Monday, February 28, 2011

Disney’s Princess Half Marathon Media Mixer Recap

Half marathon number four is officially in the books. This past weekend I ran in Disney’s Princess Half Marathon and took part in their Princess Media Mixer. The good folks at Walt Disney World Resort hosted me, my BlogRollin’ partner, Christie, and five other fabulous bloggers (Racing with Babes, Workout Mommy, Long Legs on the Loose, Run Faster Mommy and CutieBootyCakes) in association with our Get Moving! initiative.  Mo Travels, Running Backwards in High Heels, WDW Mom’s Panelist Disney Deborah, Maria Bailey and her BSM Media crew rounded out the group. To say we had a BLAST would be an understatement. Running at Disney is ALWAYS a fun experience - if you haven’t done a runDisney event it should definitely top your list - but when you have the Disney crew sprinkling pixie dust on you all weekend it is definitely something magical.

I took plenty of pictures and will let them tell the story.


We arrived Saturday afternoon, checked into the Polynesian Resort then headed over to the expo and a tour of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.


The expo was packed!


We paused our shopping for a pic. Notice the “champion” above our heads. I’m just sayin.


See, there really are glass running shoes!


After the expo we had a little welcome reception where we mingled with Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca from “Survivor;” and had a great, intimate Q&A with the legendary Jeff Galloway.


Me with Jeff Galloway. He's the runDisney training consultant.  I was so thrilled because I follow his Galloway method for long runs.  Am I grinning hard enough?

We left ESPN and headed to Hollywood Studios where we CARB LOADED at Mama Melrose. I could eat there every night if Disney, and my hips, could take it. Then it was off to bed - we had a 3:45 a.m. call time. YIKES!


My pre-race EARLY morning pic!

We hopped on the bus and dropped our stuff off in the Media/VIP tent before heading to the start line. Every corral started with a bang, literally, as fireworks sent more than 16,000 runners from Epcot to Magic Kingdom and back. The course is filled with every one’s favorite Disney characters and live entertainment.

There’s nothing more magical than running up Main Street and through Cinderella’s castle.

The Princesses weren't the only ones who dressed up. There was frog man, too. Yup, he ran 13.1 miles in a frog suit. Got to love it.

There was also a little eye-candy to cheer us on.


And, a gospel choir at mile 13. It was Sunday morning and, yes, I needed a little Jesus to get to the finish line.


I finished in 2:46:42. The Princess is not a “race” race because you can stop a million times for pics and fun - unless of course you are this badass who sets a sub 2:00 PR!


Afterwards we celebrated in the Media/VIP tent; ate brunch and cheered in the rest of the runners. (Heather, me and T)

Oh, "Captain Jack" Jeff Galloway showed up there, too!

Most people rest after running 13.1 miles, but, um, yeah - not us!


We headed back to ESPN Wide World of Sports to catch the Atlanta Braves Spring Training Season Opener against the NY Mets.


It was a GORGEOUS day to catch a game.


After having lunch and the classic baseball snack we had a few more things on the agenda.


No, I didn’t really drive it but I did hit some golf balls.

The ladies and I were treated to a private hour lesson with two of Disney’s Palm and Magnolia Golf Course professionals.


If I didn’t have my hands full with running and tennis I just might of had to take up golf. I was whacking the mess out of the ball. GASP!

Next up we were all excited to learn more about sports and endurance nutrition with Disney Chef Gary Jones, a culinary dietary specialist.


He enlisted Lisa …


... and Heather to help him chef up a dish for us. He also fed us dark chocolate. Does it get any better?



We ended our evening with a FABULOUS dinner in France at Epcot’s Bistro de Paris, then had a private dessert party where we sipped champagne made for Disney’s newest cruise ship, The Dream, and watched the Illuminations fireworks show.

As if that wasn’t enough a few of us ran over to Magic Kingdom to take advantage of their late night Magic Hours and took on Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain and the Haunted House. We were too tired to snap any pictures but my scratchy voice from yelling is proof that we were there.

A huge thank you to the wonderful team at Walt Disney World Resort for hosting such an incredible experience and for supporting our Get Moving! initiative. I’m excited that I’ll be here until Sunday for Disney’s Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey and Essence Magazine. No running for me today, I’ll be back at it tomorrow; maybe, I can get my girl Minnie to join me.


