Race Recap: Costume Party Run HM - Inaugrual Race

Race: Inaugural Costume Party Run Half Marathon
Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
Race Date: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Ummm, yeah, that's the medal...6" in diameter.

Travel Day #1: Friday, July 5, 2013 

Thankfully after last weekend's 16+ mile drive, I decided to do the drive to San Diego (with the husband) in 2 days since it was also an estimated 15+ hour drive. This first day we traveled just over half way from home to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. The drive was uneventful although we did end up leaving about an hour later than planned. I did make the mistake of stopping for gas at a small place about 22 miles east of Tucson only to find that the gas was $4.79/gallon for regular! Talk about sticker shock. I only put in $30 worth (even though we could have gotten away without) because I didn't want to pay for a full tank. This was the most expensive gas the whole trip...even more expensive than in California! 

We rolled into Tucson after about a 9 hour drive at about 6pm and unloaded our stuff at the lodging we had been assigned before heading to Sushi on Oracle, a great little Japanese place that I had the pleasure of going to when I ran my first race in Arizona early last year. I really recommend this place...it's really small so try to get there on an off time. We didn't do anything else aside from chill in the room and sleep. Very quick and uneventful trip to Tucson.

Travel Day #2: Saturday, July 6, 2013

We were up by 5am and on the road around 7am after stopping for some breakfast at Mickey D's. I try not to drive with the AC on but in 100°F+ temperatures I made an exception especially since we were driving through the desert of Arizona. One of my most interesting sights on this trip was the border fence which we could clearly see on different parts of the freeway in the areas of the dunes. It's big and it's long...the last time I drove through here back in 2007 or so it didn't exist so just watching the length of the fence was pretty amazing especially how close it came to the freeway at times.

The border fence in the background.

The beauty of the AZ desert.

We arrived in San Diego at about 2pm and went directly to the expo at Road Runner Sports. It, the expo, was much smaller than I expected and the only goody we received was a funky trucker's cap (not even a tech running cap) with the race's logo. Now, having a race expo at a running store is just plain mean!! I wanted to buy so much but fought off the urge. However, in their "gently used" outlet I did find a pair of Kinavara's that were just half a size too big for me...could have had them (barely used) for $50 if they fit. Bummer! While at the expo I met up with Dianne, a friend from my TinkerBell HM crew, and saw inspirational runner, Misty Diaz, who has Spina Bifida. 

We checked in on MCAS Miramar into their brand spanking new lodging and then headed out to Dave and Buster's to meet up with some TinkerBell HM Facebook Group friends (Linda, Paige, Lyn and Sandy). BTW, don't trust Google navigation to get you to Dave and Buster's San Diego...got us completely lost! We had a late lunch/early dinner with Paige and her family, Linda & Arman, Lyn and Sandy then played some of the games for a while. To my son and FDIL if you're reading this...I have some D & B tickets to mail to you guys! We headed back to the base and made a stop at the exchange to purchase some things that I had forgotten before heading to the room to settle down for the night. We made sure our gear was ready (but I forgot to take flat runner pictures so I took them post race) and turned in so we could be rested for the race.

Race Day: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Since the hubs and I were dressing up as Charlie Brown and Lucy from Peanuts I woke up at 3am to curl my hair. Since I have a natural wave in my hair you'd think it would take a curl pretty easily, but no. I have to use setting gel plus a super freeze hairspray to get it to stick. It took me over an hour to get that done (only to have it fall out almost immediately in the humidity). By 4:40am we were ready to go. We headed down to the car and lo and behold...a flat. The hubs changed out that bad boy and we were on the road at around 5:10am for the short 15 minute drive to the start. Again while Google Navigation got us to Qualcomm's surrounding areas it failed to get us off and onto the road to the stadium. Once we got onto the right road and parked it was about 5:30am. I picked up my new obstacle course race (OCR) medal rack from a friend in the Weeple Army (Russ at Epic Medal Racks) and then headed to the start to find some friends from Half Fanatics and the TinkerBell HM FB Group. We never found them only to learn later that they weren't actually at the start but at the race logo background by the start. Oh well.

