Race Report: 2014 Expedition Everest Challenge

Disney's Expedition Everest Challenge is still my favorite Disney race.  Not because it's a short race (5K "adventure" race), but because it is just so much fun.  You get to run through Animal Kingdom at night, have a few fun obstacles along the way, then get to solve clues thru the park to get to the finish line.  And the best part?  Getting to party in the park until the wee hours of the morning-which means you get to ride Expedition Everest at night!

This was my 4th year in a row participating in the Challenge.  Just like the last several races I've done up at Walt Disney World, I volunteered for a couple of shifts before the race-once at the expo on Friday (I worked at one of the gear bag pickup booths), and once at the Family Edition race Saturday morning.  I've mentioned before that I love volunteering at the runDisney events, and this one was no exception...great group of people to work with, and of course the athletes are fantastic!

On race day, since I was up pretty early for my 6:30am volunteer shift, afterward I just took it easy back at my hotel (I sprung for Coronado Springs this time around, just love that place!) relaxing and trying-but failing-to take an afternoon nap since the race wasn't until 10pm.  The weather wasn't really cooperating-in the morning we had rain and it was like that for most of the early evening as well.  I headed over to Animal Kingdom just before 8pm, but with the constant misting rain and cooler temperatures-okay, cooler for Florida, it was in the upper 60s-I wound up hanging out in the car until about 45 minutes before race time.  At that point the rain had kind of tapered off so I headed straight for the start corral.  I decided to wear a jacket as with the breeze, misty on and off rain and "cooler" temperature I was kind of chilly.

Once the race started, we headed around the outer portion of the parking lot toward our first obstacle-the hay bales to hurdle over.  This is my favorite obstacle, mostly because I can jump them pretty easily (although I usually look pretty silly when I do):

Too bad they didn't get an airborne shot

Right around the 1-mile point I had warmed up enough so tied my jacket around my waist for the remainder of the race.  The cool air felt wonderful at that point, and the rest of the race was quite comfortable.  The second obstacle were those big tires on the ground that you have to get through (you know, like you see football players doing at practice).  At least I didn't wind up doing a face plant like some other people did:

Yeah, running through these would have been disastrous with my clumsiness

On toward the end of the 5K course where the final obstacle was a belly crawl under netting...yeah, I skipped that one again this year, so no funny pics for that one.  So it was across the 5K finish and on to collect my map and first clue, then heading into the park.  Clue #1:

The answer was green-found by checking our bibs for the flag color on the right side of the bib.

Clue #2:

On the first clue card that this clue refers you back to, you'll find the words three and one hidden-add them up to get the answer=four

Clue #3:

I like word puzzle so I flew through this one-they told you how many of each of the letters listed you could use to finish the phrase above.

Clue #4:

This was simple-using the answer to #3, you punched out the items that would keep you warm

Clue #5:

You take Clue card #4 and place it over this to get your answer

Final solution:

Easy, right?

And so I crossed the finish line like this:

Here's the answer to cross the finish!

I swear I was smiling the whole time thru the finish chute so I could get a decent finish picture...and yet, I got this pic instead.  Ah well,  here's my own:

I finished the overall event in 1:31:54, a little under a minute faster than last year.  Still not as good as two years ago (1:14 and change), but still a good job considering I walked the whole thing this time.  And of course one of the best parts of this event?  Getting to party in Animal Kingdom after dark!  If you thought Expedition Everest was fun, you should try it after dark-it will become your favorite Disney "mountain" coaster!  And be sure to ask for the front row-you may have to wait just a few minutes longer to ride, but it will be worth it---trust me ;-)

Until next year, keep on running, walking and enjoying Disney my friends :-)

Expedition Everest Challenge 2013 Race Report Part 2-The Race

After two days of volunteering and a mostly rained-out attempt at the Magic Kingdom Friday night, I decided to chill out in my room Saturday afternoon instead of heading to a park.  I thought I might take a nap, but I might have fallen asleep for maybe 20-30 minutes max...I spent most of the time eating lunch and then reading instead.

