Spartan Season Training Plan

I was in the midst of overhauling my training plan in preparation for road race season to slow down here in Florida when things started getting canceled due to COVID-19. As of right now, Star Wars weekend is canceled and my May Spartan race is postponed to a date TBD and my next race that is still on is not until July. I've been focusing the last few weeks on just making sure I'm still working out while I juggle all of the life changes that are going on right now and I can nail down some new fitness goals.

Since it seems like things are going to be volatile for a while, I'm trying to keep my plan flexible so I can pivot when things become no longer an option. My next race is currently the Asheville Spartan Sprint at the end of July with the possibility that the postponed Jacksonville City Sprint could occur early in the summer. So it's OCR training time.

Running

I'm going to be starting my summer off season early. Last season, I had two easy midweek runs with a long run on the weekend. My long run schedule will be 4 miles one week and then alternate 6, 7 and 8 mile runs on the other weekend so I can stay in 10k shape over the summer. I'm also planning on doing one of my two midweek runs over the causeways as long as that is allowed by current quarantine restrictions and I feel that the crowd level is low enough to be safe to run there. I'm still running my winter 60/30 intervals but I'll switch over to 45/45 once we start getting lows in the 70s.

Strength Training

The majority of my fitness focus for the next few months will be on strength training with a minimum of 3 strength sessions a week. My gym is currently closed so I'll be using the community fitness center in my neighborhood (as long as it stays open) as well as some home fitness equipment in my garage. I know working out in a nonclimate controled environment is not going to be fun but hopefully the hot weather conditioning pays off!

My big focus for Spartan training is to continue to work on grip strength. I do have a pull up bar at home so I'll be doing loads of dead hanging on it. I'd love to be able to go out to a local park and try monkey bars some times but we'll have to see if that pans out as a viable option. I'm also going to do deadlifts and famers' carry as long as the community fitness center is open.

I've also got a few more obstacle specific things I'll be regularly adding into my workouts. For the barbed wire crawl, I'm adding in bear crawls and rolling. Let me tell you, bear crawls are a lot harder than they look! It's not going to be a hard obstacle but having my body used to it will mean that I have energy left for other things. I'm also going to be doing a lot of carrying around my neighborhood. I have a sandbag as well as a 5 gallon bucket that I'll fill with my hurricane sand bags that I can use to carry. I don't have to carry heavy things in every day life so I'm just wanting to get my body used to doing it again.

I still want to keep a strong focus on my core strength. I really slacked on core exercises last summer and I regretted it when fall race season came around. So the planks, sit ups and Russian twists are staying. There are also plenty of body weight exercises I'll be doing like squats, lunges and pushups. And, of course, burpees! You can't do Spartan training without burpees!

Spartan has a lot of resources for training on their Youtube channel and they've also been featuring at home workouts on all of their social media outlets to help everyone stay fit during this pandemic so check them out if you are looking for inspiration and ideas.

Adventure

I had a lot of fun putting in a regular adventure day last summer where I did something different and fun with my workouts once a week. I'm not sure how much adventuring I'll be able to do until the corona virus goes away but I have been thinking about what adventures I'd like to do later this year. The place that was hosting free yoga once a month has gone out of business so I need to do some research to find out about other yoga options in my area. I would also love to start doing rock climbing regularly. There is a local rock climbing and ninja warrior course place that I want to check out (again, probably once things calm down over the summer). I also want to add in some trail running miles. The terrain here will be nothing like Ashville but it's better than nothing.

Recovery

I've done a great job of building up a foam rolling habit over the last year and I can tell it really helps. Right now, I'm focusing on making sure I drink plenty of water and get enough sleep. Those are two things I really slack on when life gets busy or stressful so I want to make sure those parts of my fitness aren't being neglected just because I'm not in my normal routine.

Shoes

I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of Vibram fivefingers! I plan on doing a whole post about them to let you know what I did and what my long term goals are with them but I do think they are really helping me build up my foot muscles and force me to focus more on my running form. Right now, I'm currently running 2-3 miles in them once a week as well as wearing them or another pair of zero drop shoes for day to day activities. I do want to get a pair of running Vibrams as well as a pair of trail ones for the Asheville race since the terrain is going to be rougher than I'm used to.

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge

How do you celebrate your second Fairy Tale Challenge? By going to the Magic Kingdom of course! So after a long nap and some breakfast, we headed out to ride some rides and get some castle pictures. Going into this weekend, I knew it was going to be busy. Princess weekend seems to have the most impact on Magic Kingdom crowds of any race weekend plus it always falls during some schools' winter break. With that in mind, we booked some fastpasses and planned on just hanging out in the park if the lines were too long.

I love getting my medals signed by the theme character so one of our fastpasses was to meet Cinderella and Elena. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the meet and greet line didn't seem too crazy since Cindy was the half marathon princess this year.

Medal autograph accomplished!

 Elena is always a bunch of fun! I don't really know anything about her but she's always super spunky and talkative. I really need to check and see if any of her movies are on Disney+ so I can find out her story. So many of the Disney princesses are sweet and reserved that it's fun to interact with someone who is so different! (That's also why I love meeting Cindy's stepsisters! They're a hoot!)

