It’s Time to RUN Princesses!

Forget the glass slipper and lace up your running shoes fellow princesses, because the Run Disney Princess Half Weekend is ALMOST here! With the Frozen 5K kicking things off Friday, many princesses are already at the House of Mouse or making their way down shortly!

This running princess leaves TOMORROW! I couldn’t be more thrilled to get away from the snowy cold of West Virginia and to the sunshine state! Yes, Florida residents I get that this is your winter and that it is a bit colder than usual there, but I will gladly accept temperatures in the 50s and 60s right now! I’m looking forward to a girls’ trip runcation. Even though this is a quick Disney trip, it will be nice to get away for a few days with the BRFs and enjoy time in my favorite place with some of my favorite people!

Princess activities kick off Thursday with the race expo at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports. I can’t wait to see what the official race shirts look like this year. We’ve already been given a sneak peak at all the beautiful bling! The Enchanted 10K medal, like last year, is still my favorite. Run Disney also shared a few pictures on their Facebook page of some of the official race merchandise. I am so excited to see everything there as well as explore the other vendor booths. The Princess races start Friday with the Frozen 5K, followed by the Enchanted 10K Saturday and the Princess Half Sunday. Did I mention how excited I am for this weekend?!

Last year I completed the Glass Slipper Challenge, which involves running the Princess Enchanted 10K Saturday followed by the Princess Half Sunday. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that my race plans are different this year. I’m still doing two races, but not the Glass Slipper Challenge. As an effort to save money and change it up a bit, I am doing my first ever Disney Princess 5K on Friday. I will then get my princess on for the Enchanted 10K Saturday! I am a run all the races EVENTUALLY Run Disney fan, so this plan works for me this year. I will miss doing the Glass Slipper Challenge and am not ruling it out for future races, but for 2015 this is the right race plan for me (and my wallet thanks me).

Of course the year I chose to do the 5K it ended up being Frozen themed. So just take a minute to imagine the hysteria that involved signing up for this race. Regular Run Disney fanatics know the sign-up process for Princess Weekend is crazy as is! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Frozen mania is still alive and well, so of course the Frozen 5K sold out quickly! It will be a jam-packed race and I can’t wait to have fun with my BRFs and thousands of my “closest” Disney friends! Unless the husband comes with me, I typically run the actual Run Disney races solo. However, since the 5Ks at Disney are even more fun (if that’s even possible) than the longer races, the BRFs and I plan to do this one together. We are looking forward to hopefully achieving some PRs in FUN Friday! As for our race costumes, check out the picture for a clear-cut hint of what you might see!

 Saturday, I will take on the Princess Enchanted 10K for the second year in a row! I am SUPER excited for this race. I LOVED the Enchanted 10K last year and my only regret was feeling like I had to hold back and not being able to fully soak in the experience knowing that I still had to run 13.1 miles the next day. Well, this year I will not have that worry and I look forward to hopefully crossing that magical finish line anxiety-free! While the first few miles of the 10K are the typical Disney highway/parking lot tour, the last half of the race is awesome! In fact, it’s one of my favorite Run Disney courses! The Enchanted 10K takes you through the World Showcase as well as the Disney Boardwalk area, which is my favorite part of running at Disney. There were several character photo opportunities last year as well, including baseball Goofy, who I hope to see again! Hopefully we also get another Elsa surprise during the first few miles of the race this year too! As for our race costumes, let’s just say that we plan to SEIZE THE 10K!

I will be staying at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside, so if you recognize me say hi! I’d love to meet my fellow running princesses! I met some of you out on the race courses last year and that was a blast, so maybe we will “run into” each other again this year! Follow me on Twitter @lilrunner and/or on Instagram @lilrunner1485 for my Princess Weekend updates! Official Run Disney hashtags for the weekend are: #Princess5K, #Princess10K, #PrincessHalf, and #GlassSlipperChallenge!

Good luck to all the runners in whatever races you choose to do this weekend. Let’s all have fun over those magical miles and make some pixie-dust filled memories together! See Ya Real Soon, Mickey!

Run Princesses, Run!

WOW! I am sure you all are just bursting with one major question: "Where the heck have you been, Hope?!" I am truly sorry for my hiatus and my lack of Wednesday's Weekly Wrap-up posts for the month of July! Last month flew by in a flash and I've just been quite the busy bee! Instead of a traditional wrap-up post today, we are going to talk the 2015 Run Disney Princess Half Weekend! I've actually had this post written and ready to go since registration opened a few weeks ago. However, a case of a bad migraine and then losing myself to another type of marathon, as in a binge watching marathon session of seasons 1 and 2 of Orange is the New Black (amazing show), made me delay posting this. I've also been in full-training mode for the Run Disney Tower of Terror 10-Miler! Upping my training and adding back scheduled long runs has made me a tired gal! Then of course life has been hectic with some weekend trips, my summer yard sale, and the normal work-flow! Enough excuses though, I'm back and really hope to get in a regular posting groove again! I am sure you all have missed me! If not, well, oh well! Virtual high-fives all around for getting back to blogging!

