This may just be the most overdue blog post ever, but you know what they say, better late than never! So at long last, lets talk about the 2018 star wars dark side half marathon! With the cancellation of the 2020 Star Wars Half marathon, I thought it would be fun to look back on the time that I got to participate in the race.
Now you may be thinking, ‘Kelly, why are you even bothering with this post, it’s not even the dark side half anymore, it’s the rival run now!’
You would be right in that line of logic, but I had so much fun with this race weekend, and it is all star wars after all, so I figured at the very least I could share a few fun star wars photos, and talk about a fun weekend in Disney that I got to share with family and friends.
To start at the beginning would be to discuss the travel plans – this race scheming was started after I told Jennie about some of my experiences with RunDisney, and with the power of our annual passes, we had begun scheming to plan a trip. Initially we were considering the Princess half, but it fell on the same weekend as Jennie’s father’s birthday, so we decided to try out the star wars half. It was the one RunDisney weekend (in Disney World) that I had never participated in, and as someone who grew up with star wars, I was excited to register for the event. Jennie and I decided to register for the First order challenge, consisting of a 10k on Saturday and a Half Marathon on Sunday.
Slowly but surely our little trip grew into a full blown group outing, and by the time we were heading to Florida my Aunt Karen, my cousins Kasey and Hallie, my cousin Jen and her then-boyfriend-now-husband Will had all signed onto either run a race, or to kick butt spectating. Will and Jen would be coming in just for the weekend, so they wouldn’t attend the expo with us – but they would spend some time in the parks with us after!
Jennie and I were the first to arrive in Florida… we may have changed our arrival date to get an extra day of park time. None of us were running the 5k, so we decided to head to the expo on Friday to avoid the opening day crowds. We started the day with breakfast in magic kingdom, where we got what I like to call “Mickey Waffles with a view” from liberty square. After hitting up a few rides, we made our way to the expo, where they had some fun photo ops. Even though it was the second day there was still plenty of merchandise left, and I picked up a waterbottle, some pins, and a jacket. Is it wrong that I was a little disappointed that they don’t offer wine glasses for this event? We snagged some photos with the race signs and Jabba the Hut, and then decided to head back to magic kingdom for some more time in the park. We stayed until just before fireworks, a decision we would potentially regret when rolling out of bed at 3 am the next morning.
Jennie, Kasey, Hallie and I were all running the 10k the next day. Jennie and I had decided to go as C3PO and R2D2, and Hallie and Kasey were running as Darth Vader and Lieutenant Tanbris. We all had fun hanging out together in the start area, even if we were a little tired.
And now, for a side note: When running Disney, it is beneficial to complete a race before the Disney event, so you can provide them with a “Proof of Time,” so that they know which corral to assign you to. Knowing this, Jennie and I signed up for 2 separate 10k races in NY, which is the minimum distance required for a half marathon proof of time. We signed up for two incase one got cancelled, or we couldn’t complete one for whatever reason. Well, both events were for January of 2018, before the deadline…. And BOTH events got cancelled as a result of weather! The first because of a snow storm, and the second because of freezing temperatures. Womp womp. So, Jennie was unable to provide a proof of time before the race, and her fate was in the hands of whomever assigns the corrals to runners with no proof of time.
So, anyway, because of this proof of time snafu, we were all assigned different corrals for the race. Jennie was in corral F, so I planned to drop back to run the race with her. Kasey and Hallie were both assigned corral C, so they were going to run the race together. So our groups split into two when we headed for corrals, with plans to meet up in the parks later that day.
Jennie was honestly made for RunDisney – even at 4 am, she was bopping and dancing to the DJ’s music before the race. It took a while to get to the start line, but eventually we made it there, and our race was underway. The simplest way for me to describe our race experience? Point in the direction of the videos that I took while we were running:
After the race we all napped, and eventually headed to Hollywood studios. We met some storm troopers, rode rock’n roller coaster and tower of terror multiple times, had lunch at Hollywood and vine, and ate multiple mickey shaped foods.
We headed back to the hotel relatively early, where we met up with Jen and Will, who had arrived from Atlanta that day. Jen would be joining Kasey, Jennie and I for the half marathon. It would be her first half, and after dealing with an injury, the real goal was just to get across that finish line. We hung out at our resort Saturday night, making our final race preparations.
Three A.M. rolled around too soon, and Jennie, Jen and I pulled on our Resistance pilot costumes and headed to the start area together. There we found Kasey, dressed as a very sleepy Princess Leia. The four of us hung out together until it was time to get into corrals, when Jennie had to head to hers separately.
Kasey, Jen and I started the race together, but did not stay together for long. Jen and I had decided to complete the race using run/walk intervals, as it extended the distance she had been able to run in training before her IT band would tighten, and she would begin to have trouble putting weight on her leg (she had seen a doctor and was working with a physical therapist, and both had given her the go ahead to try to complete this race).
Before the race began, Kasey had needed to pee. A frequent Kasey problem. But she had been unable to bring herself to use a porter potty, the approach most runners use. As a result of this, Kasey only stayed with Jen and I until the first walk interval, as she needed to run so that she could get to the in-park bathroom as quickly as possible.
Jen and I continued to use intervals throughout the race. The course took us first to animal kingdom, where we ran through pandora. On the way out of animal kingdom members of the 501 legion lined the streets, making for some great bonus character opportunities. When we got to the parking lot, I spotted the one picture I really wanted during this race: the frozen lightsaber on hoth photo. When I spotted it I ran ahead to get in line, so Jen would get a little more recovery time.
Around the half way point Jen’s knee really started to give her trouble. We stopped at an aid station and the wrapped it in ice for her, and it helped a little bit going forward. We stuck to the intervals, taking longer walk breaks when needed. Jen’s training had been so spot on until this injury reared its head, just after we ran the hot chocolate 15k together. It was a humid day, but we just did the best we could to keep moving forward. We had to stop one more time to get Jen’s knee re-wrapped, but eventually we made it to Hollywood studios, and were so happy that the end of the race was in sight. Jen was struggling, but I was so proud as she kept pushing forward, one foot in front of the other.
Eventually we made our way to Epcot, and could see spaceship earth in the distance – the light at the end of the tunnel. We just had to make it there, and it would be only a few moments longer to the finish line. The crowd was alive at the finish, and Will texted us that he was in the stands right next to the finish. We held hands, and Jen crossed that finish line running. We both cried all the happy tears, and I tried to point Will out to her in the crowd to no avail. We collected our medals, made our way through the finishers chute, and then made our way to the spectator side as we waited for Jennie to come cross that finish line. We cheered her on, and once she had completed the race we all raised a glass of champagne in celebration, in honor of Jennie and Jen finishing their first half marathons.
We all headed back to the hotel, and ice baths ensued to try to ease our bodies a little bit. It was somewhat hilarious, and after they were completed we sat with our legs up the wall for a bit before taking naps.
After naps we headed to epcot, where we did our best to drink our way around the world, even if Kasey did get mad at us for starting without her – hey, we all have different definitions of “a long nap.”
All in all, I would love to return one day and get another chance to run the Star Wars half marathon. I geeked out at all of the awesome costumes that people came up with, and enjoyed making our rebel pilot costumes so much.
So perhaps 2021 will be the year that I get to run with the force once more, since the 2020 event was cancelled. But knowing that races will eventually happen again makes me feel hopeful, even if right now that seems like a long way out still.