2013 Mickey’s Happy Haunted 5K Trail Race Report

Things have been a little silent on the blog this week as I’ve been busy hanging out at Disney World!

This morning Neil and I ran Mickey’s Happy Haunted 5K Trail Race as a little warm up for tonight’s Tower of Terror 10 Miler.  The race started at 7:30 but we had to be at Wide World of Sports before 6:45 am.  Parking was easy, we were able to find a bathroom with short lines, and then it was off to the corrals!

I opted to go with my coral flyte tank, a pair of stride shorts and a sparkle skirt to make things a bit festive.

I wasn’t in the corral for too long before my Oiselle teammate Krissy spotted me!  It was so great to meet her and she’s just as sweet and lovely in real life as you would expect.  I loved her costume too!

With about 20 minutes to go I downed a GU and some water, then we were being moved up to the start line.  Since the run winds through trails around Wide World of Sports we had to wait for the sun to come up enough.  There were some hot air balloons floating by above us watching the sunrise.

Mickey came over for the start of the race, but then ominous music started playing and the Headless Horseman rode out to the start line!  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to grab a picture from where we were standing, but I thought that was a pretty neat way to kick the race off.  Once we got the all clear that it was light enough out our corral was off!

I had no plans for the race, just to run as hard as a I could.  I didn’t want to set a goal time since I figured the humidity would impact me for sure since I’m to used to running in it.  We ran along grass, then into sandy trails behind WWOS.  There were a few characters along the trails including Big Bad Wolf, Captain Hook, Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood and Br’er Fox.  I didn’t stop for photos though, I just kept running.

Neil and I had split up at the start of the race but he would catch and pass me until the water stops, then I’d pull ahead.  Finally just shy of the 3 mile marker I knew he wasn’t that far behind me so I slowed to a walk.  He caught up, we ran together for a few seconds, then he realized the finish line was ahead and started to sprint for it and I couldn’t keep up!  Fair enough, we had always planned to run our own race on the 5K.

All done in 32:58.

We grabbed our snack packs, a bottle of water and a PowerAde.  The snack pack was filled with some good stuff including a mini Clif Builder’s Bar, pita chips and hummus and graham crackers.

We then made a beeline for Mickey Mouse!

Goofy was out cheering the runners in at the finish line and giving high fives now.

Race number one is done, now there is just a little 10 Miler to go tonight.