Running - Maria Runs

WDW Dopey Challenge 2026- the 10k

Here we go for round 2! As with the 5k, the aim of the 10k was to run gently (not walk too much to be mindful of time on feet) and of course enjoy it. The alarm was again set for 3:20am, and we arrived at the Epcot parking area at about 4am again. After knowing how long it would take from the previous day, we sat in the car a little longer before walking the mile to the start (through the car park, through security and through the race village). I really liked that this was the same each day as it helped with nerves a lot. We had decided to run seperately, so Andy was going to head into his corral so he knew what it would be like for the two longer races. We also used the bag drop for the first time- this was super easy as at the expo they give you your race shirts in a large clear plastic drawstring bag (I still have an old one which I use sometimes as they are strong and thick), so the idea is you use that and then they write your bib number on it, and give you a little sticker with a number on that you can stick on the back of your bib. They used (I think) large shipping containers, so you chose one and then they hung your bag on a numbered hook- it was very organised (of course, it’s Disney, so of course it’s organised). They were right by the finish line so you had to walk past them to get back to the race village, so no going out of your way or doing extra steps when you’re tired. As it had been a little chilly the previous morning, I put the race shirt in there to put on when I finished, plus a snack as I didn’t like any of the food in the food box we were given at the finish line.

Start gantry themed to the 10k, boardwalk and world showcase lit up mid-race and one of the best costumes- people dressed as the monorail running together in a line.

We timed it pretty well and so didn’t have to hang about in the corrals for long. This time I could see the ribbon being used in the corral to keep the various waves apart, and again the race was off like clockwork, with the fireworks going off for each wave within each corral. Again I was in C (it went up to G) so as I ran I could hear the fireworks still going off and people cheering for each wave. The temperature was good for running, nice and cool, but it was weirdly humid so you got weirdly sweaty quite quickly which did make me wonder more about how I’d cope with the two longer runs as I knew I’d finish in the daylight (sunrise was around 7:20am so as these began at 5 I was done before the sun came up for the first two races).

The route started on the same road as the 5k, looping out of the car park and around the back before going into Epcot. Again you got to run around World Showcase (my favourite) and then out to the boardwalk area (this is an area next to Epcot that has various Disney hotels set around a lake (on the left of the above screenshot). As it was so early I was surprised to see a few hotel guests out cheering, but there were signs saying “silent cheer spot” as obviously they would not want to upset all their guests by being woken up at 5am with all these noisy runners going past!

When you were in the parks there were loads of cast members out cheering, and I must say that running past the bakery in the Norway pavilion was like torture as we could smell the baking (they do a kringla in there which is like a soft spiced pretzel type thing with raisins and drizzled in dark chocolate and I was thinking about that a lot!). By the Japan pavilion there were cast members with the Japanese flag (as they employ people from those countries for the pavilions) but also the rides had different cast members out cheering us all on.

Running by Spaceship Earth and by the Japan pavilion

There were lots of photo-pass photographers too- you could generally tell that they were coming up as the area would be very well lit and the photographers were in bright green tents (they wear bright green jackets in the parks) – the photos were included which was a nice touch and also they actually took nice flattering photos compared to regular races! They would usually be in pairs (one on each side of the path) so you would be captured by one or the other.

There were also points where you could queue for a photo- I had missed the Spaceship Earth photo in the 5K as I didn’t realise what it was until I’d run past, so on this race I made sure to queue up for that. It was well organised with spots on the ground and cast members moving the queues along so you were not waiting for long at all (and they used your race number to match up the photos rather than in the parks when you tap your magic band, so again this sped up the process).

