My mom and I are not runners – at all. We actually hate running. However, it has been our goal to complete the Disney Princess 5K, 10K, and Half Marathons together at some point in our lives. The problem is, we missed the deadline to sign up every year for the past three years…accident or no? I’m not really sure.

This year, we were determined. No more putting it off and making excuses. We were going to do the Princess 5K. The thing is, I thought I would have classes on Friday this Spring (the 5K is on a Friday) so we either wouldn’t do the race this year or we would jump right to the 10K. For reference, we’ve only ever run a 5K once about 10 years ago and that’s the most walking/running we’ve ever done. So we said to heck with it and signed up for the 10K!

*Side note: I ended up not having Friday classes so we 100% could have done the 5K. Live and learn I guess?

We learned A LOT during this 10K. We did absolutely no training and went into it with a goal of completing it in 2 hours and hopes of not getting picked up by the golf cart for being too slow. Hopefully our experience with the Disney Princess 10K can help others like us who want to do a race, but are kind of intimidated. Fair warning: this is going to be a long post, but it will give you all the information you will ever need to know that they don’t tell you about this race.

Check out my vlog of the race here:

You have to sign in and pick up your race bib the day before the race. For whatever reason, no emails are sent out giving you this information so we had absolutely no idea this was a thing. The week of the race my mom asked me about picking up our bibs and I realized I had no idea what we were supposed to do. It’s right there on the Princess race website, but I’m glad she asked because we weren’t planning on getting to Orlando until late the night before the race, which would have been after the expo was closed for the day. Because my mom had an event the night before the race, we had to drive to Orlando Thursday just to pick up our bibs and shirts and head back home. Not ideal, but it worked. Just make sure you incorporate all of that into your race weekend plans.

You have to get up EARLY. In addition to not being runners, we are also NOT morning people. For the Disney Princess races, the race starts at 5:30 so you have to be there at 4:30, which means your alarm will be going off at 3:30 a.m. This sounds awful and it kind of is, but you’ll be running on adrenaline so it isn’t quite as bad as it seems. However, one of my biggest tips would be to get a good night’s sleep the night before the race. We did not do this. Because of an event my mom had the night before the race, we ended up getting to the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel around midnight. On top of that, we still had to finish sewing parts of my costume for the race. We went to sleep around 1:30 a.m., and got a little under 2 hours of sleep total. Please don’t do that to yourself.

On the topic of costumes for the race – go all out! Most people are decked out in an outfit paying homage to their favorite Disney princess while others have tank tops with fun sayings like, “Can I get a Fastpass to the finish line?” Either way, everyone had fun with what they wore so don’t feel like people will think you’re weird for dressing up whether you’re in your 20s or in your 50s. My mom donned a Snow White outfit and I went for Cinderella’s pink dress look – a favorite of mine. Be creative with it! There were even grown men in full princess costumes – wigs and all!

   

I would advise keeping your costume light. It’s Florida. It gets hot. Fortunately we had beautiful overcast weather, but I was still glad I didn’t have a full on costume on because even my outfit got a little warm. Consider your safety and don’t risk overheating just to wear a certain costume. There are websites like Sparkle Athletic who have really light weight skirts in every color imaginable. These are a favorite among the Princess race crowd. At the expo held prior to the race, there are vendors with booths set up with every costume piece you would ever need for the race from sparkly visors to skirts to tank tops for each princess to sneakers to headbands, etc. Mom bought a sparkly red visor and I got a pink arm band to carry my phone.

Prior to the race, I debated between wearing shorts or leggings under my skirt. I knew shorts would look better, but I was concerned about my thighs chafing during the race. Boy am I glad I went with leggings! If thigh chafing isn’t a concern for you then more power to you, but I was sooo happy I wore leggings to prevent that. I would even recommend wearing seamless leggings because I realized after the race the seam on my leggings chafed against my thigh just a little bit.

Even just doing the 10K, I could start to feel my feet getting raw, especially the balls of my feet. Get yourself a good pair of cushioned running socks. I have a pair, but didn’t think to wear them since its “just a 10K.” Trust me – wear them. Also, this should go without saying, but wear running sneakers. They don’t have to be anything fancy, but you definitely want something supportive. Your everyday Nikes will do just fine for a 10K.

Alright, fashion aside, let’s get back to the actual race. When you sign up for the 10K, you have to choose your minutes per mile range. This is how they place you in your “corral,” or the group/wave you start the race with. Mom and I chose the 14-15 min/mile range, which was the second to last grouping. They say you are required to have at least a 16 minute mile to participate. They warn that you could get picked up and driven to the finish line if you’re too slow. I don’t know if they actually do that, but that’s what they say and Mom and I were terrified that would happen to us since we’re not the fastest. Don’t worry about which corral you’re in. Once you take off, you can go as fast or as slow as you want. The corral and min/mile time is just so the really fast runners don’t get stuck behind the people who walk most of the race. There is also little to no chance you will get picked up for being too slow. Like I said, I don’t know if they even actually do that or if it’s just a cautionary threat, but by the time we hit mile 1, Mom and I realized there were so many people behind us that we had nothing to worry about.

