runDisney 2022 - 2023 Race Information

Calling all mouseketeers, princesses, villains, and running fans!   runDisney marked the return of in person racing during the 2021-2022 race season and, just as the tutus and pixie dust of the 2022 runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend is beginning to cover those magical miles, we have some race dates releasing for 2022-2023!

For the upcoming 2022-2023 running season, we so far have dates for Wine & Dine as well as Marathon weekends.  There are no changes to race offerings or typical weekends with these. Dates are as follows:

Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend - Image from www.rundisney.com

runDisney Wine & Dine Weekend - General Registration Opens March 22, 2022

• Disney Wine & Dine 5K - November 4, 2022
• Disney Wine & Dine 10K - November 5, 2022
• Disney Wine & Dine Half-Marathon - November 6, 2022
• Disney Two Course Challenge - November 5-6, 2022
• Post-Race Party - November 6, 2022

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - Image from www.rundisney.com

runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - General Registration Opens April 19, 2022

• Walt Disney World 5K - January 5, 2023
• Walt Disney World 10K - January 6, 2023
• Walt Disney World Half Marathon - January 7, 2023
• Walt Disney World Marathon - January 8, 2023
• Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge - January 7-8, 2023
• Dopey Challenge - January 5-8, 2023

While a lot remains similar to past weekends, there are a few notable changes.  The past two Wine & Dine weekends have been incredibly popular with their villains theme. . .but this year we get something new - an "unforgettable showcase celebration."  Drawing of the popularity of EPCOT's International Food & Wine Festival, Wine & Dine weekend will this year showcase Disney favorites from around the world - representing the global community of runDisney including themes from Coco, Aladdin, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Soul.

Virtual race options also return in 2022-2023 for race weekends.  I'm glad to see runDisney continuing to offer these options for runners who can't make the trek to Walt Disney World Resort during a race weekend.  I always wondered why they didn't offer these and it's one change from COVID that I hope continues to stay.

Read all about my virtual runDisney Star Wars 10K in 2021!

Keep checking back as more information will be added for the 2023 runDisney Princess Half Marathon and 2023 Springtime Surprise Weekend as it is released!  

Read More

DC Wonder Woman 10K - Virtual Race Recap

DC Wonder Woman Virtual 10K

With virtual racing being the "norm" in 2020, I've really jumped on the bandwagon!  Prior to this year, I really didn't understand the interest in running a virtual race.  What I've come to learn though is that running a virtual race can be really rewarding when you bring the fun and treat the race day like a race day.  With that in mind, I approached my DC Wonder Woman 10K - although things didn't go quite as I thought they were going to go when I wrote my announcement post about this race.

Disclaimer: I received a free entry to the DC Wonder Woman Run as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Getting Ready for Race Day

My original plan for this race was to partner it up with the DC Batman 5K Virtual race and complete the Good v. Good Superhero Challenge in one weekend.  But, things don't alway go as planned.  October has thrown my a couple of curve balls that derailed some of my training and made my evenings and weekends busier than I expected.  Looking at my calendar with fresh eyes, I had to space the two races out to make them work for me. . .see, a great perk of virtual racing - flexibility!  I bumped the Wonder Woman 10K up a week which means my challenge didn't quite come together as I thought it would, but I was still excited to run.

Part of what made this race so much fun to prep for was the theme.  My regular readers know how much I love a good theme and Wonder Woman was fun to prep for.  Even in the swag kit, there were some fun wristbands that I could incorporate into my outfit.  Check out everything that comes in your swag package here!

To complete my look for the race, I lucked into finding a star-spangled tutu as I was walking through Wal-Mart on clearance for $2.50 - how lucky was that?!?  Then, in another stroke of luck, I won a pair of Pro Compression socks on a Twitter chat and decided to order the Americana ones that would go great with the outfit.  How do I look?

DC Wonder Woman 10K Virtual Recap

As I mentioned before, training for the race got a little derailed but I was still able to pull it together on race day.  I'm always a fan of Galloway's run/walk intervals when I run longer distances and this time I put them to work for me on the 10K as well.  I ran the race through the downtown area of my small town.  There are a number of hills that roll throughout town so rather than sticking to times for my intervals, I opted to run down the hills and walk up them.  I have a pre-measured loop around town that equals just about 2.5 miles so I did that twice and then added on an extra loop closer to my house to close the gap.  While I was passing the miles, I enjoyed listening to the latest BibRave podcast.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you can find all the details here. 

I finished the 10K in just over 1:24, showered up, and then proudly put on my Wonder Woman pullover and added my medal to my display of bling.  Want to learn more about the DC Wonder Woman run?  You can visit their website to join the fun for 2020 and keep an eye on what's to come in 2021!  

Read More

Fargo Marathon - Join the Fun. . .Virtually!!!

