Rachel and I had signed up at Guest Services to run the Castaway Cay 5K. We had done this before, so we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but they've since upgraded the medal from a generic Mickey cruise medal to a themed Castaway Cay 5K medal (rubber), so we decided it was worth it for the hardware. Also, if we knocked out the 5K first thing, we wouldn't feel so bad about eating a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar later....


The 5K met at 8:30 AM in Evolution - don't forget to bring your drivers license (like I did), or you'll have to run back up to the room to get it.  The 5K has turned into a popular event because supposedly, you get off the ship first (by the time we actually got off, they had already announced that the ship was cleared and all passengers could disembark).  So a lot of families may have one or two people running, but they'll all come and register for the 5K and then go and lay claim to some beach chairs while the 5K is happening.  Also, there you can check your kids into the club on the island before the race (children must be 8 or older to participate in the 5K).

I woke up at 3:30 AM the day of the race, and I was feeling those early morning nerves.  For breakfast, I ate a plain bagel, and I brought a bottle of water with me to drink on my way to the race.  It was chilly outside, but I was worried about it warming up and then needing to shed a layer.  The bib had to be pinned on the front of my body, which would make taking off a jacket inconvenient.  I had read some tips beforehand about bringing a large trash bag to wear to keep warm until race time, and I noticed others following that tip (it also looked like Disney sold a product with the same function at the expo that a lot of people had purchased), but I just sucked it up.


I wasn't quite sure about the shuttle bus, but luckily there were other runners staying at the Motel 6 who were waiting for the shuttle in the lobby, so I wasn't alone in figuring it out.  The bus dropped us at the bus hub at the main gate, and we walked through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel.  There were several restaurants open in Downtown Disney for those needing a bite to eat before the race.

I'm not a runner.  Sure, I can run... but I don't consider myself to be particularly great at it.  I'd much rather get my strength and cardio workout from the comfort of a stationary bicycle in a Cycling with Rachel class (that's a shout-out to the best cycling instructor I know, my little sister, who teaches at Fike Recreation Center in Clemson) than running on pavement under the hot California sun.

So when Rachel and I signed up in August 2014 to run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland, we were reaching a bit out of our comfort zone.  Both of us had always wanted to participate in a runDisney half marathon, and we had run the miserably hot Castaway Cay 5k just a few months prior.  We thought that this would be a great goal for us to work towards and a unique way to keep us connected from coast to coast.

Pixie Dust and high-fives kept me going for 13.1 #TinkerbellHalfMarathon #runDisney #Disneyland #california #VictoriaOnVacation #VSCOcam

A photo posted by Victoria Shingleton (@vshingl) on May 10, 2015 at 12:13pm PDT