I'm finally getting to my Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend recaps from April.
In case you missed previous posts from the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend:
We didn't meet as early this morning like we did the other mornings. We had no plans on getting any pictures before the start. Like the 10k, the start of the Half was in the parking lot of Magic Kingdom. We did the normal bag check, port-a-potties, stretching, and off to our respective corals. Kelly and Franklin were in the same coral ahead of me and I was in coral F.
I tried to get excited about the run, but I was tired. Physically and mentally tired. It was in the low 70's and overcast. There was a chance of rain during the morning and part of me just wanted it to rain to cut the humidity.
I tried to get as close to the front of the coral as possible so that I could have as much of a buffer from the balloon ladies as I could. It felt like forever between the first coral and my coral to get going. I started out with a 30/30 walk run, and within the first quarter mile my knee gave out on me. It had been doing so good all weekend long, and now it hurt. A lot.
I tried to keep up with my 30/30, but ended up walking a lot of the first mile. I wanted to get it worked out so I could make it to the end. It got to the point where it was bearable, but it was gonna suck to deal with it for another 3 hours.
We were on back roads with very little entertainment. I at least thought ahead and brought my iPod and earphones. It sprinkled for like a minute and made things more humid. I continued to trudged away for about 4 miles before we got to Animal Kingdom.
We entered Animal Kingdom at the same place I had in other races, like the Marathon, but instead of going left, we went right and headed towards the new Pandora section. Here I saw for the first time the back of the Tree of Life. I'm not sure if I ever was in that part of the park before, or just never noticed. I almost missed it except I saw people beeline over there to get pictures.
We went through Pandora land. Don't ask me what that is behind me, but it was a photo stop.
We went though the Discovery Island and past the Tree of Life again, from the front.
And then over to Dinoland.
Through Animal Kingdom, I noticed a dog running a little behind someone. I noticed this dog a few times and couldn't figure out how he was a helper dog as he didn't stay next to or in front of his owner, but like a foot or so behind. And she was keeping a great pace.
We were in Animal Kingdom probably 2-3 miles, which was great. It perked me up some and made me almost forget about how my knee hurt. But that time was over quickly and we exited out of Animal Kingdom and headed towards Hollywood Studios. Goodbye Animal Kingdom.
Last year it felt like we went into nowhere's land and then came back on the same street. With more time in Animal Kingdom, we didn't have that awful out and back. But getting to HS still sucked.
Right outside Hollywood Studios we hit the 10 mile mark. The
501st Legion was there again.
I decided to walk through HS as I knew we were not in there long, and I needed to enjoy the time we were in there. It also gave me a chance to rest my knee some. Again, we were barely in HS before we were leaving it.
We next headed to the path that lead to the Boardwalk. My knee hurt, but I tried to keep up my walk/run as much as I could so I could just finish. We got to the Boardwalk and it was nice to see everyone cheering us on.
We got into Epcot the same way we normally do, but instead of going the short way around, they had us go right and take the long way around to Spaceship Earth. That was so disappointing! I thought I knew how much we had to go and it was longer.
We finally got to mile 13 and the 501st Legion was also there in full gear. I knew I was almost there and just needed to finish.
I was finally done and just mentally and physically exhausted. I got ice, medals, food, and water and just limped to the bus. I just wanted to get back to my room and shower and crash. When I got to the hotel there was a photo booth of sorts that they had set up. I really didn't want anything to do with it, but I had to walk through them and I ended up talking to them a little. They were such nice ladies there that they perked me up enough to get a couple fun pictures.
I showered stretched and rested a little, but I didn't want to hunker down as I needed to get some real food. I kept going and headed to Disney Springs. I hadn't made my way there, yet, this trip and wanted to check a few stores out.
I had no plans for lunch and as I walked by Raglan Road, I saw that they had Irish Dancers and music going on. I went in and decided to have lunch there. I was able to get a seat with a great view of the stages. When I arrived, they had just left on their break. But soon enough they were back out.
I have always been fascinated by the Irish culture, so listening to some truly Irish music and watching the dancing was the most fun.
I had the fish and chips, and a yummy alcoholic beverage. It was the most wonderful way to end the weekend.
While I hated the running part, I had a fantastic weekend otherwise. I'm still in debate on if this will be my last runDisney race for awhile or not. In 2 years I would have gotten a perfect Dark Side and Kessel Run challenge. I don't think Disney is doing much of anything for those special few that do the first 5 years, so it may not be worth it.
Where do you like to eat at Disney Springs? Have you ever seen the back of the Tree of Life?