Fargo Marathon Logo - Image from Fargo Marathon

Like many other races recently, the Fargo Marathon has made the decision to go virtual for 2020.  While I know COVID has put race directors to the test, one of the benefits of so many races going virtual is that more people have a chance to participate.  Living in Maryland, my participating in the Fargo Marathon would be an unlikely occurrence, but now that I can run virtually from the comfort of my own streets, I'm excited to share that I'll be running it this year!

Disclaimer: I received an entry to the Fargo Marathon 10K as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!

So why Fargo when there are so many other races out there?  Well, let's look at a few awesome things about this race:

• Variety - It's the spice of life, right?  And they have a race distance for everyone - 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon.  The 10K is my favorite race distance and it doesn't get enough love in my opinion so I was thrilled to find 6.2 miles of fun waiting for me on this registration page.

• The Swag - You can run the Fargo Marathon without compromising any of the awesome swag runners love!  Runners at each distance will receive a finisher's medal and a shirt.  5K runners get a short sleeve tech tee, 10K runners receive a long sleeve tech tee, and half and full runners get a sweatshirt AND jacket.  That's pretty great!

Fargo Marathon Virtual Swag - Image from Fargo Marathon

• Give Back - In 2010, the Fargo Marathon established it's Shoes for Kids campaign to help get shoes to kids in need.  You can add a donation to your registration to help this important charity.

Ready to sign up?  You can register by visiting their website here.  Don't forget to use the discount code "SAVE5" to take $5 off your registration!

Hope to see you sharing all of your fun on social media.  Drop a comment below if you register so that we can cheer each other on while training and racing.  One of my favorite things about the online running community is the support for each other - let's keep that going!  

Read More

Enchanted 10K Race Recap

Walt Disney World is a place where dreams come true and runDisney weekends there help those dreams become reality.  This year, my friend and I traveled for a girls weekend to Walt Disney World as part of the Princess Half Marathon festivities where we participated in the Glass Slipper Challenge which includes the Enchanted 10K and the Princess Half Marathon.  Given the princess theme for the weekend, I opted to go for race costumes inspired by two of my favorite leading Disney ladies.  For the 10K, I sported a green skirt and purple top along with a red headband to run in an Ariel inspired look.  

Saturday morning began early as all runDisney race days do with a 3AM wake-up call and a 3:30AM bus ride to Epcot for the start of the race.  The DJ had us all pumped up and ready to go.  We decided to jump in line for the chance to try and meet a princess before the race.  No one can queue up a line like Disney and they had the hour plus line well organized - even if there wasn't a FastPass+ option to jump ahead!  After finally snagging a picture with Jasmine, I joined some very enthusiastic ladies in the parking lot for the Cha-Cha Slide and then it was off to the corrals.  

The Enchanted 10K featured a staggered start within each of the corrals in an attempt to spread runners out on the course.  My friend and I were in one of the later corrals and found congestion prevalent along the way as the race began for us.  Typical of runDisney races, characters were out in full force on the course.  Because our starting corral was not that great, we skipped most of the character stops.  However, I couldn't resist stopping for a rare opportunity to meet the Evil Queen from Snow White.  The line was massive, but I decided to take the chance and wait.  We ended up waiting nearly 30 minutes and as we were getting our pictures taken, I saw the cyclists ride by warning about sweeping and could easily see the balloon ladies - YIKES!  That was a first.  We hightailed it back onto the course and continued along the highway until we entered Epcot through World Showcase.  

Getting that close to the sweepers scared me to death and we didn't end up stopping for any more character pictures along the way.  As we wound through World Showcase and onto the Boardwalk, the sun was rising higher and the so was the temperature.  The final character stop featured Princess Minnie, and a line that was probably 45 minutes long.  I felt like there were a great number of character stops, but I couldn't get over how long the wait was at each one - even larger than what I remember from previous Wine and Dine races.  

The finish was truly a celebration for runners with music, characters, and medals.  We were so exhausted by the end of the race from the late night out the night before and the early morning, that we opted to head straight back to the hotel for a shower, some food, and a nap.  After all, we had only completed one leg of the Glass Slipper Challenge with another 13.1 miles less than 24 hours away!

Read More

I'm officially a runDisney Princess!

It's been quiet for a few weeks on the blog as I've prepared for and traveled to Walt Disney World for my very first Princess Half Marathon Weekend.  I'll be posting more details on each of these experiences in the weeks ahead, but I wanted to take a minute and give you a quick weekend recap from my trip.

Where We Stayed - For this trip, I was back on Disney property and stayed at Coronado Springs Resort.  The moderate level hotel is also a Convention Center and as such boasts several dining options, a spa, and beautiful grounds.  We were only here for two nights, but enjoyed our stay.  It's definitely one I will recommend to friends and family in the future.