Even before the race the humidity was crazy. I've lived in the desert for 20+ years now...I wasn't used to this coastline humidity anymore (grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area). I knew I was in trouble. When the race started it didn't take much for me to start sweating like a pig. I kept things slow for the loop around the stadium parking lot, but even then by the time we hit the roadway I was already sweating bullets. Within the first half of the race I look at the husband (running in a cotton shirt for the costume) with sweat literally falling off his head...not dripping, but pouring off his head. The course was rolling hills out and back on Friars Road. Have I mentioned before that I don't like hills?

The costumes were fairly varied with a lot of Thing 1 and Thing 2's, tourists, Ninja Turtles and others. There were some that stood out like the hot rickshaw guy (pulling a wheelchair transformed into a rickshaw...his real name is Samuel and is now a FB friend), the guy dressed as a large stripper, a 6'9" tall Richard Simmons (his real name is Ray) and a Hi-liter. I had friends who were Wonder Woman, Super Weeple, Ambiguously Gay Duo, Bat Girl, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Grinch, etc. It was great to see all the costumes out there. I don't normally dress in costume for races (especially one made of cotton) but this time I decided that hubs and I would go full out as Charlie Brown and Lucy.

Inspirational runner, Misty Diaz, who has Spina Bifida.

Jess, the zombie 50's housewife.

Breakfast and stripper all at once!

Dianne and I.

Team Seuss.

Arman.

Blind & deaf inspirational runner and guide.

Tourists.

I don't know him, but he's reppin' Team Red, White and Blue!

Hardest costume to run in?

The 2 Dave's (Weeple Army) as the Ambiguously Gay Duo from SNL.

Hi-Liter.

Sandy was in the zone and didn't hear me calling her!

Hot Asian dude (inside joke), Samuel.

Matt from Weeple Army doing situps, push ups
and squats at each mile.

Hubs and I as Charlie Brown & Lucy.

Post-race flat runner Beth/Lucy.

Paige, Nate and Braden near the finish.

My new OCR medal rack.

As per custom by mile 8 I had started cramping. I had forgotten to pack my mustard packets, which are supposed to work wonderfully for cramping and instead started popping Endurolytes at a double dose, so I waddled the remaining portion of the race. When I tried to run just a 100 or so feet to the finish I couldn't because the cramping would start as soon as I tried to start running. The husband learned the art of the "fake run", you know when you're tired or cramping so you start an easy jog when you see the photographers...My pics doing this actually look pretty good! lol!

After turning in our timing chips, I had to ask how we got our medals because the turn in station wasn't clearly marked IMHO, we received the huge medals. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the only reason we did this race was for the medals. We hung out with Team Seuss for a while waiting for some people to finish and taking some pictures before heading back to the base to shower and head out to get our flat fixed, then a post-race brunch and finally to Coronado Island to look around.

It took us about a half hour of driving around after we were finally cleaned up  to find a tire shop open on Sunday to fix our flat. We then headed over to The Broken Yolk Cafe to meet Paige and her family for brunch. We had originally planned to hit Old Town and Coronado Island, but settled for the Island only because we were both pretty tired. After driving around in the traffic for about 20 minutes we finally found a parking space and walked down to the beach and around the Hotel del Coronado. Unfortunately in my 3rd or 4th trip to the Del (known as Hotel Del by locals) we still managed to miss the tour of the hotel since only one is done on Sundays. After spending $23 on a scoop of homemade ice cream, a chocolate shake and a bottle of Sprite (talk about sticker shock!) we decided to call it a day and headed back to the base.

Coronado Beach

Hotel del Coronado

I ended up doing most of our laundry (thankfully I always pack some detergent since the laundry rooms were out) before dinner time. Dinner just had to be at L & L Hawaiian BBQ because if you know me at all, you know that I do love my Hawaiian BBQ!! The rest of the night was just spent packing and chilling before the long 15+ hour in one day drive home.

Travel Day: Monday, July 8, 2013

Driving into a fierce desert summer thunderstorm...
with bad windshield wipers.

We were up and out the door just after 6:30am after having Hawaiian BBQ leftovers for breakfast. The drive was uneventfull until about a hour or so west of Tucson when a huge thunderstorm hit and pelted us with sheets of water, enough that I had to pull to the side because my wipers wouldn't move any rain away. Talk about scary! We made it to Tucson for lunch and headed to Holloman AFB in New Mexico where we replaced my wiper blades and had dinner. We finally made it home right at midnight. Thankfully a relative calm hit and I stayed up until about 2:30am before finally going to sleep since I had swimming lessons at 6:15am.

