Princess Weekend 2017 - Expo & 5k

Ah Princess weekend. The weekend where my sister, niece and I descend upon WDW for a weekend of running, popcorn, and shenanigans. This year my parents joined in on the fun and my brother happened to be there as well for a golf trip. 

Day 1 of our journey happened to coincide with Cathy's birthday. To celebrate we enjoyed some southern fried goodness and hummingbird cake at Art Smith's Homecoming in Disney Springs. The food here is beyond delicious and I am still slightly traumatized by the speed in which my niece consumed deviled eggs. 

After dinner us girls headed to the expo to pick up our packets and shop (naturally). This is the latest we have ever gone to expo and it was fabulous. There was nobody there. We literally walked right up to everything. 

We didn't even wait to take our picture with the sign. Whaaaat???? The three of us are perfect glass slipper by the way, just in case you wanted to know that fun fact.

The theme this year was Beauty and the Beast so naturally Lorren and I had to snag this pic....

To tell you how empty the expo was, we were able to get a photo with Rapunzel...

...and the rose from Beauty and the Beast...

It was early to bed though because we had the 5k the next morning, but that didn't stop Lorren from challenging me to a plank off...

Guess who won? Hint: not Lorren.

The 5k is a favorite for us because it is just really chill (not timed at all) and we just walk and have fun.

We also wear our Peggy Sue shirts for this race. If you have been with RunDisney for a while you know all about her. She was our favorite spectator and it is just not the same without seeing her on the course. 

After the race we met up with everyone for breakfast. I was even able to snag a rare photo of this guy smirking.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much it meant to have my Dad there for race weekend. The three of us have been raising money for Alzheimer's research in honor of him and it just means so much to have him there. 

I'll have more posts covering the other races in the coming days. 

Princess Weekend - Part 3...The One With The Half Marathon

Sunday was the final race of Princess weekend and the final 2 a.m. wake up call. I was the most nervous for the half marathon and had set a goal of 2:45 - 2:50 for myself on the race. I knew it was ambitious because Disney races are packed with people and are often hard to PR in.

The weather was so much nicer on Sunday morning and I was beyond pleased with it. All four of us sparkled (check out Michelle's first sparkle!) and I firmly believe they make you run faster.

Because of our awesome PR at the Lake Nona half marathon, Michelle and I were placed in corral J which is the last of the proof of time corrals. I cannot even begin to explain how amazing it felt to walk into that corral knowing that I had to bust my behind to get in there.

The other great part of being in corral J was that we had a pacer. She was AMAZING! Before we even started moving she was giving us pep talks and explaining how the race was going to go for us. Michelle and I had good luck running with a pacer at Nona, so we knew we would finish well with this one. The difference though, is Nona doesn't have nearly as many runners that the pacer has to navigate through. There were definitely moments where I was figured I lost the pacer and would never find her again...even though she was carrying balloons.

The race overall went really well. I hung with the pacer until about mile 8 or so, then I decided I would do my own thing. I lost Michelle somewhere before Magic Kingdom and you would be shocked how hard it is to find someone in a sparkly skirt with a blue shirt. I mean, it's just as hard as trying to find someone in a tutu.

The last 5k was brutal for me. It almost always is because I'm pooped by this point and still have two monster hills to tackle, complete with a toy army drill sergeant yelling at me.  Once I hit the EPCOT parking lot (and passed the pacer) I started getting a little emotional. I was almost to the Peggy Sue spot and knew she wouldn't be there and also knew that I wouldn't be able to handle any tribute at that point. I also knew I was going to PR by this point, just not sure by how much.

Once I ran into the park something hit me that was strange. There were no guests. I have NEVER been at that stage of the race and not had guests around.

I hit the last .2 of the race and my quads were shaking. I had to give myself a pep talk to make it down the final stretch and hit as I approached and glanced at my watch I knew I PR'ed. It was only by a minute, but hot damn that was my minute. (For the record, it was a minute for my overall half and around 25 minutes for Princess)

Scott was waiting for me at the finish with the biggest smile. I crushed it and watched the pacer cross after me. BOOM. I also crushed that snack box they gave us (much appreciated runDisney).


Michelle crossed not that long after me, and then Lorren and then Cathy. I am so proud of all of us for crushing another princess weekend!

After we noshed on some hot dogs and showered, the kiddos joined us and we headed to Hollywood Studios to celebrate Cathy's birthday.

We had dinner reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, which shockingly Scott and I have never been to. The dinner was fabulous and we all literally ate all of the things.

We were even able to snag our photo in front of Cinderella's coach. How awesome is this?!

The entire weekend was wonderful and definitely a physical test. I cannot believe that I PR'ed on this race and cannot wait until Princess 2016!