Where We Ate - We had two new dining experiences on this trip.  We visited Chef Art Smith's Homecoming in Disney Springs for dinner one evening where we were delighted by some down home southern cooking.  And on Sunday, we enjoyed the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues - also in Disney Springs.  The Gospel Brunch, which features a buffet of New Orleans favorites and a gospel concert, had been on my "must-do" list for a while now and it didn't disappoint!  I also had the pleasure of introducing my friend Christine to California Grill.  If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know that dinner while watching the fireworks from California Grill is one of my favorites and I was excited to do it again.

What We Did - We ran the Glass Slipper Challenge!  When you spend less than 50 hours in Walt Disney World and run both a 10K and Half Marathon, there's not much time to do anything else.  Both races were a lot of fun.  In typical runDisney fashion, characters and entertainment were everywhere you looked.  And the bling. . .oh, the bling!  It was a fabulous weekend of race medals - my new favorites in my ever growing collection.  Princess Half Marathon weekend had a very different vibe then my previous experiences at Wine and Dine.  It felt "crazier," but I guess that's what happens when you have 20,000+ women running in tutus!

As you can see, it was a short trip, but I was able to pack in many new experiences.  I can't wait to share them with you in the weeks ahead and I'm already counting down to our next trip in November - a return for runDisney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon weekend events!!

Read More

My Top 5 Posts of 2016

In what has now become an annual tradition on the blog (I think I can call it that if I've done it two years in a row, right?), here is a countdown of my top 5 posts from the past year.  Thanks to everyone who stops by to check out my posts and I can't wait to share more memories and magic in 2017!

5. Why We Won't Be Going to MNSSHP - Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has been on my Disney bucket list for a long time now and we were finally taking a Fall trip that would put us there not only during some of the party dates, but actually on Halloween.  So why did we decide not to go? Find out here!

4. runDisney Inaugural Wine & Dine 10K - The inaugural runDisney Wine & Dine 10K was an amazing race.  Hosted by Chef Remy, the race featured a familiar course through Epcot and around the Boardwalk with some great characters and all the runDisney fun that you expect from their events.

3.  A Beginner's Guide to Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival - One of the most popular events in Walt Disney World can be overwhelming when you don't know what to expect.  We attended for the first time in 2015 and I used my experiences to write some tips that I learned which might benefit other first timers.

2.  Best Bets for Preschoolers in Epcot - Traveling with the little guys to Walt Disney World has meant seeing the parks through the eyes of my kids.  Epcot gets a bad reputation sometimes as not being a kid-friendly park.  This post highlights some of our favorite things to do around Future World and World Showcase!

1.  Things that May Terrify Your Kids in Walt Disney World - My husband will probably laugh out loud that this is my top post of the year.  His biggest complaint about Disney is that our kids are scared of some of the things there.  It's a true statement.  I don't think that ruins a family vacation - just review some of these experiences that might terrify your kids.  Moral of the story, there is so much to see and do in Disney; do what makes your family happy rather than trying to push through things that scare them.

Read More

runDisney Inaugural Wine & Dine 10K

After running my first runDisney races in 2015, I was hooked and couldn't wait to plan a 2016 race getaway.  We ended up planning a weeklong family vacation that would end on Wine & Dine weekend once again.  And with a new menu of racing choices including the addition of a 10K and Lumiere's Two Course Challenge there was a lot of excitement in the air during the months leading up to the event.  Due to our travel schedule, I wasn't able to do the half marathon so the inaugural challenge was out for me, but I was thrilled to be part of the Ratatouille themed 10K.

The 10K was set to run on Saturday morning with the typically early runDisney start time of 5:30AM.  I was staying offsite at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek so I had to provide my own race transportation, which I did via taxi service to the start line at Epcot.  I arrived right around 4AM and couldn't be more excited to be at the party that greets runners.  Characters, concession sales, and a DJ all provide a fantastic atmosphere to get pumped up for the race.  Since I didn't have much else to do until the start time and I was by myself, I hopped in the very long line to meet Remy and Emile from Ratatouille.  The DJ kept announcing that the characters would leave at 5AM and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it.  Remy disappeared about 4:45, but I remained in line for Emile and ended up being the last person who got to meet him before the race started.

After meeting Emile, I headed over towards the corrals.  runDisney is nothing if not efficient at getting their races off and running on time.  By the time I made a stop to use the bathroom, corral A had already headed to the starting line and my corral, corral B, was already opened up to follow.  With the typical runDisney fanfare including music and fireworks, the first corral started promptly at 5:30 and corral B was off about 10 minutes later.

