This race was a blast even though it was my first night race and I was already exhausted! From not really getting any sleep the 2 nights prior, to running the 5k that morning, and walking around Magic Kingdom that afternoon, I knew things were going to be interesting. But it all worked out!
Marty, Heidi, and I decided to dress up as characters from Peter Pan. I was Mr. Smee, Marty was Hook, and Heidi was the Croc.
Me as Mr. Smee
Marty and Heidi. AKA Hook and Tick-tock Croc
We got to ESPN around 6:45 and got on the shuttle to Hollywood Studios. Upon arrival, we waited in line to get our picture taken with the logo, and then found a spot to sit and wait. The race didn’t start until 10pm, and we didn’t have to be in our corrals until 9:15.
Waiting for the race to start
There was a lot of energy while we were waiting. A lot of people were sitting around relaxing, but there were still a lot of people up and dancing to the DJ. I don’t know how they had all of that energy to waste!
After a trip to the port-o-potties (ridiculous lines…), we got into Corral E. A little before 10, they led us to the start line by corral. It was a lot of standing, and a lot of walking to the start before even the race began. Once all the corrals were lined up, we were released every 2 minutes to begin.
And we were off! We ran to the first on-ramp, and it was so hard to run on because the surface was not even. It is painful for one leg to be running higher than the other! So we walked up the ramp and came to the Witch:
The Witch
We decided we were going to try and run most of the way between characters, with a few intervals thrown in when they were far enough apart.
Jafar
Jack and Sally were located just after the turn around from Animal Kingdom. While we were waiting in line we saw the balloon ladies and pick-up vans on the other side of the street. We started to get a bit nervous, and as soon as we finished with our picture, we booked it and ran ran ran!
Jack and Sally. Jack was a fun guy
After Jack and Sally we decided only to stop for the characters that we really wanted to see. We skipped over Hook and the Queen of Hearts.
Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog
Hyenas from Lion King. Line was too long, but I wish we stopped for this one.
Grave Diggers
We got to the ESPN trail around mile 5. It was so crowded that we had to walk that entire portion. There was just no way we could run.
Once we go to the baseball field (with the scary loud Tesla coil), we could get back to our running.
Of course we stopped for the Big, Bad Wolf because there was no line!
Scared of the Big Bad Wolf!
We made it back to Hollywood and entered through the back near the Stunt Show. We saw Mike from Monsters, Inc. and ran through the costume area.
It’s Mike with one “eye”
We ran by Toy Story Mania and stopped to say hi to Lotso. He was very pleasant to us. I guess he wasn’t feeling very villain-ish that night. Again, at this point there was no line.
Visiting Lotso as we passed Toy Story Mania
The last mile was a bit tough because everyone was super tired. It was after 1am. It was fitting that Hades was right before the finish line. Super appropriate.
Visiting Hades right before the finish line
3 Cheers for Marty!!!
At the finish line!
Mile Markers (except mile 3)
The race ended backstage at Fantasmic. There was such a long walk to get to the front of the park to where bag check and the “party” was (more on that later). I don’t know why the finish was so far away!!!
All in all it was a great race. The weather wasn’t terrible, the entertainment was great, and the company awesome! Thanks Heidi and Marty for running with me!!!
My official time.
I don’t really care about the time because we stopped for all the pictures. For me, Disney races are about fun, not PRs!
3 thoughts on “Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-miler”
[…] this year and experience the 5th Anniversary of the race! I also love night races and enjoyed my Tower Of Terror and Happy Haunted Trails double races last year!And even though I can’t really eat […]
[…] but I LOVE Disney races!!! I did a double race last year by doing the Happy Haunted Trails 5k and Tower of Terror 10-miler on the same day. I survived, so I figured that it was a good idea. (And it was!) I dressed up as […]
[…] race starts at 8:30pm and involves glowsticks! (The two nighttime Disney Races I have run – Tower of Terror 10-miler and Wine & Dine Half Marathon – either don’t exist anymore or have changed to a […]
[…] this year and experience the 5th Anniversary of the race! I also love night races and enjoyed my Tower Of Terror and Happy Haunted Trails double races last year!And even though I can’t really eat […]
[…] but I LOVE Disney races!!! I did a double race last year by doing the Happy Haunted Trails 5k and Tower of Terror 10-miler on the same day. I survived, so I figured that it was a good idea. (And it was!) I dressed up as […]
[…] race starts at 8:30pm and involves glowsticks! (The two nighttime Disney Races I have run – Tower of Terror 10-miler and Wine & Dine Half Marathon – either don’t exist anymore or have changed to a […]