Castaway Cay 5K

[Ariel484]

You don't have to steal --I give it to you with a warm heart!

You're swell, Siobhan

 

[The Empress Lilly]

@The Empress Lilly, I was going to invite you to join us on the Ladies' Cruise, but I looked at your profile and you're a dude. All this time, I thought you were a lass!

Not anymore! The surgery was a succes!

 

[PuertoRekinSam]

I just did the 5k last week. It was a nice run, but humid. But really not that much worse than Baltimore at this time of year anyway. I do wish they got us on he island sooner, it was closer to 930 when we started. But I was smart and packed my fuel belt, had 2 bottles water and 2 powerade so I could refuel on my schedule.

 

[plaz10]

Exactly this (except for the never again part--I did it a second time). The course is unattractive, the heat and humidity through the jungle/rainforest/wall of shrubbery is not pleasant, and the medal is plastic and cheesy. It would be a lot less cheesy, even being plastic, if the strap wasn't printed with "winner" several times over.

That being said, I did do the 5K a second time during my FEBRUARY cruise. Totally different experience. Still the same rather unattractive course, but much different conditions. At the end, I wasn't purple and wishing for a wheelchair. . Oh, and it should be noted that I walked it both times. I can't run on account of my bad back.

If you don't do it in August and want to give it a go in September, I'll do it a third time, Jen. Y'know, for my roomie and all.

My effort to distinguish my DCL "medals":
View attachment 57466

I can maintain a 13-minute mile walking here in the NortheastUS, so you can see the effects of the humidity.

Siobhan....you are quite the crafty lady...

 

[Ariel484]

Just got back yesterday and thought I'd give a small update on how the CC5K went for us.

The procedure now is that you're supposed to sign up for the race at Guest Services prior to CC day - it's listed in the Day 1 and Day 2 Navigators, and I'd known about it ahead of time from reading up online. At Guest Services they give you tickets and you present them to the CM when you meet the morning of the race (we met in Evolution - we were on the Dream). So I signed us up as soon as I could on embarkation day.

We were supposed to meet at 8:15 - we'd put out a room service card the night before to have toast and a bagel delivered to the room that morning, so we ate those and were checked in at Evolution a little after 8. Lots of people kept coming in and not everyone had signed up beforehand. We were supposed to disembark by 8:30...I'm not sure exactly when we did disembark but it was closer to 9 and I was fuming. This was cutting into my Castaway Cay time! I think they just kept letting people sign up and that's what was delaying us. The CMs went over the course, talked about the water stop, etc.

I had my Garmin on me, so I know for sure that we did not start running until 9:15. It's very informal - you walk to the start near Pelican Point and there's a box where you can leave stuff (as adults you need to take your ID - we never had to show ours to anyone - and everyone must have their KTTW card, of course). A CM will just say "ready, set, go!" to start the race. You do get a bib in Evolution, but there's no timing chip. There is one "official" water stop that you run by twice, along with a couple other water stands that are located on the bike path near the observation tower. The course is very flat - you run out into the bike path (which is a big, tree-enclosed circle that seems like it will never end) and then out onto the airstrip. The "official" water stop is at the beginning of the airstrip, so you run past it once, to the end of the airstrip and then turn around, passing the water stop a second time to get back into the bike path.



**WARNING...Very truthful review below!!**



It. Was. Miserable. My poor husband - a non-runner - had been training for this race over the past few weeks and was feeling pretty good about it, but there was no training for that Castaway Cay weather. We have been having a very mild summer here in Ohio, and the heat and humidity were just too much. He was incredibly discouraged and I think the race almost wrecked the both of us for the rest of the day (I do most of my runs on a treadmill in a small, hot cardio room at work, so I fared a bit better). I just ran a 5K here at home in May and the CC5K took me about 10 minutes longer to do compared to that May 5K. The weather was just not racing weather - 86 degrees (with a "real feel" temperature of 99 degrees ), 79% humidity and sun. Finally we both crossed the finish line, and the first words out of our mouths were ones we'd been repeating almost as soon as the race began: "Never Again." Seriously, I've run the WDW Marathon twice - once as part of the Goofy Challenge with a heat advisory - and the CC5K was way harder. Other runners were saying the same thing I was...even Florida residents were miserable. This race is no joke. And to top it all off, the course isn't even a full 5K - my watch indicated we'd gone 3.01 miles, not 3.1 miles. And despite really wanting to, we didn't cut corners. Arg!

So that's my story. Um...have fun?

