Disney – My RunDisney Running Story

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I wanted to take a quick pause in blogging about our Trip to Japan and reflect on a personal journey I have been on since July of 2022. You guessed it—it’s about RunDisney! 

We recently wrapped up the 2023 – 2024 RunDisney season at the Springtime Surprise Weekend, and have received some questions about how we got started and our experiences with RunDisney. So, I wanted to share my entire RunDisney story to date. 

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My RunDisney Story

Some background: My husband Mark has been a runner our entire relationship. He ran his first half marathon in 2014 before we moved to Florida in 2015. Since then, he has run thirteen-timed races, and I have always been his cheering section at the finish line. 

Mark had been trying to get me to run with him for years. After all, it’s in my blood; my father was an incredible distance runner when I was very young and had fantastic finish times for his races. I have often joked around with them and said if I ever did a race, it would have to be the Princess race at Disney. 

I’ve also been quoted as saying, “I’m not a runner; I hate running; if I’m running, it means something is chasing me,” etc.… In January 2022, while Mark was running his first Full Marathon, I remember stressing and worrying at the finish line when a thought struck me- instead of always standing around waiting at the finish line full of anxiety, I could have been training and getting my own medals all these years!

Why are you running?

A little more history – I was in the best shape of my life right before we moved to Florida in 2015. We were biking, rollerblading, swimming, yoga, pure barre classes, Beach Body Insanity, and doing Piyo programs multiple times through… and then I had a health scare. 

One morning I woke up to the arch of my left foot swollen like a baseball and I was unable to walk on it. After urgent care, X-rays, and multiple orthopedic specialists, no one could find any root cause. Instead of knowing what we were treating, I went through physical therapy, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications, laser treatments- you name it, I tried it- plus I spent months in an air boot and had to take two months off of full-time work. 

It was a nightmare. One doctor mentioned that even though I was only 30, it might be early signs of RA or another autoimmune disease. I was shocked and tried to ignore it – but over the years the arthritic pain and swelling started to move around my body periodically. Sometimes, I experience it in my right foot, wrists, hip, spine, knees, fingers, etc. It forced me to be inactive and cautious with exercise once we moved to Florida, and the weight gain and self-confidence I had struggled with my entire life were back in a big way.

Taking Back my Health

I’d started to accept that this may be my truth and that diet and exercise were going to be imperative to my quality of life (because I don’t believe in taking a bunch of pills as the first option). If I don’t use it, I will lose it – I needed to make a change. I felt miserable and sad and had a significant lack of confidence in how I looked and felt. 

The year 2022 – 2023 was one of the most stressful in my life (COVID, Tiger King, blindsided and let go from my job when they closed the non-profit) and I was eating and drinking my feelings, so I wanted to set a new goal to pull me out of this significant rut.

Mark said registration for the Princess Weekend Races was coming up, I knew they would sell out quickly, so I committed, and Mark signed us both up! I was excited!

Once I saw the Princess theme for each race, I couldn’t pick just one because each one is in my top five favorite princesses—5K is Jasmine, 10K is Belle, and the Half Marathon is Moana. When you run the 10K and Half Marathon, it’s considered a “challenge,” and you get a bonus shirt and medal. And it was my all-time favorite Disney Princess—Cinderella! So we went big and signed up for all three races. 

Training for RunDisney

I trained following the Galloway Training Plan for the Challenge and started in July 2022.  By the end of September 2022, everything in my career started to unravel, and the stress, sadness, and animosity grew.  Everything around us was uncertain, and I poured myself into training as a distraction.  

In the beginning, I rarely missed any of my training runs. I played around with my run/walk intervals until I settled on 30/30 (these are all explained at the top of the training plan).  Soon, I started reaching longer and longer distances and had faster recovery and less soreness. I cried every time I hit a new milestone, up to completing my longest distance ever, which was 14 miles.  It was great therapy for what we were going through. 