Some of the mile markers, character stops and bands

There was so much entertainment and things to look at on the route, as well as seeing the Disney park sights. There were bands playing, local high school cheerleaders, marching bands, rock bands, you name it (apart from steel pan bands!) it was there. Each mile marker was themed and they were sometimes playing music. There were frequent character stops (again with photo pass photographers, but also lots of them had cast members who would take a photo on your phone for you)- I had seen a “leaked” list of characters for the 10k and Duffy was one of them. I was looking at each queue to see- they usually had a cast member with a lollypop sign saying “end of line” on one side and then the character or group (eg “friends from Toy Story”) on the other side, and I was pretty disappointed when I finished and I hadn’t seen Duffy on the route…

I also loved looking at all of the costumes that people were wearing. I have no idea how people cope with them, some of them were proper costumes and not just character coloured shorts and a hat. I wore my Minnie ears for the 5k but that was enough for me and didn’t even bother with them for the 10k. Total respect to those that do, but I could definitely not do that. (see the monorail photo above for an example!)

As you run through the parks, the toilets in the parks are open for use (and there were also loads of port-a-loos out on the route too) so I popped into one in Epcot which thankfully didn’t have much of a queue. This was definitely preferable to using a port-a-loo in the race village or along the race route- a definite bonus of the Run Disney events. There were also so many drink stations with water and also powerade, so I stopped on a couple of the water stations to have a drink as I was mindful that even though it was cold it was also quite sweaty.

The run was themed around Chip and Dale solving a mystery (each race was linked to a genre of book as the overall theme was “what’s your story?” so again all the music and characters linked to the theme. My favourite was as I was running around World Showcase they were playing The Interrogation Song from Muppets Most Wanted- just such a fun song and such a great atmosphere.

As I finished I was looking for Andy at our pre-agreed meeting place, and couldn’t see him, but I saw that one of the character meets was Duffy! So of course I had to queue up! Apparently I have never looked happier than in that photo! Dopey was also there so when I saw Andy we queued to meet Dopey too as he was the namesake for this mad challenge.

I was glad I’d put the long sleeved top in the bag drop bag as I was sweaty so started getting a bit chilly quickly. We took a few more photos and made our way back to the car, with many many cast members saying to us “see you again tomorrow!”- so many people do the Dopey challenge and it felt great that so many people were doing this crazy challenge.

The sun coming up as we headed out of the race village and back to the car

A repeat of the Thursday, it was walk back to the car as the sun was coming up, drive back to the hotel, shower, make porridge and then head to a park for some walking about (but not too much!). We’d booked a sit down meal for 4:30 so we would again eat nice and early and head back to the hotel with plenty of time to get things ready for the half. It was beautiful weather though and I took my medal with me for some castle photos- me and half of Magic Kingdom I think!

Some medal/castle pics

So there we have it- race 2 of 4 finished. Again, a nice gentle pace in about 1hr 20. Onwards to the weekend…

Local parkruns to keep the tourist streak going!

A few weeks ago I was looking at the 5K app (the purple one, that incidentally is going to be the official parkrun app from December), and noticed that I was on my highest ever tourist streak (the number of different parkrun locations attended in a row). It’s not a challenge I have actively chased before, but previously my highest streak was 12 runs, so I was surprised to be on 18 without really focusing on it. With some tourism to Peckham Rye already in the diary (a few weeks ago) and more tourism coming up at the start of October, I decided to try to keep the streak going. This meant that for the final two weekends of September I could not repeat an event that was already in that tourist streak.

The streak started back in April when I went to North Walsham while we had a weekend in Norfolk, and then includes some local events (I will put these in bold) and some tourist trips:

North Walsham, Victoria Dock, Hackney Marshes, Pymmes, Ben’s Yard, Tokoinranta, Haga, Jersey Farm, Panshanger, Beckton, Letchworth, Preston Park, Jubilee, Egham Orbit, Clermont Waterfront, Harrow Lodge, Cassiobury, Irchester Country, Peckham Rye.

Often I’d easily repeat either Panshanger or Jersey Farm in between tourist trips, but for various reasons I’d not. A few of the trips were spur of the moment- sometimes I joined in with some OH ladies (Pymmes/ Cassiobury/ Irchester), some of them were planned trips for Cowell celebrations (Preston Park and Egham Orbit), some were while on holiday (Finland/ Sweden/ USA), but somehow I just had managed not to repeat any in all these months.

