runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon 2014

I like to call the 2014 runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon the "splash and dash" half marathon.  The day of the race, the weather was perfect.  All day, I keep reading Facebook posts about how a huge rain storm was coming straight for Orlando.  It's ETA--10 PM, the exact time the race was set to begin.  Oh no, here we go!

I started the day by running the runDisney Jingle Jungle 5k with my son Nathan.  My family spent some time in the parks for the day.  I ate a quick dinner, then it was time to get dressed up for the race!  My running friend, Heather, and I dresses as Anna and Else for the race.

As we hoped off the bus at the race start, it started to drizzle.  My thoughts were immediately--oh no, here we go!  I can handle a lot of crappy situations, but I hate to be wet!  I tried to make the best of it though.  Heather and I walked to our corrals at the start line.  As the race got closer, the rain came harder.  By the time the race started, I was already soaked!  My shoes, my Raw Threads top--already dripping wet.

 We started the race in good spirits.  By the time we hit the first mile marker, I was already miserable! Heather and I love to stop for character pictures at runDisney events.  The only picture we stopped for the entire race was with the Country Bears.

Mile four rolled around as we entered Animal Kingdom.  By this time, I was totally and completely done with this race!  Running through Animal Kingdom was the highlight of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon for me--I really love that park.  As we exited the park, there were several buses parked.  Many of them were loaded with people who decided to call it a day and quit the race.  At the time, I so longed to be one of those people, warm on the bus.  It was raining so hard that my shoes were heavy as bricks. The rain on the road was several inches deep.  My feet were so blistered, they were bleeding.  My arms were chaffing and raw from my shirt being soaked and rubbing.  I was so cold that I could not feel my fingers.

Thankfully, I had Heather to talk me out of quitting.  She was earning her Coast to Coast medal!  She would not have earned the medal if we did not cross the finish line--so we had to finish.  Up next for us was three miles of highway, on to Hollywood Studios.  I was looking forward to running through the Osborne Lights.  We took the race mile by mile.  It was tough, but we kept going.  After Hollywood Studios, we hit the home stretch.  We ran through the Disney Boardwalk (one of my favorite places in Walt Disney World) and entered the back gate at Epcot.  All I could think about by this time was finished and getting into warm, dry clothes.

After thirteen cold, soaking wet miles--we made it!  We crossed the finish line! We got our medals, an adult beverage and headed straight to bag check.  I was never so happy to see my old sneakers and red hoodie.  Putting on warm, dry socks felt better than crossing the finish line.

The best part of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon is the after party.  Epcot is open till four AM for runners to celebrate their accomplishment.  All of the food stands for the Food and Wine Fest are open.  After all that running, I was hungry!  I got lobster mac and cheese at American and some amazing desserts at France.  And a Coke!  The only time drink real Coke is after a half marathon.

After fresh clothes and some yummy food, I was rejuvenated and ready to party.  Heather and I closed down the party at four AM.  We stumbled onto the bus to the resort and rolled into bed around five AM.  What a night!  It was by far my toughest race ever, but I am glad I finished.  I can't wait to do it again.

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend 2014

One of my favorite events of the year is the runDisney Tinkerbell Half Marathon weekend in Disneyland. It usually turns into a crazy girls weekend pretty quickly!

This year I flew in to LAX on Thursday morning.  I got to Disneyland just in time to check into the magical Disneyland Hotel and get to the expo right before it opened.  I worked the entire day at the Sparkle Skirts booth, but managed to get away long enough to pick up my three bibs for the weekend.

Check out my video of the 5k start!

The first race of my runDisney race weekend was the Neverland 5k.  This a a race through Disneyland park, and ends in California Adventure park.  The Neverland 5k hand down offers the best race start of any race I have ever seen or heard of.  The race starts right in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.  All of the sudden, Tinkerbell herself makes an appearance. Tink flies around the castle and starts the race! So magical!

The second race of the weekend was the Tinkerbell 10k. This race shared a start and finish line with the half marathon. The highlight of this course for me was the Haunted Mansion characters.  I love, love, love seeing and getting pictures with obscure characters.  I have never seen the Haunted Mansion characters before then, so that alone made the race worth doing.

The third race and main event of the weekend was the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. The course started outside of Disneyland park.  We ran around the back of California Adventure park and entered the park in the Paradise Pier section.  They had the "World of Color" music and lights playing.  I love that show!  After we got the rest of the way through CA, we ran across to Disneyland.  After a run around Disneyland, we entered Downtown Disney, then on through the town of Anaheim.