What I liked about this race:
Meeting all my new and old friends. The great costumes worn by many people.

What I disliked about this race:
A trucker's cap, really? The expo at a running store...okay, it wasn't that I didn't like the fact it was at a running store, it was just too much temptation. Hills. Two long loops around the Qualcomm stadium parking lot (they're taking away 2 miles of this next year). Humidity.

Would I do this race again?
Probably, yes, but not in any rush to even though the medal is supposed to be a full inch larger next year.

Clovis Area Run/Walk Club Meetup: Memorial Day Flag Run/Walk

A few days ago I posted about organizing a last minute (OK...so a few days warning) Memorial Day flag run similar to what I had done the day after the Boston Marathon bombing. My goal was to have a group of runners and walkers participate rather than being a lone runner and to do something physical to remember those we have given their lives and those who are still serving. I wasn't disappointed.

We live in a small city and you really don't see very many runners out here. For this even we had a nice turnout of 14 people from my USAF retiree husband, myself (an 80's era vet), currently active duty USAF, spouses, friends, family and even a K9 supporter! :) Here's our group for Memorial Day...hopefully we'll see them on a regular basis!

We hit a slight snag at 7am for the initial meetup because I had stated meeting at the "spa store" which in my mind I saw as the local pool/spa store at the corner of the parking lot where we were meeting. I had forgotten that there had been an actual spa in the shopping center and when no one showed up I realized that they may be there, so I jogged up and sure enough found everyone waiting. We broke up into 3 groups...walkers who were led by my husband, slower runners or run/walkers led by myself and faster runners who were led by my friend, Teresa, each with a large flag and some with smaller flags as well. We all wore, without planning it, either red, white and blue or military related shirts...that was pretty cool!  We got started with the walkers doing a 1.5 mile walk, my group doing a ~5K and the faster runners going off in another direction...I never did find out how far they had traveled, I'm guessing probably 5 miles or so.

Pace group >10 min/mile (my group). There were only the two of us!
Photo courtesy of Meaghan (bottom left). 

I was happy with this turnout considering that most of our meetups, other than the post Boston meetup, usually has 5 or less participants. We had a nice turnout of about 29 at our #RunnersUnitedforBoston meetup.  Thanks all for coming out!

Race Recap: Princess HM Weekend, Race Days

5K Race Day: Saturday, February 23, 2013 @ 6:30am
Half Marathon: Sunday , February 24, 2013 @ 5:45am
Location: Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL

HM Race Day - 1/5K Race Day): Saturday, February 23, 2013

Royal Family 5K Course Map

Gear/outfit for the Royal Family 5K.

I knew that this day was going to be a bit of a busy one going in between the 5K, volunteering at the SparkeSkirts booth, taping up a new friend's knee and a Tink HM reunion...all before 3pm. Since we had to be on the bus no later than 5:45am we managed to get up and out the door by about 4:30am if I remember correctly. The shuttle was running about 15 minutes late but we still managed to get on the second bus and made it to the start of the 5K in plenty of time. Once we got our bearings we found our way to our corral and looked for one of our Tink HM friends, Jessica. We finally found her and we all planned to just walk the race since it wasn't being timed.

TinkerBell HM sisters reunited at the Royal Family 5K.

 Corral D start...

As the race finally started and we were on our way at probably close to 7:15 due to our corral placement. We had jogged a little off and on when I looked at my phone and noticed that it was nearly 8am...really, you can't ever go too fast at a Disney race because it's so crowded especially in Epcot where the 5K was run. It dawned on my that if I didn't hurry up I'd be late for my shirt at the expo so we decided to go on and run/walk the rest of the race. I have to say that that run was a bit brutal between the heat and humidity...something I've been without since a vacation at WDW in 2004! I really have no idea of our time, but we finally finished around 8:30 or so. I had texted Leah at the booth to let her know that I was running late (was supposed to be there 8:30) and that I'd get there as soon as possible. Dianne had to pick up her gear bag and I went ahead and caught the first bus I could (about a 20 minute wait) to get back to the resort to shower, change and catch the bus to the expo. Later that day I would finally see Dianne's funny tweet of:

"The Royal 5K finished! The 1st person to complete the 5K came in about 17 minutes. Beth & I hadn't even started the race yet in corral D! LMAO!!"

