Are you looking for costume inspiration for the upcoming Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World coming up in November? Do you like to match the race themes, but still have your own unique look? I've got a couple of ideas for you in my Etsy shop. Today I'll be highlighting themed our Cheshire Cat collection, and our small collection of playing card pattern designs.

The race weekend will take place November 2-5 2023, with a 5K on Friday, 10K on Saturday, and half marathon on Sunday. The races have been sold out for a while, though bibs do become available sporadically on the site (follow this Telegram account to get notifications for Disney race availability: runDisney Race Availability).

Themes for the 2023 Wine & Dine weekend races are as follows:

Alice in Wonderland for the 5K
Be Our Guest for the 10K
Encanto for the Half Marathon 
Figment for the Challenge

Playing Card Pattern Costume Pieces

Evoke the Queen of Hearts and her Card Soldiers with these pieces that feature playing cards and playing card suits. Mix and match these pieces with other themed items to make yourself a unique running costume for the Alice in Wonderland themed runDisney 5K race!

Are you looking for costume inspiration for the upcoming Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World coming up in November? Do you like to match the race themes, but still have your own unique look? I've got a few ideas for you in my Etsy shop. Today I'll be highlighting themed slogan designs as well as costume pieces for the half marathon, which features a whimsical, musical theme with Encanto.

The race weekend will take place November 2-5 2023, with a 5K on Friday, 10K on Saturday, and half marathon on Sunday. The races have been sold out for a while, though bibs do become available sporadically on the site (follow this Telegram account to get notifications for Disney race availability: runDisney Race Availability).

Themes for the 2023 Wine & Dine weekend races are as follows:

Alice in Wonderland for the 5K
Be Our Guest for the 10K
Encanto for the Half Marathon 
Figment for the Challenge

Tank Tops with Encanto Inspired Slogans

If you're not interested in dressing up as a character, theme-inspired pieces make a good choice. We have a few different Encanto / running mashup slogan designs that are perfect for race weekend. See our options, all on tank tops, below. If you'd like one of these designs on a different garment, please let me know via Etsy.

Mirabel Madrigal Running Costume Pieces

Mirabel Madrigal is one of the heroines in Encanto. Dress up as this extraordinary, ordinary character who saves her family with her own special kind of magic. With costume pieces featured below, you can channel Mirabel's energy and unique look during Princess race weekend or for another costumed run.

Mirabel, born into a magical family, wears a unique outfit that is embellished with fun floral designs and child-like details. See some of our popular pieces below and check out all pieces here: Mirabel @ WeRunForFun

Luisa Madrigal Running Costume Pieces

Dress up as the strong Luisa, whose magic is extraordinary strength. Luisa works to balance the responsibilities of her gift with the pressures she feels from those who rely on her.

Luisa great character to channel during a runDisney race or other costumed run. Her signature song, Surface Pressure, is a great workout song with a catchy beat -- hum along during your run, or add it to your running playlist!

Luisa is also a perfect companion costume to join up with a Mirabel runner. Pick up Mirabel and Luisa running outfits for a pair of running sisters, or running besties. See some of our best-sellers below and check out the entire collection here: Luisa @ WeRunForFun

Isabela Madrigal Running Costume Pieces

Dress up as Senorita Perfecta, Madrigal sister Isabela, with our fun Encanto cartoon fil character inspired costume pieces. Below are some favorites; check out the entire collection here: Isabela @ WeRunForFun

I previously posted about this when I had my Garmin 235. This is an updated mini tutorial for the Garmin 245.

I wanted to post this because I often see runners asking how to set up more than 99 intervals on their Garmin watch. Interval workouts can be repeated up to 99 times, but the Alerts feature is what to use for run/walk interval running. Alerts notifications will continue for the duration of your run and are not limited to 99.

It's very easy to set up your Garmin Forerunner 245 GPS running watch to alert you to your preferred run/walk intervals. On your watch, the flow is:

Menu (long press) > scroll down to Activities & Apps > Run > Run Settings > Alerts

If you haven't set anything up yet, select Add New and then Run/Walk. Follow the prompts to set your preferred time for your running interval and your walking interval. When you have these alerts turned on, your watch will notify you when it's time to switch between running and walking. You can have your watch give you a vibration alert, a sound alert, or both.

