2016 Disney Tinker Bell 10k Race Recap

An good title for this recap could be Caddywhompus Wings, Bouncing Sock Buns, and Mental Reboots but that’s a bit of a mouthful, eh?  So no, better keep it simple and just say Welcome to my 2016 Disney Tinker Bell 10k and Day 1 of the Pixie Dust Challenge!

Caddywhompus will come later.

Picking up where I left off with the 5k, we might have lucked out with no rain on Friday morning, but not so on Saturday. We didn’t even know it was raining until I left at around … oh, 4:40 to meet up with Becky, my travel/expo pal. Once I saw puddles, though, I hauled booty back to our room for ponchos and my phone cover.

By the way, this bad boy is awesome for rainy runs. It comes with a strap but I replaced it with an old camera wrist strap since I always mostly carry my phone during races.

Okay, back to business. One thing we did not think about was get a group photo before going outside that showed our fun Never Land themed outfits. Since Robyn was Tink for the 5k, it was my turn … although my version was an older one. This was the best group photo we could get!

Now about those wings.

Nobody told me they were pinned on crooked which was a bad start. And I didn’t obey the #1 rule when it comes to running costumes:

TRY THEM ON FOR COMFORT FIRST.

So dumb. I mean, honestly, how many runDisney races have I done? Like, 26 of them, so I knew better. And I knew that trying a sock bun for the first time was also a potentially unwise choice but did I heed wisdom? Noooooooo, I thought it’d be cool.

It wasn’t.

But wow, I’m so not staying on track here! Back to the recap.

We walked to the corrals, shivering and damp, where I was shocked to discover that there was still room near the front of corral A despite us leaving the hotel at around 4:55. Outstanding … by far the biggest perk of West Coast races!

And what was also BEYOND outstanding was how the rain stopped while Carissa and Andrea were doing the cute pre show, which included a visit from Tinker Bell!

I was able to ditch my poncho and phone cover, (thank goodness for capri pockets,) and chat with another Tink runner who bought her tiny wings from the dollar store. (So trying that next time!)

Soon, it was time to run! Word is, a fire marshal does an inspection hours prior to determine whether or not it’s safe for fireworks. It wasn’t for the 5k and not for the 10k as well, although the rain could have had something to do with it. Still, our send off was still really cute!

Now about the caddywhompus.

From the start of the race, I knew it was not going to be a good run. Despite starting with a conservative 10:00mm pace, I couldn’t find my breath, my legs were lethargic, and everything felt wrong. Add to the mix my caddywhompus, lopsided, wobbly wings that kept hitting the back of my arms and a sock bun that was more of a sock bugger. I could feel my anxiety start to kick in, making me one breathless, sweaty, awkward mess by the Mile 1 marker.

Perhaps I should have begged a stranger to take off my wings.

But no, damn it.

Old As Hell Tinkerbell was NOT going down like that.

Instead, I stepped to the side of the road and slowed to a walk for a mental reboot. Using my lower bib safety pins, I attached the bottom of my wobbly wings to my tank top, which took contortionist effort but helped. Then I fussed with my sock bun to ward off the massive bobby pin headache that was brewing.

Then I stopped, shut my eyes, took a deep breath, and gave myself a do-over.

It worked because a half mile later, I had found my pace, my breath returned, and those wings, while still caddywhompus, were less of a pain.

Do-overs are so awesome.

It was also awesome getting lots of video for our YouTube channel, but that means some of my screenshots are rather fuzzy. I wanted to give you a feel for the course, though, so pardon the blurriness!

By Mile 2, I was feeling on point and in control. This race was expensive, so I wasn’t going to waste a moment due to anxiety! Plus the weather, for all my griping earlier, felt fantastic although we had to be careful of our footing.

Once again, running through the park was beyond magical. They had lots of Cast Members out, cheering us on, plus a few ornery pirates here and there who were willing to take a selfie … maybe because their boss, Hook wasn’t around.

The castle was gorgeous and there were no lines afterwards where CM’s were taking pictures, so I was able to get a cute but fuzzy jump shot to add to my collection.

Which reminds me. We’d love to see your best jump shots! Post them on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #JoyfulJumpshots and we’ll give them a share! Speaking of which, here’s mine.

Soon I came upon the first (of a disappointing few) character stops. Now, seeing as how I have two grown boys in college, I’m not up on my fairy knowledge. So I had no idea who these two gals were. And doesn’t it look like I’m photoshopped into the picture?

What was not awesome, however, was something written on the Mile 3 marker.

Hmm, pretty tough for a fairy? Which sounds awfully familiar to pretty tough for a girl? You’d think that since this race is female-oriented, they’d think twice about using phrases such as this. Which, yeah, I know, isn’t a big deal to some, but come on, runDisney. I’m sure there are lots more empowering words you could have used.

Onward.

I could never get tired of running through Cars Land!!

And despite my tiff over tough, aren’t the mile markers gorgeous??? I absolutely adored all the ones they used this weekend. Definitely the prettiest I’ve ever seen … and better than the Princess Half Marathon’s!

I was surprised at how there were no photo opportunites between miles 4 and 5, unless I was running in la, la, la mode and missed them.

Now see? “Inspiration Comes in Waves” is much better. And again, my apologies to fairies everywhere, but I had no clue what these gal’s names were!

Running through Paradise Pier was just as magical as it had been for the 5k! Seeing Mickey’s Wheel of Fun made me want to ride it again … only not in the pouring rain this time like the day before.

Now about this picture with Tink.

A CM was trying to take her away from the next character stop for a break but I couldn’t help but grab a selfie with her first. I mean, it was her 10k! I just had to!

Good thing Tink was a sport instead of getting all pouty. As for the character stop, it was with yet another fairy whom I had no clue what her name was.

I did know that entering Downtown Disney meant our 6.2 miles of adventure was soon ending!

And I know that these two gals are AWESOME for cheering wildly at every Tink race! Thank you!

All in all, it was an AMAZING race, though lacking in character stops. If they added a few more characters (other than fairies) then this might be my favorite 10k, but the Enchanted 10k still ranks as my #1. Still loved it, though!

Afterwards, I had hoped to get a group photo with my roomies, but half of them were already back at the room and the other half were still running so I got this picture taken and left. Like I mentioned in my 5k recap, that’s the biggest thing I missed from the East Coast races – how there’s little pre/post race festivities.

But on the sunny California side, it was fantastic being able to walk back to my room, grab some breakfast at Club Level, and be in the parks earlier.

Later that day, Jackey had arrived and we met up for some fun and laughs at the Expo. This recap is already long and super photo-heavy, however, so I’m going to end with this:

You can see more of our Expo antics in my video recap, plus shots of the course!

Until then, thanks for reading!

QOTD: Did you run the Tinker Bell 10k? If  so, what was your favorite part of the course?