Give Us A Quid – Aug 2019
Sam explains why we are running this year and why everyone should donate a quid
June 2019 Vlog / Blog / Podcast
Here you can find our vlog / podcast for June 2019
As promised here is the transcript
Welcome to the Run 4 Feel the Force Day podcast
Sharon here ..
This is officially episode 3 – although episdoe 2 didn’t make the light of day – due to one thing and another ..
So news since we last spoke – today the 11th of June it is 100 days until this years 5k race! So not long now .. that 100 days will wizz past.
Bib sales officially launched in April and the 36k challenge and 5k sold out in a few hours. Sharon was lucky enough to grab her 36k bib in the chaos of the website crashing and the usual palava in the first hour they were on sale. Unfortunately the rest of the team missed out in the first round, but not to worry. A second bib sale where the next round of challenge bibs goes on sale very shortly. Middle of June so the rumour mill tells us – to be precise the 18th of June and it will be the last tranch of bib only sales before the event. Sam and the rest of the team are lined up and ready to grab their bibs on the 18th.
Healthy eating has started and so has gentle training. We are all on a low carb healthy eating plan as we are all a bit on the comfy side shall we say. Good progress is being made and hopefully we will all be a little less wide when we get to race weekend.
This years theme is adventures – and that is all really we have been told so far. There has been talk of a lion king or jungle theme as the Lion King and Jungle festival is currently running at Disneyland Paris until the start of race weekend, but as you can see from the picture here (I will descibe it for our visually impaired listeners) we see 4 images of Peter Pan, Baloo from the Jungle Book, Merida from Brave and Mickey and Minnie. So the adventure theme is very vague. More news is normally announce just before the medals are revealed and that usually happens early July, so hopefully not long to wait.
So why is running at Disney so special? Sam and I had a visit in March and we will share some of the fun with you …
The Expo .. where it all starts .. We go here to pick up bibs and register that we have arrived and this is the way to the coralls on race days. There has been a lot of work going on in this part of the park. New buildings and tents have appeared and there was talk that the current events arena would be retired this year, but it is still very much with us. We pass through those gates and on to the Expo .. and corals .. its always super packed with enthusiastic runners (well mostly). Its a busy place with merch, photo oportunities and a great buzz. It may not look very exciting on a windy dreary day but it will be come September.
The park entrance .. In the back ground you can see the Disneyland hotel which is the entrance to Disneyland park (also known as the Pink Palace), we run across this courtyard is all 3 of the races and although its not too busy here, its such a brilliant atmosphere running down here past the fountains with thousands of your fellow Disney family.
Main Street USA .. The only thing we really dislike about main street are the tram tracks .. they can be evil .. both Sam and I have had issues with them previously (we are both a little clumsy), but running towards to the castle is just magical. Spectators and cast members line the route and cheer you on as you go and it is just brilliant. The Disneyland cast memebers really do make the race magical ..
Lets head to Fantasyland .. There are lots of different routes the races take, but we normally always run though Fantasty land past the Castle and the castle stage .. where they put on shows and other entertainment. This buidling is the annual passport office .. where we have spent some time sorting out passes. There is normally a character stop near here on race days. And in to fantasyland we have the lovely its a small world .. it is traditional that you have to ride it.
Through the Castle .. On the 10k and half marathon in previous years we run through the castle. Past Lancelot’s carousel which is running on race days, across the courtyard on the lovely cobbles – which can get a little slipperly – past the sword in the stone – there are normally cast members here too chearing us on .. then we go up one of the sides and through the castle. Past the lovely christmas shop which is here all year, luckily everyone is going in the same direction on race days .. its a great feeling running through the castle and out the other side. For the half marathon there is normally a photo op in the middle of the main street roundabout too.
Adventureland & Pirates .. One of our favourite areas of the parks. Here we are passing the jolly roger and skull rock. If we are lucky there is a character shop here too. Captain Hook and Peter Pan are often seen loitering around these parts. Where there be pirates .. there be alson a Captain Jack Sparrow .. Onwards to Pirates of the Caribbean (my favourite ride in this part of the park).
Discoveryland ..Another great place to run through .. the rides are running and cast members are out in abundance. This area of the park is based on a Jules Verne theme and is very steam punk and is unique to the Disney parks. We have the Hypirion cafe on the left and in front of us here is Space mountain. With a nod to modern classics we have Eva and Walle here – which is a popular photo spot. And my favourtie bit of this section .. Star Tours, star traders and the meeting spot for starwars characters.
This gate here connects Fantasyland and Discoveryland and depending on the race route, we will normally run through this gate from one land to the other.
The finishline .. normally in the Studios park, this area will look drastically different if we run through this part of the park, this whole area is becoming marvel themed. Rock and Roller is getting an Iron Man facelift, the hideous armageddon is going and becoming a Spiderman themed ride, and lots of other marvel goodness is occuring in this corner of the park. The finish is normally at the endof this stip heading down towards the area by the studio stage.
We hope you enjoyed this whirlwind trip around the parks and update on what has been going on with the Run 4 Feel the Force Day team ..
don’t forget you can donate to help Feel the Force day by going to http://bit.ly/run4ftfd19
Thank you for watching / listening and we will see you in August for another update
November 2018 Blog/Vlog
Here you can find our vlog / podcast for November 2018
Blog Transcript
Hello – Sharon James here from the Run 4 Feel the Force Day team ..
Welcome to the first in what we are hoping to be a regular (ish) vlog/podcast series for Run for Feel the Force Day.
This is just a quick update on what has occurred since the Magic Run Weekend back in September.