How to Set Your Interval Alerts to Sound or Vibration or Both

Menu (long press) > scroll down to System > Sounds 

You have a choice regarding how you are notified about your run/walk intervals: via sound or vibration or both. I have mine set to Vibration only and rarely miss an alert.

I used to enjoy this race experience in Orlando. I ran the Global Energy Race in person in 2018, 2017, and 2016. The timing of a 10K in late September was often a perfect fit in my training cycle for a fall or winter half marathon. And it was a fun atmosphere, with lots of free swag and a fun, well-stocked after party for runners.

In 2020, the race went virtual, and it's been a virtual experience each year since then. Though I miss this in person run, it's hard to complain about a free virtual race that actually offers swag, including a finisher medal.

The Hero Hustle 5K, formerly known as the DBK 5K, is a fun small town race here in my hometown of DeBary, Florida. The race helps to fund the Kruid Charitable Foundation, which in turn benefits local and regional services for veterans. I ran this race before: DBK 5K 2016; DBK 5K 2018; and Hero Hustle 5K 2022.

Training & Goals
Following painful bursitis in my left knee back in March, I've been taking it very easy with no training runs and no running at all since the Springtime Surprise races last month. My current thinking is I will avoid high impact work until after a planned trip to South Africa in August-September, and then pick up training for the fall races when we return home. In the meantime I hope to work on strength and try to keep up with other cardio, in the pool and on the bike. Motivation has been tough to find, so ... we'll see.

For this race I thought I'd try out my super easy 15/45 run/walk intervals and see how I felt, with no time goal in mind and no worries if I had to switch to all walking at any point.

Race Day: May 20, 2023
I biked over to the race site on the other side of town. I arrived‌ in plenty of time to lock up my bike and pick up my packet before the race began. After I got my stuff stowed, I hung out with some friends from WVR before it was time to run. The weather was very similar to last year's event: 73°F with clear skies and 94% humidity when the race began at 7:30AM.

Mile 1: 14:24
This race is an easy run through quiet residential streets mixed in with a bit of light industry. I felt pretty good with the easy intervals after a short walking warm-up.

Mile 2: 14:19
Still feeling good! I tried to thank all of the police officers handling traffic at the intersections on the course. 

Mile 3+: 13:50, 1:29
I felt alright during the entire run -- good stuff! I was slow but kept my intervals throughout the race, though I did skip a run while walking through the water stop halfway through the race. Pleased to see the negative splits, too.

After the Race
Free beer, popcorn, shaved ice, chips, bananas and oranges were all available for runners. There was also a buffet with potato salad, pulled pork and hot dogs. The after-party for this race always includes a bunch of bounce houses, water slides, and other inflatable entertainment options. I stayed for a few beers, watched the awards ceremony (where WVR was well-represented!), and chatted with friends before heading home after a fun race morning.

I participated in the second annual Springtime Surprise race weekend at Walt Disney World. Here's my recap of the third and final event of the weekend, the Toy Story 10-Miler.

Training & Goals
So I'm still struggling with my arthritic knees, plus I suffered a very painful case of bursitis in my left knee about 6 weeks ago. The bursitis has mostly cleared up with PT, stretching, and strength work. It was scary, though, and that's been tough on my motivation -- I'm afraid I'll feel that sickening pop and pain again.

I took it very easy for the Cars 5K and the Monsters 10K, and planned to take it easy for this race as well. I was able to stop for some photo ops during the 10K and I was hoping to be able to enjoy this course as well, though worrying about my knees did give me some doubt about finishing at all. 

Costume
I'm always going to try to do Star Wars mashups for these races. I miss those runs so much! 

For the Toy Story 10-Miler I mashed up Darth Vader and Zurg to be Darth Zurg. I sewed a sparkly black cape onto a custom costume sport shirt like this one paired with a black Sparkle Skirt. I carried a DIY lightsaber made from a cut pool noodle and different colors of duct tape. And I made a Zurg helmet costume hat out of craft foam hot glued onto an old Headsweats visor.

Race Day: April 16, 2023
I was able to sleep! After the 10K on Saturday, and spending a few hours at Typhoon Lagoon afterwards, I was bushed. I had pizza and beer for dinner and then went to bed around 7PM. It took me a little while to fall asleep, and I woke up before my alarm went off, but when I got up shortly before 1:30AM I actually felt somewhat rested. I left home at 2:02AM and had the car parked just before 3AM. It had started to rain so I found a disposable poncho in the back seat pocket (such a handy thing to keep in the car!) and wore it over my costume while heading to the race area. 