Fellow Tink HM sister, Sandra, did the 5K in this reception dress...heat, humidity and all!

I got back to the room and immediately took a quick shower and got ready to go work the expo. Leah, the owner of Sparkle Skirts, had come up with an idea to have the volunteers dress up and we were only told to wear a black shirt, black tights or capris and black/neutral shoes. We had no idea of what she had in mind. Because of all my tats (23 total) and the Disney policy of not showing tattoos, I ended up in a long sleeve black shirt and black leggings...talk about hot in 80°F and  high humidity!! OMG!! I got on the shuttle to the expo and arrived just after 9am to a line, literally almost a mile long! I ran up (sweating) to the door and begged to be let in since I was late for my shift...thankfully I didn't get the runaround like I did at the TinkerBell Expo and they let me right in...it may have helped that I was wearing an old SparkleSkirts name tag from the Wine & Dine expo...

The booth was already pretty much hopping with activity. I got my costume (a page) and started to work. I have to say that I really love working the SparkleSkirts booths...I believe in this product so much that I'd literally work for them free full time!! I own about 10 of their SparkleTech skorts and a pair of MuddBuster capris. Love them all!! :D 

The only pic I have in the page costume for the SparkleSkirts booth.
Thanks Mel!

After working until about 1:20pm I headed over to one of the the Laguna Bar at Coronado Springs (the resort where the expo was held due to spring training at ESPN World of Sports) for the Tink HM reunion. It only turned out being Jessica and I but we had some lunch and caught up on things since Tink before heading  in our own directions. I headed back to the expo to meet Laura, a member of the Disney's Princess HM Facebook group, who I was going to tape/show her how to tape her knees with KT Tape. Having gotten that done I headed back to the resort to rest up for a couple of hours before heading back out to Downtown Disney to finally get my fish and chips at Cooke's of Dublin and my brownie hot fudge (Treasure Island) sundae at Ghiradelli.

Fish n Chips (extra filet) at Cooke's of Dublin in Downtown Disney - WDW.
The meal I live for when I go to WDW!

Treasure Island (warm brownie hot fudge) sundae.
The desert I live for whenever I can get to a Ghiradelli  Ice Cream shop!

After dinner I pretty much called it a night and headed back to the resort to get all my gear ready for the half marathon the next morning. I literally was so full that I was waddling like Donald Duck back to the room! lol!

Once I got back to the resort and checked the transportation times I was kind of irked that there was only a one hour window to catch the shuttle between 3 and 4am!! Joy! I headed back to the room and layed out all my gear, got my gear bag ready to go aside from the items that needed refrigeration and taped up my knees. I think I pretty much died at that point and was planning on waking up just before 2am (I'm one of those runners who has to take a pre-race shower just to wake up). 

HM Race Day: Sunday, February 23, 2013

My internal body clock apparently had different ideas and I ended up waking up at around 12:40am so I just played on the internet for a while before finally getting up to shower and get ready for the race. Dianne and I got to the first bus at 3am still half asleep, I think. Since Dianne had purchased entry into the VIP tent I just headed out to see who I could or couldn't find and ended up just chilling behind the water table until it was time to head out to the corrals. Dianne and I had planned to meet up again because we were both in Corral C...or so I thought. Somehow Dianne missed Jessica, who I had met up with, and I as she walked towards the corrals. Jessica and I split up because she was looking for her mom and I went to catch up with Diann. It was then that I realized, after finally looking at my bib, that I was actually in Corral D and not C. At that point I was on my own again...no biggie since I run most of my races solo anyway...and just waited for the start and did some warming up.

Gear and outfit for 2013 Princess HM.

Corral A start at the 2013 Princess HM. Total race of over 26K runners/walkers.
 (Photo courtesy of runDisney)

As each corral was released and given the 5 minute wait in between each corral I finally hit the ground walking around 6:15am or so. As usual at any runDisney half marathon the first 5K was crowded as all get out and should always be approached as a simple warm up...at least in my eyes. I was finally able to set started using the Galloway 30/30 (30 sec run/30 sec walk) interval that I had wanted to try due to my ongoing issues with injuries. As I've said before, I'm not a Disney fanatic or anything...I simply enjoy the Disney races and the chance to hit up the parks so I  don't tend to take pics during the races. I did stop for one pic outside the castle but for the rest of the time I just pretty much kept going. The heat and humidity was brutal for this (now) desert living girl. By the halfway point, if not before I was pouring water on my head and all over my body at each water stop (roughly every 1.5 miles) just to keep cool and comfortable. As long as I was soaking wet I was pretty much comfortable...when I dried out is when the humidity started taking it's toll.  The course itself was fairly nice with the occasional bottle necks like in Sleeping Beauty's castle and certain areas within the parks but for the most part was pretty wide open otherwise. 