Firstly the team would like to thank everyone that sponsored us and for all the kind words and support for this year. Magic Run Weekend 3 was a little difference than the previous years the team had been, as Ben and I took part in the 36k challenge. This involved us doing the 5k at 8pm on Friday night, the 10k at 7am on Saturday morning and finally (ha) the half marathon (which is 21k) at 7am on Sunday morning – and it was tough. Sam and James also did the 5k and the 10k, so the first 2 races were a real team effort. Ben and I sang and danced our way around a very damp, chilly 21k on Sunday and it was an amazing experience. Between Sam being incredibly proud of what we all achieved and the fact we hit our £1,000 target – Sam was left in tears and speechless twice in 1 day, which is impressive ?
So after our epic run weekend – we had a few days to recover and then we packed up and headed off to Peterborough for Feel the Force Day 6. Si and JJ made space so that the Run 4 Feel the Force Day team could have a display table, where we proudly had on show medals from the past 3 years of race weekends, all of the t-shirts and other memorabilia we had acquired. Sam had whipped up a presentation book of the story so far with photos, bibs, maps, etc and info about the race weekend and all the fun it actually is.
I split my time between being Stitch and manning the table – Stitch had an awesome time as he always does at Feel the Force Day, especially the dancing with the Wild Cats dance troop on stage. Hundreds of people came past to talk to us about the run, what it is and why we did it. There was a HUGE amount of interest in it, so hopefully that is good news for more potential team members or help to promote the run and get us more sponsorship. We had a lot of people that wanted look or feel the medals and try them on – the whole point of us wanting to bring everything is so the medals could be seen up close and touched. Lots of guests with sight issues gave the medals the once over and I personally spent about half an hour with one girl describing the colours and material so she could get a better “look” at them. The medals are very tactile with a lot of good detail so they are great for blind guests to feel. Sam and Ben also had similar experiences whilst at the table with people asking where they could get more information. Our website and Facebook page is a good place to start – Our Facebook page is facebook.com/Run4FTFD/ and our website is www.run4ftfd.co.uk
Whilst at Feel the Force day we met the awesome Gary Callier ( from the Acorn Group), an incredibly talented local (to Peterborough) artist and businessman who has joined the team. Gary is ex forces so if he can’t whip us all into shape there is no hope for us! Gary is pencilled in to run the challenge with us for Magic Run Weekend 4 and has kindly offered to assist us with our logo and design requirements. He has already mocked up some ideas (which you can see here – for our visually impaired listeners, we have 2 designs, keeping the round feel the force day logo theme and style – 1 has stitch and a pirate, the other has mickey mouse, Donald duck and goofy running past the Disney castle), they are still work in progress but hopefully we will get a final design ready for the start of next year.
Our plans are to use the logo everywhere, so that is associated with us as a team raising funds for feel the force day. We are also planning to get t-shirts and hoodies for the team and to also make some badges and other small useful merch that we can sell and all the proceeds will go into the run 4 feel the force day sponsor pot for 2019.
We had such a great time with the table at Feel the Force Day that we would love to get it to as many comic cons / events as possible in 2019. If you know anyone that would kindly allow us to display the medals and have a small space for a tombola for Feel the Force Day please pass on our details or contact us via FB or our Website.
As well as Gary, we have another new team member – the lovely Amanda Martin. This will be her first Disney run weekend – let’s hope that she knows what she has let herself in for ?
Plans for 2019 – Magic Run Weekend 4
The prices for Magic Run Weekend 4 were released this week and there isn’t a massive price increase which is nice – as we fund our weekends individually
- 5 KM: 38 € (35 € in 2018)
- 10 km: 57 € (55 € in 2018)
- Semi-Marathon: 75 € (75 € in 2018)
- kids races: 13 € (12 € in 2018)
- Challenge 31 k: 132 € (130 € in 2018)
- Challenge 36 k: 170 € (165 € in 2018)
Packages from Disney can be booked now with Bibs/Races included. We are expecting the first phase of bibs to be released about Easter time.. the bib only release is always a moving goal with run Disney France – so Sam stalks all the social media and reliable sources to get the info as soon as its made public. When we know, you will know if you are thinking of joining us.
So we have a potential team of 6 so far – 5 of which will be running the 36k challenge. We are hoping the bigger team means more publicity and awareness raised and more money can be raised for Feel the Force Day.
With a bigger team and now we are ‘Old hands’ at this running lark, the plan is to be a bit more organised and professional (a term which I am using very loosely). We are looking to have some kind of “uniform” or team gear – which is basically a t-shirt and hoodie for before and after the runs, wearing at events and for those of us that don’t want to run in costume. It is early days yet, but we are hoping to use some of Gary’s designs and have the website address etc. Plans are a-foot to find a printer that can make us some good quality cost effective run wear – if you can recommend anyone we would love to hear from you.
Our aim for 2019 is to smash the £1,000 target. With a bigger team and more publicity we have optimistically raised our target to £1,500 – this will include money raised at events in costume with Stich, Ben the Pirate and friends, from the tombola and any merch sales – theoretically we should smash this target too , but we all know times are hard – and literally every penny counts so no matter how big or small – all donations and sponsorship amounts are greatly received with thanks.
Training proper is going to start after (or during) the Christmas break, giving us plenty of time for some real training this year. To be honest we haven’t made much of an effort in previous years, but that 36k challenge is a beast and we would like to enjoy it even more next time around.
We will report back after Christmas with more news and what we have been up to – see you then ? don’t forget you can sponsor our efforts at http://bit.ly/run4ftfd19
Born to run
We often get asked – “Why do you do this” ..
Here is a video that shows you why running for feel the force day is one of the most exhilarating and rewarding experiences.