Once I was past security and into the race area, I dropped off a bag at Gear Check and disposed of my poncho since the rain had stopped. I headed over to the photo ops and saw that the Monster for the day was George Sanderson, and the Toy Story characters were Woody with Buzz, who naturally had an extremely long line. 

By the time it was my turn, cast members were no longer taking cellphone photos in order to move runners through the line more quickly. The PhotoPass photograher would only take one photo per person or group, which I was totally okay with... until I walked towards Woody and Buzz and they both freaked out! Woody ran away and covered his face with one hand while pointing at me with the other. Buzz started to make blaster motions at me. It was so funny -- even the photographer and cast member were laughing, so I was kind of bummed that the photographer didn't capture any of this.

Woody and Buzz composed themselves and came back to pose for my one and only photo.

In the meantime, Wall-E had some technical difficulties and was no longer by his backdrop. The photographer was still there, though, and there was no line, so I went over to get a pair of shots. I wanted to see how my visor looked when I had it up, and when I had my face down. It looked good to go! I headed over to the corrals at around 4:20AM for a long wait in corral E.

It was about 70°F with 94% humidity when I started in the first group of corral E at 6:02AM.

Mile 1, 2, 3: 15:55, 15:38, 15:18
I started out with a walking warmup, then did the slow run/walk of 15 seconds running, 45 seconds walking, for most of these first three miles. I didn't stop for any character photos; we passed several: Lotso was backstage, Miguel from Coco was in Mexico, Carl from Up was backstage, and Russell from Up was by the Dance Hall.

Since they helped me so much during the 10K, again I carried a bunch of SaltStick FastChews. They work really well to help replenish salt since I always sweat a lot. I did my best to take a couple of tablets every 30-45 minutes. They helped so much with recovery and minimizing hand swelling.

Mile 4, 5: 16:13, 17:57
These miles took us through Hollywood Studios (the best part of the race!). I stopped for a photo with Daisy before reaching the park. 

Just as I turned onto Hollywood Blvd (the main street of Hollywood Studios), a runner behind me clipped my heel and my right shoe came completely off. Luckily there was a bench a few steps away, so I was able to hobble over, sit down, and put my shoe back on.

Continuing through the park, Edna Mode was posing by Holiday Fun.

Then we went past Star Tours, followed by Galaxy's Edge. Just like last year, I felt a little bit emotional in this part, really missing the Star Wars races. I was excited to see Stormtroopers out in Batuu -- a very pleasant surprise for a Pixar-themed race!

Running the streets of Batuu / Galaxy's Edge was great. I got my best on-the-run photos here, including my favorite below!

Next was Toy Story Land, the star portion of this Toy Story 10 mile race. I was very excited to see Slim from A Bug's Life out again. I had to stop to pose with him!

Other photo ops as we continued through Hollywood Studios and beyond included Minnie & Mickey in front of the Chinese Theater, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible by Fantasmic, haunted Bellhops by the Tower of Terror, and Flik backstage.

Leaving Hollywood Studios, all that was left to run was five and a half mostly highway miles, including the dreaded three overpasses. My knees were feeling just fine, after mostly walking the miles through Hollywood Studios (I did jog when I saw PhotoPass!). Going over and under the overpasses, it was easy to see my position relative to the Balloon Ladies (effectively the last runners before race staff starts to pick up those who fall behind pace). I kept up a brisk walk for most of the rest of the course.

Mile 6, 7, 8, 9: 15:43, 15:51, 15:41, 16:19
While these were strictly highway miles, there were several characters out for photos, and other entertainment to keep runner spirits high. 

Mile 6 had Atta, Jessie, and the Lightfoot brothers from Onward. These last two are particularly rare; I had only ever seen them when we attended a free Disney Parks Blog sneak preview of Onward back at Disney Springs in early 2020.

Mile 7 had a Jessie-themed country band singing live music, and a Toy Soldier encouraging everyone as we trudged up an overpass.

Mile 8 had the Dreadnaught Marching Band from Lakeland, and Chip & Dale on the road.

