My Disneyland Paris 5k!

Yesterday, thanks to my wonderful friend Laura, I had the chance to run a race at Disneyland Paris.

To be totally honest, I didn’t even know that Disney held races before I saw Laura’s collection of beautiful Disney medals. When she told me there was going to be a race weekend in Paris for the first time EVER this year, I just knew that I wanted to be a part of it.

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When my alarm went off at 5.30am on Saturday morning I was buzzing with excitement. I jumped up and down on the bed exclaiming “Happy Birthday” to Laura before starting to put my costume together. Laura and I had decided to dress as Nick and Judy from Zootopia and I was itching to get my bunny ears on!

When we got to the start line everyone was dressed up. We saw lots of Mickey Mouses, Storm Troopers, a Kylo Ren, Remy from Ratatouille, a Tinkerbell, and lots of adorable little Princesses! The atmosphere was absolutely amazing, even if it was pretty cold while we were waiting to start running. (Note – The races start early  because they need to be finished before the parks open at 10am).

However, as soon as we started running, I immediately forgot all about the cold. We ran into the park, through Main Street, around the Castle and past all the main attractions. We even ran backstage! There were Disney staff everywhere cheering us on and characters dotted all over the park. We didn’t wait in line for pictures but we saw Spider-Man, Mary Poppins, Cruella Devil, Eeyore, Chewbacca, R2D2, Remy, from Rataouille and many many more! It was incredible to see so many characters out so early supporting us.

As we made our way round I could NOT stop smiling. The atmosphere was like nothing else I had ever experienced and I was just overwhelmed by the positive ambiance during the race. It’s a family fun run so it isn’t a timed race and the goal is just to have fun and see Disney like you’ve never seen it before!

Even though I’m sad that I didn’t get to do the half marathon, I’m so happy that I got to partake in a race and I can’t wait for next year. Next year I plan to fly to LA for the Disneyland California half marathon and then do the Disneyland Paris half marathon three weeks later in order to get the famous Castle to Chateau medal.  

My addiction to running only started this year but the more races I do, the more determined I become to reach my goals. And I’m proud to say that I can now add Disney races to my ever growing list of running objectives!

And last but not least, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy were all waiting for us at the finish line! I don’t think my day could have gotten any better even if I’d tried! Happy birthday again to my wonderful partner in crime Laura ☺