Better late than never... 2022 Springtime Surprise Weekend Recap!
Pre-Race Weekend...
In the month leading up to this race I did my maintenance runs on the treadmill. To mix it up I did a number of walks, walk + runs, and themed runs. I also mixed in some core strength and cycling classes for a change of pace. This month I was very thankful to own the bike and treadmill, because all of my workouts were done late at night before bed. I felt ready for the race weekend, but work and life had been so hectic that downtime was few and far between.
Thursday, March 31, 2022 - Travel Day, Expo Day, Moonlight Magic and Expedition Everest 5K!
I was registered to run the Springtime Surprise Challenge, so I was not happy to be traveling to FL the day of the first race. With the first race being scheduled on Thursday night instead of Friday morning like I originally expected, and limited time off from work after other trips, unfortunately I didn't have another choice. Our flight was at 6:00am and I felt fairly confident that we would get there in enough time to at least pick up my bib for the race that evening. I was very thankful for no wacky weather and flight delays today!
I woke up around 2:00am to give myself enough time to get ready and finish any last minute packing I needed to do. We got a great spot in the parking lot, and our airport and flight experiences went smoothly. By 9:00am we were waiting for the tram. We had a bit of a wait to pick up our luggage, so we didn't get to our rental car until 9:45am. We stopped at Dunkin on our way, and decided to stop at the resort (according to the app our room was ready nice and early!) to drop off our luggage since we were already getting to the expo late.
We were staying at OKW for the first time this trip. It is a very large resort, so I was thankful to have the car and be able to drive straight to our building. Unfortunately when we unpacked the car and walked up to our room we couldn't get the door open with a magic band or a phone. We didn't want to reload the car, so my mom waited by the room while I drove over to the lobby for assistance. Apparently the systems were down at OKW that morning, so I had to wait for them to make me room keys in the back and then drive back to the room to get in. At this point I almost wished that we had went straight to the expo, but at the same time I was happy we didn't because I always feel better once we're in our rooms and able to get settled.
Once we were all set we drove to the expo. I have a photo in front of the ESPN sign at 12:06pm. There was a bit of a wait on the inside, so we didn't get to the merch area until 12:49pm. I was hoping to find pins and magnets, and possibly a challenge I Did It shirt since it's the first year of this event, but I went in with limited expectations after arriving so late. Of course I didn't find
everything I wanted, but by 1:16pm I was checked out using mobile order for the following:
- SS Challenge I Did It t-shirt
- Pins: Passholder logo, Challenge logo & medal replica, 10 mi logo & medal replica, 10K logo & medal replica, 5K logo (I had to circle back a few times to find this one!)
- Magnets: Weekend, 10 mi, 10K
I was happy to find as much as I did after arriving so late and was able to use gift cards to pay for it all. My mom was tired so she went off to the car to wait while I headed over to get my bibs and t-shirts. One thing I found very strange was that they didn't have the dots for each race lined up on the walkway up the hill. I ended up finding them in the bib pickup building on what looked like large tablecloths on a wall. I don't know how or why that happened. I do recall seeing posts on Instagram of people with photos of all four of them at once outdoors, but I don't know when they got to take those.
I headed into the vendor building and took a quick look around, but there wasn't anything that I was interested in. I guess there wasn't much new to peak my interest. I picked up my shirts and quickly tried them on for size, stopped at the DVC booth for a chance to win (I don't know if anyone ever wins, but it was worth a try as I was passing by), and then made my way out.
Once we got back to OKW we stopped at the main building to pick up lunch. The options at the quick service restaurant were limited, but we each found something and brought it back to our room. The plan was to eat, and then rest and get settled in our room before our big night! I actually got in bed and tried to take a nap, but it didn't work out. I played around with the scavenger hunt app a bit, but decided I'd wait for more instructions at the event.
Tonight was going to be a busy night, because we had our first Moonlight Magic event, and the Expedition Everest 5K. This was an evening of unknowns, because I've never experienced Moonlight Magic or done a race in AK, so I was a little unsure of how things would go.
We ended up deciding to go to Moonlight Magic briefly first to check in and try to use some of the vouchers before heading straight over to the race. We arrived at EPCOT and got our bracelets and vouchers with no issues. I was dressed and ready for the race, the only thing I didn't do was put my bib or running sneakers on, but I had them in the car and ready to go. We picked up our popcorn buckets and walked around a bit. Neither of us was particularly hungry, and I wasn't willing to eat something random before the race, so we ended up just walking around a bit before deciding to get on line for Soarin' before heading out. I think this ended up being our downfall, because of course the line ended up being a little longer than expected, and then we still had to walk to the car to get to AK. First, I underestimated how far AK is from EPCOT (I don't go there regularly so I forgot how far it is from everything). Second, although I thought we should be okay because the buses from the resorts weren't supposed to be running until 8:30, we were NOT okay. The traffic to get into AK was excruciatingly painful. I have never been more stressed about making it to a race as I was this night. I think I was also tired after being up since 2am, which didn't help my stress level. Once we got into the parking lot I stayed to the left which ended up being the smartest move and the quickest moving lanes, but they were still very slow moving. Not to mention how far of a drive it was to get to the actual parking location.