I also try to run with Dad when he is around, but happily he was keen to repeat venues rather than go to new ones as he is close to his Cowell (100 different parkrun locations) but doesn’t want to end up doing that while he is away. So last weekend we went to Oaklands College parkrun- it’s around a 1.2 mile run from where my parents live, so I drove there and then we ran up and back for a parkrun sandwich. I’d only been there to take part 3 times before (and once to marshal), despite it being so close, so it was very enjoyable to revisit. The ground is still quite rutted so for some of it we had to run single file rather than next to each other, so the chatting was harder, but it was enjoyable as always.

This Saturday I opted for St Albans parkrun. This was where parkrun started for me, and my brother decided to come along with us too which was fab. The weather was amazing- beautiful blue skies, calm air, perfect running weather. The last time I was there was April 2024, but the course was the same- out through the park along flat paths, into an old golf course where you do 2 undulating laps, and then back onto the flat path to go back to the start/finish area. The car park there charges from 9:30am onwards (and you could not just buy an hour, you had to get a minimum of 3 hours), so Dad was very tempted to not get a ticket, but I am glad I still got one as the run didn’t start bang on 9, and there was a bit of a queue in the funnel as we finished in the busiest section, so when I looked at my watch it was already 9:36 before we scanned. It meant we could take photos by the pop up and hang around the finish area for a bit- we ended up chatting to a few other runners and of course taking a few photos for other people too.

So, two more parkrun mornings complete, and two more venues added to the tourist streak! I don’t think I will be able to continue it all the way through October, as it is Panshanger’s birthday at some point and I do like to go to that. I have a few local events that are not in the streak yet, including Stevenage and Westmill, but there are 4 weekends to fill between that and my next parkrun tourist trip so I don’t think I can stretch it out.

Next up- some tourism involving some train travel- I am very excited about this! All will be revealed soon!

Do you use the 5K app? Are you excited that it will be an official parkrun app soon? What changes would you like to see?

A revisit to Clermont Waterfront parkrun (Florida)

I was in Florida for a family holiday (11 of us), and happily we had one Saturday spare, so parkrun was on the agenda for me.

Compared to the UK where we have so many close by, the parkruns in the USA are spread very thinly- it always amuses me to open the 5K app and look at the NENDY list on there- the next event can be hundreds of miles away. This meant a revisit to Clermont Waterfront parkrun, but I was very happy to go back there.

I first attended this location in 2022 (reclaiming my USA flag, which had gone from my profile after Crissy Fields ceased), and really enjoyed the out and back course by the lake.

In 2023, I went there again, and this time ran their B course, as the main course was being used for a triathlon (this totally panicked me, as we drove in at about 7:10 and I could see the path was thick with runners so I worried that it was in fact a 7am start rather than 7:30). The B course was two laps away from the lake, under trees and between scrubland and bushes, and I was daydreaming and managed to get lost on the second lap!

*View of the sunrise over the lake right by the start area*

This time, there were no dramas. I had looked online and saw that the triathlon was being held on the Sunday, so I wouldn’t need to worry about that, and of course I double and triple checked that it started at 7:30am. We were staying in a Disney resort, and it’s a fair way (around 45 min drive)- it would be a long uber/lyft and I am not sure how easy it would be to get one back after the event. There are no public transport options at all, and I was very glad that Andy had agreed to drive, as I am not the most confident driver when following directions. When we arrived there was a bit of a queue to enter the car park, so I hopped out and popped to the toilet block while he found a parking space. I then had time to wander around, walk to the lake to take some sunrise photos, listen to the welcome and the main briefing, and take a few pre-run photos of the start area. One of the Australian boomerangs was there, but they had already handed it over to the next family when I got there- I did consider asking for a picture but it was being looked after by some kids so I didn’t feel it was appropriate.

First timers welcome and the main briefing- the parkrun flag is by the road and car park entrance so it’s very clear when you arrive where you need to go. I love all the Spanish moss hanging down from the trees too.

I did feel sorry for one of the volunteers who was tasked with keeping people to one side of the walking/cycle track, as there were loads of members of public out walking/running/cycling who were not part of parkrun, and during the briefing it got very crowded around there.

