April 14-17, 2016 marked the inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend - The Dark Side. Being a huge runDisney and Star Wars fan, I knew I had to run at least the half marathon.

Now I have run a lot of the Disney races for the past 5 years, so I'm no stranger to running at Disney. They typically do an outstanding job with all aspects of the race. And this one was no exception.

The expo offered plenty of great booths/merch. Picking up the race number and race shirt went smoothly as well. They do require a signed race waiver (don't worry you can print one at the expo if you forget your waiver) and a photo idea. Unfortunately, you can't have someone else pick up your race number for you.

You can either drive to the race start that morning or if you are staying on Disney property, you can take Disney transportation. You definitely have to account for the large number of people and running when coming in that morning.

The half started at 5am and the walk from the Epcot parking lot to the starting corrals is about a 15-20 minute walk. Needless to say, it is an early morning for sure.

The race itself was great! I loved running through Epcot, Boardwalk and Beach Club Resort, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and finishing in the ESPN World Wide of Sports! There are definitely a lot of times you are running between the parks where there isn't very much to look at...however Disney does a great job with putting multiple characters and cheering sections along the way. And they had some excellent Star Wars characters out for pictures. I was very pleased!

The medal was easily one of my favorite finisher medals from any race I've done. And the shirt was too! All in all, I highly recommend this race if you are a Disney/Star Wars fan. I plan on returning next year for the Dark Side Challenge (10K on Saturday and Half on Sunday).