The first of the two-course challenge events held during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, this year’s Wine & Dine 10K certainly had its pros and cons! Excited and pretty well-prepared, Joseph and I ended up with mixed feelings about our experience. If you’re considering a future Wine & Dine event, here’s our balanced feedback on the 10K.
runDisney Wine & Dine 10K 2019
We arrived at Walt Disney World early on Friday and after dropping off our luggage at Bay Lake Tower, we immediately headed to the race expo to pick up our bibs, shirts, and pin set I’d pre-ordered. The expo wasn’t nearly as crowded as we expected, so we managed to get in some shopping at several of the vendor booths there before heading to Epcot. We know from previous runDisney events that sleep deprivation can be a real obstacle to our vacation happiness, so after a tasty dinner at Via Napoli, we turned in early.
The weather at Disney World in November is one of the things we like most about visiting during this time. Not too hot, not too cool, little chance of rain. We found Saturday morning a bit warmer and more humid than we’d expected but there was no rain in the forecast and the early morning air was comfortable. After catching our bus from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom parking lot and getting situated in corral A to wait for the start, we had time to take in the extraordinary pre-race excitement of runDisney events. We managed to find my friend Karen (whose blog is one of my favorites!) – or I should say, Karen found us and she and I had a few minutes to catch up. Then it was time to move into place and we were OFF!
Into the Darkness for 6.2 miles
With runDisney events in Florida, you can count on the courses being flat. The only “hills” are overpasses and the pavement is almost always even and smooth. There were two big cons to this event. Total darkness 100% of the time and relative nothingness for the first four miles. The last two miles included a wonderful and peaceful trip around the World Showcase before a backstage trip to the finish line in Epcot’s parking lot. Don’t misunderstand me, there were characters and other entertainment along the entire course, but most of this race was on the road to Epcot.
As I’ve mentioned before, Joseph and I tend to skip most character meet-n-greets, preferring instead to get finished and get on with a day in the parks. We had a breakfast ADR for Tusker House waiting for us, so after crossing the finish line and collecting our medals, we headed for the bus. With the race starting and ending so early in the morning, we’d urged Raymond to wait for us at our resort instead of trying to meet us at the finish line. The best news of the day was that Daylight Savings Time would end overnight and we’d not only get an extra hour of sleep but also have a lot more daylight for Sunday’s half marathon.
Final thoughts
We had fun! We always enjoy runDisney events and this one was no exception. That being said, this was our least favorite course to date. Knowing we had 13.1 miles ahead of us the next morning, Joseph and I were pleased that we’d run the 10K at an easy pace. We felt good and had plenty of energy for our day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Up next – Wine and Dine Half Marathon Recap!
