I promise that this will be my last post that has to do with the Star Wars Half Marathon. Although, this post is not just about that. If you ran the Star Wars 10K and/or Half Marathon, you might have noticed that they had a screen roll before the start of the races like they do at the start of the Star Wars movies. Did you want to know what was scrolling up the screen? If you weren’t in corral A (maybe B), you probably didn’t see the actual words. I was curious. Thankfully, a new runner friend of mine posted pictures of the screen roll. Since I didn’t take the time to get permission to post the pictures, I thought I’d post the words. They’re pretty cool!

As you may remember, during the pre-race banter before the Star Wars 10K, our race announcer Rudy was taken by the dark side of the force. I was very impressed with how they created this story. It wasn’t the usual pre-race banter. After Rudy was rescued, they had these words in the scroll…

It is a dark time for the runners. Imperial troops have attempted to drive the Rebel Forces from their hidden base and now pursue them across the galaxy. Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, the Rebels are about to embark on an inaugural adventure through magical lands. The Rebels will find themselves in a race against time – and against the Dark Side – as they greet their comrades, avoid their enemies…and race onward toward a glorious victory that will long remembered across the galaxy!

On the next day at the Star Wars Half Marathon, the scroll read….

The Galaxy’s greatest runners have made their way to the start line in an attempt to vanquish the Galactic Empire with their awesome show of might and unity. The Rebels are about to embark on an inaugural adventure through magical lands that will win them the ultimate victory and free the galaxy of the oppression of the Empire. Although the evil Darth Vader’s attempts to thwart them have failed, he continues to create obstacles to their mission. It’s only by summoning their inner strength – and relying on the power of the Force – that the runners will triumph over the Dark Side and achieve more than they ever dreamed possible!

And we were off! Since I was in …

I couldn’t see the screen roll. You’ve got to hand it to runDisney for all the fun details they added to this race.

This week, early registration for the Dumbo Double Dare and other Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend opened and closed. They sold out of pre-registration slots really fast….like light speed kind of fast (or maybe ludicrous speed). So, if you were one of the lucky DVC Members or Annual Pass holders who got in, congrats! The rest of us will have to wait until February 10th to beat the masses and get a coveted spot. This year, I will NOT be racing the Dumbo Double Dare or the Disneyland Half Marathon. Even thought it’s the 10th Anniversary for the Disneyland Half Marathon, the thought of spending another summer getting ready for this super hot race is not something I want to do. Instead, I’m planning on registering for the Disneyland 10K and am toying with the idea of running in the Dinseyland 5K as well. With the Disneyland 10K, I will be racing for a 10K PR. I’ve run this race twice for the pictures and fun. This year, I want my 10K PR at the Disneyland 10K. Without the half marathon, I can focus and hopefully achieve my goal.

By the way, someone did a break down of how much the Disneyland Half Marathon races cost per mile…

Dumbo Double Dare – $17.10 per mile
Half Marathon – $15.19 per mile
10k – $17.74 per mile
5k – $24.19 per mile

It looks like the Disneyland Half Marathon by itself is the best deal of the bunch!

Other runDisney dates you should be aware of…

• 2015 Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend opens for registration on March 17th
• 2015 Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend opens for registration on April 7th
• 2016 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend opens for registration on April 28th
• 2016 Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend opens for registration on June 16th
• 2016 Princess Half Marathon Weekend opens for registration on July 14th
• 2016 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend opens for registration on August 11th

If you want to run in any of the above runDisney race weekends, mark your calendars NOW. The runDisney races are selling out faster than ever. So, you need to line up your finances and be ready to register at Noon EDT/11am CDT/10am MDT/9am PDT for these races. The challenge races tend to sell out within a half hour to an hour. So, you must be ready on the first day of registration if you want to race.

To wrap up this random Thursday post…I’ll be running the Surf City USA Half Marathon on Sunday. Tomorrow, I’ll post more on this really fun race. My Virtual Disney Parks blog posts will return one week from Friday. See you tomorrow!