Two of my most important tips of this whole blog post are what to do while you’re waiting for the race to start. One of these I did and one I wish I did. The first is STRETCH!  I’m pretty sure you’ll be sore the next day either way, but I really regretted not stretching while we were standing around waiting for the race to start. Honestly though, I didn’t even know what muscles to stretch since I’d never really done a race before. Next time, I’ll know I need to focus on stretching my calves and hips to ease the next-day pain. My second big tip is to go to the bathroom when you get to the starting location. There are bathrooms along the route, but the lines for them (even the very first one a mile and a half in) are LOOOONG. You would lose a lot of valuable time waiting in line for the bathroom. There are no lines for the port-a-potties at the starting location so be smart and take advantage of it then even if you don’t really have to go. I was glad I did.

Also along the race route are character meet and greets. These have even longer lines than the bathrooms. I recommend deciding before the race which characters you would be willing to stop and wait in line for. For Mom and I, there weren’t any characters we really cared about seeing so we ran past them. Along the route we passed Belle and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Stitch in his Elvis outfit, Jasmine and Aladdin, Pocahontas, and maybe a few others. Snow White and Cinderella weren’t there so we didn’t stop, but even if they were there, I don’t think we would have stopped anyway. The lines were just so long and we were on a roll. We didn’t want to stop moving!

The race track is broken up really nicely so it doesn’t feel like that long of a race. There are big, fun mile markers at every mile to keep you going. A lot of people stop at them to take pictures, but we only did that one time for a quick selfie. For the 10K, over half the race is running along the road, then you run around the world at Epcot, then around the Boardwalk resort area, and then back through Epcot to the finish line. I loved the way it was split up like that because our adrenaline carried us through the first half or so and then we got a second wind when we got into Epcot. The boardwalk was a great change of scenery and location and there were people from the resorts along the route cheering us on. Heading back into Epcot, we knew we only had a mile or so left to go!

   

While you’re running the race, make sure you take water when you see the stations. We didn’t bring our own water and I don’t recommend bringing your own because then you have to carry it. But take advantage of the water being passed out because there are only 3 water stations along the route and you’ll be dying if you miss one (or at least I would have been. I think they should have had one more).

The biggest motivator for me throughout the race was my playlist. Having a great playlist is KEY! We probably walked around 40% of the race and ran about 60% and a great song coming on would always give me the motivation to start sprinting. I would run for the duration of the chorus or the best part of my favorite song. My mom didn’t make a playlist, instead just listening to whatever music was on her phone, and she regretted it. I’ll include my playlist at the end of this post. You can do a Google search for songs at 120 bpm and find tons of good running playlists.

I can honestly say I have never been more proud of my mom and myself than when we crossed that finish line. We finished the race in 1 hour and 33 minutes. While we averaged around 14 min/mile, the first few miles we were doing about 13:30 min/mile, which is impressive for the two of us. Running the Disney Princess races has always been a dream of ours to do together and to see it happen and to surpass our goal in the process was the most incredible feeling. I think no matter how you finish the race, the fact that your body was capable of completing 6.2 miles is a victory in and of itself. I had an absolute BLAST running this race and I had a huge smile plastered on my face every second of it. There was not a single time I was tired or wanted to quit.

I have full confidence that my mom and I could complete the half marathon and that is something I thought was only a crazy dream until we did the 10K with (relatively) so much ease. I don’t think it’s necessary to do any training for a 10K, but it helps if you’re somewhat in shape. I do Pure Barre multiple times a week and Mom walks a 5K every few days so it’s not like we’re sedentary people. Being at Disney surrounded by so many people in their homemade costumes was so energizing and motivating and that was a great bonus. Knowing we were getting beignets at Port Orleans afterward didn’t hurt either! We were extremely sore the next day, but it was so very worth it. We can’t wait to go back for another one next year.

   

My Disney Princess Enchanted 10K Playlist (approx. 1 hour, 45 min.)

• Raise Your Glass – P!nk
• Blow – Kesha
• C’Mon – Kesha
• Your Love Is My drug – Kesha
• Me Too – Meghan Trainor
• Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke
• Love Somebody – Maroon 5
• Teenage Dream – Katy Perry
• California Gurls – Katy Perry
• Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
• Tik Tok – Kesha
• Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran
• Come Get It Bae – Pharrell Williams
• She’s So Mean – Matchbox Twenty
• Shut Up and Dance – WALK THE MOON
• Sugar – Maroon 5
• Unforgettable – Thomas Rhett
• We Owned the Night – Lady Antebellum
• What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
• Gives You Hell – The All-American Rejects
• Love Yourself – Justin Bieber
• Welcome to New York – Taylor Swift
• Under the Sea – The Lost Bros
• I Just Can’t Wait to Be King – The Lost Bros
• Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride – The Lost Bros
• Kiss the Girl – The Lost Bros
• Delicate – Taylor Swift
• Gorgeous – Taylor Swift
• This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things – Taylor Swift
• Blank Space – Taylor Swift
• Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
• I’ve Got a Dream – Tangled soundtrack