Headed to the start area not too early--this year it was a 10pm start.  The weather was pretty good for this time of the year-71 with a little breeze and not too humid (for Florida...it's all relative anyway).  I arrived and just wandered around until I saw Steve, Katie and their daughter (Running of the Ears friends), then I hung out with them for a bit.  I didn’t see any other ROTErs (though I knew some were there), but some of my local friends arrived and we got a quick pic before heading over to the corrals (borrowed the pic from my friend Amy at The Point One Will Getcha! since mine had icky lighting, thanks Amy!).  

This year for the corrals, instead of the individuals going in the first corral and the teams coming after, we were assigned corrals by pace.  There were corrals A-H; I was in F...kind of a bummer after getting to start in the first corral the last two years.  The corrals themselves were not big enough to fit everyone so we were spilling out the back of it.  As each wave was sent off and we moved closer to the front, we were finally able to fit into the chute...also the closer to the front, they had “snow” falling onto us from high above.  Our wave wound up starting at 10:30pm.

One thing that bugged many of us-even though corrals were supposedly assigned by pace (you had to indicate your anticipated pace when you registered), as each corral was sent off, you could see that every single corral (even corral A) had people at the very back walking-and not necessarily a fast walk either.  I had been honest about my pace when I registered-I was thinking they’d still have individuals first, probably ordered by pace, then teams the same way so I figured I still wouldn’t be at the back, even indicating that I would be one of the slowest paces...I didn’t know they would put individuals and teams mixed into every corral based on pace.  While I wasn’t put in the last corral, I thought they may have moved me up based on my times (5K and scavenger hunt) from last year. 

Since I hadn’t done much running-mostly walking-in the months leading up to the race, I started off at a brisk walk and figured I’d add in running if I felt up to it.  The course started off like the last two years, around the parking lot until we came to the first obstacles-the hay bales to hurdle over.  I did run through this-it’s a lot easier to hurdle hay bales when you’re running than when you’re walking.

Then on into the park for a bit before heading backstage.  They changed up the course a bit so we saw some different backstage portions than before.  The second obstacle was the tires.  They had a long line of tires set up (like what you used to see football players go through) and by the time I got there, it was a sea of people one after the other in a big line going thru them.  There were about 7 or 8 people waiting to start the tires in each line, and since I’m a clumsy one, I skipped it and went off-road around them.  The final obstacle was the net to crawl under, but again this year I couldn’t fathom crawling down there with the dirt being kicked up--I have enough problems with my allergies as it is...and so I went around this one too.  I probably would’ve gotten through it faster if I crawled since the sand around it was soft and not conducive to any kind of fast pace at all.

After crossing the 5K finish which was back outside of the park (not my slowest 5K time ever, but still pretty slow for me at 54:40, a 17:35 pace...but I did walk almost the whole thing), I got my first clue.  I was only handed the clue card and flashlight, and asked about a marker, but was told I wouldn’t need one.  Here’s Clue #1:

“Zero in” told me to look for the zeroes and once I did, you could see they made the letters “NW” for Northwest.  Told the volunteer at the first station just outside the entrance to the park my answer and I was given Clue #2:

“Heads up”-start at the top, “high and low”, go up and down...to get Northeast.  On to Camp Minnie-Mickey, gave my answer and got Clue #3:

This one I got immediately.  26--easy, that’s the number of letters in the alphabet, 19 and 23 are the letters S and W for Southwest.  Hurried to Africa, gave my answer and got Clue #4:

Okay, this one stumped me for a bit (and many other people).  I understood from the hints that I should start at the top line and look down the rows to get the answer but for the life of me I couldn’t see where in the top line to start.  Finally saw “nor” from normally, next line right below that was “the”, then right under that was the “ast” from “fast” which gives you Nor-the-ast...Northeast...and on to Asia for the Final Clue (#5).  When I got there, tons of runners were sitting all over the ground trying to figure out this clue:

So basically we had to put the other 4 clues together, turning them the correct way based on each clue’s answer to get this:

See the symbol in the middle?  We were supposed to point at the flag on our bib that had that symbol after we crossed the finish so the volunteer would know we solved it before we got our medal.  Me?  Yeah, I had no idea...just like all those other people who were sprawled everywhere trying to figure it out.  Since I knew we had to use the previous clues to solve the final one, I kept looking at them and the only thing that popped out at me was the colors the clues were printed on-blue for the first one, white for the second, red for the third and green for the fourth.  My not-so brilliant idea was, hey, we didn’t use yellow for those...and the final clue was on yellow, so I’ll just point to the yellow flag, right?  Yeah, not so much.  I headed to the finish line.

