Wine & Dine Half runDisney Meet-Up

 

 

What is the first thing that comes to mind when I recall my first runDisney meet-up?
 

 

Last Thursday night around seven o'clock, myself and 124 other runDisney fanatics gathered at the entrance of Epcot to start the first ever nighttime meet-up. We were greeted by a table of friendly runDisney staff members, that happily handed out official runDisney tech shirt, a ticket into the park and a fast pass for Test Track to each of us. We had an hour an a half to hang out and play in the park before our special viewing of Illuminations, so off a group of us went to put those fast passes to use!

Laura, Adrienne & Jen ready to ride Test Track!

After meeting up with some more friends we all took a 65 mile-an-hour spin around Test Track and then made our way to our special viewing area behind the Duffy gift shop to watch Illuminations.

 

As always, the show was spectacular and afterwards everyone just hung around the viewing area talking, taking pictures, tweeting and meeting people only known by their twitter names. It was so good to see old friends, make some new friends and finally put a few faces with names.

 

 

 About an hour later, an escort was sent to gather us all up and walk us down to the American Gardens Theater. When we arrived we were offered a wonderful spread of food and vegan wine (who know there was such a thing?). Mickey and Minnie were there to take pictures and we got to hear some great speakers. There was Jeff Galloway and Tara Gidus to give us some great running and nutritional advice. Plus, New Balance reps were on hand to give a sneak peak of the extras that will be coming with the new 2014' runDisney shoes. No, they wouldn't give us a sneak peak of the shoes themselves, but instead they did give-a-ways a few pairs of New Balance shoes. I just happen to be one of the lucky winners and I even scored a new running jacket too!
 

My favorite mouse!



Tara Gidus & Jeff Galloway



The 2014' redesigned box for the New Balance runDisney shoes.

Olympian Jenny Simpson drawling my name for a new pair of
 New Balance shoes & that cool jacket she is wearing.

Yes, I was a picture happy at this meet-up & this photo proves it!



 After the speakers, we were all separated into two groups to run two laps (about two miles) around a deserted Epcot. I decided I would take Jeff Galloway's run/walk group so I could enjoy all the sights and sounds of the evening and I am so glad that I did. It was really exciting talking with Jeff while we ran around the countries about how he and his wife have been using a 20sec run/ 20sec walk for their marathons. He also said he finds a lot more people can make longer distances with this specific pace. I honestly thought it was a little hard on the knees and shins with all the starting and stopping, especially with the hilly terrain in Epcot but who am I to argue with an Olympian.



I love this picture, the expressions say it all! Although you can't see me,
 I am right there, behind Nina and next to my friend Jen with the blue shoes!

After the run we gathered again at the front of Epcot, took a couple of group pictures and celebrated an awesome night with a toast of champagne given my Faron Kelly, Director of Marketing for runDisney & ESPN WW of Sports.


Members of Team Run Disney

Farwell Toast

 I feel truly blessed to have make it into this one-of-a-kind event and I can only hope there are many more in my future. Have you been to a runDisney meet-up? What is your favorite part?

 

 

Excitment and Anticipation

I can hardly control my excitement because tomorrow is the Big Day!

It has been over six months in the planning, with to many training miles to count, but the day is finally here!

 

I am going to DISNEYLAND!

 

 

What is even better than going to Disneyland? Running 19.3 miles through Disneyland, California Adventure and the surrounding Anaheim area, of course!

 

 

If you would like to see more photos, comments and updates, please visit my Facebook page at Kim Runs Disney all throughout the week. Plus, don't forget to check back here in a few weeks for all the nitty gritty details!  

 

 

10 Days and Counting!

In less than ten days I will be heading west to the beautiful Golden State! It has been quite some time since I have had the opportunity to visited California, but this time is extra special for me. I am going to be running a two day race totaling 19.3 miles and finishing my final leg of the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge in the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! 

Surprisingly, this will be my first visit to Disneyland, so I am super excited! I am a huge Disney fan, and I grew up going to Walt Disney World more times than I can count, but to actually be in the place Walt created and spent 11 years enjoying, is like a dream come true for me.

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my first visit to this happy place, than to run down Main Street and through Sleeping Beauty's Castle, plus earn four different medals during the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend.

Now, time to get packing...

Have you been to Disneyland? What is one thing I shouldn't miss while I am there?

Magical Meet-Ups

This week is turning out to be full of excitement! Yesterday, a teaser announcement for the Disneyland Half Marathon Meet-Up was posted on Twitter, putting us die hard runDisney fans into a total frenzy. The tweet stated, this is the week for the official announcement! I am so excited about this event and will be trying my best to get in this year. If you are familiar with this runDisney event, you know what this means, right?  

It is time for some Disney stalking! 

This is what runDisney stalking looks like!

If you are not familiar with the runDisney Meet-Up or maybe you have heard of it, but you are not real sure why anyone in their right mind would waste a week of their life stalking Disney websites, twitter accounts and emails, well let me give you a little insight. In November 2010, runDisney decided to enhance their already popular race weekends with an exclusive meet-up. This FREE Disney event kicks off each race weekend by letting a select, chosen few to meet and run through a Disney Park with the Official runDisney Training Consultant and Olympian, Jeff Galoway. As you can imagine, this event has become very popular over the years and of course very competitive to get into (Did I mention their are celebrities, exclusive character photo ops and even runDisney gifts at these meet-ups?). Are you getting as excited as I already am and wondering how you can get one of these elusive golden tickets? Well, you better have your fast little fingers ready, you have to be one of the first people (number of slots are determined by the race weekend, but usually around 50) to see the official announcement posted on either the runDisney Twitter Page or the Disney Parks Blog website and submit your name to the email address that is included in the message. That doesn't sound too hard, does it? Well, good luck to you and lets all keep our fingers crossed we get to experience the magic of the runDisney Meet-Up!

Have you ever tried to get into a runDisney Meet-Up? If so, tell me all about it!