DESTINATIONS Cool j
ust over 14 years ago, at my 20-week scan, doctors detected that my unborn son had a condition called severe bilateral talipes. Basically, his feet were round the wrong way. They said he
might never walk.
In September last year, Tom and I ran the 10K together at the Disneyland Paris Run Weekend. The scale of this achievement wasn’t lost on me as we
crossed the line. Huge crowds were cheering and clapping, and Disney music was blaring out as we rounded the final corner. It was pretty emotional. Tom, on the other hand, was just focused on making sure he beat me!
FIRST STEPS We had only started running a year earlier. Daunted by the thought of compulsory cross-country at Tom’s new school, we tried our first 5k Parkrun to build up his stamina – and 62 Parkruns later, we were gradually shaving seconds off our times.
So when Disney and MagicBreaks invited us to the annual RunDisney weekend, we jumped at the chance to
travelweekly.co.uk RUN DISNEY | FAMILY HOLIDAYS
running
The Disneyland Paris Run Weekend is a great chance for some sporty family fun, finds Lucy Huxley
run somewhere new. We couldn’t get to Paris in time for the Friday evening 5k, so we were persuaded to sign up for 10k on Saturday morning. We weren’t alone – we arrived to find Clia director Andy Harmer and Travel Weekly colleagues Stuart Parish and Oliver Palmer had already completed the 5k, all proudly wearing their medals as we checked in, plus Stuart and Oliver had registered to run the half-marathon on Sunday morning as well. For us, the prospect of 10k was exciting yet terrifying.
Tom and I are always spent at the end of Parkrun, so how were we ever going to manage to run twice as far? In hindsight, arriving at Disneyland Paris Hotel at
11.30pm then getting up at 5.30am probably wasn’t the best preparation, and as we dressed in the dark – me in a Rapunzel running top and both of us in glittery Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears – the adrenaline was flowing. Yet when we got to the start line in Walt Disney Studios,
I realised just how underdressed we were. Thousands of runners were gathering in all manner of Disney costumes – we saw Simba from The Lion King, the family from ²
Made in Chelsea star Ashley James, centre PICTURE: Jonn Furniss
6 FEBRUARY 2020 69
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