 

[Kerby626]

I've always said after running that horrid course with 1000% humidity they should Atleast offer an adult beverage at the end for the misery that consumes

 

[Sans Souci]

Just got back yesterday and thought I'd give a small update on how the CC5K went for us.

The procedure now is that you're supposed to sign up for the race at Guest Services prior to CC day - it's listed in the Day 1 and Day 2 Navigators, and I'd known about it ahead of time from reading up online. At Guest Services they give you tickets and you present them to the CM when you meet the morning of the race (we met in Evolution - we were on the Dream). So I signed us up as soon as I could on embarkation day.

We were supposed to meet at 8:15 - we'd put out a room service card the night before to have toast and a bagel delivered to the room that morning, so we ate those and were checked in at Evolution a little after 8. Lots of people kept coming in and not everyone had signed up beforehand. We were supposed to disembark by 8:30...I'm not sure exactly when we did disembark but it was closer to 9 and I was fuming. This was cutting into my Castaway Cay time! I think they just kept letting people sign up and that's what was delaying us. The CMs went over the course, talked about the water stop, etc.

I had my Garmin on me, so I know for sure that we did not start running until 9:15. It's very informal - you walk to the start near Pelican Point and there's a box where you can leave stuff (as adults you need to take your ID - we never had to show ours to anyone - and everyone must have their KTTW card, of course). A CM will just say "ready, set, go!" to start the race. You do get a bib in Evolution, but there's no timing chip. There is one "official" water stop that you run by twice, along with a couple other water stands that are located on the bike path near the observation tower. The course is very flat - you run out into the bike path (which is a big, tree-enclosed circle that seems like it will never end) and then out onto the airstrip. The "official" water stop is at the beginning of the airstrip, so you run past it once, to the end of the airstrip and then turn around, passing the water stop a second time to get back into the bike path.



**WARNING...Very truthful review below!!**



It. Was. Miserable. My poor husband - a non-runner - had been training for this race over the past few weeks and was feeling pretty good about it, but there was no training for that Castaway Cay weather. We have been having a very mild summer here in Ohio, and the heat and humidity were just too much. He was incredibly discouraged and I think the race almost wrecked the both of us for the rest of the day (I do most of my runs on a treadmill in a small, hot cardio room at work, so I fared a bit better). I just ran a 5K here at home in May and the CC5K took me about 10 minutes longer to do compared to that May 5K. The weather was just not racing weather - 86 degrees (with a "real feel" temperature of 99 degrees ), 79% humidity and sun. Finally we both crossed the finish line, and the first words out of our mouths were ones we'd been repeating almost as soon as the race began: "Never Again." Seriously, I've run the WDW Marathon twice - once as part of the Goofy Challenge with a heat advisory - and the CC5K was way harder. Other runners were saying the same thing I was...even Florida residents were miserable. This race is no joke. And to top it all off, the course isn't even a full 5K - my watch indicated we'd gone 3.01 miles, not 3.1 miles. And despite really wanting to, we didn't cut corners. Arg!

So that's my story. Um...have fun?

Wow, that sounds absolutely awful. Thanks for the heads up. Where I live, we've been having a mostly mild and dry summer, too. I am going in just a little over 2 weeks, so I will probably pass. I think I will just go to the Yoga at Serenity Bay. I want to enjoy my CC day without feeling like death warmed over.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Just got back yesterday and thought I'd give a small update on how the CC5K went for us.

The procedure now is that you're supposed to sign up for the race at Guest Services prior to CC day - it's listed in the Day 1 and Day 2 Navigators, and I'd known about it ahead of time from reading up online. At Guest Services they give you tickets and you present them to the CM when you meet the morning of the race (we met in Evolution - we were on the Dream). So I signed us up as soon as I could on embarkation day.

We were supposed to meet at 8:15 - we'd put out a room service card the night before to have toast and a bagel delivered to the room that morning, so we ate those and were checked in at Evolution a little after 8. Lots of people kept coming in and not everyone had signed up beforehand. We were supposed to disembark by 8:30...I'm not sure exactly when we did disembark but it was closer to 9 and I was fuming. This was cutting into my Castaway Cay time! I think they just kept letting people sign up and that's what was delaying us. The CMs went over the course, talked about the water stop, etc.

I had my Garmin on me, so I know for sure that we did not start running until 9:15. It's very informal - you walk to the start near Pelican Point and there's a box where you can leave stuff (as adults you need to take your ID - we never had to show ours to anyone - and everyone must have their KTTW card, of course). A CM will just say "ready, set, go!" to start the race. You do get a bib in Evolution, but there's no timing chip. There is one "official" water stop that you run by twice, along with a couple other water stands that are located on the bike path near the observation tower. The course is very flat - you run out into the bike path (which is a big, tree-enclosed circle that seems like it will never end) and then out onto the airstrip. The "official" water stop is at the beginning of the airstrip, so you run past it once, to the end of the airstrip and then turn around, passing the water stop a second time to get back into the bike path.