2013 Princess HM Course Map

As I hit mile 10 I was going to do the Chicken Dance at the mile marker for "official" induction into the Pacebook Running Club Facebook Group, but as I switched my phone on it died. Oh well, no Chicken Dance for me until Tink HM 2013 I guess! I don't remember the hills/off ramps/overpasses being as dreadful during Wine & Dine HM in November but it may have also been the heat and humidity affecting my thought process as well. I swear between an off ramp and overpass and some gently, low rolling hill after that towards the end of the race I forgot that I was in Florida at sea level  where I shouldn't be feeling quite as worn out as I was. It almost felt like being back at the A2A (Arbuckle to Ardmore) HM in Oklahoma with all the hills!! 

I finally finished at 3:10 and some change...not my best, but also not my worst. I was hoping for under 3 hours but between the heat and humidity I'll take the just finishing factor. All in all I felt pretty good, but when I had to turn off my phone to conserve battery power I lost my interval timer so I think I pushed a bit too much and wore myself out sooner than needed. I had some minor cramping during the race but nothing to write home about. As I crossed the finish line I broke out with my other two medals (Tink, Royal Family 5K) and picked up my PHM and second Coast to Coast medal and took a finish line pic with all four...that I still have yet to order!

Princess HM Medal Haul:  Royal Family 5K medallion,
Coast to Coast 2013 and PHM 5th Anniversary  medals.

After the race I headed back to the resort to shower, change and I had originally planned to head out to the Disney Studios (specifically just to ride Tower of Terror) but I was so tired that I just opted to stay in and do some laundry and just relax and begin packing since I had to catch the Magical Express to the airport at 3:45am! I got everything done and even tossed my tech clothes into the dryer (I usually let them air dry) to be sure they were dry before I packed. I think I turned in pretty early and pretty much died...

What did I like about this race?
It was an okay course and meeting up with friends was probably the best part. Working at the SparkleSkirts booth is always a pleasure as well!

What did I not like about this race?
The Expo was nuts!! Not well organized in my opinion compared to the 2 TinkerBell  and the Wine & Dine HM's expos. Packet pickup was pretty smooth though! Way too many people...26K+ total runners (inluding men, who aren't counted officially). Just too big of a field for some of the bottleneck areas. Just felt like we were being packed in like sardines...

Would I do this race again?
Probably not. Firstly because it's expensive to do 2 Disney races a year on opposite coasts, but also I have no great urge to. My only goal with the runDisney races is to run each race once (except for Tink and any new HMs or fulls that they start) so that I can get a Coast to Coast medal for each different race. 

When You Wish Upon a Star...

Long Title:
My first real attempt at getting into the runDisney Princess Half Marathon Meetup and Warm Up Run with Jeff Galloway

Well. That was fun. "What was that?" you ask?

Since last Wednesday (minus the 2 day weekend) I, and many others like me, have been poised at our computers/laptops/tables/phones in hopes of being one of the lucky few to get invited to attend the runDisney Princess Half Marathon Meetup & Warm Up Run with Jeff Galloway and other celebs. This year in addition to Jeff, runDisney's official dietician Tara Gidus, actor Sean Astin, The Biggest Loser's Ali Vincent, defending Princess HM and back to back Disneyland Half winner Rachel Booth and two time Paralympic track and field medalist April Holmes will be appearing at the meetup.

Now, I have never gotten into one of these events. They're pretty hard to get into and usually fill very quickly. Everything I've read or been told by past attendees makes them out to be an awesome experience. I mean really, how many times do you actually get to go for a run with a former Olympian? I've only tried to get my name into the 2013 Tinkerbell Half Marathon meetup and it was only a half hearted attempt. I did most of the things that you need to do to enter, but I just wasn't quick enough on the draw. This time I was ready! Now, while I really want to get in, it's not a do or die thing for me. It's more about the chase of friendly competition with others to get your name in before the window of opportunity closes. That doesn't mean that I'm going to not offer info on how the process works, but I'll invite others that are interested and share what knowledge I do have of the process.