After the meet and greet, the day started to go a bit off plan. We had another two fastpasses plus a few bonus multiple experience passes given to me by a cast member because our room took so long to get ready but even the fastpass lines were crazy! After a PR race, I was just too tired to deal with the crowds so we took some more medal photos and headed over to the Polynesian to find a shorter Dole Whip line.

Except that the Poly had a new special Dole Whip snack that everyone was trying to get so its line was even longer than the one in Adventure land. Ok, on to plan C. We took a bus from the Polynesian over to Disney Springs to escape the crowds and find some dinner. We ended up getting the allergy fish and chips from Cookes of Dublin. It was so good!

We ended up spending the rest of the evening chilling in our hotel room. It ended up being a very low park time weekend but I was really ok with that. Will and I both needed some extra recovery time physically and mentally and I was so glad that we took that space to just relax. We did manage to have an amazing park day on Monday so stay tuned for that recap!

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Part 1: Expo
Part 2: 10k
Part 3: Half Marathon
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-You are here.
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Excalibur 10 Miler Race Recap

So I need to start with a bit of back story for this race recap. This race happened to land on the weekend after general registration for the Wine and Dine half marathon weekend. When I registered for this race, this fact didn't seem significant. I had already purchased my bib for Wine and Dine race weekend through a travel agent and so wouldn't be fighting with opening day registration drama. But the week prior during passholder registration, it came out that the POT pace requirements had been updated and runDisney would only be accepting POTs for 2:30 or faster half marathon times. General registration confirmed that this was not a mistake and all of my beautiful POTs including my new PR from Princess weekend were now useless......

I had been chasing that sub 2:30 half (and equivalent 10k) because that would have gotten me into the next corral and I was so close but I had not yet made it. This all really sucked for me because there was not going to be great running weather between the release of this new POT requirement and the deadline in August because summer starts way early in Florida. Guess I was going to have to have a pretty ambitious time goal for my first 10 miler so I could have a POT for Wine and Dine 2020 and Marathon Weekend 2021.

COVID-19 was starting to pop up more and more in the US and some people were already freaking out about it but I wasn't too concerned until Thursday afternoon before race weekend when I got a message from a friend (who also wanted to use this race as a runDisney POT race) that the race was canceled. I was really upset. I was already not happy at runDisney for changing the POT requirements with no warning and now I wouldn't even have a shot at a POT because people couldn't wait to freak out about the coronavirus until Monday. Plus, I had only just registered for the race and there would be no refunds or options to defer until next year. I really felt like I had just flushed a whole bunch of money down the toilet. Since I didn't need to taper any more, I headed to the gym for some serious strength training and angst relieving activities.

 Disney also announced that they were closing both parks for the remainder of the month so the next day, Will and I went to Epcot for our last Disney trip for a while. That really helped my mood and made me feel better about the race cancelation. I had run runDisney races in nonPOT corrals before and had a great time. Plus I knew if I ran the first half of the race fast, I could still do lots of character stops with short lines near the end of the race. It was going to be OK.

I decided to run the race as a virtual so I could still feel like I earned my medal. I took my 10 miles nice and easy on Saturday morning. It ended up being a really nice run. We had picked up our race packets including t-shirt and medal on Friday on the way home from Disney so my medal was waiting for me when I got done with my run. In the end, crap happens. Races get canceled. You may have to DNS. But staying upset about it doesn't change anything. Keeping up my commitment to training and working towards my fitness goals will change things.

Right now, the rest of my spring running season is so up in the air. I'm still working to maintain my half marathon base for the Star Wars Rival Run in April but we'll have to see if the parks reopen at the end of March or if Disney decides to keep them closed. I'm also working towards my next Spartan race which is in early May. (They have also canceled all events through mid April.) There is a definite chance that either one or both of these races will get canceled or postponed but until then, I'm going to keep training as if they are going to happen. Races will not be canceled forever and when I get to run my next race, I want to be ready to crush it.

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 3: Half Marathon Race Recap

For the Princess half marathon, my husband Will decided to join me. He had promised to run Princess weekend with me in a tutu if I ran a Spartan race. Which I did.... So he got to dress up as Cinderfella while I went as Lady Tremaine. We opted for a Sparkle Athletic skirt instead of a tutu as tutus can be very itchy!! But he was a great sport about it and even wore a running tiara.

The corrals for the half are actually quite a walk from the prerace area so we walked over with some of our running friends. I had a really nice chat with Jen from the Go Find Your Awesome Podcast. We talked about my goals for this race (a sub 2:30 and new half PR). She told me that no matter what happened today, I was awesome! Those words of wisdom would come in handy later.

Since the weather was really great for running, I had decided to go for another PR attempt and see if I could hit the 2:30 mark. Just like for Wine and Dine, the 2:30 pace group was in my corral and they used the 60:30 interval that I train with. One of the reasons I do PR attempts at runDisney races is that they offer Galloway pace groups! Will joined me back in corral E and we found the pace group. It was not as cold as the 10k the day before but I did bring a throw away shirt and mylar blanket to wear in the corral. I'm such a pansy about being cold!

