It’s 3:30 in the morning on a shockingly cold January day in Orlando. I’m dressed in running gear, lacing up my Hokas, and rethinking everything as I head out of the lobby of the Disney Beach Club Resort. For starters: Why am I awake? And what did I sign myself up for?

What I signed up for, in fact, is the runDisney 10K at Walt Disney World — one of four races that comprise Marathon Weekend at the world’s happiest place. When I was invited to participate in one of those races, as well as experience the other fitness and self-care offerings available at the resort during January, I was all in. The promise of a fun-filled family vacation plus some built-in me time? Sign me up, indeed.

And so it is that I’m standing in the dark, with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees, queued in line for a bus that will take me to the start of the race while my husband and two kids are still cozy in their beds back in our hotel room. At the corral, the energy is electric. It’s far and away the biggest crowd of runners I’ve ever been in, and any hint of fatigue has evaporated by the 5:00 a.m. start time. (The early hour, by the way, is because the race winds through Epcot and needs to be over before the park opens.) Still, pitch dark and cold, it feels like we’re running in the middle of the night, which is kind of a thrill in and of itself.

I’m a racing novice, and this is my first 10K. It turns out that that’s a good thing. RunDisney’s Marathon Weekend is a great place to kick off a new-to-you distance because, as I’ve come to understand, runDisney races are not necessarily ones where people push for a PR. They’re designed to be more fun than fast. People dress in costumes, there’s music and live entertainment along the way, and there are built-in breaks for photo ops with Disney characters. (Full disclosure: I was not in peak form for this race, so I welcomed the breathers I got waiting in line to snap pics with Goofy and Princess Aurora.)

While the race started in the Epcot parking lot and on the road outside of the park, the fun really started once we were winding our way through the back of Epcot, through the resort (where employees from the different country pavilions cheered us on), and along the BoardWalk. Running past the glowing, lit-up globe of Spaceship Earth was breathtaking (literally and figuratively, as I was huffing and puffing my way past it!). And seeing the park in a way that few people do — nearly empty save for runners and volunteers — was super cool.

When I crossed the finish line and grabbed my Chip and Dale-decorated finishers medal, my immediate thought was, I want to do this again. I’m hardly the only one who feels that way: there’s an entire category of people who do what’s known as the Dopey Challenge — running all four race distances (5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon) in the same weekend. (That’s a whopping 48.6 miles if you’re counting!) Plus, it would have been even more fun if my family had been running with me.

As it was, they were still asleep by the time I got back to my hotel, making it the perfect way to do something for myself on a family vacation. Later that morning, while they played at the hotel pool, I headed over to Disney Springs to enjoy some of the other Wellness Month activities, including a free yoga class hosted by lululemon and a relaxing mini-facial at L’Occitane. (Other offerings have included Cirque du Soleil-led fitness classes and family Zumba.)

And then it was back to Epcot, but this time as a foursome and with an entirely different perspective of the park. I was still in my Hokas, but it wasn’t about running this time. It was about family bonding — and going on the rides.