The volunteer I went to for my medal was one that I had worked with that morning at the refreshments table, and when I pointed to the yellow flag, she said, “ah, no...um, rhymes with right...”.  Oh.  Okay.  So I pointed to the white flag with a silly grin and she draped my medal around my neck.  White? Huh?  I got my banana, Clif Bar and Powerade and hung out after the finish chute waiting for Amy and her hubby (our other friends are way faster than us and were already done and back in the park).  She explained how the last clue was supposed to work.  I wasn’t about to try to figure it out again then, so we headed on into the park for the After-Party.

In addition to the rides in Dino-Land being open, they also had Kali River Rapids and the headliner, Expedition Everest available to ride.  I had been looking forward to that all night!  And what’s even better than riding Expedition Everest at night (the absolute best time to ride it!)? Sitting in the front row of course!  We rode twice before I decided to call it a night.

Overall I had a great time-this is still my favorite Disney race and I’ll keep coming back every year if I’m able.  My overall time this year was slower, in part due to my much slower 5K portion (2011 I did 47:17 and 2012 I did 48:44 for the 5K part) but also due to the difficulty of this year’s clues.  My final overall time?  1:32:42.  Women, 355/608; 599/954 overall in the individuals.  The 5K portion was of course 3.1 miles; the scavenger hunt added another 1.73 miles for a total of 4.83 miles for the entire race.  And for those interested, here’s the crazy overall map from my Garmin:

Have you ever done a 5K “Adventure” race like this?  Would you ever want to try the Expedition Everest Challenge?

2012 Expedition Everest Challenge race report

2012 Expedition Everest Challenge Race Report

Yes, I know-I haven’t even done my WDW Half, WDW Marathon Relay, ING Miami Half or Princess Half recaps yet.  They’ll eventually get on here (hopefully before the next of each race rolls around next year LOL), but for now while EEC is fresh in my mind I want to post this one up.

Just like last year I did a Friday to Sunday trip.  Stayed on property (of course) at Disney’s Pop Century resort-my favorite value resort at WDW.  My SIL and her DH were riding up and rooming with me (see “sharing expenses” tip) so we all left together just before 8am so we could be there in time for the noon packet pickup opening.  Once we arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, there was already about 30 or 40 people lined up waiting for pickup to start.  We joined them, lining up along the outside of the baseball stadium.  When they started letting everyone in, we walked through the inside of the stadium to an open area in the sun where tents were set up with everyone’s packets, a staged photo op area and very small area of EEC and runDisney items available for purchase.  We got our stuff, took some shots at the photo area, I bought the EEC pin, then we moved along to the shirt pickup area.  This year’s was a nice deep forest green with the EEC logo on the front.  

Headed to the hotel to check in, then out for some lunch at TGI Friday’s (another creative financing idea--turned in 150 stripes on my TGI Friday’s stripes card for a free steak entree coupon...gotta love free steak!) before heading to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day & night.  Saturday slept in a bit, then headed over to Epcot to meet up with some friends of SIL/BIL’s to wander.  But it was the sun was crazy strong and it was HOT HOT HOT so I left to go back to the room for a couple of hours before heading over to Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom for a late lunch/early dinner (creative financing #3 of the trip--turned in some MyPoints for a $25 RC gift card so my meal was free!).  Even with trying to stay in the shade while at Epcot I wound up with some sunburned arms and a bit on my face...very glad I went back to the room when I did or the race would have been a bit painful!

