Why I love Disney—Runner’s Edition.

The world was in lock-down. Desperate times were calling for desperate measures. To stay sane, I had taken to walking our long country lane as a way to manage the stress of working from home full-time with kids learning from home full-time. My favorite podcast became “Be Our Guest",” with Mike Rahlmann. Mike is a Disney nut, but just as much he is a runDisney nut. He would often mention his upcoming runs and his training as he walked his listeners through various aspects of making a great vacation.

At some point in there, I decided that if I was going to have to run to stay fit and sane, I wanted to run at Disney. I’m not above admitting I need a reward at the end of my efforts. I signed up to run the 2021 Disney Princess 5K, and then, because it was still open, and I thought why not, I signed up to run both the 10K and the Half Marathon. I learned about Jeff Galloway and his Run - Walk - Run method, and off I went.

I absolutely love running at Disney. There’s nothing like running around the corner onto Main Street and seeing the castle lit up with a beautiful dawn sky glowing behind it. I think I have cried every time.

I have now run 5 runDisney events, plus the Castaway Cay 5K. And later this fall, I’ll be running all 3 Wine and Dine races as well. My friends jokingly call me a runDisney evangelist, as I have invited several of them to go with me and run. I talked one into running her first half marathon ever!

Part of why I love Disney is this runDisney experience. I love running and hearing all the encouragement being called out around me. I love the costumes and the silliness. I love that every year there are hundreds of people that run their first race ever at Disney. I love the stories of life change, of healing and of grit that come out of each event.

If you’re interested in trying a runDisney race, let me know! I’d love to help make it happen. There’s nothing like it. As they say, Every Mile is Magic.