runDisney – First Timer – PostRace

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If you have seen my The Dark Side Half Marathon 2018 article, you know that as a first time runner, I recently participated in a runDisney event. I learned a lot about the in/outs of how these events work, although I am sure that I don’t know everything, but I wanted to share what I did learn about the registration process.

If you want to know more about how to get started see my runDisney – First Time Participant Getting Started article, or what to expect during pre-race preparation see my runDisney – First Time Participant Pre-Race article.

Finish Line

The finish line was right around the corner when we saw the mile marker for mile 3. We could hear people cheering each other to finish strong and run the last few steps. As we make the last turn, we could see the finish line and it was a foot race to the finish.

My daughter and I had a little side bet on who was going to “win” the race between the two of us. She had been pushing me at the start of the race, and I was pushing her at the end of the race, each of us trying to wear the other one out. Now it was a race to the finish of sure wills to win.

As we took off sprinting to the end, I got stuck behind slower runners and had to make up some ground fast. In the end, I lost, I just couldn’t make up enough ground fast enough, but man was it fun trying.

As we passed the finish line we both were so happy to have finished and realized that we did an awesome job with our pace.

Just over 33 minutes, we actually raced at about an 11 minute/mile rate. That was a great personal best to start with.

Medal Awards

Once we crossed the finish line, there were those wonderful volunteers again, welcoming us to get our medals (they will even hang it on your neck for you, if you lean over) and walking to cool down. Getting the medal was awesome, these things are heavy, they feel like they are made of lead, but at the moment that you finish, it doesn’t matter.

Water Please

Continue down the cool down path and you will be greeted by more volunteers who are handing out waters, and powerades. Don’t be shy and take as many as you need. I saw one kid who had three powerades, he was thirsty.

Snack Box

Walk down even further and you will come to a set of tents where you can have a banana and they give you a snack box.

This is where I really felt that the runDisney people sold out.  In the snack box that we received for the 5K, were… get ready for this… tortilla chips, cheddar cheese dip, Oreo cookies, go-go squeeze, and some dried fruit leather.

Really? We just ran/walked a 5K and we get food that totally kills the good thing we just did. I totaled it all up:

  • Small Banana = 90 Calories, 23 g Carbohydrates
  • Tortilla Chips = 140 Calories, 19g Carbohydrates
  • Cheddar Cheese Dip = 130 Calories, 6 g Carbohydrates
  • GoGo Squeeze = 60 Calories, 15 g Carbohydrates
  • Oreo = 100 Calories, 16g Carbohydrates
  • Love Your Fruit, Dried Fruit leather = 50 Calories, 10g Carbohydrates

So if you eat the entire snack pack, you just consumed  570 calories and 89 g Carbohydrates. That is a TON of carbohydrates, not a very diabetic friendly option.

Diabetic Options

I would suggest bringing some nut bars to the race in your clear bag and check them with the volunteers, this would be a much better option than the snack box provided.

Exception note, the Love Your Fruit is  actually a good for you product.

You can read more about them here. The only downside is that they are real fruit leather, which is sticky, chewy and will stick to your teeth when eating them. It reminds me a lot of the fruit leather that I used to make in the oven with my mom when I was young.

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