**WARNING...Very truthful review below!!**



It. Was. Miserable. My poor husband - a non-runner - had been training for this race over the past few weeks and was feeling pretty good about it, but there was no training for that Castaway Cay weather. We have been having a very mild summer here in Ohio, and the heat and humidity were just too much. He was incredibly discouraged and I think the race almost wrecked the both of us for the rest of the day (I do most of my runs on a treadmill in a small, hot cardio room at work, so I fared a bit better). I just ran a 5K here at home in May and the CC5K took me about 10 minutes longer to do compared to that May 5K. The weather was just not racing weather - 86 degrees (with a "real feel" temperature of 99 degrees ), 79% humidity and sun. Finally we both crossed the finish line, and the first words out of our mouths were ones we'd been repeating almost as soon as the race began: "Never Again." Seriously, I've run the WDW Marathon twice - once as part of the Goofy Challenge with a heat advisory - and the CC5K was way harder. Other runners were saying the same thing I was...even Florida residents were miserable. This race is no joke. And to top it all off, the course isn't even a full 5K - my watch indicated we'd gone 3.01 miles, not 3.1 miles. And despite really wanting to, we didn't cut corners. Arg!

So that's my story. Um...have fun?

That's such a great review, lol.

 

[Tiggerish]

That's such a great review, lol.

Says the chick who will run only if chased with scissors. If you needed another excuse (and you don't!), now you have it!

 

[Tiggerish]

@Ariel484, now you will REALLY MEAN IT when you say "never again".

 

[sweetpee_1993]

@Ariel484, yep. Here in Houston our weather in the summer is pretty much like Central Florida. Sometimes hotter. We've also been having a "mild" summer (read: less hellish). The summer Brian and I 'trained' for the CC5k we had over a month solid of 100+ degree days. That's when we learned the absolute necessity of running before the sun is up. I remember during that heat wave even pre-sun we were in the upper 70s to low 80s. And heavy humidity always. Even now, if I'm not out the door for my run by 6:15 at the latest I don't bother. Right now temps are more low to mid 70s for that time of day. Heavy humidity. Sunshine would be the killer. I'm not making myself sick to run, tho.

I'm thinking I'll do my cruise running on deck and watch the sun cone up from here on out. That's the --name of ship-- 5k. No bibs or medals but a great view, fantastic breezes, and you get to enjoy the rest of the day!

The CC5k starts too late for me. Nooooo thanks!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Says the chick who will run only if chased with scissors. If you needed another excuse (and you don't!), now you have it!

I saw her jog to catch up to Missy at the finish of the CC5k....to take a picture.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I've always said after running that horrid course with 1000% humidity they should Atleast offer an adult beverage at the end for the misery that consumes

I'd need a bonus day at CC as my reward/incentive. LOL!

 

[EOD K9]

@Ariel484 That is a shame that you didn't enjoy yourself. I've run the 5k in March and also in August. As you can tell by my avatar, I'm not a runner, but I enjoyed the run on CC. You review was honest but I hope that doesn't discourage others from making the attempt.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Says the chick who will run only if chased with scissors. If you needed another excuse (and you don't!), now you have it!

Exactly! And I was sooooo close to running it! Lol

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I saw her jog to catch up to Missy at the finish of the CC5k....to take a picture.

I jog in short bursts when it's necessary.

 

[plaz10]

This just solidifies my reasons for not running the CC5K in January.

You know...this...plus my hatred for running/being super hot/not being completely and utterly lazy on CC day.

Yep.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I jog in short bursts when it's necessary.

Well that day it really was totally necessary. What a great friend you are as demonstrated by your own bodily sacrifice.

 

[Bolna]

Thanks for the review! It confirms that I was right in chickening out of it on my first cruise. I think I have no desire to try it after reading your review. I rather have a lovely day on the island and run 5k on another day - without a medal.

 

[Bolna]

@Ariel484 That is a shame that you didn't enjoy yourself. I've run the 5k in March and also in August. As you can tell by my avatar, I'm not a runner, but I enjoyed the run on CC. You review was honest but I hope that doesn't discourage others from making the attempt.

But your avatar looks like you are a serious athlete! I think the thing I took out of @Ariel484's review is that you need to know what you are in for. It is not going to be a pleasant jog through the countryside, but a challenge.