The process for this year's Princess Half (PHM) meetup was different. Yes, we did the required wait...referred to the #refreshwaitrepeat on Twitter...but glitches occurred on Friday when the announcement was supposed to be made sending the process into an unprecedented fourth day (on Monday)! Yes, I was one of those people stuck to the screen for 4 days...well, actually from about 6am MST to anywhere between 1:10pm and 4:00pm on Wed thru Friday...then rudely getting awakened on Monday by a tweet notifying me of the announcing blog post at 5:35am MST at which time once I managed to gather my wits about me I went flying into the back room to my more reliable desktop to send in my email requesting inclusion in the event. I hurdled 3 dogs and when I slid into the rolling office chair I actually rolled away from the computer. My nerves were shot, I was shaking from the adrenaline surge and could barely type some updates onto a Facebook group that I belong to or into my own Facebook/Twitter feeds. It was only after I did manage to send my email and get my status updated that I found out that the actual blog post had been put up around 1:30am EST!! Whoaa!! That pretty much killed my chances then and there...if only I had refreshed the blog before I finally went to sleep at around 2am MST!! LOL!! :D

Such an early announcement has never been made and I don't expect many west coast hopefuls to be very happy as I know I wouldn't be. But it's a game and sometimes you win but most times you lose. There are plenty of people who never even get a chance to get their names in the hat even though they may have been working the process as well...as was the case for me during the TinkerBell meetup process.

So, the waiting game begins. Emails should be sent out to those invited by 4pm EST today with a link to a final list posted by 5pm on the Disney Parks blog. So I'm watching the ticker on my email account and will be checking every new email that comes in in hopes of being one of the lucky few...but if not I have at least 5 more runDisney to try to get into the meetup so no real loss on my part aside from my time and a little sanity.

Because of the "villians" (as runDisney put it) messing with the system, I wouldn't be surprised if changes happened to the process...but for now here are some tips that I've learned in the two times that I've attempted. These tips are subject to be incorrect at anytime...especially with the difficulties encountered with the PHM process so I really expect some major changes in the future!

• Download an auto refresh extension for whatever browser you use.
• Open a window for the Disney Parks Blog.
• Set your auto refresh to whatever timing you want...recommend 5-10 seconds. The blog is the first place they'll announce that the process is open.
• Open and monitor the @runDisney Twitter account...usually about a 5 second delay from the blog post.
• Set up your phone or other devices to receive SMS texts from @runDisney by texting "FOLLOW @runDisney" to 40404.
• Prepare an email that includes your full name to be sent to one of the following addresses (always double check in the blog post in case they change) depending on which park the race is at:
• RDL.SportsMeetUps@Disney.com
• WDW.SportsMeetUps@Disney.com
• Have the email open and ready to just click "Send" at a moments notice.
• NOTE: You can only send a single email from a single address...if they see more than one email addy for the same person it automatically disqualifies you.
• Once you see the announcement, you usually have literally seconds to send in the email because they fill up so fast (this was NOT the case with PHM).

Then the wait begins!! They will email you if you get in within a few hours (it's only been an hour or so since the PHM meetup process closed and emails are already going out).

NOTICE: Just to make it perfectly clear...this list is totally of my own work/original, not copied from any source. It includes information gleaned from online discussion in Facebook or Twitter, the Disney Parks Blog and from observing previous meetup processes as they occurred. I, in no way, copied or designed in any plagaristic manner from any files from any groups or websites.

Just FYI:

• Earliest day of announcement: Tuesday
• Earliest time of blog post: ~1:30am EST (I think...it was for this PHM)
• Latest day of announcement: Monday (for this PHM...but typically on Fridays)
• Latest time of blog post: ~3:30pm ET
• Usual window for announcement: ~10am-1pm ET

The one thing I want folks to remember out of participating in this kind of endeavor is that it is just a game! Don't take it too seriously!! Sometimes you win, most times you lose...there's almost always a next time.

Good luck to all the Princesses that got their names into the mix!

UPDATE @ 8:43am MST: The final list of 50 attendees is already posted on the Disney Parks Blog less than 2 hours after closing the process! Congrats to all that made it in...unfortunately I wasn't one of them. There's plenty more runDisney races to try again!! :D