Wine & Dine Weekend Costume Reveal

Get excited because we are going to DISNEY WORLD!!! Yes, we will be back at the house of mouse this Friday and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

After over six months of planning and organization there were days I thought this vacation would never get here. I was wide awake and ready at 6 a.m. to make our dining reservations 180 days out and on that day I started an every 10 days Instagram countdown. My countdown, which recently turned into a daily one after hitting the single digits milestone, helped keep me motivated and excited for our trip. Despite the huge list of trip prep I have left to do before we leave I know that magic awaits and I can’t wait to be back in our happy place for a week.

While we aren’t taking a usual runcation as this trip is serving as our main vacation this year, if you know me you know I just couldn’t resist a TASTE of Run Disney. Since we will be arriving the Friday of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend we will be kicking off our first full day in Disney World by running the Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K in Animal Kingdom. It’s a Christmas themed race and again if you know me you know that I am essentially Buddy the Elf when it comes to the holidays. I am looking forward to a morning run through beautiful Animal Kingdom and enjoying a holiday themed race at my favorite place on earth! As this is primarily a vacation we opted not to do the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, but we wish those of you doing this race the best of luck! Also good luck to those of you who will be joining us Saturday morning for the 5K! We hope to see you there!

And that leads me to the point of this post, what you’ve all been waiting for. Drumroll please: Our Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K costume reveal!

Yes, we will be dressing up as our favorite cartoon dogs from one of our most cherished Disney movies, Lady and the Tramp! I can’t even take credit for this idea as it was actually Daniel’s! Yes, I am almost as surprised as you that he not only agreed to run in costume again but also came up with the idea! If you are doing the 5K just look for Lady and the Tramp and say hello!

Closer view of just our costumes!

Most of our costume is DIY from random pieces I gathered. My brown skirt is from Sparkle Athletic. I’ve worn their skirts in several Run Disney events and highly recommend them especially if you are into dressing up but want to be comfortable while you run as well! My visor is also from Sparkle Athletic.

Let me know if you will be doing any of the Wine and Dine Weekend festivities! We are looking forward to being back in Disney as well as taking in all the Christmas fun that makes this an extra special time to visit Walt Disney World. We plan to see the Osborne Lights at Hollywood Studios hopefully more than once since sadly it will be the last year for this display. If you’ve never experienced this, it’s a must-do! We also will be attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and doing the inaugural Minnie’s Holiday Dine dinner!

I plan to Instagram our adventures so be sure to follow me @lilrunner1485. I will be tweeting regular updates as well @lilrunner. In addition, we plan to Periscope as much as we can this trip, so hit me up there at @lilrunner!

See ya real soon!

Finally Fall Y'all

Happy fall friends! First off, I’d like to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers regarding my dear friend Jenny’s passing. I know my last post was sad, but I wanted to honor my friend. Thank you all again and please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. I am so blessed to have had her in my life and she continues to inspire me daily. I am also very fortunate that so many people through social media have reached out with their support over the past few weeks. Thank you all. You guys are the best!

Pretty Much

Summer has finally bid farewell and fall is here at last! Fall in West Virginia is absolutely gorgeous. The leaves have finally changed colors and look beautiful. It’s taken a bit longer than usual, but the air is finally crisp and cool. This weekend was one of the very first that truly felt like autumn. Sunny skies, cool fall air, leaves, ahhhh it was wonderful! I’ve really been enjoying my favorite season so far by drinking pumpkin spice coffee nearly every morning and just taking in the beauty of it all. Fall running is also a go! I took a brief hiatus for a bit due to a bad sinus infection, but am finally back to a regular routine. I love running in this type of weather. It’s my absolute favorite! I’ve really enjoyed being outside taking the sights of the season in. I love hearing the crunch of leaves under my feet. Fall running, you really are the best!

As for racing, I don’t have any long races planned for fall, but as per tradition I will be doing the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning in my hometown. Also, in just 18 days (18!!! Insert excited emoji here) I will be back in my favorite, most magical place, Walt Disney World, where I will be doing the Run Disney Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K! The race is part of Run Disney’s Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend. Daniel and I planned to do our annual fall Disney vacation anyway and while we opted not to do the half since we wanted more of a VACATION compared to a runcation this time, we still wanted just a TASTE of Run Disney! What can I say but I’m addicted y’all!

Wine and Dine Weekend Medals!!!

Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K will kick off the first full day of our trip. It takes place at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and is Christmas themed! A Run Disney event at Disney World and Christmas themed?! It’s like this event was created just for me! I am a holiday nut and I can’t wait to enjoy my three passions running, Disney and Christmas! This will be Daniel’s first Run Disney 5K and my second. I am excited to enjoy a fun run with him and to add some Run Disney magic to our trip. While I do love the longer races, I am very happy to being doing just the 5K for this vacation. The Run Disney 5Ks are all about the FUN and we are looking forward to it! I have never done a race through Animal Kingdom, so once this race is complete I will have finally done races through all four of the Walt Disney World Parks.

I hope to see many of my fellow Run Disney nuts there! We do plan to run in costumes for Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K. I am currently WAY behind on costume making, but sometimes I work well at the last minute. Look for a costume reveal post very soon!

Pumping Everything Please!
 

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall season. If you are somewhere that doesn’t have fall weather, I hope you at least are taking advantage of pumpkin everything. Let me know how your fall running is going. Also, who all is joining me at Disney for Wine and Dine Weekend? See ya real soon!

Thought this was a good way to close this post!