2015 Princess Weekend - Part 2

Princess weekend continued with the Enchanted 10K, which is the first part of the Glass Slipper Challenge portion of the weekend. 

Cathy, Lorren and I went with an Alice in Wonderland ensemble. We are really not ones to wear costumes, we consider costumes to be Sparkle Skirts and Raw Threads shirts, which is exactly what we wore. 

Cathy was the Red Queen (I wish I had the detailing on her shirt because it was amazing), I was Alice (obviously) and Lorren was the Cheshire Cat. It should be noted that Cathy had a drink stirrer from Southwest in her hair because it had a heart on it.

It was definitely warmer waiting for the 10K than it was for the 5K, but we still huddled around warmers and stayed in our mylar blankets until the race start. 

The 10K course is one of my favorites (minus the first mile and a half). The course wraps through the EPCOT parking lot, through World Showcase, around the EPCOT resorts (Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Clubs) and then back through the front of EPCOT. 

Michelle and I hung together for the race and I had to snag a photo of one of my favorite parts of the race, the moment you see the torches illuminated when you enter World Showcase. How cool is that?!

The other cool part about the 10K was that my boss and her daughter volunteered at one of the water stops. It was so fantastic having my own personal cheering section on the course.

I finished the 10K in 1:23:03 and Michelle was right behind me. Cathy and Lorren were not that far behind either. 

After the race and a giant breakfast (and when the weather warmed up just a touch) we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to have a fun-filled day in the park. 

Part of that fun included having a giant bowl of pasta at Tony's Town Square and maybe a few loaves of bread. I think the majority of the restaurant was runners carb loading for the big day on Sunday.

Aside from noshing on bowls of pasta, we spent some time just exploring the park. There were a ton of people in the park so we were not able to go on a lot of rides. Come to think of it I think we only went on the train and into the Laugh Floor. 

We really didn't even stay that long because we were all exhausted and had another early wake up call for the half. 

Only one more post to go and I cannot wait to talk about the half marathon! It was by far the best I've ever run at Disney and there will be more on that in the coming days. 

2015 Princess Weekend...Part 1

I just finished another amazing Princess Half Marathon weekend and have so much to share that it's going to have to be broken down into 3 parts...at least.

Thursday I met up with my niece and sister from some breakfast and then we headed out to the Fit for  a Princess Expo. We picked up all of our bibs, t-shirts and then headed to browse the goods. Loren and I even waited in line for probably 45 minutes to buy some Princess merchandise. Seriously...I didn't even wait that long for any rides this weekend.

Oh, and yes, I am in my Chicago winter coat with layers underneath. Winter decided to hit the sunshine state in a big way. Apparently the Frozen theme was literal.

After the expo we headed over to Morocco for some lunch. Neither Lorren or Cathy had ever been there, so it was a fun experience for them and delicious as always.

It was definitely an early to bed evening since we had the 5K in the morning. It was also the coldest run I have ever been on.  Before the race runDisney had heaters set up for the runners and we were wrapped up in mylar blankets. I honestly have no idea how many layers I had on, but it was a lot.

Scott was working on site that day, so I was able to meet up with him before the race. I may have stood extra close to warm up.

The three us decided we were going to walk the 5K since we were running the other two races that weekend. Also, since it was pretty freaking cold, none of us really felt like running.

I love the 5K course. The course wraps through EPCOT and there really is nothing better than walking around World Showcase with all of the torches lit and the sun just starting to peek out.

The three of us also wore matching shirts in honor of Peggy Sue. Peggy Sue was an incredible woman that would hold up inspiring signs along the course to encourage runners. You always saw her going into the Transportation and Ticket Center (usually when you needed a boost) and again right after mile 12. She passed away around the time of the January marathon and the runDisney community has not been the same. The shirts we wore had her famous sign on the back and we received a lot of compliments. Some people knew what the shirts were for and some did not, but now they know.

We also wore matching flowers from Fellow Flowers. This is a great company that is meant to bond fellow female/mother runners. We wore orange flowers and the meaning behind orange is this: 

"Bold. Honoring the journey of friendship. We are connected. Fiercely united. Marching on...one foot in front of the other. For health, for hope, for each other. To cherish, to protect - always. Believe. Achieve. Bloom. Endure." We thought that color was perfect for our shirts.

Did I mention the 5K was cold? I'm pretty sure we all lost feeling in all parts of our bodies at some point. After we warmed up a little bit, we headed out to Animal Kingdom. Yes, we wore our flowers.

The parks were kind of crazy, but we were able to hit Expedition Everest, some of the animal trails and of course, lunch. We went to Yak and Yeti and feasted on some delicious food.

My friend Michelle joined us that night and it was another early night. The 10K was bright and early (we had to be on the bus by 4 am) and we had to get our rest.

I have more posts coming this week. It was an incredible weekend and I cannot wait to share the rest!