Star Wars Rival Run 2019 Part 5: Rival Run Challenge

The Rival Run Challenge was supposed to be my first runDisney challenge but then my friend Melissa and I impulsively decided to do the Fairy Tale Challenge in February so welcome to the recap of my second runDisney challenge. For those of you who don't know, Princess, Star Wars and Wine and Dine challenges involve running a 10k on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. (Marathon weekend has it's own challenges which are extra because marathons....) The upside of my spontaneous Princess weekend racing was that it was a nice practice run for Star Wars Weekend.

I was actually able to train properly for the Star Wars Challenge, which was nice. I can run a half marathon and I can run a 10k but it's something else to do them back to back with a bunch of Disney park time thrown in for good measure. I ended up using the Jeff Galloway challenge training plan available on the runDisney website by picking up at week 8 after a one week recovery post Marathon weekend. Princess weekend made me move a few things around, but over all, I stuck with the plan and it paid off with a half marathon PR! (Which I hope to crush in the fall when it's a) cooler and b) I haven't run a 10k the day before.)

My favorite thing to do after a runDisney race is nap and then visit the parks to see the characters from your race. The characters love seeing the race medals and you get some really great interactions! Bonus tip: if the character does autographs, they'll sign your medal if you bring a sharpie. There are only a few Star Wars characters you can meet in the parks and none of them do autographs (hopefully that will change with Galaxy's Edge opening later this year!) but we still got some photos with them.

Kylo Ren was on the half marathon medal so we went to see him. He wasn't impressed with our bling but he did challenge us to join the dark side. I guess the First Order must have pretty high PT standards if a half marathon isn't impressive!

We also got some medal photos over by the Galaxy's Edge mural. It's going to be so amazing to take photos there for Star Wars Weekend 2020! The mural is still pretty awesome and it was nice to get some shots with the Millennium Falcon. And we rode Star Tours because you can't not ride Star Tours! Then we headed back to the hotel for yet another nap.

We capped off the night with karaoke with some of our friends at the Swan resort. It was a bit of an adventure getting there since we didn't want to pay $25 to park at the resort but we made it and it was an absolute blast. I'm not usually one to stay up late and especially not after two super early runDisney race mornings but it was worth it. I really hope this becomes part of our runDisney traditions.

For those of you considering a runDisney Challenge, I have a few tips and suggestions.

1) Practice those back to back runs. Even if you don't use the Galloway plan, make sure you do back to back runs to get your legs used to running tired. You will thank yourself when the half marathon rolls around.

2) Take care of yourself after the 10k. It's easy to want to go crazy at Disney and eat all the things and spend all day at the park but don't forget that you have another race the next day. Naps are highly recommended along with getting to bed early. Also, be careful with your nutrition and hydration. It's totally ok to treat yourself but I wouldn't suggest drinking around the world until after your half is done.

3) Take at least one of the races very easy. The competitive types among us might want to crush both races but that's probably not a recipe for success. I'm sure someone has PR'd both the half and 10k in a challenge weekend but many more people have ended up in the medical tent by pushing themselves too hard at both races. This is especially important if it is hot and humid like it was this weekend.

4) Bring something to hold your medals while at the parks and during travel. One of the best parts of a challenge is all the bling but I personally don't like wearing all of my medals all the time. They can be quite heavy and the constant clanking drives me nuts. Even if you do like wearing multiple medals, you'll likely want to remove them for more intense rides like Tower of Terror. I made mine using this tutorial from Heather but Joyful Miles also has a no-sew tutorial if you don't have a sewing machine. I was really glad to have my medal holders this weekend.

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Star Wars Rival Run Posts:

Part 1: Expo
Part 2: Joyful Miles Meet Up

Part 3: 10k
Part 4: Half Marathon
Part 5: Rival Run Challenge-you are here.
Part 6: Kessel Run Challenge