Then we were off! I love running with a pace group at the beginning of a race. It's super easy to go out too fast or to get bogged down by the initial crowding on the course and go too slowly. We maintained a great pace through the beginning of the course. The beginning of the Princess half marathon course is pretty boring. It's dark. It's on the high way and there's not much to see in the first few miles except a few character stops. I do remember seeing character stops but there's no stopping during a PR attempt!

I felt ok during the first three miles or so but not amazing. I definitely could tell that I ran the 10k the day before a bit faster than I probably should have. But the conditions were so great that it was hard to hold back even as much as I did! The two pacers were really fun and up beat so that definitely helped. And I had Will to chat with. We also ran into Jar Oxandspoon going under the bridge between the Magic Kingdom parking lot and the Contemporary. Will ran up and hung with him for a bit before rejoining me in the pace group.

We hit Magic Kingdom after mile 4 and that really gave me a boost of energy. Because we hadn't stopped for characters, there wasn't much crowding at the course despite having started in a later corral. There was plenty of space to get action shots from the photopass photographers and still stay with the pace group. Even the pacers were really getting into the action shots so it was a lot of fun!

Running through the castle is my favorite part of this course and we both ended up getting a castle action shot! Woohoo! Knowing that I was going to have at least some photos from this race made me really happy and was definitely an energy booster which I knew I would need for the long highway stretch back to Epcot.

But during Magic Kingdom, something started to rub on my rib cage under my left arm. I'm not sure what it was as I had worn all of the pieces of my running costume before and never had any issues. Thankfully, I knew from previous races on this course that a med tent was just past Frontierland in the back stage area before we hit cone alley. I had Will run ahead of me and grab some vaseline for me. I was able to apply on the go and not risk losing the pace group because I had to stop. Thankfully, that completely took care of the rubbing so I was fine the rest of the race. Will was also great with running ahead to the water stops so I could drink water during a walk interval even if we ran through the water stops.

I had probably my very best cone alley experience this race. This stretch between Magic Kingdom and the highway is a huge choke point and can be really hard to navigate. I'm not sure if it's just because I was going faster or if my pace group was just really good at staying together but it was really not bad. It's good to remember that each and every race experience is different and just because one section of the course was bad for someone else, that doesn't mean it's also going to be bad for you.

Then it was back on the wide highway towards Epcot. I actually like the highway stretches of the course because there is so much room to navigate between other runners but it can be brutal if the weather starts to get warm and the sun is beating down on you. This race started in the 50s so it was really nice for the beginning half or so of the race. On the way back to Epcot, I started over heating and struggling to stay with the pace group.

I had a hard time deciding what to wear for this race. For the 10k, I definitely needed pants and a long sleeved shirt for the whole thing but it was going to be about 10 degrees warmer for the half. I decided to wear pants but a throw away long sleeved shirt so I could run in a sleeveless top. I ended up choosing which pants to wear with which outfit based on which colors went best together but that was a mistake. The blue pants I wore for the 10k are actually nice cooling pants from Under Armor that are meant to be worn in the heat. The black pants are cheap running leggings from Walmart with no cooling properties. I really could have used the cooling properties during the half marathon!

Around mile 9, I decided to stop to roll my pant legs up to see if that would help with the over heating. I also switched to a 45:45 interval to give my legs more of a break. Running without the pace group meant that I could walk the water stops and hydrate better. I've definitely noticed that running through the water stops really makes it harder for me to maintain pace. For the rest of the race, I drank two glasses of water, a swig of my pickle juice for electrolytes and dumped a cup of water over my head at each water stop.

I still wanted to try and PR and possibly catch up to the pace group so I decided to keep a good pace for the next stretch and see how I was doing. If I got to a point where I 100% knew I couldn't PR, then I could always stop for a bunch of short character lines in Epcot. We were actually a bit ahead of pace so I knew a PR was still possible if I could continue to push for the rest of the race. I turned on my inspirational Disney running playlist and kept going. The changes I had made definitely made me feel a lot better even if I hadn't been able to keep pace with the group so I think breaking off from them was the right decision.

They were playing Into the Unknown during one section of the Epcot backstage area which was one of my inspirational songs. That was a big motivator for me and I had some really great paces for the intervals during that section. I still hadn't caught up with the pace group but I was still in range of possibly PR'ing so I kept going. Things were getting really rough as we exited Epcot to head towards the finisher's shoot. I had to keep taking my intervals the whole way through, even if there were photographers so I got some pretty awkward face photos.

I really wanted to just stop and walk the rest of the race since I was so tired but instead, I dug deep and found just a bit more for one final (and actually pretty pathetic) push towards the finish line. I stopped my running app and checked the time. It was definitely over my previous PR from Wine and Dine weekend. My app time is usually a bit longer than my actual time as it starts before I start and I stop it after crossing the finish line but it definitely looked like it was too much longer than my PR for the difference to get me an official PR.

And I was surprisingly ok with that. I gave it my best effort and I pushed myself all the way to the very last seconds of the race. It was still an amazing time and I had a blast doing it. And either way, I was awesome and not PR'ing at an incredibly crowded race that I dressed too warmly for was not going to change that. We were both really tired so we decided to head back to the hotel immediately instead of hanging out in the finish area to wait for everyone else to finish. We had breakfast and then napped. I woke up from my nap to a lovely text from my running friend Audrey who had been tracking my race bib and wanted to congratulate me on an awesome time and ask if I had PR'd.

This was the first I had seen my unofficial time from runDisney and it was lower than I thought it was. I almost texted back that it was not a PR but I decided to hop onto the runDisney website to double check my past PR since I was going purely on memory. And I had misremembered the seconds from my last PR which mean that my unofficial time was two seconds faster than my PR. I was pretty stunned but decided to wait until my official time was posted before calling it an official PR. But the official time matched the unofficial time and I had myself a PR. While celebrating, I realized something.

Every second of that race counted. Each extra interval I had pushed to stay with the pace group before breaking off counted. Every time I wanted to stop my run interval early but didn't had mattered. That last tiny little bit I found in myself to push in those last yards towards the finish line made a difference. If I had chosen to give up on any one of those micro decisions along the course, I would not have had a PR. In the end, I'm so glad I decided to keep pushing myself to see what I could find because I found awesomeness.

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Part 1: Expo
Part 2: 10k
Part 3: Half Marathon-Your are here.
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-Coming soon!
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 2: 10k Race Recap

Saturday morning for the 10k came dark and early and chilly! Last year, we had a heat wave for princess weekend but this year we had a cold spell. It was about 45F at race start! As a Floridian, I was not mentally prepared for standing in the corrals in that kind of weather. My original costume idea was to be Jasmine but in the week leading up to the race, I was scrambling to find a way to make my costume more weather appropriate. I had a pair of teal leggings to wear and I grabbed my 2020 Marathon Weekend shirt since the colors coordinated with everything else I was wearing. No one knew who I was but it still looked cute in photos.

I also bought some throw away gloves to wear. I wanted to grab a mylar blanket but I couldn't find any. A trash bag with a hole in the top also works in a pinch so I had a super glamorous look prerace. The character lines were super long by the time I arrived at the race site so I skipped character photos and instead met up with some friends I'd met on Instagram. The runDisney community is so awesome and it was awesome to get to meet more people in real life!

The 10k corrals are really close to the character area so I popped into my corral pretty early. It definitely felt odd being in corral A. I definitely don't run at a corral A speed but I decided to just enjoy the corral A experience incase it's my one time to be at the front of the pack. It was really chilly in the corral but the trash bag definitely helped. Pretty soon we were moving forward to get in position for race start. Unfortunately, I tossed my trash bag while we were getting into position. Usually, once I'm in the shoot, race start is imminent but in corral A, you are in the shoot before the preshow even starts. Oops! I still had enough layers that it was bearable but I was still colder than I would have liked.

Then it was time for race start! I've seen video from runners who start in corral A and actually run corral A pace but I was still amazed at how much space there was!! I opted to run the first mile before starting my intervals as it was cold and I really wanted to warm up. The first character we passed was Pocahontas. She was up on the overpass so she wasn't available for photos. I was kind of disappointed that she didn't have any photo opportunities the entire weekend but there were plenty of Pocahontas characters during the race which I really appreciated. There was John Smith, Meeko and Governor Ratcliffe. I stopped for a photo with John but I wanted to keep moving. Brr!

There was one section of the highway part of the course I really did not like. We ran back through part of the Epcot parking lot which was nice because it was a convenient place for spectators to go after the race start. Unfortunately, all of the buses that shuttle people back to their resorts were lined up along the course. They were all running so there was a really bad exhaust smell in the air. Nasty! It was bad for the runners but I felt really bad for the spectators who just had to stand there and breathe that gross air.

I made it into Epcot in the dark which was amazing! I wasn't going very fast as I wanted to save my legs for the half but starting right at 5:30 allowed me to get to the park in the dark. So beautiful! I absolutely love running through the parks in the dark. It's one of my favorite parts of a race weekend. The lights were all on and it was an amazing sight. I stopped for a few photos but didn't stop for a character until France. Esmeralda and Quasimodo were out! Esmeralda was out for the Marathon Weekend half but her line was super long so I didn't stop that weekend. The line was so short when I got there so I had to stop.

The course then headed out around the Boardwalk area. I do enjoy running the Boardwalk and for once it was dry! I ran into Kristen from Running in Makeup and Theresa from Running with Shinsplints who were cheering on the Boardwalk. Thanks for the support ladies! My next character photo was Clarice. She's a chipmunkette who appeared in some Chip and Dale cartoons. I've seen her with Chip and Dale during several races but the trio always has a super long line. She was kind of tucked away in a corner at the bottom of a hill right by the Swan and Dolphin hotel so I think a lot of people didn't see her. There were only 4 or 5 people in line for her so I had to stop!

