Every February for the last few years, we find ourselves needing and escape from midwest winter. Usually we find ourselves in Florida or California for a week, but this year we decided to spend a week on a floating Disney hotel.
I will admit to you now, we have done a fair amount of cruising on Disney ships. We like that it's more family oriented than your average three night booze cruise. And I can, and maybe will, tell you about all the things we do on these vacations, today it's about running.
One of the islands Disney leases from the Bahamian government is Castaway Cay, a private island full of sun, sand and water. Everything a beach person could want. But I am not a beach person. I am Anakin Skywalker in this story. Not the child murdering Anakin, but the one whining about sand.
However what does draw me from the boat in the early morning is the Castaway Cay 5K, which takes runners down a small airstrip and into the wooded areas of the island along a paved bike path. 5K is about all you'll get out of me as a runner. I spent twenty years in the Army and I think anything more than two miles is showing off. But I did it the first time I visited the island, and I've done it ever since.
In the beginning it was a much more formal affair. You met with other runners on the ship at about 7:30 am, and walked about a mile to get to the starting place of the race (something we all vocally complained about). There was even a timer set up so you could see your time. These days you can just show up at the start whenever you like and run/walk it at your own pace, which I prefer. I don't need my misery to be a group project.
So far I've done 25K on the island. You can see they don't always switch the designs up, but at this point it's my personal tradition to go to a paradise island to sweat on blacktop and never step foot in the ocean.
