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!

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!!

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?

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. 

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. 

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

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!)

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. 

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!

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!

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

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?