During mile 9 we passed by Goofy in a dapper outfit, and Mike (who maybe alternated with Sulley?) from Monsters Inc, both outside of Epcot.

Mile 10+: 17:05, 5.32 (Garmin recorded 10.38 miles)
This last mile took us through Epcot to the finish line. Here we could take photos with Frozone and Bo Peep. We were also treated to a choir on our way to the finish chute. And Mickey dressed as Woody alternated with Minnie dressed as Buzz at the finish line.

After the Race
I picked up my finisher and challenge medals, cooling towel, snacks and drinks, and walked over to pick up my gear bag. I took off my running shoes and put on my Oofos and headed over to the finisher backdrop for a photo with all of my bling! I checked out the merch tent but didn't see anything I wanted. The beer line was way too long so I decided to head home after a really fun race weekend!

Takeaways From a Great Race Weekend
There were some great improvements made by runDisney that I and others noticed during this race weekend. I haven't run a lot of rD races in the past couple of years so I don't know when all of these things were first implemented, but they were all firsts for me.

End of Line Character Name Paddles
The cast member managing the end of character lines during the races held a paddle with the name of the character for which the line was! This prevented people from dangerously doubling back on the course and wasting time standing in a line without knowing who the line was for. Hands down this was my favorite race improvement and I hope they keep it! I let several paddle-holders know how much I appreciated them.

Gloves for Biofreeze!
I don't know when was the last time I used Biofreeze during a race, but I remember having to use my bare hands and asking for a napkin to get the stuff off of my hands, only to find they didn't have anything. So now I have to run with a numb hand?! I thought it was really strange. During this race, when I stopped at a medical tent to get some Biofreeze for my knees, I was offered a latex glove! Genius!

Caution Runners Messaging Changed to Be More Inclusive
Approaching hazards and sharp turns, we heard the recorded message now addressed us all as "athletes" instead of "runners". 

Starting Corrals Adjustments
The corrals were rearranged to put A closest to the start line, then E, D, C, and B. It helped move the corrals out faster with less shuffling of runners from place to place. This was especially great for A and E.

Recommendation
Even though I'm much slower than I used to be, and I'm not able to stop for characters as much as before, I still have fun at these events. I was very happy to be able to stop for some character photos during the 10K and 10-Miler, and generally enjoy the courses. I was also really happy to finish without any significant knee pain!

Chip time: 2:47:15
Placement details: 508/721 in Age Group; 9180/11768 overall
Race Amenities: Nice themed medals and race shirts
Cost: $479.70 for the three race challenge!

I participated in the second annual Springtime Surprise race weekend at Walt Disney World. Here's my recap of the second event of the weekend, the Monsters 10K.

Training & Goals
So I'm still struggling with my arthritic knees, plus I suffered a very painful case of bursitis in my left knee about 6 weeks ago. The bursitis has mostly cleared up with PT, stretching, and strength work. It was scary, though, and that's been tough on my motivation -- I'm afraid I'll feel that sickening pop and pain again.

I did a nice slow run/walk last week at the Bunny Hop 5K, and walked the Cars 5K the day prior, and everything felt ok. I aimed to keep a slow pace for this race too, in order to make sure my knees would be able to take me 10 miles on Sunday.

Costume
I'm always going to try to do Star Wars mashups for these races. I miss those runs so much! 

For the Monsters 10K I mashed up Chewbacca and Sulley to be Sulleybacca in a matching shirt and skirt set. I carried a small Porg stuffed doll that I made into a little monster by adding four extra eyes with hot glue. And I wore the Monsters University hat that I made for the 2017 Disneyland 10K where I dressed up as Sulley.

Race Day: April 15, 2023
Arthur and I both managed to sleep a bit and woke up with our alarm at 1:45AM. We hit the road by 2:17AM, parking at Epcot at 3:12AM. Arthur had decided to join me so we could go to Typhoon Lagoon after the race together.

Since I didn't have to arrange anything with my costume like I had for the 5K, we were quick to get out of the car and head through security, and then on to the race area. It was fun to see all of the runners dressed as monsters. Mike and Sulley were well-represented, but so were other characters and elements from the Pixar movie series.