It was a prompt start, and it felt a little crowded while everyone settled in to their pace. I overtook lots of walkers, and had to weave around a bit before I found a place to settle into. It wasn’t surprising- the previous week they had a course record of 274 people attending, and this week was just shy of that with 264. The paths by the lake are lovely and wide, with cycle and walking tracks for each direction, clearly painted on the floor, so after the initial section there was plenty of space. The sun was up just before 7, there were beautiful views across the lake with the early morning sunlight, some of the path was shaded with big trees, and there was lots to look at (boats on the water, bird boxes along the shore, facilities such as play parks).

*Top right is the slope down to the turnaround point. There are a few signs on the route, as a few points the path splits so you just follow the signs. There was a marshal at the u-turn.*

I had been in Florida for a couple of weeks by this point, and had been out running every 2 or 3 days, so I was more acclimatised to the heat and humidity, and I think that helped as I managed to push on and keep up quite a high pace. Near the turnaround point there is a slope which you run down on the way out, so I walked back up that on the way back and I think that helped to power me through.

*They have so many flags fluttering by the finish line- I got a photo soon after finishing, and then went hunting for the sign to hold.* Note the two buffs to help with the humidity situation! I usually just have one!

I had looked at my previous times on the 5K app, so when I finished in just over 30 minutes I knew it should be a course pb, as my previously fastest time was nearly 33 mins.

*Course pb sign, and some of the other signs available*

This turned out to be lucky, as when I finished I went looking for their little photo prop signs. They have them for each milestone, and also ones that say “I ran at Clermont parkrun”- I got that one, asked someone to take a photo and was then congratulated by them- I realised after that the signs were double sided but said different things on the reverse, so where I thought I was holding the general “I ran here” sign, I was actually holding a “I got a pb” sign.

*Bespoke token holder, photos (which I need to look at…), the parkrun flag by the path and all the flags at the finish funnel.*

As is always the case, if you hover by the pop up sign, you will end up chatting to other tourists, so of course I ended up finding some people who were fairly local to me, and one of them had managed an all time pb there! That is impressive. It is hard to describe the humidity until you experience it, but I could not take a selfie because my phone was slipping out of my hand- I was glad I had brought a towel for the car seat on the way back!

So that was parkrun 413 for me, and my 3rd at Clermont. I love touring, but it was so enjoyable to visit somewhere that I had been already- I knew where the car park/toilets/start areas were, I knew the route, and as it was so scenic it was just wonderful to be running alongside the lake. One I would happily return to again.

Are you happy to revisit or if you are touring do you like to go to a new parkrun each time?

Welwyn 10k 2025

I’ve joined in with this race for a few years now. The first time I attended it started in Welwyn village, and was a crazy hilly course starting close to midday. Last year it moved to Panshanger park, and it stayed there this year, albeit with a slightly different route.

As my dad has been keen to do a 10k every now and then, I got him race entry for his birthday, so we travelled there together. It’s a lovely low key event where you park close to the start, pick up your number from a tent in the morning, and then head off to enjoy the race. I was very happy to hear that Planted Coffee co would be there too- looking forward to one of their iced drinks is a highlight of the final mile!

Before the start, and then a few mid race views.

It was a hot day, and although the race started at 9:30 it was already baking, so we stood in the shade before the start as much as possible. I’d just had my shoulder injection, and Dad had been cycling around Scotland so we both needed to take it easy. I had explained to him that this was not like a road race- we would enjoy the scenery and walk the hills and water stations, and not worry about the finish time.

This worked well, and we both managed to chat all the way around. At one point someone commented that they were amazed that we still had the energy to talk, but the run/walk really helps, as did stopping at water stations and drinking an entire cup.

*A mid race photo of us, the lovely medal with the cow on it, a lovely wooden carving seen on the route and my hilarious tan lines that were actually dust stuck to sun cream!*

I worked out on the way around that it was the same route as last year, only in the opposite direction and starting and finishing in a different place (it started where the parkrun starts now, whereas last year it started in the middle near the lakes)- I think this worked really well as you still get the hills out of the way in the first half and have a relatively flat and downhill second half. The marshals were all so encouraging, and the atmosphere was great- we finished in around 1 hour 15 with lots of people walk/running around us too.