All this progress came to a screeching stop after the new year when I broke my toe.  I was utterly crushed and had to stop training to give it time to heal.  Then shortly after that, we were hit with another blow: my job was 100% guaranteed to disappear in the upcoming year. We were so devastated that I don’t recall much more about the beginning of 2023 – just complete heartbreak.  I know it took a significant toll on me mentally and physically – so much so that I am still trying to heal from the loss and trauma to this day. 

Once I felt capable of putting the impact of running back on that foot, I started again with walking “only” because we only had a couple of weeks left until race weekend. I was still in physical pain and mental anguish but was trying to focus on my excitement for Princess Weekend instead.

Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2023

Finally, after half a year of training, it was race week!  We packed everything Disney-themed that we owned into the car and headed out to embark on what I knew would be an unforgettable adventure ahead of us. 

NOTE: RunDisney 10K, 10 Milers, Half Marathons, and the Full Marathon races require a minimum pace of 16:00 min per mile, and the final two runners track that to cross the start line after everyone else starts – they refer to them as the balloon ladies. If you fall too far behind the “balloon ladies,” the bikers will sweep you from the course, put you on a bus, and escort you back to the finish line, and you are considered DNF. 

Princess Weekend 5K 2023

RunDisney Princess Weekend 2023 was unbelievable, indescribable, inspirational, and educational to put it mildly. You can read my entire Princess Weekend 2023 post here.

The 5k at Disney is not timed; there are no balloon ladies, and they do not sweep you off the course within reason.  They need to open the park at the usual time so that is the only factor and some people can take up to 3 hours to finish it. 

Our slow and steady 5k, my first official race ever, was wonderful and ended with us both in tears because of an extraordinary family with whom we crossed the finish line—a survivor and her entire family. It was such a monumental and inspirational moment to see a family come together like that, and it gave us all the feels. This image will last a lifetime, and I am so happy it happened right before my eyes. 

Princess Weekend 10K 2023

The next day, we started the 10k with a two-minute buffer from the balloon ladies and increased the buffer as we ran. Mark and I ran at my pace and my preferred run/walk intervals, and we never even saw the balloon ladies during the entire race! We had a beautiful race despite the 93% humidity, and we finished with smiles, hand in hand, across the finish line.  

DNF Princess Weekend 2023

It was finally half-marathon day! We made it on the first bus of the morning, and once we checked our bags, we headed to our corrals.  The half marathon had corrals. A-F. Mark was in B because he submitted proof of time, and I was in F 😓 (Mark was already at mile 5 when I finally crossed the start line a full hour after A corral went off).

I started in the second-to-last wave before the balloons and only had a two-minute buffer. I worked hard the first four miles to increase my buffer to 10 minutes ahead of the balloons, but then I got super dizzy at mile 4, and I had to step off the course until it passed, losing some of my buffer. 

At that point, I got worried, this had never happened to me before. I told myself that the only goal was to make it to the castle, and I did. The Castle was at mile 5-6, and I still had about a 5-minute buffer. But then, at mile 7.5, I almost completely passed out, stepped off course, and then I watched the balloon ladies 🎈 go right past me. I outran them for 8 miles but they caught me. 

Technically, the bikers said I could keep going, but I couldn’t focus on anything in front of my eyes, and I knew if I couldn’t see, I couldn’t keep up for five more miles—it wasn’t safe. 

Getting Swept at Princess Weekend

It was wild because I’d done that distance three other times in training and was within the time limit, so something was wrong, and it was just an off day. The 10k dehydration lingered, along with sinus issues I was starting to experience on the first day, and it took me down in the fog and 91% humidity.  I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see, and I just went down to my knees and went numb.  I wasn’t planning to get a DNF (did not finish), but I am thankful I never lost consciousness, and I didn’t fall and get a severe injury.

 When I got on the “sweep” bus they provide to those who had been pulled or had pulled themselves from the course to ride back to the reunion area, I couldn’t stand up alone, and no more seats were left. As soon as the bus started to move, I just laid on the floor, and a lovely fellow runner put her ice pack on my neck until we arrived back at Epcot.  I internally cried out all my feelings about the last few months on that bus floor. 

