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Princess 5K

For years, I’ve watched friends on social media run in the Princess Weekend marathons and wanted to join in.  It just looked like so much fun!  Back in 2016, my friend Stephanie and I made a deal - we would participate in 2017!  When registration day came around in June, we bought our bibs and started to plan.  

Just for clarification, I am not a runner.  I have zero athletic ability but I love Disney so I wanted to be there.  We decided to do the 5k so we’d still have energy left to explore the theme parks.

On marathon weekend, we arrived in Orlando on Thursday afternoon.  We checked in at our resort and then headed straight to the Expo.  Each runner has to check in at the Expo to pick up your race packet and bib.  


The 5K was scheduled to start at 6am on Friday morning and the buses from our resort started leaving for Epcot at 4am.  We definitely wanted to be on an early bus!  We didn’t want the race starting without us.  


Once we arrived at the Epcot parking lot, we checked our bags (very easy process!) and found a spot to sit and wait.  Once we noticed character lines {it was 4am so we weren’t quite awake yet} we got in line to meet Belle.  

The line was long so you definitely want to get in the character lines ASAP.  By the time we saw Belle the race was about to start!! 


Each corral is broken into sections for the beginning of the race.  Each section starts in 30 second increments so it took a while to get to us (I was in corral E.)  

Finally, around 6:35 we got to start our race!  Disney does a great job of making each group feel special as they begin their race.  Once the fireworks had gone off, we {and about 500 other people} started our 5K. 

In the beginning, it was a little claustrophobic with everyone being right at the start together.  But once the runners found their pace and us walkers found ours, you had a little more room to move.  

The course takes you from the Epcot parking lot, down an access road and into the cast member entrance of Epcot.  

Walking under Test Track was pretty cool!  

Coming into World Showcase was a memory I’ll always treasure.  The sun had just come up and we were surrounded on the course by Cast Members cheering us on and Disney music was playing on the loudspeakers.  

Once we rounded World Showcase {with character stops along the way!} we exited Epcot for a short distance and came back in to walk through Future World.  As we crossed the finish line, the Star Wars theme was playing on the speakers.  After the race we collected our medals, snack boxes and bags and spent the rest of the day touring theme parks.






Like I said, I am not a runner and will never claim to be.  But RunDisney races are so much fun!!  They do a great job at getting you excited {even at 4am!} and staying motivated the whole race.  

I highly recommend participating in Princess Marathon Weekend races - especially the 5K!  The 5K Race is very relaxed and there’s really no push to be fast in this race.

 It’s all about having fun and taking it all in.  

Princess Weekend is such a great trip with your girlfriends and there were even a lot of couples there as well.  We saw several husbands dressed as Princesses. =)

Registration for Princess Marathon Weekend 2018 starts May 2, 2017.  Contact your Memory Maker to start planning your next RunDisney race!

XOXO,
Your Memory Maker, Jenney 

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