Saratoga Springs Derby Dash

With all of the craziness and stress going on in the world right now, let's pause and take a few minutes to enjoy a little Disney escape, shall we?

For starters, several resorts throughout Walt Disney property offer a fun run of some sort during the week. Saratoga Springs just so happens to offer their "Derby Dash" on Thursday mornings at 8 a.m. The cost is $15 and the distance is approximately 1.44 miles. The offerings with these runs are also different for each event, so check them out if you're interested. I've participated in one other resort fun run besides this one, and it was the Beignet Dash at Port Orleans French Quarter.

During our recent Princess Half Marathon vacation, we stayed at Saratoga Springs. This was our first time to stay at this resort and to be honest, I completely forgot that they offered a fun run during the week. Also, I heard through the grapevine that these fun runs were not operational during runDisney weekends, so I never even thought twice about it. Note to self: The Derby Dash does take place on "runDisney weekends" and I don't think a Thursday is considered a "weekend" for them.

The evening before the fun run, we received a voicemail to the phone in our room, "reminding" us of the Derby Dash the following day. Although I wasn't mentally prepared to run it, I had everything I needed (this was a runDisney trip, after all) and I'm never one to pass up an opportunity like this, so I set my alarm and planned on running it the following day! I figured since I was already physically there and I had no idea if I'd have this opportunity again, I might as well run it!

The race began at the Community Hall which was super easy to find. It was quite a bit of a hike from our room (about a 12 minute walk), but I made sure to leave in plenty of time.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. and in order to register, you must see a cast member inside of the Community Hall. You can pay with your magic band if it's connected to a credit card which makes things super easy. 

Saratoga Springs has the perfect layout for this race because the grounds of this resort are HUGE.We didn't even see the entire resort during our 1.4 mile run which is crazy to me!

 At exactly 8 a.m., and with a quick "Call to Post" (a super cute touch), we were off!

This course was adequately marked and I never felt like I could have gotten lost. It was a fabulous way to see the layout of the resort, too!

My favorite part of this course was the running portion that took us by Disney Springs. It was so quiet and peaceful in the morning, too.

Almost done!

After crossing the finish line, each runner received a medal. There was also a table with water bottles, wash cloths, granola bars, bananas, and oranges.

I was so happy I decided to participate in this race! It was a very good way to see the resort, a nice shakeout run before the upcoming Fairy Tale Challenge, and I got "unexpected bling" out of the whole deal!

If you're on the fence about running this, I think you should. This race was a nice way to get a little "touch" of runDisney, especially if you happen to be there on a non-runDisney trip. It was also a great way to kick start the day!

Have you ever run a resort fun run at Walt Disney World? If so, which one and what did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Port Orleans French Quarter Beignet Dash

Hi there and happy Wednesday! I'm interrupting my Royal Caribbean Alaska recaps for something near and dear to my heart - running at Disney!

My husband, son, and I recently spent the weekend at Walt Disney World where we jam packed as many "new to us" experiences in the weekend as possible. We stayed at Old Key West (new to us), had breakfast at Trattoria al Forno with the characters (also new to us), we saw Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy and the newly re-imagined Disney Jr Show at Hollywood Studios (all new to us), and I ran the Port Orleans French Quarter Beignet Dash for the first time.

Did you know that several of the Disney resorts host fun runs during the week? These runs are usually around a 3K distance and cost a small fee. After the run, participants are given a reward of some kind - such as a pin, medal, food item, etc. Oh yes, and walkers are welcome, too! (Please note, these runs are not available during runDisney race weekends.)

Ever since these runs began, I've been carrying around a list with a list of the race names and days of the week they take place, cause I knew I wanted to run one eventually. When we initially planned this trip, my first thought went to which days of the week we would be on property and which races would be available. Much to my delight, the Beignet Dash at Port Orleans French Quarter is held every Sunday morning and it just so happened to fit into our schedule!

At first I was hesitant to run this race as I am currently injured and going through physical therapy, but my PT encouraged me to run it (slowly) to see if I've made any progress. I also realize I haven't given any updates here on my PT progress, so I'll plan to give that update sometime next week!

Even though we were staying at the resort next door, we still had to take a Lyft to French Quarter as there is no walking path between the two resorts. Our driver picked us up at our building (instead of us having to take the 10 minute walking path to the front of Old Key West) and brought us directly to the front of French Quarter!

The race was set to begin at 8 a.m. and we arrived around 7:20 a.m. or so. Registration was set up to the side of the pool area, near the Disney Springs boat dock. During the registration process, a cast member told us that there were approximately 100 runners that morning!

According to the map, we would be running out of French Quarter and through Riverside! I was super excited to see this as Riverside is one of my favorite resorts on property!

My little cheerleaders were out to cheer me on!

At exactly 8 a.m.,  the race began. I scooted towards the middle of the pack as I didn't want to take off too fast and not be able to keep up running the whole time. I also didn't want to anger my hamstring any more.

This race was really nice and I enjoyed it a lot! My one complaint was the heat and humidity - and yes, I'm from Louisiana but I'm in the AC all day and not out in this craziness!

One thing I definitely appreciated about this race was the signage and cast members located throughout the course to cheer runners on. If you aren't familiar with the Riverside property, you wouldn't have a problem running this race as there's a ton of signage!

This race was approximately 1.4 to 1.5 miles per the runkeeper app on my phone and it really was a great way to start the day! My hamstring didn't give me much trouble during my run which was nice. The pain has gotten significantly better since starting PT! (More on that next week.)

I loved that the French Quarter greeter was out there to congratulate runners at the finish line as well!

After the run, we received our medals and a bottle of water (which was much needed)! We also had a chance to take pictures with a few of the signs that were provided.

Kimberly and her mom ran this race, too! It was so great to see them again and catch up!

At the bottom of our bib was a tear away tag which was good for 1 order of 3 Mickey beignets, which runners could pick up inside the French Quarter food court.

This little guy had Mickey waffles while I enjoyed my beignets!

These beignets were delicious and definitely comparable to those at Cafe DuMonde! They are also Mickey shaped, so how can you go wrong with that? I greatly enjoyed them and they were the perfect treat after having run 1.5 humid summer miles!

If you're interested in more Disney resorts fun runs, check out this post over at The Mouse For Less for a more comprehensive look at other fun runs that are available!