Some fellow runners helped me to my feet, and I left the bus to find Mark, who had already finished his sub-2-hour half marathon. It wasn’t until I saw him that I finally let the tears fall.  He was so proud of me even though I didn’t finish as I had hoped, but he was so glad I wasn’t hurt.  Everyone was encouraging – I was the only one being hard on myself and still scared about what happened to me that day.  I had never experienced anything like that before, and then I was reminded – that even elite athletes have bad days and DNF.  

Just Keep Swimming and Training

I hadn’t even been running for an entire year, and the first time I had ever signed up for anything, I did a three-day race that most people think is crazy. 

Obviously, I had hoped to end that journey on a high note, but I still feel very proud of my journey and my first attempt at anything this significant. 

I finished the 5k, 10k, and 8 of the 13.1, and if you asked me a few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be doing any of it. Of course, I was disappointed I didn’t get the challenge medal, but I got 3 of the four medals for Princess Weekend 🙌 even when I was feeling my lowest, I knew this would not be my last RunDisney race… and I was right…

Wine and Dine Weekend 2024

I tried not to sulk for long, and I didn’t want to lose my hard work, so I focused on what to do next. When they announced the race themes for Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend and it was Alice and Wonderland and Encanto – I knew I wanted to redeem my failed attempt at the Disney Princess Half Marathon.

I had learned a lesson though – while I am still getting to the bottom of some health issues, I shouldn’t push myself three days in a row for the challenge, BUT there was no way I could skip out on the Alice in Wonderland-themed 5K. I aimed to walk the 5k on Friday and redeem my half marathon on Sunday. When I shared this plan with two of my friends, they were both so supportive and encouraging, and the next thing I knew, they wanted to do the 5k, too!

Registering for Wine & Dine

This was the first time we had friends accompany us on our crazy adventure, which started in March of 2023 at registration time. Many people say the most challenging thing about a Disney race weekend is the registration – if you can get through that, you can get through anything. 

It was a tense morning while all 4 of us were signing in and waiting in the queue for over an hour. Unfortunately, we all got in at different times, and some races were already sold out, so we just had to wing it. Our goals were that all the ladies would do the 5k together, Mark and our two friends were going to do the 10K as well, and myself and Mark would do the Half Marathon, allowing Mark to do the challenge (10k&Half), and we would all be doing an assortment of 2 races each.

However, by the time Mark and I were able to register – our friends had managed to get the 5k, and only one of them got in the 10k, and Mark and I could only get the Half Marathon because everything else was sold out – thanks Figment for the chaos LOL! 

RunDisney Charity Bibs

I was so sad that I missed out on the 5K since it was my idea and my favorite theme… but that sadness lasted only a split second when I realized I have always wanted to run for a charity, so I started looking for charity bibs.

RunDisney 5Ks are among the hardest to enter. They sell out quickly because entire families and younger children can participate without a race time limit. Due to the same reasons, it can also be one of the most challenging races to find charity bibs available. 

I was excited to come across Team RMHC of Central Georgia – they had a $500 fundraising goal with a $250 entry fee, bringing my total to $750. Because of your support, I was proud to raise $800, contributing to the $80,000 overall raised by all participants for the Wine and Dine race weekend in 2023. I loved going this route, and Mark and I both hope to continue doing charity bibs in the future.

Training for Wine and Dine Weekend

Once again, I followed the Jeff Galloway RunDisney training plan listed on the RunDisney website and the 19-week Half Marathon training plan. I was super proud of myself for sticking to the plan and never missing a run – I even started early to allow myself time in case of injury or illness (remember last year’s broken toe? UGH).

Sadly, just a few weeks before Wine and Dine weekend, we lost our 15-year-old Alice cat to kidney disease – and the stress and sadness mounted again.  I continued to pour myself into training, which got me out of bed on most days. Luckily, things went well, and I even did a bonus 10-mile run before I tapered down for race day.