Then I ran passed the Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts before heading back into Epcot. At the very center of the lagoon, Flora, Fauna and Merriweather were available for photos! Since they were the challenge characters, I was really excited to see them on the course. The line wasn't too long when I stopped but by the time I got my picture and left, it had really picked up. (The ended up also being on the half marathon course too so hopefully lots of people got the opportunity for photos.) 

After that, the course was almost over and headed out of Epcot and to the finish line. We got to run through some of the Guardians of the Galaxy construction area which was cool. I'm so pumped for that ride. I did start to get cold again during the last mile or so of the race. I had tossed my gloves around mile 3 and my hands started getting really cold at this point! I did check the weather later in the day and the temperature did actually dip a few degrees towards the end of my race. I took my time crossing the finish line and made sure to get a great finish line photo. They did have mylar blankets at the end of the race which I needed!

The character lines were pretty short so I grabbed a photo with Aurora and Princess Minnie. I got in line to see Anna and Elsa too but I only stayed a few minutes. For whatever reason, their line was moving really slowly and I was just too cold to stand outside anymore. I headed back to my resort for a hot shower and a nap. Since I got done with my race so early, I was able to nap and still make it in time for breakfast at my resort. Mickey waffles for the win!

After breakfast, I headed over to Disney Springs for some window shopping. I stopped by Erin McKenna's for some allergy friendly treats. Some Disney resorts carry mini cupcakes from this bakery in their cafeteria but no such luck this trip. I got my favorite-a mint brownie cupcake. Then I attended another meet up! Yay for friend time! It was a bit smaller than the Marathon Weekend meet up which was nice because I felt like I actually could catch up with everyone and not miss people. After the meetup, it was back to the resort for me. Since the weather was so great for running, I planned on going for a PR attempt at the half marathon so I needed to rest my legs. I got in an epsom salt bath and spent the evening watching HGTV in bed. A lot of people enjoy getting in tons of park time during race weekends but I really enjoy having some quiet resort time.

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Part 1: Expo
Part 2: 10k-You are here.
Part 3: Half Marathon
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-Coming soon!
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 1: Expo

The first stop of every runDisney weekend is the expo! The first day of the expo is always the busiest so I like to go on Friday when things are a bit more chill. Since Wine and Dine and Marathon weekends sold out of a lot of merchandise on the first day, our first stop was the official runDisney merchandise area. Thankfully, there was still plenty of merchandise and sizes available when we arrived.

I got two mini medal replica pins (the challenge one was sold out), the weekend coffee mug as well as a Fairy Tale Challenge tank. I don't usually buy shirts as they rarely have XS but this one was so cute and they actually had it in my size! And it wasn't pastel! Win! Then we popped over to pick up my preorder of the passholder Tervis to go mug and pin. So cute!

We were a bit too early to catch any of the meet and greet characters but Cinderella's coach men were available for photos. They are usually outside with Cinderella's coach that they use for weddings but it was quite cold so they moved inside.

Next we headed over to bib pickup. I knew I was going to be in corral E for the half but challenge participants don't find out their 10k corral until bib pick up. For Princess and Star Wars weekend 2019, I was in corral C for the 10k but for Wine and Dine, I was in corral E so I was anxious to find out my corral. Somehow, I ended up in corral A! I tried to pay attention to challenge bibs over the weekend and it seemed like the 10k corrals were a bit random. I think I saw just about every possible corral pairing except for ones where the half corral was a lower letter than the 10k corral. So who knows how they are assigning 10k corrals for the challenges.

Our last stop was shirt pickup in the vendor merchandise area. I really liked the shirt colors for this year. I love a bright bold color and I'm not really a pastels person so I always love when the princess shirts aren't pastels. I'm not 100% in love with the Cinderella design on a yellow background but I do really like the other two. I didn't end up getting anything from any of the vendors this go around but I'll be back in a few weeks for Star Wars weekend incase there's anything I can't live without.

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Part 1: Expo-You are here.
Part 2: 10k
Part 3: Half Marathon
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-Coming soon!
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Eye of the Dragon 10k

February has some of the best running weather in Florida so there are always a ton of races to choose from! I really enjoyed running the Eye of the Dragon 10k last year as it had a nice course, great entertainment and beautiful medals so I signed up to run it again. The weather was around 68F at race start but humid. The course was exactly the same as last year. It runs along the side of the river for about 1.5 miles then back past the start line. Then it goes left over the causeway about 1.5 miles and back with the start line transforming into the finish line.

My 10k PR before this race was a 1:09:42 from this race in 2019. I was aiming to hit sub 1:07 use as proof of time for runDisney races in hopes of qualifying for corral D. I had been trying to incorporate a bit of speed work into my training between marathon weekend and this race but I didn't really have a specific strategy for improving my time. I did make a running playlist to listen to during this race. I don't usually listen to music while I run so I was hoping it would provide a bit of extra motivation. I also opted to carry my own water so I could skip some of the water stops.

