Disneyland Paris 5K

Made it.  I didn’t doubt that I could finish just wasn’t sure how long it would take me.  And actually, I didn’t end up timing myself since most participants were taking photos with characters and standing in line for a very long (in my opinion) time so I decided not to bother. DLP is celebrating their 25th park anniversary so ’25’ could be found most everywhere.

I was in Corral C since I signed up so late.  The good thing was the start line was right in front of my hotel (Sequoia Lodge).  The bad thing was my corral was almost a 1/2 mile away on the other side of a man-made lake in front of a different hotel,  Disney’s Newport Bay.  They did have several boats on the water to get people excited and warmed up as we waited and waited and waited and waited.

These photos are taken with plenty of light.  By the time I started, the sun had gone down.  For a point of reference, I’m to the right of the hotel you see in the background and the start line can’t be seen.

Okay, so this is my first Disney race and the first one with this many runners.  I felt like a sardine.

The race started at 8pm, and at 845pm I was barely 2/3 closer to the start line than when I started and twice that many was behind me – yikes.  Eric and a couple of friends were at the start line to see me off, then they went for a beer.

Most of the run was in Disney Hollywood Studios, some on-stage and some back-stage.  The lines for each of the markers was so long, I just went for a photo of the number.  I’d still be waiting if I wanted to be in the photo with the marker.  Sent Eric a message saying that I was at MM2 – thinking that it was mile marker 2.  Oops, forgot I was in Europe and the marker was kilometers.  My first clue was ‘Wow, that was fast and I don’t feel anything’.  Hmmm, wait that’s not right.  Aarrgghh  kilometers not miles.

It got a little long between the 3 and 4 kilometer markers.  Most of that was back-stage and they didn’t have their overhead lighting right.  Some runners were using the ‘flashlight’ option on their smart-phones to ensure they didn’t fall or trip.  Obviously I made it all the way through to the end of the 5 kilometers – no marker though.  I got my medal, took a selfie and headed out to find Eric and friends.  The finish line was inside the park and you had to purchase a special (extra) ticket to be there, so we didn’t.

Eric saw me before I found them.  We all went back to our hotel bar for a drink.  I just needed one (and didn’t finish it) before I started crashing and went upstairs to sleep.