My son and his girlfriend (Kevin and Brianne) learned about a sale on bibs for this, so we on a whim signed up for the 10K and Half Marathon. However, "whim" may not be the correct word for running a Disneyland Paris race. There is a different process for these races and a French government requirement that you get a medical clearance before you are approved to run. The process is to purchase the bib, and then later on register for the race (and upload your medical form). I don't want this to sound like I'm complaining about it, it was just different so you have to pay attention to all the requirements.

We decided to go two days early and spend a couple days in Paris, I had been to Paris several times and so had Brianne, but this was Kevin's first. Therefore, we had to do everything! We walked and walked and walked for 2 days covering the entire city before heading out to Chessy in the French countryside where Disneyland Paris is located. We opted for renting an apartment on VRBO one train stop from the park. Maria, the owner, was very kind with her apartment and gave us a lot of valuable advice.

We went over to the Expo to pick up our bibs, the Expo was quite a bit smaller than at Disney World, but we still managed to spend some money. We ran the 10K and Half, which was the Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo Challenge, so we went to pick up our T-shirts, but they were out of the challenge shirt. This made on particular Frenchman quite angry, but we just put our name on a list and got them in the mail about a month later.

There was also a 5K, which they ran in the evening, so we hung around and watched it. One thing I liked about the entire set of races is how much time you spend running through the parks and the 5K ran right through the Disney Village as we watched outside the Starbucks. While at Starbucks, we met a US Military woman stationed in Germany. Her and her husband were running the races also and they were Disneyland Paris Passholders, so we got some more great info from them!

The next morning we started out for the races, they start an hour later than at WDW so we got up at 5:30 and headed for the train. The RER had special early trains running the entire weekend for the event. We rode the train with hundreds of other runners and everyone was happy.

We got in our corral, there were only 3 but they were huge. There were many great costumes, but our favorite was a couple who were dressed as Belle and Gaston and Gaston was carrying 5 egg cartons, we thought this was a clever touch. The 10K was run entirely inside the 2 Disney parks and the course was lined with Cast Members cheering you on and lots of character stops. Our favorite was Woody and Bullseye. We got in line for that and they we trying to hurry us because Bullseye only had 2 more minutes before he had to leave, we got the last picture with him!

Just before the finish line, Mickey and Minnie were out so we had to stop for that one also.

The next day started with a 5:30 wake up and a train ride again, this time there were THOUSANDS on the train with us. The weather was perfect all weekend long. the first half of the half marathon course followed the 10K course from the previous day. Then it left the park through the back lot and went out on a road that is a perfect circle that surrounds the DisneyLand Paris complex. We stayed on this road for a while and then entered the French Version of Celebration. During this section, the course took us around a lake on a path rather than paved road. This was the only part I didn't like, I avoid trail runs like the plague, and the grass was a little slippery. But this was less than a mile so not too bad.

Then it was back on the circle road going to opposite direction and re-enter the parks through the resort area. This was a pretty cool area that we didn't run through the day before. then it was through the Disney Village and across the finish line. I got the Half Marathon Medal and the Challenge Medal, Kevin and Brianne got those plus the Castle to Chateau Medal.

It was a very fun run that we will do again in the future.