Wine and Dine 5K

When the alarm goes off at 3 AM, you instantly re-evaluate all your life choices. But once you wear your race outfit or costume and race bib and head to the buses, your adrenaline and excitement take over. Looking around at all the creative costumes, groups of friends, couples, and families spending time together, it clicks again why you put yourself through it.

The 5K was lovely and a great way to honor the recent passing of our girl, Alice. We dressed with nods to the Mad Hatter, the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar, and myself as Alice holding my Cheshire Cat under my arm. We started the race in the last corral and took our time walking the course and having fun with the RunDisney photographers along the way. Our Caterpillar got much attention, and I couldn’t stop laughing – such a good memory. 

Wine and Dine Half Marathon

The morning of the Half Marathon was groggy. Neither Mark nor I slept well, so we got up long before our alarms went off. Arriving early and waiting in the corrals lessened our anxiety. 

Mark was in Corral A for the first time, so he took an earlier bus than I did because I was again in the last Corral of E for this race.  Mark went out in the first wave of Corral A, and I went out in the first wave of runners in Corral E – almost an hour after he started.

As I mentioned during Princess Weekend, I had two different medical emergencies on that course, and I removed myself when I lost my vision and couldn’t continue. It was traumatic and scary, but redeeming it this time was vital for my self esteem and confidence. After several doctor visits, with no official diagnosis – I continued to train and care for myself in hopes of a different outcome.

Finishing my first Half Marathon

Knowing I am a slower runner who was dealing with unknown health issues, and since I was starting in the last corral only minutes ahead of the “balloon ladies,” I knew it would not be an option to stop for the fun stuff like characters. But, at this point, I was only there to prove to myself that I could achieve this goal. 

This time I stayed focused on my own race, stuck to the intervals of running/walking I had trained for, drank water at every water stop, and fueled my body with something salty or sweet every two miles. I broke down crying at mile 10 when I knew at that point that I would finish with no balloons in sight! I cried again just writing that sentence – it meant so much to me to achieve this goal.

It was such a significant boost to my self-confidence and morale for life at this point. It’s been such a struggle, and here I was, finally doing it! I texted Mark once I was officially two miles out and confidently said I would make it. He immediately got in line to buy me a glass of champagne and meet me at the finish line. 

As I approached the shoot to the finish line, out of all the hundreds of spectators, somehow, I could hear and see my friends yelling my name, and I just about lost it. To have people cheering you on at the end is incredible, but it is indescribable when you know and love them. Sadly, I had missed this experience at Princess Weekend, so it will forever be ingrained in my mind, and I am so thankful for my support team. I did it! I had officially finished my first half marathon race! 

RunDisney Race Weekend Schedule

A typical RunDisney Season starts with Wine and Dine Weekend (Nov) and includes Marathon Weekend (Jan), Princess Weekend (Feb), and Springtime Surprise Weekend (Apr). However, in 2024, they welcomed the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend (Jan). The 2024- 2025 season now includes a new weekend debuting this fall—Disneyland Halloween Weekend (Sept), rounding out a RunDisney season that includes six different RunDisney Weekends between Florida and California.  They also offer a Virtual Summer Series, Virtual Holiday Series, and Castaway Cay 5K.

It can be challenging to register for RunDisney events, but, at this point, I was hooked.  Training and participating in RunDisney events has done wonders for my mental and physical well-being.

We had already missed out on registering for the 2024 Marathon Weekend, Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, and Princess Weekend for in-person events.  But I was thrilled to discover that Disney also had Virtual options (effective 2024 – they no longer have virtual options for in-person races), and I wanted to keep my training going. 

RunDisney Virtual Disneyland 2024

I love a good reward, so I decided to keep training to earn the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend – Dumbo Double Dare Challenge and 5K medals in January of 2024.  I participated in each race from the comfort of my neighborhood while the in-person races were taking place in California.  

RunDisney Princess Virtual 2024

I also signed up to participate in the Virtual Princess Half Marathon Weekend Challenge in February 2024. I could hardly believe that my RunDisney Running Journey began exactly one year ago, and now I have filled up my entire Disney Medal Hanger! 

