2018 WDW Marathon Weekend 5K

This runDisney race weekend was very different from the other two runDisney race weekends that I had experienced.  The weather changed the whole experience for all of us.  The morning of the 5K started out at a VERY cold 34 degrees.  I had prepped for the weather, or so I thought.   I was on the 2nd bus to leave my resort, OKW, at around 3:30 am.  Once I got to the race site, I met my friends in the character lines to take pre-race pictures with Disney characters.

The race didn't start until 5:30 am, so standing around for about in an hour and a half before the race started in 34 degree weather was hard!  The plus side of having to stand in the cold was that I was reunited with so many of my Disney running friends.  As you can see from the pictures above, we all decided to dress as the Aliens from Toy Story.  Our friend, Rob from Joyful Miles dressed as Buzz Lightyear and our friend Chris dressed as "The Claw" ("oooh!").  We had so much fun with these costumes!!

Many of our friends were walking this 5K, because they were doing the Dopey Challenge.  This meant that they were running all 4 races.  Since there isn't a worry of being swept on this course, it was more laid back and we just took it all in.  This 5K course took us through Epcot.

There were many great characters along the course.  I loved that so many of the Aliens stuck together.

We also stopped for some great selfies.

After the races, everyone usually hangs out taking pictures and talking about that race.  Not this day though.  It was SO cold.  Everyone made a beeline for the buses.  Disney did a great job having them ready to go.  When one left for its resort, another one pulled right up.  A group of us had reservations at Kona Cafe that morning, so I headed back to my resort to get ready and grab my girls.  After some delicious Tonga Toast we headed into Magic Kingdom for a little bit.  The cold wears you out though, so we didn't last too long.  We left after a few hours to go to Epcot.  Since I am a DVC member, the girls, my friends and I went to hang out in the DVC lounge that is located above the Figment ride.  When it was time, we headed over to Japan to meet up with Jamie and Angie's husbands for our dinner reservations at Teppon Edo.  My girls love that place.  All last summer they kept asking if we could go eat at the chopstick place.  😄  Once dinner was over, we called it a night and headed back to our resort to get ready for Friday's race.

Overall, I enjoyed the 5K.  Disney did a great job with it.  The only thing that I would change, would be the weather.   I have more pictures up on my video recap.  Check it out here.  My recaps of the rest of the races will be coming soon.  Until then...