A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away…

It is a period of taper and recovery. Rebel runners, operating from a hidden start line, have won the opening 5K against the evil Galactic Bonk.

During the race, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Out-of-Breath Star, which has the power to cause legions of runners to hit the wall.

Analysis of the plans has revealed a weakness, and a new hope for the Rebel Running Alliance. Only by undertaking the Rebel Challenge, and crossing the 10K and half marathon finish lines on two consecutive mornings, can runners defeat the Bonk and restore glycogen stores to the galaxy…

When runDisney announced that there would be a Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland in January 2015 there was a great disturbance in the Force, as though thousands of runners screamed for joy. When the event went on sale to the public in all race events were sold out in less than two hours.

The race weekend runs from January 15-18. Events include the Health and Fitness Expo Thursday-Saturday, the Star Wars 5K on Friday, the Star Wars 10K and Kids Races on Saturday, and the Half Marathon on Sunday. Runners participating in both the 10K and the Half Marathon have the opportunity to take on the Rebel Challenge, and earn an additional medal for completing both races.

And, let’s not forget that this event has my favorite word: Inaugural. 🙂 It took about a nanosecond for Lee and me to decide that we wanted to sign up for the Rebel Challenge.

To say that this race weekend has been eagerly anticipated is quite an understatement, and Disney fans and Star Wars fans have been training, and, more importantly, planning their race costumes, for months. Lee and I are no exception – I can’t remember when I’ve looked forward to a race weekend this much!

Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend has replaced Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend, which moved to May. So it is the weekend after WDW Marathon Weekend. While we “only” did the Goofy Challenge this year, that still means we’ll be running 58.6 miles in nine days. And again earning our Coast-to-Coast medal in the shortest possible time. We’re actually feeling pretty good, but these races are not going to about time, they are going to be about having fun!

We are really eager to see the special touches that Disney will put on the race courses. There’s always the great mile marker signs, and I hope we will also hear lots of Star Wars music. And the characters…who will we see? In addition to Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers (who are regulars at the Disneyland Half) I’m hoping for Disney characters in Star Wars costumes. We also know that Disney has recruited “costumers” from the Cosplay world to come out and cheer us on – we have a friend who will be doing that, and we are looking forward to seeing her.

And speaking of costumes – it’s going to be really interesting to see all of the creative costumes that the runners will come up with! I know Lee and I have worked on ours…

May the Course Be With You!

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Learn more about my runDisney experiences on AllEarsNet TV Show #33: