Wine and Dine Race Weekend - Day 2 (part 1)

I’m going to divide Day 2 into 2 posts.. because basically it felt like 2 separate days.  It was race day so I had the Jingle Jungle 5K in the morning and then the Wine and Dine Half Marathon at night.

Disney races often require an early wake up.  In comparison to other races, the Jingle Jungle time wasn’t as early as some others, but it was still early.  I set my alarm for 4:15 and was on the first bus to the start area by 5 am. 

I met up with my fellow Mickey Milers and we hung out waiting for the start.  To me the waiting is always the worst part of Disney races, but it is better when you have friends to chat with.  My friend, Sandie and I had planned to walk the 5K.  So after we left the Mickey Milers, we headed to our corral to wait a little more.  It was pretty cold while standing around but luckily we warmed up as we started walking.

I always enjoy the 5Ks at Disney.  There is a posted 16:00 minute mile time requirement but I have never seen that enforced.  I like being able to walk with friends and just enjoy it, rather than being concerned with time. The Jingle Jungle 5K has a holiday theme and there were lots of very cool costumes by fellow runners.  The course was about a mile in the parking lot heading into Animal Kingdom, then some time around Animal Kingdom and then back out to some more time in the parking lot before the finish.  I hadn’t been in Animal Kingdom in about 6 months.  I was surprised by all the construction.  Almost everywhere you looked were walls blocking construction areas.  There were characters out for the pictures but the lines were really long so we didn’t stop.  We just chatted and walked along and enjoyed ourselves.  After collecting our finisher medallion, we went to the buses to head back to our separate resorts.

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5K start line

Race 1 done!

I got back to French Quarter and had some breakfast.  I was planning to meet up with Team All Ears alumni at noon at the Boardwalk.  Chris wanted to have a “rest day” at the resort (what is a rest day at Disney?!?!) so he wasn’t going to come with me.  So I decided to take the bus over to Epcot, take my time walking through to the back and then walk over to the Boardwalk.  Yes, it had dawned on me that all that walking might not have been the best idea with a half marathon coming up that night….but I still decided to do it.

It was the last weekend for the Food and Wine festival in Epcot and it was CROWDED!  The lines to just get into Epcot were crazy.  I stopped in a few stores and looked around and then thought I would go see what I could get a taste of at the festival.  Well, that didn’t happen.  The lines were crazy long. 

I have mixed feelings about the Food and Wine festival.  Do I like trying different food and wine items from various countries?  Absolutely.  Do I like waiting 30+ minutes to get one taste?  No.  Do I like paying at least $5-6 a taste?  Not really.  Chris and I have done it a few times and, when it isn’t crowded, I can enjoy it but that was certainly not the case today.  So just made my way through the crowds and met up with my Team All Ears teammates at the Boardwalk Bakery.

It was great to see everyone again.  The Team officially ended last year (and some people, including myself, have moved over to the Mickey Milers team).  Mickey Milers is fun but there is still nothing like Team All Ears to me and it is always great to get together with them.  We chatted and took a picture and then it was time for me to start my walk back through Epcot to take a bus back to the French Quarter.

My plan was to have a big lunch and pick up something to have before I headed to the buses for the race.  I was hoping to nap or at least rest for about 3 hours.  I met up with Chris at the French Quarter food court and we had a good lunch.  Then it was time to go to bed for a bit.  It was really an odd day with the early start, and then going back to bed only to get up a few hours later to go run a half marathon.  As much as I enjoy the 5k, I don’t think I would do this one again just because of the logistics of it all happening in one day.  But it sure made for an interesting experience.