Welcome to another great Wild Workout Wednesday Link Up where Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Jen from Pretty Little Grub, and I bring you workout ideas, motivation, inspiration and recipes to try. Join us each week by reading along, linking up and grab the button to proudly display on your blog/in your posts!
Did you watch my Instagram story at all over the weekend? If so, you would have been inundated with posts about all things Disney.
You see, last weekend I frolicked my way through Disney World, knocking out 22.4 miles and earning four medals in the process. It was all thanks to Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend!
Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend is one of Disney World's many race weekends. It consists of a 5K, a 10K and a half marathon on three consecutive days, as well as the Glass Slipper Challenge, which is completing both the 10K and the half marathon. I decided to tackle all three for a total of 22.4 miles.
I've done Disney's Marathon Weekend twice. Once for my first marathon and once for the Dopey Challenge. I adore that weekend of races, but I was excited to try another one of Disney's magical weekends. I'll be dividing my experience into three recaps, one for each race. Let's start with the 5K!
THE DAY BEFORE THE RACE
I had a 4:15am wake up call to catch my flight to Orlando. Usually, I'd scoff at waking up at that ungodly hour, but I figured it'd be good practice for the weekend ahead since you have to be up even earlier for Disney race start times.
Before I knew it, I was in Orlando! I met my friend Jess at the airport. She had arranged for us to stay at a house with a few other ladies, and one of them was kind enough to pick us up and drive us to the expo.
As you know, I'm not big on expos, but I did buy some official Princess Weekend gear. We were nervous all the good gear was going to be gone since we were getting there in the afternoon (everything in my size was sold old when I went to the expo for the Dopey Challenge and Jess wasn't able to get anything in her size when she did Disney Princess last year), but it seems like they were better prepared this year. We explored for a bit and snapped some fun pictures:
As you can see from the picture above, this year's featured princess was Belle from Beauty & the Beast. All the gear and medals were Beauty & the Beast themed. So fun!
Anywho, after the expo we headed to the house to relax for a bit. Then we hit up Disney Springs for dinner at D-Luxe Burger and dessert at Erin McKenna's (a gluten free, vegan bakery). I got a Cookies'n'Creme milkshake, which was a vegan vanilla and chocolate swirl milkshake topped with a gluten free, vegan cookies'n'creme donut. Epic.
Then it was back to the house and off to bed for us!
We woke up at 4:15am, which actually seemed like a luxury compared to the time you have to wake up if you're staying on Disney property (I'll do a whole post about the pros and cons of staying on and off Disney property). I got into my 5K costume, whipped up some oats, and we were off to the race!
Parking and security were a breeze. We walked right in and headed straight for our corrals. They were doing something new this year and divided each corral into waves. Corrals are based on past race times, but the waves were based just on where you were standing. We ended up in the second wave of the first corral. The fireworks went off and we were on our way at about 6:02am.
The race starts along the roads by Epcot. After about a mile, we ran into the first character, Meeko from Pocahontas! I don't remember seeing him at past races, so we stopped to say hi.
Before we knew it, we were in Epcot and ran into Abu in Morocco. Hi, Abu!
Just a while later, we found Dopey! I had to reunite with my favorite Dwarf, even though the line to see him was pretty long.
We ran by the famous Epcot ball, and suddenly we were crossing the finish line!
This is the first year Disney gave out real medals for the 5K. Usually, they're made of rubber. I adore this one with Mrs. Pots and Chip!
The race was untimed, so I have no idea what my official time was, and I don't care. My goals for the weekend were to take it easy and have fun, so that's exactly what I did.
After the race, we got water and snack boxes and headed to the post-race party area. While we waited for the rest of the ladies in our house to finish, we stood in mega-long lines to see Rapunzel and Snow White!
I also ran into Janelle from Run With No Regrets! She was there cheering on her sister and ran the 10K the next day. It was so nice to finally meet her!
We stretched, refueled, hit up some of the outlet stores (including a Disney Outlet!), got Dole Whips, and enjoyed dinner at the Grand Floridian before calling it another early night. We had a 10K ahead! Come on back next week to hear all about it, and as always, join us for the Wild Workout Wednesday Link Up!
Let's Chat:
Have you ever run Disney Princess Weekend?
Who's your favorite character that we spotted during the 5K?