After resting at the room after dinner for a while, we headed over to Animal Kingdom around 8pm.  Saw Katie, Steve, Becky and David from Running of the Ears right away, then wandered over by the stage area.  We had met back up with our friends from earlier that day (SIL/BIL were running as a team and the 4 others were 2 teams as well) and took a pic at one of the photo areas near the stage, then made a quick port-a-potty stop before heading over to get into the corral.  I lucked out and was in Wave #1 again (YAY!) so wanted to get a good spot off to the right side of the corral so I wouldn’t be in the way of the fast people.

Unfortunately, they held us all outside of the corral for a bit before letting us into the chute.  Everyone was stuffed together at the entrance which was a tad uncomfortable, especially since it had only “cooled” down to about 80 degrees and was still a bit humid.  Finally they let us in.

And then we were off!  I started off running as usual (yeah, moron creature of habit here, I never learn), then tried to switch to intervals trying to keep up with Katie, Steve and his daughter (they were doing 1:1’s), but it was just too hot and humid for me to do that so I switched to my fast walk instead.  About 3/4 of a mile in we came upon our first obstacles--just like last year we had rows of hay bales to hurdle over.  No problem at all!  We continued on, entering Animal Kingdom just after the 1-mile mark.  Out to the back of the park and into the backstage area to obstacle #2--and again just like last year we had the rows of tires to navigate thru.  I didn’t want to try run/hopping through them like you see football players do as I was sure I’d wind up flat on my face like I saw several people do, so I went through them but at a walking pace instead.

Back into the park for a bit, then backstage again before heading out--just past mile 3 was the last obstacle--where you were supposed to crawl on the ground under ropes (like you see army guys do in training).  They had that fake carpet-grass underneath, I’m assuming to keep you from hurting yourself on rocks, but the obstacle is set in a really loose sandy area so there was a lot of dust being kicked up and I wasn’t about to crawl through it with my allergies...and so I went around it (yeah, I know-that technically makes you ineligible for prizes but really--I’m never going to be fast enough to get a prize anyway so eh, no biggie).  It actually was slow going around it because of the loose sand-you couldn’t really go fast (or at least I couldn’t) without probably twisting an ankle.  Once around the obstacle, it was just a few more feet until the 5K finish line.

Next up we were handed our first scavenger hunt clue along with a mini-marker attached to a key ring that had a red-light flashlight.  Remember, there are different clues available so not everyone has the same clues.  Here’s my clue #1: 

  I figured this out really quick.  And I knew from last year not to head into the park with the clue, that the first station was outside the park.  At least this year there was someone there telling people the first clue station was there so they wouldn’t do like I did.  Got clue #2 

and headed into the park to Camp Minnie-Mickey.  Another quick solve!  Grabbed clue #3 

  I had to think about this one for a couple of minutes but tried thinking while walking so I wouldn’t waste any time.  I stopped for maybe one whole minute though to really look at what it said, then jogged on.  Made it over to Africa and got clue #4 

This one I thought was really easy so I quickly wrote my answer down and started running toward Asia where I got my final clue 

  Once I realized what I had to do, I flipped back through my clue cards to figure out the final answer, quickly wrote it down and ran all the way to the finish where I showed them my card, then ran through the chute to the race finish line!

I must say, I’m very proud of myself with the clues this year--I got them all by myself, no hints from anyone and since I knew what I was doing and where I was going this time around, I cut about 25 minutes off my overall time from last year!  One of the teams from our group finished a little bit before me and called out to me once I finished so we hung out waiting for the others to come on through (they were in later waves since the teams started after the individuals).  We all went for a ride on Expedition Everest (where I wound up losing my hat after the big drop-flew right off my head...yes, I’m calling WDW lost and found to see if they have it...that sure didn’t happen last year), then headed over to Kali River Rapids.  I decided not to ride that one (yes, the soaking would have been welcome to help cool down but I wasn’t getting back in my car like that) so waited for everyone else.  After that me, SIL and BIL wandered over to DinoLand USA...no wait for Primeval Whirl so went for a spin before heading out for the night.

