Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Expedition Everest Challenge

This post is long overdue. Sorry for that.

Last month I was back in Disney for the Expedition Everest Challenge! I've always wanted to do this race and this was the last year that it was being offered. Leading up to the race we had very little communication from runDisney. (I actually only saw the race information on the website one day when I was looking for something else.)

Let's start with the expo. The only information about the expo that we received was that it was at the Animal Kingdom on Friday or Saturday. We went to the Animal Kingdom for breakfast at Tusker House on Friday which allowed us time to go get our stuff after that. On the bus there were other people who were running who were not sure where to go either. No one really seemed to know where to go, but we would figure it out. The expo was actually in the parking lot. Usually I take pictures of the expo, but this was so sad that I couldn't even bring myself to do that. The only good part was the quickness of the whole process. There was one tent where we picked up our bibs and shirts.

Then you could buy the I Did It! shirt, pin (same as the pre-order), a lanyard that said runDisney, and a runDisney hat. I picked up another pin and the I Did It! shirt. New Balance was there with the shoes that they released in January. Good Sense was also there handing out samples and coupons. That was it. There was nothing else.

The next day we took it easy until it was time to head back to Animal Kingdom for the race. We got there really quickly and had plenty of time to hang around and take pictures and sign the wall.






 Soon we were at the starting line ready to get our run on!


Along the course there were a few character stops including Chip and Dale and Timon. We didn't stop for anything, but kept going. The first obstacle was jumping over hay barrels. The next obstacle was the tires. This wasn't too bad. I hadn't been drinking enough water while on vacation so I was feeling the humidity really bad. I just kept going though. The final obstacle was going under a net. None of the obstacles were that bad and broke up the run nicely. Soon the 5k was over. (I'm not the only one I saw notice this, but the run was not even 3 miles.)

Once we finished the 5k we got a water, a cold towel, a sharpie with flashlight, and our first clue. 


This was not easy and everyone seemed to have issues. I still am slightly confused about it. As you can see I have lots of numbers on the card. 

The second clue was slightly easier. Or at least I thought so until I saw someone say the answer the carabineer. I'm not sure what happened with my answer, but the guy gave us clue 3 with my jumbled letters.


Carrick was really good at this clue. I just starred at it like it might come to me. Once he said "Mountaineers" it made a lot more sense. 


Clue 4 was also a little strange to me. I tried saying it out loud, but it wasn't exactly happening. I can understand how it becomes elevation, but not really speaking it too much.


Clue 5 was a little better for me! A crossword! Much better. We had to find the words a certain number of times before we could find the answer to this clue. (Keep in mind I had a wrong answer!) Luckily I could start seeing some words forming from the other letters that were not circled. 


I understood that there was a hidden yeti at the finish. In reality we got to the finish and figured out that we needed to hold up the hidden yeti. On the back of the second clue there was a yeti that we needed to hold up to get to the finish line.



Soon we had our medals and were heading to the after party. The medals are really cool. You can open the medal and it is a compass. I do wish there was something to show that it was the last Expedition Everest Challenge, but I love the medal regardless. 

We didn't stay super long at the after party. We did ride Expedition Everest. That ride is so much better at night. It was like riding it for the first time all over again. 

I hope that runDisney brings a similar run back one day. This was a great run for all ages.

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