I registered for the http://www.rundisney.com/star-wars-wdw-half-marathon/ Challenge waaaaaay back in September.  That was before my heel spur diagnosis and spending a couple of months in a boot. Since that diagnosis, I’ve spent the past few months trying to heal my heel and ever so slowly build my distance back up to the 5K distance, which meant that there was no way I could even attempt a half marathon or even both on back to back days.

Nope. Nada. Game over. Thanks for playing.

The other unfortunate factor that burst my run Disney bubble was that I didn’t know the statewide testing dates when I registered my kids for the race. I had this whole plan of pulling them early out of school on Thursday to stay the night at one of the Disney properties, run the 5K with my oldest on Friday morning and spend the rest of the day at a Disney park.

Nope. The DOE squelched that run Disney dream.

I basically threw my money at Disney. Lesson learned. Run the Star Wars 5K solo and register my kids for a Saturday run. At least I could take comfort in the fact the a portion of the race proceeds went to charity, Noah’s Light Foundation.

Instead of staying the night, I drove over Thursday to pick up our race packets at Wide World of Sports even though I would be the only one in my family to run the races. I had a great time, exploring the expo, stalking Storm Troopers and visiting my favorite vendors, like GoGo squeeZ.

Star Wars Half Marathon Dark Side Expo

At dark thirty early Friday morning, I drove back over to Walt Disney World stopping to pick my friend, Jackie on the way. We met our friend, Caitlyn, in the Epcot parking lot and took our obligatory Star Wars 5K start corral photos.

The race course began in the Epcot parking lot and followed a path into the park. There were fun photo stops along the way but the lines were too long, especially the Chewbacca queue….

…but the lines are never too long for a few Star Wars selfies.

As the sun began to breech the horizon and beam down over Epcot and its signature spaceship Earth, there were so many great places to stop and snap photos along the course, especially in the World Showcase. After all, since I was running my first 5K in nearly six months, I was going to make the most of it and feel the force along the course.

Obviously, this race wasn’t about a finish time, but finishing with pain free and a smile and enjoying the time with my runner friends turning this 5K into an hour long fun run.

Star Wars 5K
Clock Time 1:13
Finish Time 59:34
Ave Pace 17:39

After the race, we continued on with a Star Wars themed day by spending the day at Hollywood Studios.

It had been AGES since I had visited this park and I was so excited to see the new-to-me Star Wars Launch Bay…

…and meet Chewie and Kylo Ren, who doesn’t like to be touched, even though I really, really wanted to feel the Dark Side of the force.

Of course, I couldn’t let the Frozen Sing-A-Long Celebration slip past me either or miss out on the rides!

I don’t know which was better running a race again after a six month hiatus, almost feeling the Dark Side or doing an adult Disney day. All I know is I remembered how much I missed racing and the magic of Disney.

Experiencing it all in one day was truly magical.