together rather than trying to find each other in the pre-race chaos.
Of course, with there being three all star resorts at Disney, I accidentally texted them that I was staying at all star movies instead of all star music. After a minute of confusion before realizing we were indeed at different bus stops, as we all said that we were at "the" bus stop we realized that we were indeed at different hotels, so I told them to just get on that bus and I would meet them there- but by a stroke of luck their bus looped by all star music since it wasn’t full, and we all wound up on one bus.
I was running the event with my cousin Keith’s wife, Kristen. It was her first RunDisney event, so I was super excited to get to share that with her. Plus, they live local to Disney, so having her as a running partner means I don’t have to rope someone into flying to FL with me when I want a partner for RunDisney events! We hung out in the staging area for awhile, and when we saw most people heading for the corrals we headed that way, saying goodbye to Keith and their daughter Ainsley, who would be spectating by the finish line.
We started in corral D, but near the back of it as we didn’t want to be squished near the front. We figured there may be a little bit of crowding, but how bad could it really be?
We watched as the first few corrals went off, each mini wave with a burst of fireworks, and we inches closer to the start line. Once we were released from the corral into the starting chute we slowly stepped towards the start line, looping away from it before finally moving towards it. By the time we started, the first finishers had already crossed the finish line. It felt like it took forever to get to the start line, but we were as excited as ever when it was finally our turn to line up at the start.
We were able to spread our a little as we made our way through the first mile. The race starts on the road that goes around the staging area, and it was wide enough that we could pass by walkers easily. The crowds got a little more complicated as we headed into Epcot, as the course narrowed. We slowed our pace and just tried to enjoy the course despite the crowds. We still did a fair bit of weaving, since there were a lot of walkers, but we were able to find pockets of space. The first mile wound up being our fastest, as it was the least crowded of the race.
It was a hot race morning, so there was a water stop set up as we entered world showcase. This caused a complete stop, due to course congestion. Once we made it though the water stop we were able to start running again and continued to make our way around Epcot. As I weaved through the crowds, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I still had Kristen with me. We were both having a great time, despite the crowding. We made our way around world showcase, and before we knew it we were approaching space ship earth, and with it, the finish line. We stopped quickly to snap our own photos in front of spaceship earth, instead of waiting in the humongous photopass line.
With the race over, we collected our medals and snack boxes, and headed back to our hotel rooms. We both had a great time regardless of the course crowding. While all three of the races this weekend were warm, I felt that the 5k had the most oppressive heat of the weekend, the kind that hits you like a wall.
Dad and I spent the rest of the day doing a bus tour at the Kennedy space center doing a bus tour, and I managed to only fall asleep one time. Don't get me wrong, I was enjoying the tour, 3:30 is just a little bit too early of a morning for me. After the space center We grabbed dinner at Splitsville in Disney Springs. When we got back to the hotel after I promptly passed out, and had a much better night of sleep than I had gotten before the 5k.
This was the first time that I had completed a Disney 5k outside of the dopey challenge, and while I loved the medal and shirt because of the tangled theme, I don't know that I will sign up for the 5k for future RunDisney weekends. It is a early morning, and I found myself questioning if it was really worth it for such a short distance. They jury is still out for now, but I probably won't do another Disney 5k unless it has a different course, is part of a challenge, or if I am completing it with a friend or family member who does not want to complete a longer distance run.