This was another fantastic Disney race weekend.  Just in case I haven’t said it enough, I LOVE this event.  Already planning on heading back again next year--after all, I need to see if I can do it faster, right?  Now I have a nice long break as my next race isn’t until the Tower of Terror 10-miler at the end of September.  Time to really get back to the weight-loss regimen since I’ll be able to properly devote my time and not worry about race training for a few months.

Women overall 238/522

5K time 48:44

Scavenger Hunt time 25:42

Total time 1:14:26 (net time); 1:14:43 (clock time)

5 days to the Expedition Everest Challenge!

Only 5 days left until the 2012 Expedition Everest Challenge! I'm planning on heading up Friday morning so only 4 more days until I'm at the Mouse House. Unfortunately the weather is putting a damper on training. It's been raining and raining and, well, you guessed it, raining for the last three days. And looks like more of the same for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We've been under almost constant flood watches the whole weekend and into today. Makes me glad I'm doing the individual again this year (if they have us start in the first wave/corral again). I could just walk the course and still be done before the last people are even halfway through. Though I won't be walking the whole thing even if I can't get outside to train all this week.

And no, I'm not running on the treadmill. Tried that before and it was awful--I couldn't even keeping walking on the treadmill after I tried running on it, that's how badly it threw me off (no, it didn't throw me off the machine, I meant in general and stride/pace/everything-wise). I wouldn't mind running in the rain if it was just a light rain or drizzle but we've been getting seriously heavy downpours...not worth it to go out in this weather for "just" a 5K. I'll be fine for EEC even if I take this week off.

Almost time to conquer the mountain!

Countdown to Expedition Everest 2012

Only 27 days to go until I leave for the 2012 Expedition Everest Challenge weekend at Walt Disney World! I'm interested to see how they've changed it for this year...from what I've read, it seems like there will be clues along the 5K course to help us after the 5K portion is completed and we start picking up our clue cards in the park. I don't know if I'll like that or not...though it might make it easier for me to add more run segments in since I'm guessing when we come up to a clue area I'll be pausing to read the information so will have short rest breaks.

When I look at the map on runDisney's website, it looks like last year with clue cards being available in the same places (Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa and Asia) and the scavenger hunt finish near Expedition Everest. So I guess the info along the 5K course will help us solve those clue cards as opposed to last year just getting the cards and having to figure them out ourselves. Since my only goal this year is to finish faster than last year, hopefully these clues for the actual clue cards will make the scavenger hunt portion go much faster. If you've read my blog entry from last year's event, you know I lost quite a bit of time at the beginning of the scavenger hunt since I couldn't figure out where to turn in my first clue.

4 weeks of training to go!

5.14.2011-Expedition Everest Challenge race report

First off, I have to say I LOVED this event. Yes, it’s just a 5K (and one that cost $95 to boot!) but the theming, obstacles and scavenger hunt turned the “just a 5K” into a really fun event that I’ll definitely be going back for again.

I left Friday morning before the sun came up (trying to miss all those icky lovebugs that like to get smushed all over the car this time of year) and so I arrived early enough to check in to my room and grab a snack before heading over to packet pickup when it opened. No fancy expo...even the outdoor tents they had set up had to be taken down as a storm was rolling in so they moved the tables into the stadium breezeways at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. There was a big board set up before you went inside where you could check for your bib #...now, I knew I was going to be in wave 1 since I was doing the race as an individual and we got to start before the teams...but I didn’t know I’d be bib #95. My number was even lower than my (MUCH) faster ROTE friends that were there...so I got a kick out of that, ‘cause you know for a normal Disney race with normal corrals I’m never going to have that low of a number-let alone be in the first wave of runners LOL. Pickup was quick and after I went back to my room for a nap while the storm passed, then met a ROTEr over a Epcot to wander around and watch Illuminations (thanks Dan!).

