I have come to love and appreciate Disney races for exactly what they are.
It’s amazing how much your attitude can change your experience!
I’ve mentioned before that Disney races are Disney events that happen to involve running, as opposed to running events that happen to involve Disney.
There are bottle necks. People will stop abruptly right in front of you. I used to be annoyed about this.
But now, I view that stuff almost as fun little obstacles. I know what a Disney race is – an excuse to be silly, frolic around the parks, and take a ridiculous amount of photos. So, that’s exactly what I did this time.
Yet, in every race, I see at least a few runners who had no idea this is what it would be like.
Once we all got to our first bottleneck where there was basically no hope of running through, I heard someone yelling about trying to make it to her next mile marker in two minutes. She seemed quite annoyed, and like she was in disbelief at the scene.
Oh you poor, naive, sweet runner. This is a Disney race. Hunker down for that a few more times.
Later in the race, yet again as we came out of the castle, the person in front of me stopped cold in her tracks, in front of the photographer.
But now I know to be hyper alert at the castle. I didn’t almost trip (as I have before), because I was expecting her to stop. She stopped twice (at both photographers). And both times, I narrowly avoided falling on her.
(There’s only so much room to compensate in that small area with so many runners.)
After we’d run a little while, I did notice that if you were willing to run off course (and out of everyone’s way – yay!), you could get a shot with the castle in the background. It’s a Disney race. I obviously had no time goals. So, off I went!
Another thing that I felt was much easier to take in with this super chill, laid back attitude (that I almost feel you must bring to Disney races) was all the positive energy people were putting out!
I forgot how sweet, and kind, and silly Disney runners are. It was a nice energy to surround myself with.
(I’d had an extremely dramatic week at work trying to get a day off, which I won’t be able to talk about until late May – for reasons that will become clear then. But the point is, to be surrounded by these chipper Disney runners was a nice perk up.)
The day was great. The course was fun. The medal was awesome. The woman who gave me my medal not only put it over my head, she hugged everyone to whom she gave a medal! It was so cute.
When it comes to attitude, hospitality, and general sweetness, I don’t think it gets much better than a Disney race.
I’ll talk about a few more details tomorrow.