A lot of runners were wearing a sock pinned to their back left shoulders, whether they were dressed as George Sanderson or not. It was part of a fun game and donation campaign arranged by some members of runDisney fan Facebook groups. Dead Last Start (DLS) runners, who start the race after almost everyone else, would try to gather socks from other runners who wearing the sock as they passed them on the course. The sock was a sort of signal (to those in the know), and if a DLS runner asked "23-19?", which was the contamination code that George triggered when he returned with a human sock on his back, the runner would give a sock.

At the end of the race, hundreds of socks ended up being donated to a worthy local charity. I was wearing a sock on my shoulder and planned to carry some socks to give out, but I changed my mind at the last minute (I sweat so much, the socks would get funky if I carried them). Instead I found the group collecting socks and dropped off my donation before the run.

For the morning photo ops, Mater and Wall-E were there again, but Needleman was replaced by Mike and Sulley with the Monster backdrop, and Jessie replaced Bo Peep for the Toy Story backdrop. The line for Mike and Sulley was extremely long (took us almost an hour) but we managed to make it through and I even got to pose with Jessie before heading to the corrals at around 4:30AM.

Heading to E (the last corral) I found myself walking behind Jogging Jack Sparrow and asked for a selfie. He gladly obliged -- in character, of course. It's hilarious that he is always totally in character, from the stumbling walk to the slurry British accent! Thanks for the selfie, m8!

It was about 70°F with 88% humidity when I started towards the back of corral E (I think I was in the second-to-last release) at 5:59AM

Mile 1: 14:44
After a brief walking warm-up, I started slow run/walk intervals of 15/45. Because I crossed the start line very close to the Balloon Ladies (effectively the last pacers before race staff picks up anyone not keeping up), I had to hustle, especially if I wanted to stop for any character photos. Less than a half mile in, Merida was out for photos but I passed on by. 

Mile 2: 15:53
I had banked a bit of time in that first mile, so I felt safe stopping briefly for a photo with Mickey Mouse, who was wearing a dapper outfit. The line was very short, I guess due to the prolonged releasing of the corrals (especially compared to Friday).

During this mile, which took us onto Epcot Center Drive to head back towards the park, we also passed a marching band, and Carl from Up.

In the past I had used SaltStick FastChews to help replenish salt since I always sweat buckets. I actually remembered to bring them along for this race, and ate two tablets every half hour or so. They helped so much with recovery and minimizing hand swelling.

Mile 3: 14:59
I kept moving, passing Woody's photo op (he was on a break when I went by), Needleman, and PhotoPass snapping runners with the Figment statue as we entered Epcot.

Mile 4: 15:24
This mile was partially through World Showcase and around the Crescent Lake resorts. I passed photo ops with Frozone and Minnie Mouse. 

Mile 5: 16:39
During mile 5 we finished up with the Boardwalk area and headed back to Epcot and around World Showcase. I had banked enough time by this point in the race to walk the rest of the distance. I stopped for a photo with Chip and Dale, and skipped Emile with Remy in France.

Mile 6+: 15:29, 7:23 (Garmin recorded 6.45 miles)
Here was a bit more course through World Showcase and Future World before heading out to the finish line. I passed photo ops with Pinocchio in Italy, a dapper Goofy between World Showcase and Future World, Pluto backstage, and Donald at the finish line.

After the Race
After getting my medal, I headed to the medical tent to get some ice wrapped on my knees. Icing my knees after exercise has been beneficial so I thought it would be a good idea to do this, but right after I walked out of the medical area, the wrap started to fall apart. I ended up holding two bags of ice and trailing strings of plastic wrap loose around my legs as I collected my drinks and snacks. Back in the reunion area, I sat down on the bleachers and just held the ice bags to my knees. Meanwhile, Arthur kindly fetched me a celebratory cup of beer. 

After I iced my knees a bit longer we headed out, stopping for a photo together with Mater before we left.

We enjoyed a hearty breakfast (and I had a stealth change of clothes in the restroom) at Port Orleans Riverside resort (our favorite) before heading to Disney Springs and then finally Typhoon Lagoon for some serious water park relaxation action. 

Recommendation
Even though I'm much slower than I used to be, and I'm not able to stop for characters as much as before, I still have fun at these events. I was very happy to be able to stop for some character photos during the 10K, and generally enjoy the course.