Saturday I decided to sleep in, then had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the pool for a couple of hours of relaxation. Met up with Dan and Tricia (with her cute twin sons) for a late lunch/early dinner over at Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom. Afterward, Dan and I headed over to the race staging area to hang out and look out for other ROTErs. We finally found Megan who was there with her family and then Steve. Eventually it was time to line up so we headed for the front of the corral where I took a picture of the start sign with the “wave 1” sign for posterity (HA!). In the corral we met Monica, then Dan left us to move up closer to the front-since ya know he was going to be a heck of a lot faster ;-) and then we were off. And I of course went out too fast and had to walk a bit more than I wanted to during the first mile. Our first obstacle were lines of hay bales (maybe 3 or 4 sets) that we had to jump over like hurdles. I must have looked a sight doing that as I could feel my legs flying out to the sides as I jumped. At least the pic they got of me during that part looked mostly normal.

We went back through the park and out through a backstage area to a turnaround point after which came our second obstacle-rows of tires on the ground (again 3 or 4 rows) that we had to navigate through (though some people were just hurdling over them like the hay bales). Made it through, saw only one person fall. Back in the park for a bit, then backstage to our way back out where the last obstacle was. For the last one, we had a choice--go up and over one of those rope net tent-shaped climbing things, crawl under a rope net that was about a foot above the ground...or you could go around both. I was not about to do the crawl one-it was through a ton of loose dirt and I could see the kids that were doing it were coming out filthy (no thanks, that’ll be me if I ever agree to a mud run). I was going to do the climb one, but it was filled with people and I would have had to wait to take a turn...and so I just went around...which was hard to run through since it was all loose dirt too so I just walked as fast as I could through it. Right after that was the finish to the 5K portion.

As we finished through there were volunteers handing out our first clue, a small flashlight and mini-marker to write our answers on the clue cards. On the cards was listed the location where we were to show our answers, so since mine said Oasis-Palms, I headed for The Oasis which is the first set of animals after you get in the park. But I couldn’t find where to go. After wasting about 15-20 minutes going back and forth between the entrance and almost to the big tree, I found out the station was BEFORE you went in the park. Nice. So I went back out, found my area, and tried to figure out my clue...finally got it with some help from the volunteer who then gave me my next clue.

Off to Camp Minnie-Mickey I went...with another really hard clue that I couldn’t figure out how to start...turned out to be a substitution code to figure out the answer (again got help from the volunteer).

Got my next card which sent me to Africa...easy clue this time, just elongated letters and had to figure out what the word said.

Quickly got my next clue and ran all the way to Asia with it, another really easy one.

Got my final clue which stumped me at first but with a little hint from a volunteer (who was enthusiastically going from person to person trying to help as many people out as he could) got it done and raced over to the finish.

After navigating the medal line (crush of people, not enough space for the crowds that were coming through at the same time I was) and getting snacks (Powerade, bananas, Clif bars and huge liter-sized bottles of water), met up with Steve and we walked over to Dinoland USA where we met up with Dan and eventually Becky. Found out that Becky finished second in the individual female category and Dan finished fourth for individual males---Congratulations!! Got a picture with Mickey and Minnie-line moved pretty quickly, only had to wait maybe five minutes, then we headed over to ride Expedition Everest (WAY cool to ride in the dark!). After that I was pretty tired so headed back to my room.

I was not last...I finished 183 out of 193 for the individual female women. Would have been a lot better if I’d known where to go to turn in that first clue. My 5K time was 47:17, about average for me right now for a 5K but considering there were obstacles as well, even better I guess (I’m actually better on pace for longer races, go figure) and my scavenger hunt time was 53:30 for a total of 1:40:46. Which I’m fine with since this was my first time and I wasn’t sure how everything would be set up. Now I know to keep an eye out for clue stations right away and not assume they’ll all be in the park itself (*kicking myself for that one*) and I have a better idea of what to expect...because I will certainly be returning to do this again, whether by myself or teamed up with someone. I really enjoyed this event and would definitely recommend it to others. Plus getting to hang out in Animal Kingdom after dark when the park normally closes around sunset was a nice perk.

Next up, Weston Memorial Day 5K...another walk-to-the-start-line-from-my-house race.