With the unveiling of the Tangled theme for the runDisney Princess Enchanted 10k leg of the Princess Half Marathon Weekend, our excitement was off the charts. Coming from our successful runDisney Wine & Dine Challenge venture in November, the prospect of participating in a 10k shortly after seemed like a no-brainer. Our fondness for Tangled runs deep, and we’ve been eager to experience the Princess Half Marathon Weekend for quite some time.
The main point of this article will be just about the 10k race for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend. While not everyone can accept the commitment of training for runDisney races, there are events for you to join and have fun. runDisney events are entertaining events to the core, and if you are curious about them, go for one of them, but choose wisely! You can read about our Dopey Challenge experience here. That’s an event where you run 48.6 miles in 4 days!
A quick note about where to start if you are new to running. runDisney weekends start off with 5ks. Anyone who asks me about my running journey will often hear me tell the tale of when I was severely overweight, and I joined a 5k. Following Jeff Galloway’s walk and training method, I could conquer 5k races easily, and trust me, you can too! The link to the training programs is here. These are the training programs we still use to this day.
runDisney Health & Wellness Expo
First, we need to pick up our bib which is at the runDisney Health and Fitness Expo. This is at ESPN Wide World of Sports which is at Walt Disney World. Here you grab your bib and of course all the merchandise and photo opportunities you can imagine for the weekend.
runDisney Princess Enchanted 10k
Now, 10ks are more challenging and obviously double what a 5k is. I caution people not to take 10ks lightly, and you must train. Also, starting to form your training habits for a 10k will help you graduate on to your first Half Marathon. If you follow Jeff Galloway’s program as we did, you will beat these 5/10ks relatively quickly, but you must be consistent with training or get hurt.
As you can see above, 10k at Disney World is just a quick trip through EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. runDisney does ask you to keep a 16-minute-per-mile pace as you do their events, but for the 5k, they are more relaxed than the rest of the events. They don’t even have the dreaded balloon ladies chasing you for the 5k! For those who don’t know, the balloon ladies represent you being swept off the Disney course if you don’t keep pace. If you don’t finish, you do not get your challenge medals, so train to keep pace!
Final Thoughts on the runDisney Princess 10k
As you can see, there is a massive commitment to running runDisney races; however, 10ks can be very manageable. I can’t stress enough that you shouldn’t be scared to try this if you like running; however, take the training seriously. Also, for anyone just starting, start with a 5k race. This way, you can find out if it is something you enjoy. Running isn’t everyone’s forte, and that is fine, too.
As this article comes to a close, I want to reiterate that if you are interested in running, there is a race out there for you. If running has been on your list of things to try, we hope you found some pointers in this article to help you begin your journey. Please let me know what your thoughts are. Will you be signing up for a runDisney event or any event in the future? Let us know in the comments. Also check out a 60 second video of the run on our YouTube account here!
Look like a lot of fun. Thanks for info.