In Which Jenn Tries To Pick Out More runDisney Races

I’ve been pretty homesick for Walt Disney World lately – you know, the sort of homesick where you look through photo albums and listen to park background music (Innoventions FTW!) and weep silently to yourself because you’re not in WDW right now and won’t be again for months. There is but one cure for this affliction: standing in the shadow of Cinderella castle. Barring that, all you can do is treat the symptoms with copious trip planning.

To that end, I’ve been trying to decide what runDisney races I would like to run next year (Because what’s a Disney trip without a race?). With the shift of Wine & Dine to a morning race like any other boring ol’ runDisney race, I no longer have the same incentive to make this my evergreen selection. It’s still in the running, mind you, but it has competition.

By my reckoning, and removing trips to foreign lands because I barely have the money to do any of this as it is, the current runDisney race lineup is as follows:

• WDW Marathon Weekend, generally early January, WDW

• Star Wars Half – Light Side, generally mid-January, Disneyland

• Princess Half, generally late February, WDW

• Star Wars Half – The Dark Side, generally late-ish April

• Tinker Bell Half, generally mid-May, Disneyland

• Disneyland Half, generally late August/early September, Disneyland

• Wine & Dine Half, generally early November, WDW

• Super Heroes Half, generally early-ish November, Disneyland

I’m already signed up for the 2016 Wine & Dine Half and the 2017 WDW Marathon, so for this exercise, let’s look at February 2017 and beyond.

The Star Wars Half – Light Side is in Disneyland, which means a greater expenditure as far as flights go, plus I have to figure out how to get myself to/from the airport, plus plus I probably can’t afford an on-site hotel. Plus plus plus I’m (please don’t hate me!) lukewarm on Star Wars. Star Trek or no stars at all, I say! Pass.

The Princess Half is scarcely six weeks after the WDW Marathon. If I select that one, I’m not spreading out my trips for effectively, and can expect to be right back in Homesickland for the majority of the year depending on how planning shakes out. I’ve also already done this one – but then again, that does up the nostalgia factor. It’s also a for-girls race, which means I’d probably enjoy a corral boost with all those boys eliminated from the first few.

The Star Wars Half – Dark Side… is actually a contender, surprisingly. Look, I know I said I’m not a Star Wars girl, and I stand by that statement. But a lot of other factors are attractive about this race. It’s a good four or five months after the WDW Marathon, which would inoculate me against the homesickness right about the time I would need it. It’s also during Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival, which I haven’t attended since before it had all those exciting new food booths and things. It’s not during the Christmas-adjacent season, so I could see/hear the Magic Kingdom without any holiday trappings for the first time since 2013 (don’t get me wrong, I love said trappings, but sometimes you need a little bit of the original flavor to cleanse the palate). I’m throwing this one in the “maybe” pile. I guess I could rebel and wear a Starfleet insignia.

The Tinker Bell Half comes with the same issues as Star Wars – Light Side plus it’s on Mother’s Day weekend generally, which my mom may or may not love. I’ve already done this one too, back when it was still in January. I dunno; just not really feeling it for some reason.

The Disneyland Half comes with those same issues too… but for some reason I am feeling this one. I want that Dumbo Double Dare! Also, when I ran the Tinker Bell Half the course did not go through Angels Stadium and I want to run through it. This one depends on how my finances are looking when registration rolls around. I’d kinda want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel if I did this… we’ll see if anyone wants to come and split those costs with me.

The Wine & Dine Half is a race I have enjoyed in the past. Step one is to see how it shakes out as a morning race, and I’ll react to that. I do looooooooove coming to Epcot during the Food & Wine Festival, but it does mean that forever-Christmas Magic Kingdom thing strikes again. If I do the WDW Marathon in 2018, then I’m once again not spreading my Disney trips very far apart, leaving me vulnerable to the homesickness I am experience now.

The Super Heroes half, not to beat a dead but purely metaphorical horse, has the same problems inherent in all the other Disneyland races. Unfortunately I may care about superheroes even less than I care about Star Wars. Okay, well, I liked Deadpool. Is it a Deadpool race? Can I dress as the zamboni?

The WDW Marathon is awesome and I love it. However, so far it seems like I can only swing it on the regular if I don’t go to any parks and make it an overnight, in-and-out, arrive-sleep-run-go-home sort of thing. I almost wonder if I shouldn’t just take a year off, save up my money, and do things right. But then the homesickness… the homesickness! Also: perpetual Magic Kingdom Christmas still in effect; a lot of rides are refurbed during this time. But think of all the challenges I could do if I saved my money!

Then of course there’s always the option of going to WDW and NOT running a race. I’ll have to think about that one…

Have you put any thought into your upcoming runDisney calendar? What are your thoughts? What have you selected?

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