Winks & Smiles,






Disclosure: My travel, meals and accommodations were provided by Walt Disney World Resort. As always, my thoughts and opinions are all my own.

31 comments:

Rachel said...

Fab Fab Fab!! So jealous I had to leave early and miss the golfing and yummy dinner!

misszippy said...

Sounds wonderful! So glad you had such a great time.

Deanna @ The Unnatural Mother said...

SO MUCH FUN!!!!! Great run, great place, great friends, what more can a girl ask for??!!

Unknown said...

Oh my word, this sounds so amazing!! Definitely the VIP treatment!

And I love that you got some Jesus on a Sunday morning too :-)

Marlene said...

What a seriously AMAZING weekend filled with running and Disney magic! You are all so lucky!!! Great recap and congrats on the half!

La'Tonya Richardson said...

Great pictures of your experience! Looks like you all had a great time!

TMB @ RACING WITH BABES said...

Best.Weekend.Ever! Thanks again for letting me be a part of it. (And for calling me a badass, that made my day!)

Michelle said...

What a great weekend!! Glad you all had such a great time!!

Anonymous said...

What an amazing day! Congratulations! :)

Anonymous said...

Jeff Galloway must have been psyched to get his picture taken with you! Great recap.

Jen Feeny said...

Looks like y'all had a blast! And you looked adorable!!! Fab weekend! Thanks for sharing the pics!

Run with Jess said...

What a fabulous experience!! Thanks for the recap and photos. Disney is on my "wish list". someday...

K. Rock said...

This looks like a great time. Congrats!

Krystal Grant said...

So Much Fun!!!!!! Congrats on your run.

Laurie said...

Fantastic. It looks like a blast.
When you get a chance, I am curious about who this group of bloggers is and how you got into this VIP treatment. Absolutely fabulous!
Enjoy your time there.

Julie D. said...

Holy Fun!!! From start to finish! Congrats on the sub-2 PR!!! What an amazing time. Thanks for stopping by my blog...look forward to following yours!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Oh, and Julie, I didn't run a sub 2; that would be the orignial badass, TMB! Smiles!

Shelley said...

What a BLAST!!!

Shay Shay said...

Great Pictures! Enjoyed the coverage! Looks like you really did have a BLAST! FOUR races--YOU ROCK!

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

I love you photos. They have such a great feel to them. I am so envious of this experince. It was amazing start to finish. Truly one for the books. As I am not a new or young runner, I look more for the experince out of races and care (a bit) less about the numbers on the clock. Maybe someday life will allow me this adventure too.

Go glad you all shared the experince together!

Thanks for stopping by my running journey through life. I have been by a time or two, I always notice you signature sign off in comments. Love it!

Stesha said...

So happy you had a wonderful time. I'm read all your tweets and fb updates about the trip, jealous!

Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha

workout mommy said...

i had so much fun, thank you for including me! :)

Anonymous said...

What a busy, busy weekend. Congrats on another half-marathon finish. The sports and endurance nutrition segment looked awesome!

AbigailRuns said...

What an amazing recap! I've got a pic with the frog too! So sorry I didn't get to see you :(

Funkidivagirl said...

Congratulations and how fun! I love the gospel choir at the end :-)

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

OOps meant to comment on this post. You look adorable girl and you were hanging with some WONDERFUL ladies.. I want to meet little Heather and any weekend with T and Katye is a good one..

So pretty please keep me posted in the future.. with a little notice I would love love to be there with yall..

Relentless Forward Commotion said...

ahhh I wish the magic didn't have to end! It was fantastic to finally meet you and the others, I had such a great time! Especially finally getting to the MK Sunday night! (haha I really am a 6 year old inside, LOL!) THANK YOU for everything!

Unknown said...

What a great recap of a wonderful weekend! You actually make getting up at 3:45am sound fun!!

Anonymous said...

You ladies look awesome, and it looks like you had an amazing time (ok, so I'm a bit jealous). Next time, no family for me... LOL!!!

It's too bad we didn't meet, we finished very close to the same time, I was busy really enjoying this race. I have never allowed myself to just relax, take photos, and enjoy a race... it was amazing.

Kayla said...

Sounds like you had a great time! Great job on the race! It was nice meeting you for those couple seconds :)

kat said...

Fabulous pictures and race report, sounds and looks like it was so much fun.

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