The Tinkerbell Half is my favorite runDisney courses.  I love running down the original Main Street USA, and past the original Disney castle that Walt himself built.  Disneyland holds so much history--us Disney history nerds can't get enough. Another perk of doing a Disneyland  race to us east coasters is that it does not feel as early as it actually is.  Because of the three hour time difference, a 5 am race feel like it starts at 8 am to an east coaster.  I am not a morning person, so I will take every hour I can get.  I can't wait to get back out to Disney for Tink Half Marathon weekend 2015--with a new date of Mothers Day weekend in May.

View of the finish line from my room!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy 

Inaugural runDisney Enchanted 10k

My Ariel costume!

The morning of the inaugural runDisney Enchanted 10k started like every other runDisney event--early!  Staying at a monorail resort allowed me to sleep in a little, but still--3:30 is early! Taking the monorail torace morning added a of extra magic.  Riding up to the race area and seeing all the people just added to my excitement--this was my first every 10k in Walt Disney World!

Heather, me, Jackie

I got to Epcot and headed toward the start area to find my friends.  Before heading to our separate corrals, we checked out each others costumes, took some pictures, and wished each other luck!  Our master plan was to start in our assigned corrals and meet up in the picture lines.  The goal for this race was to have fun and get lots of pictures.

Queen Elsa! 

The race started out in the Epcot parking lot.  For the first mile we ran toward the Magic Kingdom, away from Epcot.  On top of the first over pass we ran under, there she was--Queen Elsa from Frozen!  She, along with her sister Anna, are the two hottest Disney character rights now. At the first mile marker, runners made a sharp turn around, back toward Epcot.  The first three miles were all highway.  They were kind of boring, but we know Epcot and the Disney Boardwalk area were ahead of us--so we keep going strong.

Right after the 5k mark, we entered Epcot--near the Germany area.  By this time, I was running with my friend Jackie.  Jackie and I ran into our friend Heather in line to see Tiana and the Princess and the Frog characters.  That is the best part of runDisney events--running with friends and getting character pictures!  Once we made it into the park, we saw lots of characters.





Half way through Epcot's World Showcase, we left Epcot for a whirl around the Disney Boardwalk.  The Boardwalk is one of my favorite places in Walt Disney World.  It feels so much like an actual Mid Atlantic Boardwalk, yet is still very Disney.  The Disney Boardwalk is a most idealistic version of the a real Boardwalk, as Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom is an idealistic version of any main street in America. In line to see baseball Goofy at ESPN Zone, our friend Allison caught up to us. Together, the four of us ran the one mile trial around the Disney Boardwalk, past the Swan and Dolphin hotels, and past Disney's Yacht and Beach Clubs.

We got into our last half mile as we reentered Epcot.  Runners were treated to something very cool there--giant Lumiere and Genie parade floats. They were very neat to see.  After a few more character stops, there was mile six!  Only .2 left to go!  The four of us ran the last .2 miles to finish strong.  Our official race times were nothing to brag about, but running with friends makes a slow time so very worth it.   After crossing the finish line, I collected my beautiful medal and then got it line for my Glass Slipper Challenge bracelet.  After some water and snacks, I headed to Hollywood Studios for a fun filled Disney day, and a ride on Toy Story Mania.








A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Brand New runDisney Medals Revealed!

A few weeks ago at the Disneyland Half Marathon expo, I have a chance to review the brand new runDisney medals for Wine and Dine weekend, as well as the brand new medals for runDisney Marathon weekend!  The new medals are all very cool.  I have to say, I was more a fan of the old Wine and Dine medal than the new one--I miss the symbol of Epcot, Spaceship Earth on the medal.  But, I really like how the medal has Mickey on it.  None of my many runDisney medals has Mickey on it. The Marathon weekend medals are exciting to see--especially for the brand new event--the Dopey Challenge.  I love the brand new pink coast to coast medal--earned for doing both the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland and the Princess Half Marathon in Walt Disney World.

2013 Wine and Dine medal

2014 Goofy Challenge medal 

2014 Marathon weekend 5k medal

2014 runDisney Marathon medal

runDisney 2014 Half Marathon medal

runDisney marathon weekend 10k medal

Dopey Challenge Medal! 

Pink runDisney Coast to Coast Medal! 

All of the medals on display. 

What do you think of the new medals?  Which ones will you be earning?  

A dream is a wish...

--Amy