Once we were parked I quickly put on my running sneakers and grabbed my bib. My mom decided to wait in the car. Luckily as I was hurrying to get to the start a cast member was calling out our parking location (which I completely didn't think about), so I entered it into my phone to reference after finishing the race. Since I was there and parked I thought my anxiety could finally decrease, but I realized it wouldn't because now I had to trek all the way over to the AK entrance to go through the medal detectors. The line of people that I'm assuming came from the buses was sooo long, but it was dark so I couldn't tell exactly where it started. A man was announcing for us to jump in the line where we were, which was nice but I'm sure it was also incredibly frustrating for those people that were already there. It was a mess, and i just couldn't wait to get to my corral.
By the time I got to my corral I was tired and overwhelmed. Not a great way to start a race, especially with the iffy weather. I know I was irritable and I wasn't completely paying attention to the announcements. I appreciated the smoke used to send off each group, and I completely understand why they had to do it, but it felt out of place to not see and hear the fireworks. It was slightly strange to be set up in the AK parking lot vs EPCOT, and it felt like each start took
forever. I know they were trying to stagger the starts, which was definitely needed due to the narrow course, but the wait was certainly not enjoyable. I think the worst part about it was that you could see the finish from where we were standing, so we were watching people come in finishing the race while we were waiting to be allowed to start. I was in s3, so it was a bit of a wait. My group wasn't sent out until 10:39pm.
I saw one woman getting up from a fall in the parking lot in the very beginning of the race. A cast member was already there asking if she was okay, and the woman replied no. This spooked me a little bit, and I tried to be very aware of my footing from there on out. While I appreciated the ability to run a new course and at night, it wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. Again, I know 90% of my experience is due to my exhaustion and the anxiousness that I experienced trying to get to the race, but even with all of that aside I just felt like the course was sooo dark and sooo crowded, and I was a little nervous about potentially getting injured. I ended up not stopping for any photos because the lines were just too long, but I did stop for quick pictures of:
- Animal Kingdom sign 10:52pm
- Mile 1 marker 10:53pm
- Tree of Life 10:55pm
- quick video of the ground in Pandora 10:57pm
- Festival of the Lion King sign 11:01pm
- Mickey's side (lol, I was hoping he'd turn around but it never happened and I didn't want to wait for the selfie people to move) 11:06pm
- Mile 2 marker 11:08pm
- Crush and family puppets 11:09pm
- Mile 3 marker 11:14pm
Apparently in my anxiousness of starting the race I missed the memo that the course was being shortened. I couldn't even believe when I saw the mile 3 marker. After completing the race I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a full 5K, but I wasn't too upset because I've run too many 5Ks to count, and I've run enough additional milage in runDisney races accidentally to make up for the difference.
Outdoor Run:
(Nike Run Club)
Focus: Springtime Surprise Challenge - Expedition Everest 5K
Distance: 2.66 mi
Total Time: 00:37:17
Avg. Pace: 13'59"/mi
Splits:
1 = 13'33"
2 = 14'02"
0.66 = 14'33"
(Garmin)
Focus: Springtime Surprise Challenge - Expedition Everest 5K
Distance: 2.69 mi
Total Time: 00:38:18
Avg. Pace: 14'16"/mi
Splits:
1 = 13'48"
2 = 14'29"
3 = 14'36"
The parking lot was slight chaos. I did get my medal and snack box but somehow I never saw the bananas. I was starting to look for my way back to the car when I noticed a random Photopass photographer in the crowd. They didn't have the runDisney signs out, so I almost forgot about the finisher photo! I found a line to stand in, but it was very awkward because we were just randomly lined up in the parking lot with no sense of order or direction. I got my photo and eventually found my way back to the car, which was much harder than I expected because there wasn't anyone guiding you and I had no idea which direction I needed to go.
After all of that chaos, I changed my sneakers and my shirt and made my way back to EPCOT to finish Moonlight Magic. We arrived back at the event check in spot at 11:55pm. We walked around leisurely, and it was pretty empty. It almost reminded me of what the parks used to feel like during late night extra magic hours. I got a Mickey ice cream sandwich and a soda, and decided to take the opportunity to ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure for the first time without an incredibly long wait. We made our way over to the ride and after some confusion at the entrance made our way inside. We ended up waiting exactly 30 minutes from the time we got on line until the time we walked to the ride vehicle. I thought the ride was cute, but I don't think I'd wait longer than that to ride it again. I've also never seen Ratatouille, so some of the excitement might've been lost on me. It reminded me of a nicer/smoother/newer version of Spiderman at US. After the ride I was exhausted. While it had rained off an on that evening, apparently it poured while we were inside. Luckily we missed that and were able to walk back to the car dry. It was a very short Moonlight Magic event with an almost 5K in the middle, but I actually enjoyed it and was glad I went. It felt like Disney of the past, and I hope to be able to attend another one in the future and be able to experience the entire event.
I don't know exactly what time we got back to our room, but I remember being in the room and awake at 2am, realizing I had been awake for 24 hours.
that'll be delivered Tuesday, and I got out for a run in the beautiful sunshine!
). I tried on the blue hoodie I mentioned earlier and it was too big. I went to put it back and found that they had completely restocked them and there were plenty in my size, so I was able to grab one.
I know it's a very short time until Springtime Surprise so a formal plan may not be necessary, but at least a guide of how many minutes or miles I should try to get in each week prior to the race so I can stay focused. I learned in January/February that if I don't have a plan on the calendar, I don't stay on track!
