Disney Wine & Dine Weekend 2016 Part 2: Inaugural Wine & Dine 10k

When you look forward to wearing a costume in a race as much as I was for the Wine & Dine 10k, you might need a life. Haha!!

Since Inside Out came out in 2015, my Weight Watchers members, friends and family said Joy reminded them of me. Ohhh that made me so happy and would make me smile ear to ear.

So when I realized I could be whatever costumes I wanted for the Wine & Dine race weekend (aka I was done with my run of Star Wars costumes), it was time to make my dream of running dressed as Joy a reality! :)

For the Wine & Dine 10k, I was traveling solo and was nervous about making a bus (even though I always have luck with race buses at Pop Century) so I was there a tad early.

Yes the race started at 5:30am! :P It was almost comforting being back in the EPCOT parking lot for the race. 

I took a quick loop around the start area to see if I recognized any friends before I made my way to the port-o-potty. I unfortunately didn't, hit the port-o-potty, scoped out the pre-race character lines (all too long for my taste) and headed over to the corral. Thank you Disney Emoji Blitz for helping me pass the time while I waited for our corral to be escorted over to the Start Line.

They line up each of the corrals next to each other and are released over to the Start Line 1-by-1. So we were able to walk by Corrals B, C, D, and E while we made our way to the start. It's fun because you get to see everyone else's costumes, wave to a friend you might recognize and everyone cheers for each other. It is like a great pump up before the fun really starts.

We were near the Start Line. The race organizers kept us at a distance until they were prepared for us to move up to the official line.

I loved seeing Remy make an appearance with the announcers. 

Man it is exciting being a part of an inaugural race. For those that don't know Wine and Dine weekend used to feature a 5k on Saturday morning and a Half marathon that evening. But in 2016 they changed the weekend and moved the half marathon in the morning and added a challenge. So Wine and Dine weekend now has a 5k on Friday, a 10k on Saturday and the Half on Sunday. 

So on Saturday November 5, we tackled the inaugural Wine and Dine 10k! 

After the wheelchair participants were counted down, it was our turn to get ready to run through the most magical place on Earth... well first the parking lot. ;) 

Rudy once again counted us down and we were off!

Oh hello legs - time to let you fly. I assumed there wouldn't be a character stop during Mile 1 and I was right. Hence that pace you see below. :P 

Mile 1: 7:50

But Disney hit me with a character stop right after this. I LOVE the penguins from Marry Poppins. They even let me take a quick seat at their table.

Next up were Flik and Princess Atta! Which pic was better: my phone (left) or the Disney photog (right). ;0)

I want to thank people that were shocked at my ability to run with a memory ball. Thankfully it was a styrofoam ball spray painted gold. So it wasn't too heavy to run with just awkward since my hand wasn't big enough to grab it like a basketball. I may or may not have put it under my arm at points. :P

Mile 2: 9:59

Unfortunately Mile 3 was characterless which was disappointing. I picked the time up so I could get into EPCOT as quickly as possible. 

Mile 3: 8:11

Seriously every time I started to get sad there wasn't a character stop, a photo op would magically appear. 

We entered EPCOT through the World Showcase. Sorry my camera didn't take better pictures of the amazing thing called the World Showcase.

Oohhh a rare sighting of Pinocchio and Geppetto.

Can you tell I was going for a pose with the Joy outfit? Does it work? I hope so because I kept it up for the next 3 miles! Haha.

Mile 4: 11:14

After making our way through the World Showcase, we headed out of EPCOT and over to the Boardwalk. You know who was there to greet us? Tourist Genie! One of my favorite Genies!

Running around the Boardwalk is a treat. The spectactors are out in full force and are seriously bringing with the sign game. Am I right?

As if having Genie on the Boardwalk wasn't enough, we even had Chip and Dale make an appearance outside ESPN zone. 

Once around the Boardwalk, we made our way back into EPCOT. I loved seeing folks starting their tour around Boardwalk and being able to high five and cheer them on.

Mile 5: 10:27

EPCOT was nice enough to have Sebastian on hand to welcome us to the park. 

After re-entering EPCOT, we made our way towards the front of the park, but of course I had to stop and take a picture of the gorgeous ball.

It's always sad for me to be in the final mile of a race especially when it means I am done playing in a Disney World park. 

Mile 6: 9:41

We made our way out of EPCOT and returned to the parking lot for the Finish. Check out Leap 2 of 3 for the weekend. Not the best pic of my front leg, but I got some air. :)

FINISH TIME: 59:39 (9:37 min/mile pace)

In the final way down the stretch, I saw one of my favorite ladies - Gail! You can usually find Gail in lavish costumes at Run Disney races, but for this one she dressed up as a "runner." ;)

After collecting our medals, we headed to the post-race character lines.

Meeting Lumiere DEFINITELY goes in the memory ball FOR SURE!!! I mean hello the challenge is named AFTER him. :) 

Overall it was an amazing morning and one that deserves it's own memory ball.

I was able to live out a dream of dressing and racing as Joy. 

I wish there were more character stops especially during mile 1 and 3 since neither mile had any character stops, but the characters on the course were awesome and ones I have rarely seen during the races I have run in at Disney.

I also loved that Annual Passholders got free photos. This was a sweet treat and really helped out the $$ spent on the race. 

Did you run in the inaugural Wine and Dine 10k? If so, what was your favorite thing about it?