Runner Leana

...sometimes with a little swimming and biking thrown in...

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2012 Disney Family Fiesta 5K Race Report

January 13, 2012 By: Runner Leana

Disney Family Fiesta 5K

Pre-Race Rambles:

Boy it sure has been a long time since my last post, eh?  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years!  Husband and I spent Christmas Day in BC with my folks, then we all travelled to Seattle for a couple of days before flying to Orlando in time for New Years.

We were in Orlando for the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend.  Husband was a good sport and offered to run the Family Fiesta 5K with me on Friday morning.

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The race wouldn’t start until 6:30 but we were supposed to get to the start at the EPCOT parking lot by 5:30.  It was a foggy and humid morning, but still somewhat cool.  As soon as we arrived we hit the porta potties then started making our way through 9000 folks to get to the start corrals.  Along the way I ran in to a familiar face – my old Bikini Bootcamp instructor Sheena!

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Sheena was running the Goofy Challenge with Team In Training.  Considering how many people were at the race I’m astounded that we actually ran in to each other!

Disney Family Fiesta 5K Race Report:

The race is a non-timed fun run and the start would go in several waves.  Husband and I positioned ourselves in the back of the first wave with the 9-11 minute mile folks.

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We had a plan to run 4:1 intervals until we were inside the park, then we’d stop for every possible character picture.  We took off at a nice and comfortable pace.  We ran through the back lot of EPCOT for the first mile and past a rather stinky treatment plant.  We entered EPCOT right next to Mexico and started our run around World Showcase.  I kept my eyes peeled for characters.

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Mulan!  I own this movie but I still haven’t watched it yet…

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Snow White was hanging out in Germany.

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Jasmine and Aladdin were waiting in Morocco.  The lines for photos weren’t long but we definitely lost our group of well paced runners and wound up between the walkers and strollers as we ran on.  Oh well, this was a fun run, right?

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We found Goofy and Pluto!  The last mile around Spaceship Earth and toward the finish was super crowded.  I found a guy pushing a stroller and running at a great pace.  He did a great job making his way through the crowd of runners so Husband and I hung on his tail.

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All of a sudden, there was the finish line!  Husband and I crossed hand in hand, then got our medals.  After the race we bypassed the post race food (bagels, oranges and bananas) and made our way to McDonalds for a coffee and breakfast sandwich.  We then got to Hollywood Studios in time for the park to open so we could ride Toy Story Midway Mania before the lines got crazy long.

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All in all it was really fun run and I loved running with the Husband.  I think he may even have caught the racing bug??

Up next, I run the Disney Half Marathon!

more from Runner Leana

  • Race Report: 2015 Walt Disney World 5KRace Report: 2015 Walt Disney World 5K
  • Race Report: 2013 Disney Family Fun Run 5KRace Report: 2013 Disney Family Fun Run 5K
  • Buzz & Woody’s Best Friends 5KBuzz & Woody’s Best Friends 5K
  • 2008 Go Red for Women 5K2008 Go Red for Women 5K
  • 2012 Disney Half Marathon Race Report2012 Disney Half Marathon Race Report

Comments

  1. 1

    Roadbunner says

    January 13, 2012 at 6:03 pm

    So much fun!!!  I am super jealous because the one year I did the 5K, too, there were ZERO characters on the course.  What a major rip-off. 🙁  So cool you found classic Pluto and Goofy, too!

  2. 2

    Deb says

    January 13, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    Yay!  So much fun.  Love the pictures.

    Okay, something I’ve always wondered about disney character race pictures: Who takes them?  Are there people by the characters that will take them with your camera, or do you have to ask random strangers?

  3. 3

    Leana says

    January 13, 2012 at 8:30 pm

    No characters on the 5K course?  That would be a rip off!  A Disney race isn’t a Disney race if there are no characters out there!

  4. 4

    Leana says

    January 13, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    They have staff there to take photos with your camera.  On the half and full race course they also have official race photographers as well in case you aren’t carrying your camera.

  5. 5

    Lindsay says

    January 14, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    those are awesome medals for a 5k! 

  6. 6

    Laurel Davidge says

    January 15, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    Welcome back to blogland.  Congrat’s to both of you for your Disney weekend of fun and running.

  7. 7

    Julie says

    January 17, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    You guys are so cute!  Oh man, just WAIT until he catches the tri bug!   LOL!  Let the games begin!  🙂 

who is runner leana?

6 x Ironman Finisher, 11 x 70.3 Finisher, geeky engineer and recent MBA grad.

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