This was my first runDisney 10K and, although this was an inaugural race for Wine & Dine weekend, my understanding is that it was a familiar course.  The first 3 miles were on the roads out and around Epcot.  There were two character stops along the road including the penguins from Mary Poppins and  Flik and Princess Atta from A Bug's Life.  I was feeling energized and neither stop was overly appealing to me, so I kept on running past those characters.  Shortly after the mile 3 marker, runners enter Epcot through a backstage area and burst into World Showcase inside the Norway Pavilion.  The cast members inside World Showcase were phenomenal - cheering runners on in languages native to each country!  This also led to the next few character stops which included Geppetto and Pinocchio in Germany and the Genie in Morocco.  I was feeling like I needed some character interaction as I was already past the halfway point so I stopped for each of these.  Runners then continued out of Epcot via the International Gateway to circle Disney's Boardwalk and the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts.  Chip and Dale greeted runners at the ESPN Club and there were a lot of spectators out in the resort areas to cheer everyone on.  As we re-entered Epcot, a large Sebastian met us and the party continued into the United Kingdom.  We exited the park after running through Future World and accepted the inaugural bling in the parking lot near where we started.  As always, the course was flat and fast.

I have to say that once again I was incredibly impressed with runDisney.  Everything was organized, well-supported, and fun.  I can't say that any other races I've run have come close to the experience of runDisney.  I was also really pleased with the runner's etiquette on display this week.  Many runDisney runners follow Galloway's run/walk intervals.  Everyone I encountered on the course was signaling breaks and not walking in large groups.  I would definitely come back for another Wine & Dine 10K and can't wait for the Glass Slipper Challenge in about 100 days!!

Read More

Quick Trip Recap

We're fresh off our latest trip to the Walt Disney World Resort and I have so much to share about our vacation!  We traveled with my parents and stayed at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek.  This was the first time we've stayed off property with kids and I have to say that the Hilton was a perfect choice.  I'm going to update my review of the property with everything that we enjoyed with the kids, but in short, the pool, breakfast, and transportation made it easy to enjoy all the parks had to offer as well as relax around the resort during our "down time."

Daddy and Caleb enjoying the pool at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek

Our week long trip included a 6 day Magic Your Way base ticket where we visited one park per day.  We opted to spend 2 days each at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom with 1 day each at Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  Inside the parks, we tried a few new experiences including The Pirates League at Magic Kingdom and the Jedi Training Academy: Trials of the Temple at Hollywood Studios.  Brody, our 4 year old, loved all of the Star Wars activities at Hollywood Studios in particular.  While Hollywood Studios is getting a bad rap lately due to so much of the park being closed for the addition of Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land, I think this might have been one of Brody's favorite days.

My handsome Captain Hook!

Brody was an extremely brave Jedi as he battled Darth Vader and Kylo Ren!

We also tried a few new dining and evening experiences.  The Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage was a memorable evening and one that I would highly recommend to anyone with young kids.  We also enjoyed a fabulous date night out at Jiko with it's delicious South African cuisine and tried out the breakfast at Akershus inside of Epcot.  I was also thrilled to run in the inaugural runDisney Wine and Dine 10K my last day in Walt Disney World.

Meeting my doppelgänger, Snow White, at breakfast!

Just a few quick pictures from the inaugural runDisney Wine and Dine 10K

I'll admit that the week long vacation with a 1 year old and 4 year old had its trying moments, I still think that the boys enjoyed their time in the most magical place on Earth.  I can't wait to share all of the experiences with you from my trip over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned for some new and exciting posts!

Read More

Hold Onto Your Tiaras - I'm Running Princess Weekend!

Well runDisney fans and friends, I'm excited to share that I'll get to cross another runDisney event off my bucket list!  Look out Glass Slipper Challenge - I'm coming for you in 2017!  Yesterday, my friend and I registered for the annual challenge which includes the Enchanted 10K on Saturday and the Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.

Princess Half Marathon weekend is the ultimate girls running weekend in Walt Disney World.  Each year, a different princess takes center stage.  When I saw the ads for the 2017 registration coming from runDisney featuring Belle, I couldn't pass it up.  Belle is my favorite Disney princess and Beauty and the Beast still remains one of my favorite Disney movies of all time.

My friend, Christine, and I are already anxiously awaiting our big trip.  We are planning to stay on Disney property - most likely at one of the value resorts - to make this a budget friendly trip.  In fact, since we're flying in Friday and flying home Sunday, while needing to squeeze in the expo and two races, we're probably not even going to do park tickets.  While there, our plan is to spend our free time at the pool and spending time exploring all the fabulous shopping and dining options in Disney Springs.

As far as training, I'll need to roll right from the runDisney Wine and Dine 10K in November to start getting ready for race weekend.  This will be the toughest running challenge I've faced yet with back to back race days of these distances, but if anything will motivate me, it will be a mouse!

Who else will I see at Princess Half Marathon Weekend in February??

Read More