While in high school, I was a runner. I was on the Cross Country team and the Track & Field team. I was a middle-of-the-road athlete. I was not the worst but certainly not getting any college scholarships. I enjoyed the team itself more than the actual sport. I loved the camaraderie, I loved the spectators cheering, I loved the long Saturdays at regional meets where we all just had fun! And while I loved winning just as much as the next person, winning wasn't always in the cards for me.
Side note - I was a part of the 4x110 team during my four-year high school track career. We were good and we held the school record for many years.
Fast forward to my early 50's. I've had two surgeries on my left knee and my right knee is not too far behind. Running is not something I do often. And if I do, it is more of a run/walk scenario.
When my son turned 16, I wanted to do something special with him. We felt a trip to Disney would be perfect. We started planning and learned the weekend we would be going was also the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend. We decided to go for it and register for the 5K.
This trip was also going to include a friend of mine and her son for his 16th birthday. We convinced them to sign up for the 5K, too.
This would not be my son's first runDisney event but it would be mine. And no longer being a runner, I was a bit intimidated. PS My friend is also not a runner.
So, my girlfriend and I started planning our outfits. We bought matching shirts and borrowed cute, sparkly running skirts from our friend who is a runner. All the while, our sons were preparing by not preparing. I was trying to run/walk my way through some sort of training (more walk than run) in hopes of not having to walk the entire race.
November arrived and we traveled to Walt Disney World for our amazing trip with our newly turned 16-year-old sons.
On the morning of the races, you have to be up super early. Like 3 am early. We set our alarm clocks, donned our cutest matching "running" outfits, and jumped on the bus to the race corrals in the Animal Kingdom theme park parking lot. And at 5 am, we were off.
The boys left their Moms in the dust. But we Moms, we had so much fun. We ran, we jogged, we walked. We laughed, we stopped for photos with characters, all the while enjoying the scenery of Animal Kingdom. I'm not sure how long it took us to finish, probably about 45 minutes to an hour. The boys were waiting for us at the finish line. We received our medals, took some fun photos and that was it. We had completed our runDisney 5K.
Since then I have participated in the Wine & Dine 5K again, the Marathon Weekend 5K and the Princess Half Marathon Weekend 5K. My husband has run/walked along with me. He also ran the full marathon, the half marathon and in 2025, the full Dopey Challenge over Marathon Weekend.
Side note, I did "force" my husband into matching shirts for each race!
You don't need to be a runner to enjoy a runDisney event. You need to have the motivation to try and the ability to know the 5K event is about having fun. I'm not sure what our next runDisney event will be but I know we will be doing one!
PS You won't find me signing up for anything longer than the 5K. Those longer events are serious business and I don't want to be swept up by the balloon ladies for being the last runner on the course!