Sunday Runday: Running Universal Jurassic World 5k

When Thatkid and I ran the Running Universal Minions 5k he spent almost the entire time complaining.  Until we crossed the finish line and grabbed his snacks.  "We're signing up for the Jurassic World one, right?" he asked.   That's how you know the kid is truly a runner.

I didn't put up much of a fight.  The Inaugural Running Universal race was so well run, you'd never guess they hadn't been doing it for years.   And it had all the fun I missed when Disney stopped their RunDisney program at Disneyland.

We headed up the night before, sitting in hours of traffic, to pick up our packets.

And of course we stopped by Voodoo Donuts to check out their display themed to match the race.

We were at the start of the race before dawn again.

They still don't seed by time, so we were in the 5th wave, waiting to start.  But they kept us more than entertained while we waited.  And everyone is in such a good mood.  You gotta love that about the pre-race atmosphere.

Eventually it was our turn to start.  There are confetti cannons for each wave!  Which makes every wave feel special.

We headed off down the entry way, which is when I noticed the park was all dressed up for the holidays.

Although Hogsmead is always winter-ready.

There was a new course this time.  Which I was really curious about, because the course for Minions was rough.  This course kept us flat or downhill for the first 2 miles, which was much easier for Thatkid.

It also took us into the lower lot, which was under construction last time for the new Jurassic World ride.

We got in line to take pictures with the dinosaurs, but there was some sort of malfunction, so after waiting for a bit, Thatkid got nervous about finishing within the time limits and we headed back out to the course.

We ran through parts of the backlot tour that we hadn't seen last time.

And we got our dinosaur pictures.

The last mile had us back in familiar waters...

As we headed back up hill for the rest of the course, it was probably fitting that this is the most ominous parts of the backlot - Jaws, Psycho, War of the Worlds....

It's much easier to stay motivated as the last mile ticks by, and since we had already run this part of the course, we knew there wasn't much ahead of us.  Pretty soon we were in City Walk and heading toward the finish line.

It was a great race and I like the new course. So did Thatkid.  He's ready to sign up for their next race, and this time Thatbaby wants to get in on the action with the kids' race!