The runDisney Tower of Terror 10 Miler 2013 Race recap

Just in case it wasn't clear, Halloween is my favorite holiday and this race has pretty much been sealed as my favorite. Yes, I know I say that about every runDisney race lately- mainly because of the awesome running company- but this time I say it for the actual race! It already had the potential, but now thanks to all the great improvements by runDisney, this race really broke out of it's inaugural pains and totally rocked. 

So let's start at the beginning. I decided to wear cotton. Probably not the smartest plan seeing as I bring the heat advisories with me, but I was hoping. . . and being lazy. I decided pretty much right after ToT last year, I wanted to be a bellhop and when I found out they sold the shirts in Disneyland, my fate was sealed. I picked one up at Dumbo weekend. All I had to do was make the hat, which was fairly quick and simple. Brown sparkle skirt from our Chip-n-Dale Rescue Rangers costume and Boom. I was done. Lesson learned: Don't be lazy. 

I spent the majority of Saturday fighting with myself over if I'd actually wear it or not. I wasn't feeling very well and the idea of running as comfortable as possible was very appealing. The fact that this was a Disney race and THE tower of terror race slowly started to outweigh comfort and it usually does. You only live once right? Honestly, this race was no where near as warm and humid as it was last year. There was a breeze for crying out loud and it was glorious!

Something I forgot about last year: If there is any race you want to get to your corrals early for, it's this one. They start walking the corrals to the start line about 30 minutes before and if you stop for a last minute portapotty stop, you'll miss your corral- not that this happened to me or anything ;)

So the race started. During our wait in the corrals, I met up with a group from The Pacebook Group and somehow ended up running with them the entire race. I knew after the first half mile I needed to slow my pace because even though it wasn't nearly as hot as the previous year, it still wasn't what I was used to running in. The 30-30 intervals seemed perfect and honestly, the pace leader was hysterical and really good at keeping your spirits up, so why not?

Entering the Twilight Zone.

We got to mile .5 of the race and there was already a character (last year, it wasn't until mile 3), I wasn't going to stop but then I saw who it was and HAD to.

When have you ever seen The Hag?!? 
I was really excited to say the least! 

Next up, was Jafar.

The overpass by The Animal Kingdom turn around had a gigantic spider covering it. Did I mention this was all before mile 3, where the first bit of entertainment was last year? They really stepped up their game this year and it was amazing.

We did jump in line for Jack and Sally (from The Nightmare before Christmas) but decided not to wait in it (everyone had already waited the 2 hours at the MNSSHP to see them and I was planning on it the next night) and loose our cushion in case there were other must-stops- and there were!

The Queen of Hearts because her line was too insane at the Disneyland 10k.

Dr. Facilier because his line was short.

We got to the dirt trail again and just walked because even though they did make an effort to add lights, it was still pretty dark. Once we got into The Wide World of Sports complex, the game changed. As we were exiting The Stadium, they had cut people off from entering and just kept them going. The Balloon ladies, aka the 16 minute mile pacers were the last they let in. No more goofing off, it was time to run. I pushed on as the Pace leader went to check on people behind us. When he caught back up to me, he said the balloon ladies weren't far behind. So I just kept pushing. When I got a safe distance away, the pace leader and I parted ways for good (He went back and actually crossed the finish line with the balloon ladies which was pretty cool!)

Did anyone else notice Malicient on the overpass coming back to The Studios? That was an awesome boost, but I wished she was an actual photo-op stop, especially because she didn't end up being at the after party. 

Once I got into the park, I was excited because B would be at the finish line (an hour earlier, thanks to my extremely dumb calculation of when I thought I'd be done. I'm so sorry again!) No one was in Lotso's line, so I stopped:

Cotton not only makes you more smelly, 

it also lets the world know exactly how sweaty you are. Yikes!

They put another must-do character stop right before the finish line and luckily the line wasn't bad.

Hello Hades. Thanks for bring the weather. 

First order of business- after changing out of the cotton into some tech: A rematch at Toy Story Mania! I was fully prepared to loose every time, but instead we tied!

We walked around for awhile and decided to get in line for The Tremaine's. By the time we got to the front, they switched out with The Snow Queen, so I got to say hello again! Don't tell Maleficient, but The Snow Queen is pretty amazing. She is always so fierce and can scare 32yr old grown women- just ask B ;) 

Drizella was extremely impressed with how photogenic I was. She even told me I mastered it. Best compliment ever :) They were a really great addition this year. They were greeting guests right by the hat and the DJ and they were just having a blast the whole night. Who knew the step sisters could party? 

Other characters in the park were Cruella (on Sunset Blvd), Gaston (in front of The Beauty and The Beast theater), Darth Vadar (by Star Tours), Lotso (by Toy Story Mania) and Shang Yu from Mulan and Frollo from Hunchback- which are the only 2 I kind of regret missing, but I was very tired.

They did an amazing job of bumping up the villains- on course and at the after party. My only suggestion would be to put character locations on the party map- saying who they are would be even more awesome but I get that they as subject to change. We asked several cast members if they knew where other characters were and they didn't. 

It was a great race and I'm so glad I didn't miss it this year. If I had to choose only one runDisney race to run, this would be it. Not only is the race experience completely unique to any of the others, there is just so much other stuff going on in Disneyworld that makes the 10 mile race completely worth it to me. Plus, if you're a villains fan, you HAVE to do this race. 

See you next year!