I felt really good at the beginning of the race. It was still pretty cool out and I was excited. The music definitely kept me pumped, a bit too pumped in fact. I went out a bit too fast in the first mile so I pulled it back a bit and I was on track when I hit the midway point past the start/finish line. And I passed the midway point before the race winner crossed the finish line which was a nice bonus!

Then I headed out over the causeway. In 2018, I did a lot of running over the causeway leading up to this race in 2019 so my legs were used to hills but in 2019, I really slacked on the hill runs so it was quite an effort to make it up the causeway. I tried to maintain a decent pace while not pushing myself too hard. But right around mile 4, I got side stitches so I had to take an extended walk break. It was right in front of the race photographer too. Not sure why they had her at the top of the causeway where we all looked like death but that's what happened.

I was able to start running again soon after but I never regained the sub 11 minute mile that I needed to reach my goal. At this point in the race, there's no shade and the Florida sun was starting to beat down on me. I did keep pushing myself all the way to the finish despite things not going according to plan. I clocked in at 1:10:27 which came in as my second fastest 10k and only 45 seconds slower than my 10k PR. It's also a really solid runDisney corral E POT. I definitely need to start running the causeway again though!

runningUniversal Part 3: My Quick Thoughts

I wanted to have a space just to jot down some quick thoughts about different aspects of the race for future reference. Let me know if there is something you'd like to see added to this list. Enjoy!

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Bathrooms-Plenty of port-o-potties before hand and all in park bathrooms on course. They aren't well marked during the race so look at a park map before hand to scope out the best ones.

Character Stops-Quite a few characters with really short lines. A lot of the characters are ones you can see regularly in the parks though. More rare characters would be great!

Corrals- Corral A: sub 60 min 10k POT required, Corral B & C self seeded. Didn't really use corral C in 2019.

Course-Amazing! Lots of park time and plenty of space. A+

Epic Fan Package-Not really a great value for your money. We vote skip and let the rest of your party sleep in.

Expo/Merchandise-Limited selection, generic runningUniversal items, adult sizes only. Plenty of Universal merch in the parks to spend your money on if you want a cool souvenir.

Medical Support-There were quite a few med tents marked on the course map but I don't remember seeing any. One of my friends forgot their inhaler so they were specifically looking for one on course to see if medical had one they could use and they didn't see any med tents either.

Packet Pickup-Packet pickup was in a very small area in the Blue Man Group building. There were very short lines while we were there. It will definitely take a fraction of the time of a normal runDisney packet pickup trip.

Photos-On course photography was provided by Marathon Photo at character stops, at the finish line and (a very few) randomly on course. Photos and a video of you crossing the finish line were available for purchase afterwards for $40. Personally, my iPhone took better photos at the character photos and the action/finish line photos I got were not that great and didn't justify spending $40. Team members were available to take a photo with your phone at the character stops.

Prerace Atmosphere-There's not a lot going on prerace-no dj, no character photo ops, no prerace show. Don't expect to need to be in the corrals as early as you would for a runDisney race.

Postrace Atmosphere-Not a lot of spectator viewing area but your party can meet you in City Walk. Two character photo ops were available for the characters on the race medals-Blue the velociraptor and two minions. There was also a coffee tent and food truck but with City Walk near by, I'd recommend stopping by Starbucks on your way out instead.

Race Shirts- I enjoyed the design of the shirt but the material felt cheap. Shirts were unisex (ie men's only) ran big and were not offered in women's or youth sizes. Shirts were short sleeved. Bonus, no massive amount of sponsors on the back.

Snack Box-Post race refreshments included bananas and bottled water in addition to the snack boxes. The snack box included Go-Go Squeeze apple sauce, pretzels (not GF), trail mix and Kashi chocolate almond sea salt granola bar (DF, vegan, does not list wheat/gluten in allergy section but includes oats). I was really happy with the options in the box and both Will and I were able to both find something to tide us over until breakfast.

Water Stops-There were plenty of water stops on course (5 total). No electrolytes were provided during or after the race so bring your own if you need them.

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runningUniversal Part 1: Expo
runningUniversal Part 2: 10k
runningUniversal Part 3: My Quick Thoughts-You are here.

runningUniversal Part 2: 10k Race Recap

Race morning came cold and early! The race was scheduled to start at 6:15 am so we got to sleep in a bit compared to a runDisney weekend. That was really nice. The temperature was in the mid 40s which is great for running but not so great for waiting around in the corrals. Will and I both had to tweak our running costumes at the last minute for some extra layers. We stayed at one of the Universal onsite resorts and they provided transportation. Unlike Disney, the bus drivers were the regular drivers so they all knew exactly where to go. Plus, there's a lot less to get lost in at Universal.

 The race start was over by the Volcano Bay parking entrance so once we got dropped off at the normal resort drop off location, we headed back into the giant parking garage. They had plenty of staff members to direct runners. The security was set up in the parking garage for us and included medal detectors. It's definitely something to keep in mind when planning your costumes for future Universal races. They had a ton of port-a-potties immediately after security but none further down by the corrals. And that was about it.... No prerace characters and no prerace water available.

