Race Recap - runDisney Jingle Jungle 5k

I hadn’t originally planned on running the Jingle Jungle 5k, which is held the same morning of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. But I started to get interested in it after reading race recaps from people who had done the 5k the morning of the Tower of Terror 10 Miler in September.

Although the race was sold out, I found a woman who had registered for the race but had to cancel her trip. She kindly allowed me to use her race entry, so I picked up her bib, with her name prominently displayed across the bottom. That’s why you’ll see my iFitness running belt covering the bottom of the bib in each picture.

The race started at 7am with shuttles scheduled to run starting at 5am. I got up at 4:30 with a plan to catch the bus over around 5:15. I had laid out all my stuff the night before so I was showered, dressed and out the door a little after 5am. There was a bus waiting and it left just a few minutes after I got on.

I arrived at the Animal Kingdom parking lot about 5:25 and was impressed with the scope of the pre-race logistics. 

So many port-a-potties!

There was a DJ playing and trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to get people dancing and a long line for a picture with Mickey and Minnie. 

You'd have to be a fool to get in this line.

With nothing else to do for the next 90 minutes, I decided to get into the line. It took about an hour, but I got my picture.

On my way to the corral I noticed Mr. & Mrs. Incredbile getting changed. 

This is why Superman uses phone booths.

Even though it was early, there was a great feeling of excitement and enthusiasm which only grew as we got closer to the starting time. I loved seeing all of the different costumes. And since this was a Family Fun Run, there were a lot of younger kids with their parents, which I also appreciated.

I was in the last corral (D) and most of the people around me were planning on walking the race. With the Half Marathon only 15 hours away, I wasn’t planning on running very hard at all, and I wanted to stop for characters and soak up the atmosphere.

The course starts by circling the Animal Kingdom parking lot, goes through the park, loops around a backstage area and finishes back in the parking lot. As is customary with runDisney events, Mickey & Minnie were on hand to send us off.

Most of the first mile of the race is parking lot – not terribly exciting, although they blasted the Jingle Jungle Parade soundtrack, which was fun to hear.

The marker for Mile 1 was just inside the park entrance.

I passed up character meets for Baloo and King Louie because the lines were really long and they aren’t really my favorites anyway. But I stopped for all the rest.

Oooooo, backstage "Cast-a-saurus" restaurant.

This awkward pose followed an even more awkward high five.

Overall it took about an hour to “run” the 5k. About half of that time was spent waiting in lines for the characters. Had I been running under my own bib I would have probably been in an earlier corral and wait times for the character photos might have been shorter.

Everyone's a winner!

I really enjoyed this 5k – it would be an excellent “first race” for people on a Couch to 5k type program. It’s super low key and there’s no pressure to run fast or at all. My only complaint would be the $50 price tag, which is pretty expensive for a 5k. $200 for a family of four might price it out of many people’s budgets.

After the race I got on a waiting shuttle back to All Star Movies, showered and changed, then caught a bus over to Epcot for the Mickey Miles Podcast meet-up, which was being held at Sea Breeze Point at the Boardwark, just outside Epcot’s International Gateway.

There were about 30 people there in all, and all of the ones I spoke to were super friendly. Plus, there were a few members of my online running team, Team Studios Central, on hand for the meet-up.

After the meet up I grabbed a turkey sandwich from the Boardwalk Bakery and headed back to the hotel room to do some homework for my MBA class and to take a nap in advance of the Half Marathon.