Before I tell you about the actual meet up, lets back track a little to about a week or so before the meet up. runDisney has started hosting these meet ups pretty much before all of their races and I knew I wanted to try to be a part of it for the Princess Half. When @DisneySports finally announced it, I began stalking the Disney Parks Blog and I do mean STALKING. I found the post they did for the Tinker Bell meet up and found out how they let people join. (You send an email, btw) I wrote the e-mail ahead of time and saved it to my drafts so all I would have to do is hit send when the post finally went up. I wasn’t the only one doing some stalking either, @jennierunning and I were tweeting each other about it and were both really hoping to get in. We promised each other that who ever saw the post go up first would tell the other. Jenn did see it first and as soon as I saw her tweet, I hit send on the email I had already saved. And lucky us both got in! 
On the Friday before the race, we had to be at Epcot at 6:30 am for the meet up. (Thats late compared to what time we had to be there Sunday for the race.) I was beyond excited to be there and to be apart of the meet up. As you already know I’m a Disney freak so I was in heaven. I saw some familiar faces while we waited to check in and get our awesome runDisney shirts, including Katye of Long Legs on the Loose. Katye and I first met at the Princess Half two years ago when we were both on the same TNT team. I love that girl and it was so great to see her!
Once everyone was all set with their shirts and bags checked, we were introduced to all of our special guests and then split up into two groups. A straight run group led by Rachel Booth and a run/walk group led by Jeff Galloway. I opted for Jeff’s group. We soon took off through an empty Epcot on our run. We did 30/30 intervals which I’m not used to so it was a bit interesting. We ran around World Showcase 1.5 times and ended in Germany were there was breakfast waiting for us! There was a spread of coffee, orange juice, pastries, fruit, bagels, etc. Yum! Btw, the grapes were awesome. haha So fresh. Once everyone had their food and got seated, the real fun began. First up we heard from Jeff Galloway himself. Super nice guy and took the time to talk, answer questions, and take pictures with anyone that asked afterwards.
Next we heard from Rachel Booth, two time winner of the Disneyland Half Marathon. (Spoiler: She ended up winning Princess too!) She told us her story, about her training, and gave us some advice.
We also heard from Betty Wong, Editor in Chief of Fitness Magazine.
Last but certainly not least, Suzy Favor Hamilton got up and spoke to us. In 2000, she was ranked #1 in the 1500. During her race at the Olympics, she had a panic attack and lost the race. She spoke about her struggles during that time and after because she had put so much pressure on herself and she struggled with depression. She now travels as an inspirational speaker. She was absolutely wonderful! So bubbly and fun! She even got everybody to get up and dance at the end.
After all of the speakers were done, we were told there were a few more surprises waiting for us outside. Once we got outside, there were opportunities for us to take pictures with Princess Minnie, Snow White, Rapunzel, and all of the speakers as well. Plus they gave each of us a FREE one day park hopper that doesn’t expire until the end of the year.
Jeff Galloway
Suzy Favor Hamilton
Princess Minnie! I was seriously so excited to finally get my picture taken with her!
Snow White
Rapunzel
After tweeting back and forth for months about the Princess Half and how excited we were, I finally got to meet @jennierunning in real life. It was a pleasure to meet you, Jenn, and congrats on your first half marathon! I hope to see you again soon.
During breakfast, I also made a few new friends. I sat with Courtney (great name) and MaryBeth and we chatted about where were from, races, etc. They have both done the Princess Half a couple times before and always come down together! So of course afterwards, we made sure to get a picture together with Princess Minnie. It was great meeting you both!
Well there you have it! An awesome way to start race weekend. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to participate and I hope I can do it again at future runDisney races. Next up: Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo…
This sounded so wonderful! I’ve never paid attention to these but it sounded so fun!!
What a total blast!! I’d totally run with Jeff, too. I’ve been doing his run/walk since late September and I really like it! I heard him telling somebody at the WDW expo that he does 30/30 and it kind of shocked me. Did you like that ratio?
Perhaps some day I’ll get a chance to be a part of the meet up! It always seems very fun!
It was great to get to meet you, even though we didn’t get to chat for long! I’m so glad we both got to go to the event. Can’t wait to read about the rest of your Princess Half weekend.