Jon's Racers Update: Star Wars

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Star Wars Celebration Day 1

Amos and I camped out overnight in the Convention Center. We were in a queue line waiting to get a wristband for the 40 years of Star Wars panel. No sleep. We were on cement floors. They even brought in a Deejay to play music from about 12:30am to 2am. They got everyone to gather up their stuff at 5am. Just after 6am they started giving out the wristbands. We then walked all the way around the hall and got back in the same queue line we were in before. Now we get to wait a few more hours before they take us up to the Stage for the panel. I sure hope it is worth all the wait.

At 10:30am they finally let us go to the Galaxy Stage on the 4th Floor. It was a crazy mad dash to the stage. We got to sit about 16 rows from the stage. But they had 3 large monitors to also view the panel better.

George Lucas was the main guest. He talked about the making of Star Wars and the cast. The other guests were Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mathew, Ian Mcdiarmid, and Hayden Christensen. They were all great. They then brought out Mark Hamill. He was great reminiscing about the films. Then a surprise guest, Harrison Ford. The audience went crazy. George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy talked about Carrie Fisher. It got a little emotional. Carrie's daughter Billie also talked about her mom.

When we thought the show might end, they opened a curtain and John Williams and the Atlanta orchestra had a very moving tribute to Carrie. It seemed we were all crying by then.

They even passed out Carrie Fisher posters as we left the hall.

It was a good tribute to the first 40 years of Star Wars.

And yes it was very much worth the wait.

Amos waited to get his photo with Hayden Christensen as I waited to get into the Celebration Store. Amos beat me. He got his photo at Hayden before 4:30pm. I was stuck in line for store for over 3 hours.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

The Rebel Challenge

I've done a few Disney Run events. I think 3- 5K events. One 10K and one half marathon. When I saw the yearly Star Wars run was coming up, I wanted to test myself. I had never done a 10K on Saturday, followed by a Half Marathon on Sunday. The Star Wars Rebel Challenge is that event. I do most of my walking at Racers. So I had to train if I wanted to complete these back to back races. With my double knee replacement, I'm not suppose to run. So I walk the events. I did one workout per week, leading up to the Challenge. I worked up to 12 miles, 2 weeks out and a 5 mile and 6 mile walk, the week before.

I arrived for the Star Wars 10K at 4am. I went into the Racer corral at 4:30am. My friends Catalina and Deane S., joined up with me a few minutes later. We were in the front of Corral G, the last corral. Corral A started at 5:30am. We started at 6:10am. We did the first 5K in 47 minutes and a average of 15:21 per mile. We then slowed it way down. Doing the 10K in 1:40:38. Average of 16:12 per mile. The big race was the 1/2 marathon. So tried to save some energy for the next day. Always running in the 10K were my friends Heather and Jon. Also my cousin Natalie from Utah. They all had fun in their runs.

On Sunday, I got to the corral at 4:10am. Catalina and Deane met me there at 4:25am. We were in corral J, the last corral. But we were in the front again. Our corral did not start the race until 6:30am. We took off strong. We did the first 5K in 44 minutes, an average of 14:12 per mile. We took about a 4 minute bathroom break right after mile 4. The clock did not stop. We got to the 10K mark at 1:33:45, for an average of 15:59 per mile. At the 15K mark we had a 15:46 mile pace.

We were tired, but found a way to spend it up a little bit towards the finish. We crossed the finish line in 3:23:25, an average of 15:31 per mile.

The Tinkerbell Half Marathon took me 3 hours and 33 minutes. So I beat my old time by 10 minutes. Tinkerbell had some hills and a bunch of bottlenecks inside the parks.

Along the way I got a text message from my friend Angela S., from Seattle. Right when we finished, I got texts from my friends Tara C. and Carlene B. They all asked how things went. I always love the support from friends. Also got words of encouragement from cast members inside the park and at the finish line. It was great to see Jamie, Lisa, Aubree and Mark. Of course I had to get pictures with them.

It was a great 2 day event. It was fun walking with Catalina and Deane. It makes the distance go by quicker when you are with your friends.

We'll see what the future holds in these events. They are getting a little expensive and you have to sign up over 6 months in advance. I may do a couple 10Ks before ever trying a challenge again.

I'm at 8479 at Racers. Back racing on Monday.

Deane and Catalina after the half marathon