Chip time: 1:40:33
Placement details: 368/667 in Age Group; 6039/9858 overall
Race Amenities: Nice themed medal and Monsters race shirt
Cost: $479.70 for the three race challenge!

I participated in the second annual Springtime Surprise race weekend at Walt Disney World. Here's my recap of the expo and the first race in the three-day challenge event, the Cars 5K.

Expo: April 13, 2023
Everyone participating in a runDisney event needs to go to the Expo before race day to pick up the event bib(s) and shirt(s). Merchandise from runDisney and other vendors is also available at the Expo, which takes place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

I picked up my bib and shirts, had a look around at the official merch and expo vendors, and took photos with all of the photo ops I saw! There were replica medal posters outside near the ESPN Wide World of Sports entrance and several PhotoPass ops at bib pick-up (one pictured below). In the official merchandise exit hall, there were two characters and distance number photo ops. The characters were George Sanderson and Woody alternating with Bullseye. I think it was the first time I ever saw Bullseye.

Training & Goals
So I'm still struggling with my arthritic knees, plus I suffered a very painful case of bursitis in my left knee about 6 weeks ago. The bursitis has mostly cleared up with PT, stretching, and strength work. It was scary, though, and that's been tough on my motivation -- I'm afraid I'll feel that sickening pop and pain again.

I did a nice slow run/walk at the Bunny Hop 5K last week, and everything was working ok. For this race I knew I'd be wearing a silly costume and it would be hard to run, so I aimed to walk this race to try and save my knees for the 10K and 10-Miler.

Costume
I'm always going to try to do Star Wars mashups for these races. I miss those runDisney races so much! 

For the Cars 5K I did a Cars / TIE Fighter mashup that I'm calling TIE Fight-car. I wore a Cars-inspired black shirt with a fun Run-eze spoof logo on the back. I used a glue gun to attach the cockpit window to the front of my shirt (a disc made of silver posterboard and glitter foam pieces). 

I carried a pair of TIE Fighter wings I made out of silver posterboard, black foam board, silver ribbon, and silver duct tape. I used a pair of old running armbands to carry them. Velcro hooks attached to the phone window on the armbands stuck very nicely to fabric loops on the wings, and made it easy for me to put the costume together myself after I arrived at Epcot. I held onto the bottoms of the wings with my hands to help keep them in position. I was worried about them staying together and figured the wings would get completely ruined if it rained, but we only had a bit of light drizzle before the race started so that was no problem. 

I wore a black checkerboard Sparkle Skirt and a red Sparkle Athletic Headsweats visor to complete the mashup outfit.

Race Day: April 14, 2023
I woke up well before my alarm was to go off, at 12:45AM (!), and had a really hard time trying to get back to sleep. I finally got up at around 1AM and slowly started to get ready. I left home at 1:58AM and arrived at the Epcot parking lot at 2:46AM. I changed into my race shirt, attached my bib, and put on my TIE wings. I arrived at Epcot security right at 3AM and was among the first to enter the race area. I was able to get photos with all of the characters (Mater, Needleman, Bo Peep, and Wall-E) before heading to corral E (the last corral) at around 4AM. 

It was a long wait, but I wanted to practice being at the front of the corral. I'm going to need the extra buffer for the 10-Miler for sure. The race announcers kept the crowd entertained somewhat, and at the end we found out that announcer 3 and non-runner John Pelkey would be participating in his very first 5K along with everyone else!

It was about 70°F with 100% humidity and sporadic light rain when I started at the front of corral E at 5:36AM

Mile 1: 16:19
I maintained a nice pace walk for the first mile, pretty much boxed in by other walkers. About a half mile in, my right armband's Velcro slipped and the armband started coming loose. Uh oh! I removed the wing, re-strapped the armband to my arm, reattached the wing to the armband, and kept moving. The armband would end up popping loose a few more times during the race, despite me making adjustments and checking it frequently for the rest of the run. Though it was designed to hold something relatively heavy like a phone, the big wing was flopping around a bit and that probably put a lot of pressure on the simple Velcro connection.

Mile 2: 16:05
Off the backroads and through World Showcase we go! I tried to make sure my costume was all in order before each PhotoPass opportunity, so I didn't have any fails caught on camera. In this, I was successful. I kept getting snapped at bad angles, though, where the wings aren't really visible. It was a wonky and difficult costume! I got a lot of compliments from fellow athletes and cast members, so that was nice. Bring the Star Wars races back!