With my bling after the Glass Slipper Challenge!

Frankly, I can't believe it's already August! I am ecstatic that it's August too. This means I am closer to my favorite season, fall, as well as my Disney vacation and the Tower of Terror 10-Miler! Be sure to let me know if you are planning to run into the Twilight Zone with me this October! I've never done this villain themed night race (or a night race in general!), but am VERY excited as I love Halloween and have always had a special place in my heart for those naughty Disney villains! But, more on the Tower of Terror 10-Miler later, because now it's time to discuss Run Disney's shiniest event! Unless you are a Run Disney fan living under a rock (or just a normal, everyday non-Disney crazed civilian), you should know that registration opened for the Princess Half Weekend last month and all races sold out within a few days (not sure on how quick the 5K sold, but I know it went very fast as well)!

The Princess Half Weekend is generally the most coveted Run Disney event. It’s pretty much the crown jewel on top of the Run Disney tiara. Having participated in my first Princess Half Weekend last year by completing the inaugural Glass Slipper Challenge, which included both the Enchanted 10K and Princess Half races, I can see why this Run Disney event is such a hit. With the usual Disney charm included, the women’s focused weekend is just spectacular from everything to the race expo to the races themselves. The husband stayed at home last year and I did the Glass Slipper Challenge as part of a girl’s trip runcation. I’m sure he was cool with missing out on the overwhelming amount of estrogen and wannabe Disney princesses that lurked everywhere! Completing the Glass Slipper Challenge and earning three amazing medals with it (I’m all about the bling!) along with all the other race swag was a wonderful experience. It was also a mentally and physically exhausting experience. I even shed a tear or two when I crossed the finish line after the Princess Half last year because the Glass Slipper Challenge was such an emotional event for me. While it had the Disney thrills and fun, the CHALLENGE part of the race was certainly true. In the future, I hope to have a post on here re-capping my 2014 Glass Slipper Challenge so I can explain all my thoughts in more detail!

Duck-facing with Pluto & my GSC medal
at our celebratory dinner last year!

After talking it over with my BRFs (Best Runner Friends), I am happy to report that I will be returning for the 2015 Princess Half Weekend! However, we decided as a group to not do the Glass Slipper Challenge, which is probably a good thing because it sold out in less than two hours the day registration opened, I believe! Cost effectiveness was a major role in our decision to not do the challenge this year. Run Disney is awesome, but expensive! I mean I want to run ALL the races, but I have to do it EVENTUALLY since well, money doesn’t grow on trees lol! I’m not sure I enjoyed the back to back race experience with my mental psyche either. It was quite intimidating post 10K to know that I would need to run an additional 13.1 miles the next morning. Maybe if the races were reversed that wouldn't have bothered me as much. Even though it would be the same distance, I think getting the half out of the way first would have made me feel a lot better! Dopey Challenge will never be for me! But all you Dopey runners rock! I love running and adore Run Disney, but that’s just not my cup of tea both mentally and physically. Someday I’d love to do the Glass Slipper Challenge again or another challenge like the Dumbo Double Dare/Rebel Challenge events in Disneyland, but that’s all for another year! Instead, this year for Princess weekend, I will be running the Enchanted 10K again as well as doing my first Run Disney 5K! The girls and I typically start in different corrals and the 5K will be the perfect option for us all to finally start and finish a race together! After running solo for both the 2014 races, I am very excited that I will get the chance to do this race with my BRFs! Having someone by your side, especially when it comes to Run Disney, makes the experience even better!

Olaf & Elsa before the 2014 Enchanted 10K!
BRFs make races better!

Now, imagine my excitement when word leaked that the theme for this year’s Princess 5K would be FROZEN! That didn’t take long for Run Disney to capitalize on the Frozen hysteria! I have to say that I am also very excited to be running the Enchanted 10K again. I like half marathons, but I find the 10K to be my favorite distance now and sadly, there seem to be very few 10K races compared to the halfs, 5Ks and even full marathons out there. I absolutely loved the Enchanted 10K course and even though it doesn’t run through the castle, which is my favorite part of the Princess Half, I’d say I like it better than the Princess/WDW Half course. The Enchanted 10K’s beginning might be a little uneventful, other than the wonderful Elsa and snow surprise we got last year, but the middle and end of the race is spectacular. I loved running through the Epcot World Showcase and Boardwalk area. The views were gorgeous! Of course running through Epcot’s future world to the finish was fun as well. I’m excited to get to run the Enchanted 10K and to not be held back by the thought that I have to run a half marathon the next day. I won’t feel the need to keep reminding myself to take it easy and like my dear Elsa, I will be able to LET IT GOOOOO if I want to!

BRFs Celebrating with Mary Poppins after the Glass Slipper Challenge last year! 

I don’t know about you all, but this running princess is looking forward to another Run Disney Princess Weekend! Who else will be there? What races do you plan to run? See all you princesses in February!