Monday, October 16, 2017

Castaway Cay 5K

Hello and happy Monday! As most of you know, we finally had the opportunity to sail on our Disney cruise that was originally canceled due to Hurricane Irma. We had an AMAZING week on board the Disney Fantasy and I can't wait to share it all with you!

Today, I'm going to start with you one of the highlights of our cruise, the Castaway Cay 5K!

Castaway Cay 5K

Not long after we arrived on the ship, we headed over to the port adventures desk to register for the 5K. It was an easy and seamless process and yes, it's still free of charge!

Fast forward to Friday, our Castaway Cay day. We were asked to meet in the Walt Disney Theater around 8 a.m. with both our photo ID and the ticket we received from the port adventures desk previously in the week. 

As runners/walkers began filling into the theater, I was blown away. I've run this race four times in the past and apart from the Castaway Challenge, this was seriously the largest group of 5K'ers I'd seen for this event!





We disembarked the ship around 8:30 and were greeted with a passing shower. Thankfully, it was mostly gone by the time we set foot on Castaway Cay. 

...and if you know ANYTHING about runDisney half and full marathons, you know the painstakingly looooong walk to the corals. Well, guess what? This 5K has one, too!!

Castaway Cay 5K

Although I've never personally timed the walk, I heard someone say that it was around 0.8 miles from the boat to the start line of the 5K. At least it's a pretty walk with great views of the mostly empty island!  Silver lining, right?

Castaway Cay 5K

Located at the start of the 5K is a bin with a lid for bags and "stuff". With so many runners for this 5K, our bin of "stuff" was overflowing and no longer big enough to hold everyone's items. I managed to find a little corner to tuck my bag away and it remained untouched until we completed the 5K. There's also a water cooler and restrooms near the start/finish line. 

This 5K route starts and finishes in the same location with several rounds around the air strip and bike loop. 

Castaway Cay 5K

As you can see, there's lots of runners ahead of me and I was located near the front of the pack!

This race is also an unofficial race, meaning there's a timer at the finish line for you to check when you return, but there's no official times posted anywhere or timing chips or anything of that sort. 

Castaway Cay 5K

I ran this one with my buddy Melissa and we had a lot of fun!

Castaway Cay 5K

With the recent rain, it was definitely humid out there, but the sun stayed hidden behind the clouds which I was super grateful for!

(Side note....dang, my arm looks a mile long in the above picture!)

Castaway Cay 5K

One thing I love about the 5K is the scenery. I mean, where else can you run a Disney 5K on a private island, with fun props along the way, surrounded by nature and the beauty of creation?!

Mile 1 and 2 seemed to fly by, but I'm not going to lie - mile 3 seemed to drag on a bit. I kept joking that in January, we would "only" have 23 more miles to run! Oy. 

Castaway Cay 5K

Before too long, I spotted the finish line and we kicked it in high gear before crossing!

Our final time was right at 30ish minutes which I was totally ok with given the crazy island humidity!

Castaway Cay 5K

Another fun thing I loved about this race is the change in lanyards! My previous one has a blue lanyard and doesn't include the year on it, but this one does! Fun times!

Castaway Cay 5K

After the race, we changed into our swim suits for a little snorkeling time in the ocean!

Castaway Cay 5K

I'd say it was another successful and fun 5K at Castaway Cay and as always, I can't wait to return to run another! :)

Have you ever run the Castaway Cay 5K? What are your thoughts on the race?

8 comments:

  1. I've never done this one! One day I'll get on a Disney cruise and get to do it. It looks like so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's so cool that you can do a destination run while on a cruise!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is definitely on my bucket list! I'm glad to see that it is still a free event!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so happy that you and Jason were finally able to go on your anniversary cruise! I can't wait to hear more about the trip. Running Castaway Cay sounds like a blast, even with the crazy humidity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Kathryn! We had a great time! :)

      Delete

Blog Archive

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...