There were four corrals-elites/wheel chairs, A (sub 60 min 10k POT) plus B and C which were self seeded. The corrals were on one side of the parking toll booths and the start line and prerace announcers were on the other side. So it was really hard to see what prerace things they did have going on. The announcers tried to get us all excited but it was really cold and none of us were really having it. The did have King Julien from Madagascar up on the stage with the announcers but again, he was really hard to see. I don't think I saw anyone in corral C and we definitely didn't need to get there as early as we would for a runDisney race. This race was just not that big and there wasn't that much time between the first runner starting and the last runner starting.

I did have some huge issues with the corals. They were letting people in corral A without A stickers on their bibs. If you are going to do POT corrals, you absolutely cannot do this! I'm not sure what was going on but the people checking bibs at the corral entrance need to do a better job. Also, there was a couple with a jogging stroller and infant in corral A despite strollers being specifically prohibited in the race rules. This kind of race is not a good one for strollers and them allowing strollers would definitely make me less inclined to run this race again. Hopefully, this will all get cleared up for next year. The race ended up being pretty spacious since there was a pretty small field but this kind of thing will become a huge issue as this race becomes more popular.

Will and I were running this race with Gerald from RezRuns over on youtube. We decided to run the first mile or two and then start doing intervals so I could keep up with the boys. Plus it was cold and we all wanted to get moving and warm up. The first 3/4 of a mile or so are on highway so there was a lot of space but it was pretty dark. It was a bit difficult to keep an eye out for tripping hazards in this section. Then we headed back stage of Islands of Adventure back behind Hulk and the Marvel Super Hero area. There were a lot of tripping hazards in the back stage areas-grates, cracks in the pavement, speed bumps, etc. They did have some marked out by cones but it's definitely an area to be careful. We hit our first water stop right before heading into the park at Toon Lagoon.

Right inside Toon Lagoon, we passed our first in park bathrooms as well as the first character stop, Betty Boop. They did have a photographer as well as a team member who would take a photo with your phone. The character lines were generally quite short which was really nice! We then headed out passed the Marvel area. I was hoping they would have some Marvel characters out but no such luck! Will and Gerald were Winter Soldier and Captain America, respectively. The course went out the front of Islands of Adventure and we looped around City Walk. There was a great photo op in front of the Universal Studios ball.

Then we did a short jaunt backstage before coming out in Seuss Landing. There was another water stop and some Whos out taking photos. About this time, I was nice and warm and ready to start intervals. It was still dark out and so pretty to be in the parks with them all lit up. Over in the Lost Continent, we stopped for our first character stop Puss in Boots and his girlfriend kitty (It's been forever since I've seen that movie and I can't remember her name.). Then we were into Hogsmeade.

It was so beautiful!!! I've never seen that area so empty either. I know a lot of people run theme park races for character photos but I do them to be in the parks when they are all lit up and beautiful. Loved it! They did have some team members out in Hogwarts robes but no photo ops. Next was Jurassic Park. There's a lot of construction going on in this section right now so while there was still plenty of room to maneuver, it was not the most exciting part of the course.

Then the course headed back stage again past Skull Island. We hit mile 3 backstage as well as another water stop and some DJs. We did get to run under the Hogwarts Express track which was really cool! I had no idea how it actually worked but it's up on an elevated track with the ground level road underneath it. So if you want your train photo, grab it with the dummy engine in Hogsmeade. At mile four we headed back into the park by the San Francisco area before popping backstage again.

Then we snuck in a back way to Diagon Alley. It was so cool to run through there! A lot of the shop doors were open and the team members were setting up for the day. That section of the park is just so immersive because you literally can't see anything outside of that area while you are in there! We ran out past the bar and I was hoping we could grab a hot Butterbeer but no such luck! It wasn't open yet!

The next stretch was backstage again. We looped around behind the Men in Black ride and then popped in right next to it. We did a bit of zig zaging past the false front of Diagon Alley to make up a bit more milage. It took us right past the Knight Bus. The driver and talking head were out if you wanted a selfie. Then we headed back around the lake. The fountains were on so it was really pretty along this stretch. Then we had a few more character stops-the Simpsons (which we decided to skip), Winnie Woodpecker, and the big Transformer (one of the good guys I think).

Mardi Gras had started the night before so there were some Mardi Gras performers out for photos as well. I felt so bad for those poor girls! The costumes looked absolutely freezing! I hope they got plenty of breaks and hot coffee. Lastly, we ran out past New York to finish backstage behind the Blue Man Group building. The finish line was not crowded at all and they did have a few photographers here. They were also videoing the finish and showing it on a big screen. It didn't look like there was a lot of spectator area and there wasn't really anyone there cheering. It was really chilly and I think you had to buy the spectator pass to watch at the finish line so I wasn't surprised to see very few spectators. (Gerald had a friend buy the spectator pass and the verdict was unless it's your very first race or something else super special, let your support crew nap at your resort instead and save yourself some $$).

