What, Run Disney has a new Star Wars race? I’m flabbergasted…

goofrunAll right, this is news, so let’s talk about this.

Surprising absolutely no one who’s been paying any attention to Run Disney for months now, it was announced on Tuesday May 27th that the newly christened Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend was in fact an actual thing, for real, no take-backsies, etc. Scheduled to occur on the weekend of January 15th-18th, 2015 at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, this inaugural race event capitalizes on the enduring popularity of the Star Wars franchise by merging it with the explosive (perhaps exponentially so) growth and awareness of the Run Disney brand.

And quite frankly, why not? Run Disney race events sell out in record times these days. The Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend was pretty much emptied of available slots in less than an hour. The upcoming Marvel Avengers Super-Hero Weekend? Less than forty minutes. I expect the Star Wars race to sell out in just as much time, if not less.

Now of course you’re wondering if your intrepid and moderately neato narrator/Greek chorus/disembodied voice in your head is going to be covering these events. And I can assure, the answer is a resounding Nah I don’t think so.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m insanely excited about the race. It’s a great idea, a fun theme, and I’m sure it’s going to have a wealth of insanely great merch and medals and race shirts and all sorts of goodies therein. Perhaps even a few Star Wars actor / character appearances throughout the weekend as well. And look, I’m a dyed-in-the-buff Gen-X’er who was six years old when the original Star Wars was released, eyes glued to the screen that one summer night in 1977 with my Mom, uncle, and sister in a small theater in South Miami. I had no idea what I was watching, but I loved every second of it. Star Wars was my first great movie love; along with Yellow Submarine, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Grease, King Kong, Superman: The Movie, and practically every Disney cartoon I ever watched, it defined buttkickin’ entertainment for me long before I reached the tender age of 10.

But nope. Not doing this one, and the reasons are so exquisitely banal they hardly abide the telling. They are that the Droll Dynamic Duo of Logistics and Economics. Or to put it another way: I’m already heading to Anaheim *twice* in the eight months leading up to the event: once for the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend in August, and again for the Marvel Avengers Super-Hero Half Marathon event in November. Flying from South Florida to California and back isn’t exactly cheap. Factor in hotels, meals, entertainment, transportation, rental cars, and so forth — in California, no less! — and it becomes a pricier proposition. Still, two trips, two races, two events and merch and foodie snob outings and shopping and trips to Trader Sams is well within the Casa del Hokeyhausen budget.

A third? Not so much.

But that aside, we’re also going to be attending the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in Lake Buena Vista, FL, the very weekend before (arriving January 8th and staying through January 13th). I’m running the Goofy Challenge, which is a Half-Marathon on Saturday and a full Marathon on Sunday. Plus an extra two days of hanging around and enjoying the resorts at a leisurely pace. To finish that, turn around, and jet off to Southern CA — again — to participate in another race, even an inaugural Run Disney event, EVEN STILL a Star Wars-themed race… that ain’t happening.

At least, not in 2015. When 2016 rolls around, that’s another story…

So no, I won’t be attending the 2015 Star Wars Half Marathon event. But, I still have a plastic slide-whistle I bought at a Cracker Barrel country store in late 2009. That counts for something right? :-\

No video this time around. Meh…

2 thoughts on “What, Run Disney has a new Star Wars race? I’m flabbergasted…

  1. I hope to see you in person at WDW in January! I’ve convinced a gal pal to do the Dopey. Will keep my eyes peeled for ya! I’ve put he Star Wars on my calendar…before June 10th I’ll decide if my body will be able to handle 2 weeks of runDisney mania 😉

  2. Best of luck on the Dopey 🙂 Hope to see you in January too, selfies with new friends always make it onto my race review!

    If you do WDW and Star Wars back-to-back, you automatically become 87% more cool. Hard to believe, but true!

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