My first full year of RunDisney races was extremely emotional, rewarding, challenging, and therapeutic.  It gave me something to focus on and look forward to and goals to strive for during a time of significant loss and extreme change.  I continued to need that goal and an event to strive for and look forward to, so of course, as soon as we saw the Hakuna Matata 10-Miler theme for Springtime Surprise Weekend – we had to sign up.

Springtime Surprise 10-Miler

We signed up for this race in October 2023, and I followed the Jeff Galloway 10 Mile Run Walk Run Interval program found on RunDisney.com under Training Programs. It’s a 13-week program that I modified for our trip to Japan. We also chose to do this race to get our coast-to-coast challenge medal when we go to Disneyland for the Halloween Half Marathon Weekend later this year. Lots of motivation!!  

Mark and I try to be on the first or second bus to the start line so we have plenty of time to get there and settle in our corrals.  We set our alarm for 2:15 AM and are out the door and walking to the bus by 2:50 AM to leave on the 3:00 AM Bus.  We usually arrive at Epcot security by 3:15 AM – It works well for us; we can eat, hydrate, get coffee, and use the bathrooms before settling into a crowded corral when they open at 3:30 AM.  It’s always unbelievable how much energy you can find in yourself and others early in the morning – it’s the Magic of Disney! 

Days before the race, we knew it would be hot and humid for race weekend, so we spent a lot of time resting and hydrating before the race.  Overall, the race went well for both of us despite the heat.  Thankfully, the sky had some thin clouds that cut down the blazing Sun aspect of running on the highway in Florida, and it was pretty pleasant for two people who live and train here year-round. 

After crossing the finish line, we had a glass of celebratory champagne and waited to meet one of our favorite Disney characters for the first time in WDW—Baxmax from Big Hero Six! Another memory for a rainy day.

Health Struggles Defined

After 14 months of training, I set a PR (personal record) for my 10-miler and had little to no need for recovery. I felt great and had no dizziness or issues on the course or after the race.  I went to a lot of doctor appointments that never showed anything definitive and gave no explanation for my mystery health issues from Princess weekend.  Doing my own research led me to believe it was likely caused by low blood pressure during extreme exercise and heat, plus STRESS. Makes a ton of sense considering the year we had leading up to it.

“Low blood pressure and a high heart rate during exercise can be normal, as the body increases heart rate to pump blood to the organs when blood pressure is low. However, the combination can sometimes indicate an underlying medical condition or lifestyle factor. For example, blood can pool in the legs and gut, reducing blood flow to the heart muscle. The nervous system then increases heart rate to compensate, while blood pressure drops. Other causes of low blood pressure and a high heart rate include dehydration, low blood sugar, and anxiety. These conditions are usually short-lived and can be improved with lifestyle changes”.

My running journey has been rewarding as I have continued to train and spend more time allowing myself to heal mentally and emotionally. I am proud of myself for not giving up after one failure. I have felt compelled to share my story to inspire even one person to keep going on their health and fitness journey, even if it isn’t at Disney. Not every run, race, or workout will be great, but if you just keep your head up, be kind to yourself, and keep trying – it’s worth it. 

So, What’s Next for us?

Like all good things, once you’ve achieved a goal, you tend to feel lost and a little sad and the end of RunDisney seasons are no exception.  To combat the end-of-season blues, we do what most other Disney addicts do: we signed up for more races! Now it’s time to start setting new fitness goals and training for our next two events this fall – Disneyland Halloween Challenge and Wine and Dine 5K!

Thanks for reading about my running journey and love for Disney! PLUS – I was so excited to have my first viral TikTok for the blog – 1.1 Million Views! Check it out and make sure you are following us!

p.s. All the custom Minnie Ears and Disney shirts in our photos were purchased on Amazon, Etsy, Hot Topic, Target, or at the official Disney stores! Find ALL of our affiliate links on our SHOP!

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