Mile 3+: 17:16, 4:03
I found the lines for characters incredibly long again, and I didn't stop for any. Slim from A Bug's Life was a very cool character that I'd never seen before (spoiler: he was out for the 10-Miler two days later!). Also on the course were Edna Mode, Dug with Russell, Jessie (who I completely missed even seeing), Joy and Sadness, Pluto at the finish line, plus a marching band and a choir. It was a good mix of entertainment. 

After the Race
Oh man, as soon as I crossed the finish line I took off the armbands and wings and stowed them in a big plastic garbage bag I had been carrying in my pocket. I picked up my medal, water, Powerade, snack box and banana and went looking for the finisher photographers, who I've missed the last few races.

I got my picture and then headed to my car, done at Disney for the day! 10K tomorrow and 10-Miler on Sunday!

Recommendation
Even though I'm much slower than I used to be, and I'm not able to stop for characters as much as before, I still have fun at these events. The cheering castmembers, the enthusiastic volunteers, the characters and entertainment, the jovial fellow runners and their crazy and creative costumes are always fun to see. 

Garmin time: 53:43
Race Amenities: Nice themed medal and Cars race shirt
Cost: $479.70 for the three race challenge!

I ran the Third Annual Bunny Hop 5K on multi-use trails here in DeBary Florida on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023. It was my second time running this little local holiday race. Here's my recap.

My mind is really on the Springtime Surprise Challenge races coming up next weekend, which I am hoping to complete despite the total derailment of my training in the 6 weeks leading up to those races. So my goal for this race was to see how my legs and knees would cooperate with some very slow easy run:walk intervals. I set my watch to 15/45 intervals (15 seconds of running followed by 45 seconds of walking).

Race Day: April 9, 2023
I love when there are races at Gemini Springs, because these are familiar running trails, and I can walk or bike to the start. On race morning, I arrived in plenty of time to get my packet, stow my stuff with my bike, and line up for the race. It was 66°F at the start with 94% humidity, overcast skies, and a stiff breeze. Despite the humidity it was pretty pleasant weather for running. 

Chip time: 42:14
Placement details: 5/10 in Age Group; 91/117 overall
Race Amenities: Cute tech shirt, finisher medal for all, video of start/finish 
Cost: $27.88

Are you looking for costume ideas for the upcoming Springtime Surprise race weekend at Walt Disney World this April?

The race weekend takes place April 13-16, with a 5K on Friday, a 10K on Saturday, and a 10-Miler on Sunday. The theme for these races is as follows:

Cars for the 5K
Monsters for the 10K
Toy Story for the 10-Miler
Finding Nemo for the Challenge (of completing all three races)

Today I'll be highlighting one character idea for the 10K: James Patrick "Sulley" Sullivan. This character is a large horned monster with fluffy purple-spotted turquoise fur. 

I dressed up as Sulley for the 2017 Disneyland 10K. The theme for that race weekend was Pixar, and the10K was Monsters. There were a lot of Sulleys running the race!

Sulley is a fun and easy character to fashion a simple DIY a running costume.

For my outfit, I tacked (or basted, aka temporary stitching) pieces of purple felt onto a turquoise tech top and a turquoise Bolder Athletic (SparkleSkirt), both of which I already had in my closet. All I had to buy was a few sheets of purple felt for Sulley's spots, so this was a very affordable DIY job. 

For my Sulley costume hat, I cut the Monsters University logo out of craft foam and hot-glued it onto a cheap navy blue cap I got from Amazon. I cut and stitched together some grey felt to make a pair of horns, stuffed them with craft fill (like this), and stitched them to the sides of the cap to complete the look. 

Side note! I still have this cap and plan on re-using it for the 2023 Springtime Surprise 10K, though my costume will be a mashup of Sulley and someone else... stay tuned.

If you're not up to a DIY costume, Sulley running costumes are easily available from artists on Etsy. Below are the pieces I've got in my Etsy shop, WeRunForFun.

These are fun because they have a printed fur texture look just like the big guy himself. They're also more comfortable than running a 10K with poorly-sewn purple patches on your clothes (or maybe that's just me).

You can also easily purchase a Monsters University hat on Amazon (see below).