After finishing and picking up our bags from the bag drop area (tarpaulin of trust) we queued up at Planted- I had an iced matcha and Dad had an iced chocolate. We sat in the sun on the grass and just relaxed after the race before heading home a bit later- such a perfect morning.

It’s been hot when I’ve done this before, but the end of June is pretty much going to be guaranteed heat, but the pretty views and relaxed atmosphere make this on my “must do” list.

Do you have any races that you like to do each year?

Paced to a pb at Pymmes parkrun!

Last Saturday I was going to stay local, however a few OH ladies were heading to Pymmes, and as I enjoyed it before, I thought I’d go along.

I first visited Pymmes in February 2024, and remembered it being very friendly, flat and quite fast- I ran 28:04. After my recent attempts to get a sub 28, I was happy to see that they were having a pacer event. Perfect- I would try to keep up with the 28 min pacer and push to speed up in the final section.

We car shared, so I drove to Catherine’s house, where her and her husband Dave gave lifts to me and fellow OH lady Carol, (plus their dog in the back who kept licking my ear!). Once at the park we met up with another car load of OH ladies- although we were there so early that the event team hadn’t even arrived yet!

I was so excited as when we got into the park I saw my first ducklings and goslings of the year! This amused everyone else, but made me very happy.

Breakfast in the sun after, our purple pop up group photo, and the finish area with everyone hanging around

After hearing the first timers welcome (3 laps, mind the bumps in the path where the CCTV cameras are) the main briefing started. And went on. And on. I am not kidding when I say we started at 9:15am! The local running club were doing a pacer event to promote a local race, so they talked about that for a bit, and then there were goslings at the start so we had to be warned to not scare them.

Goslings by the start!

Anyway, as we started I could see the 27 and 28 minute pacer but they were a bit of a way ahead and I knew I could catch up once the people thinned out a bit. But I just could not catch them, and could not even keep up with the 29 minute pacer. I glanced at my watch on a couple of occasions but don’t like looking at it as it stresses me out and I get a bit adrenaline rush, so I just had to keep pushing on feel as hard as I could. I knew that some of the pacers were not quite correct, as the 28 was about 2 metres behind the 27 (I could see them in the distance) but I could not catch up with the 29 minute pacer at all.

Each lap seemed to go by quickly- it’s lovely flat paths, fairly wide and fairly flat. You run ever so gently up on one side, and then gently downhill on the other, looping around a little pond and then a short slope of a metre or so up to the start/finish area. A lapped course is lovely when you are there with friends as you see them as you pass them or as they pass you. As I was coming into the finish, Mel’s husband was by the pond cheering us all in which gave me a boost. I was so glad that I kept on pushing as when I got to the finish funnel (behind the 29 pacer) my watch said 27:51! Sub 28! Hooray!

Pacers lining up, finish token, finish line watch and one of the signs

(I totally appreciate how tricky the pacer job is so I am not complaining at all- I am just glad I kept on pushing- official time 27:49, which is a course pb and my fastest time this year. Good stuff.

I scanned, had a photo by the flag and pop up, and then joined everyone else who had finished, waiting for the rest of our group to come in. The event had that lovely feel with so many people hanging about and chatting (helped by the weather I’m sure). After everyone had finished, we walked around the corner to a local cafe that had been recommended to us- no dogs allowed inside though so we got a takeaway and took our breakfast back to the park (I had packed a vegan croissant as I didn’t think the cafe would have good options, but I could at least get a cup of tea with oat milk).

Pop up picture at the end!

So all in all a great revisit there. I love going to new parkruns but I am equally happy revisiting ones if other people want to go there.

The next few weeks are very exciting for me parkrun wise- a UK one with friends this week, and then a flag (or two if all goes well) …

Any exciting parkrun plans for you?