Time: 1:29:24

Distance: 6.2 miles

Pace 14:28

They had Blue the velociraptor right next to the finish line. His photo line was the longest of the whole race. It probably was about a 30 minute wait. But we all got really cold as soon as we stopped running so we moved on to the water, bananas and snack boxes. I was pretty happy with the snack boxes. We got Go-Go Squeeze apple sauce (of course! lol), pretzels, a granola bar and trail mix. Plenty of options for after a 10k. Then the Minions were out and had a much shorter line so we waited for a post race photo with them. So the finish line atmosphere was not as exciting as I would have liked but I think a lot of that had to do with the weather and the lack of spectators.

I did get to meet up with a running friend Audrey and also ran into two of my local running friends after the race. We did not end up staying very long after we finished. I needed a hot shower and then some breakfast!

Given how the expo and corrals went, I was super nervous about this race but I ended up having an amazing time! The course itself was so great! So much of the course was in park. I loved it! There was minimal highway stretches and the backstage portions were intermixed with park time so there was always something really cool to see. We ended up with about a 14:30 pace which included character stops, plenty of walking and stops for Gerald to film. There was so much space on course that it never felt congested. This course could definitely handle more people in the future. There is very little about the actual race that I would change. Way to go, Universal!

The medals were a really cool spinner. The ribbon was really pretty with a different design on each side. Size wise, they were a bit smaller than a standard runDisney 10k medal but still had a good weight to them. The design was really detailed and the characters look nice. I love having it hanging on my wall!

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runningUniversal Part 1: Expo
runningUniversal Part 2: 10k-You are here.
runningUniversal Part 3: My Quick Thoughts

runningUniversal Part 1: Expo

I was really excited when I heard that runningUniversal was bringing their races to Universal Studios Orlando! For their east coast inaugural race, they offered a 10k and a 5k. We decided to sign up for the 10k. The races are priced comparably to the runDisney races and registration was really simple.
I was hoping that after having two race weekends in Hollywood, a few of the kinks would have been worked out of the system but a lot of the administration stuff was a bit less organized than I would have liked. Things like race theme, medal design and packet pick up info came out really late and some stuff wasn't released until packet pick up.

Their website could definitely use some work to make it a bit easier to navigate. If you wanted to be notified when new info such as medal design or course map was going to be released, you had to sign up for each bit individually. When the big packet of race info was given out, it was a bit difficult to figure out where everything was. I kept having to click in and out of different pages to find all of the info I needed. I was able to find everything eventually but I also knew what to look for since I've done theme park races before. It really made me appreciate how much of a well oiled machine runDisney is!

Packet pick up was located in the Blue Man Group building in City Walk. Each runner was given a pass for free parking but you had to physically print it out and bring it with you. No parking passes were accepted digitally on phones. Once in City Walk, there were plenty of signs telling runners where to go for packet pick up. Once I got to the pick up location, it was clear just how much smaller this race was than a Disney race. If this race gets bigger, they are going to need to find a better place for packet pick up. They were a bit more disorganized than I would have liked but it was really empty when we went to pick up so we didn't wait long. We each got a tech t-shirt, a draw string bag and our race bib. The bag was a nice touch.

I was disappointed by two things. The shirts were unisex sized which means I'll be drowning in my shirt. I wear a women's X-small so the men's small was a no go for me even if they hadn't run big. This is a problem I have with a lot of races and I hope that they start offering women's sizes next year. I did really like the design of the shirt but the actual material was not the greatest. It's going straight into the to be made into a tshirt blanket pile. Also, I did not get into the proof of time corral. There was an option to put in a proof of time during registration but no more info was given about corral placements. I spoke to runner relations and the cut off for A corral this year was a 60 minute 10k. It would have been nice to know that ahead of time. I'll go into corrals and whether or not I think you need a proof of time for this race in the actual race recap.

They did have one character at the expo, Woody Woodpecker but we didn't stop for a photo. They had a very small merchandise tent. Most of the merchandise was general Universal merch like you can get in the parks but they had a few generic runningUniversal shirts, jackets, etc. I'd love to see race specific merchandise as well as magnets next year. All of the race merchandise was adult sized even though I did see quite a few kids on the course.

The theme of the race was "epic characters" with the 5k being Shrek and Bumblebee (from Transformers) and the 10k being Minions and Blue (the velociraptor from Jurassic World). I did like that they picked more well known characters but I felt that the theming was a bit weak. They didn't do much else with the theme besides the medals and tshirts. I liked the themes for the two Hollywood race weekends better and I hope that they decide to go with a more dedicated theme next year.

Lots of City Walk places were offering discounts for runners and Voodoo Donuts had special 5k and 10k donuts. Overall, despite seeing areas for improvement, it was a really good first effort for the Orlando runningUniversal team. Putting on a race is a huge undertaking with a steep learning curve but hopefully my experience will help new runners be prepared for next year.

Stay tuned for Part 2 all about the race. (Spoiler alert: It was much more impressive than the expo!)

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runningUniversal Part 1: Expo-You are here.
runningUniversal Part 2: 10k 
runningUniversal Part 3: My Quick Thoughts