After spending Thursday night Trick-or-Treating my way through the Magic Kingdom I decided to take it easy on Friday…
Yeah, right! I was in Walt Disney World – there’s no “taking it easy” in WDW!!! I knew I would have to hit the expo as soon as possible (mainly to get it out of the way so I could park around!) so got up a little later than planned, made my instant oatmeal and coffee in the room and set out to wait for the bus.
But then I decided to go to one of the parks and THEN catch a bus. EPCOT was calling my name!! And it would be easy to monorail over to the Poly and catch a bus to the expo! I jumped on a couple of rides (Spaceship Earth anyone?!) and then figured it was a good enough time to head over to the expo.
After my experience at the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend expo I was braced for just about anything!! To my delight and surprise things were “normal” for an expo. But still, I wanted to get my wine glass (if they had them. They didn’t) and medallions for my nephews’ Vinylmation dolls. And maybe pins for the boys too.
I grabbed my goodies and headed to the, relatively, short line and chatted with the people around me – as one tends to do in line at runDisney expos!
After picking up my bibs and shirts for the runs the next day it was back to my room to drop off my loot – then back out to EPCOT for some International Food and Wine action!
My International Food and Wine Festival Passport
After a bit more wandering it was time for dinner and getting ready for an early day on Saturday! Ps – the muffaletta at Port Orleans is a pretty good representation – just olive-y enough!!
Got my clothes together and took a shower and hit the hay early early. Saturday would be an early start but not as early as usual for Disney events! Since this was a trail run, it wouldn’t start until after sunrise!!
My first thought when I woke up was “I don’t want to do this again tomorrow” followed immediately by “Oh yeah, I don’t have to. The second race is tonight!” I oatmealed again, got dressed and headed for the bus – thank you Fireside Girl costume for making my life easy! I had an awful lot of people calling me a Girl Scout…
*THIS* is a Girl Scout
*THIS* is a Fireside Girl
The Happy Haunted Trail 5K takes place on the grounds of ESPN Wide World of Sports – starting out on the big fields.
Corrals were set up – very official looking this time! I didn’t notice people checking bibs but I have heard that they were there! Usually the waiting is the tough part but there was so much to look at, so many great costumes, that the time really went by fast. And then, there are the pictures!
There was a guest appearance by the Headless Horseman – with warnings to all to stay on the paths and not get off course. Or. Else.
The weather was uncomfortable but it definitely was warm. And the sun wasn’t up yet!
The course is mostly trail/grass running with a half loop around the track – running on the track brought back memories of the LAST time I was on that track at about mile 18 of the Marathon in January!
Running on the cushion-y track makes me feel like a REAL runner!!
There were characters out on the course – I just missed seeing Captain Hook, but got a shot with one of his men…
As the miles went past, things definitely heated up and I was happy to get to the finish and some cool water! And the cute medal!
Unless you’re a regular trail runner you probably had some difficulty with the trail portions of the course. All in all though, it was a super nice morning!!
And, the plan for post-race was definitely to take things easy — I had another 10 miles to go that night!!
outrunningthefork 