Run, Karla, Run!

Running as Prince Charming and Cinderella. (Photo: brightroom)

Disney’s Expedition Everest Challenge took place Saturday night May 5 in Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Florida. Runners faced a 5K laden with obstacles and clues to a mystery they had to solve in order to finish. Some runners tackled the race dressed as their favorite Disney characters, like Minnie Mouse, and others ran as the fearsome Yeti of the Expedition Everest roller coaster.

As a veteran of three Disney races—the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, Tinker Bell Half Marathon, and Disney’s Princess Half Marathon—I know the slide down that particular rabbit hole all too well. After running my first Disney race sans costume and my second Disney race in a store bought Tinker Bell costume, I decided to go all out for my third Disney race. I learned from Team Sparkle running costumer extraordinaire Kelly Lewis that when it comes to pulling off a successful Disney look that’s comfortable and easy to run in, the devil is in the details.

Armed with a few pieces of basic running gear and a creative outlook, my fiancé and I transformed into Cinderella and Prince Charming’s athletic alter egos for Disney’s Princess Half Marathon in February. Here’s how to make your own Cinderella and Prince Charming running costumes. Best of all, the only tools you need are a needle, thread, safety pins and tape. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo: runDisney

Forget three: 20 is the magic number. Especially when you’re talking about Disney magic.

Registration for the 20th anniversary edition of the Walt Disney World Marathon, the original Disney running event that started them all, opened last week. In honor of the race’s 20th anniversary, ‘20’ is the watchword for the weekend. The event will feature a special 20th anniversary Mickey Mouse medal, special entertainment at the 20-mile marker and a new post-race party at Downtown Disney. Race organizer runDisney expects the marathon to sell out with a field of—you guessed it—20,000 runners for their biggest race yet. Read the rest of this entry →

Disney's Princess Half Marathon was a fairy tale race.

If you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true. Cinderella sang those words and I took them to heart. At Disney’s Princess Half Marathon in Walt Disney World in Florida, I channeled my inner Cinderella and believed that I could break my half-marathon personal record (PR). Disney races aren’t for PR’s many people say. Just have fun, they tell you. But on Sunday, Feb. 26, I learned that it’s possible to PR and have fun too.

Running in Costume: Cinderella and Prince Charming

For starters, I feel compelled to confess: I ran in costume. Not just that, I cajoled my fiancé, Phil, to run in costume with me—as Cinderella and Prince Charming. Cinderella has long been my favorite princess, ever since I saw clips of the film on my Fisher Price Movie Viewer Theater back in the early 1980s. I even named my dog Cinderella. What better character to summon for a half-marathon than a gal who knows how to put her head down and work hard?

I found that once you put on a costume and give in to the Disney spirit, it’s inevitable that you’re going to have a good time, no matter how painful the running itself may be. Read the rest of this entry →

Letting kids race teaches them that fitness is fun. (Photo: runDisney)

When Disney puts on a race, they don’t just plan one running event. As the world’s largest media empire—Disney sits at No. 1 on the Fortune 500 list of entertainment companies—they orchestrate an entire weekend of festivities that everyone in the family can enjoy, from first-time runners to marathon masters, kids to adults, and even spectators. That’s one of the best parts of Disney race weekends: there is something for everyone.

At Disney’s Princess Half Marathon Weekend from Feb. 24-26, my family is putting runDisney to the test. At least one family member will be participating in every race distance offered during the weekend, including the Princess Half Marathon, Tangled Royal Family 5K and Disney Royal Family Kids’ Races. We’ll also hit the Pasta in the Park Party at Epcot and Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo. This is my third Disney race weekend, but the first with my nephew and niece. It makes me happy to pass along my love of running to another generation. But more than that, I think it’s important to include kids in fitness events from an early age. Read the rest of this entry →

As runDisney's training consutlant, Jeff Galloway designed a series of training programs for runners tackling Disney races. (Photo: runDisney)

Jeff Galloway knows running. He’s been an Olympian, a U.S. record holder, a coach and a running innovator. Galloway developed the RUN-WALK-RUN method to help runners train injury-free. He has coached more than 250,000 runners, and his books on running have sold over 1 million copies. As runDisney’s official training consultant, Galloway designed a series of training programs, videos and tips for runners tackling Disney races like the upcoming Disney Princess Half Marathon on Feb. 26. Galloway has a long history with Disney—he’s run the Walt Disney World Marathon every year since its inception in 1994.

“Run, Karla, Run!” caught up with Galloway at the Tinker Bell Half Marathon social media meet-up on Jan. 28, where he led a group of 45 runners on a two-mile morning jaunt though Disneyland and California Adventure parks. Participants were chosen through Disney’s social media channels like the Disney Parks Blog, Disney Sports’ Twitter handle and the runDisney Facebook page. Having a chance to run with Galloway is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most runners. Getting him to tackle your burning running questions? Even better. After the run, Galloway sat down with the meet-up to answer the group’s training questions. Here are the highlights from all of the runners’ questions: Read the rest of this entry →

The author and her soon-to-be-fiance after the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. He proposed just a few moments later.

I met this guy. After chatting a while, he mentioned that he was registered to run the ING New York City Marathon. He’d never run a marathon before. Heck, he’d never been on a single run, he said. He belonged to an Ultimate Disc league, a sport that requires a lot of running. But he was no runner. His sister had talked him into it, he said. The race was nine months away and he had no idea how to train for it.

As luck would have it, I was a runner. I ran the New York City Marathon just three months before, and was registered to run it again as well. So I offered to show him the ropes of marathon training, and take him on his very first run. It was an unseasonably warm February day. We headed out to Central Park, where we’d met for a casual walk just a week before. We ran up to Belvedere Castle overlooking Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn, then jogged through the Ramble and back to the southern entrance to the park. He’d never visited those parts of Central Park before, he said. Stick with me, I said. As a runner, you see a lot of things you don’t notice otherwise.

Well, he stuck with me. Four years later, that guy is my fiancé, and running has played a large part in our courtship. Read the rest of this entry →

Kelly Lews (left) and Carrie Lundell (right) pose with Minnie Mouse in their do-it-yourself Team Sparkle costumes. (Photo: runDisney)

If you’re running Disney’s Princess Half Marathon or Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, or any other themed race, it’s awfully tempting to run in costume. Wearing a super hero cape for a Spartan race or fairy wings for a Disney run can be a fun way to get into the spirit. But for the women behind Team Sparkle, it’s more than fun. It’s a way of life.

Kelly Lewis, Carrie Lundell and Elise Wallace are spreading the power of sparkle with their line of sparkle skirts, sleeves and racing legs for runners. They encourage runners to put together do-it-yourself costumes made of running-friendly fabrics so they can spread the sparkle spirit at races nationwide.

“You can wear something fun, you can wear something technical and still run fast,” Lewis says of the Team Sparkle spirit. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners cross the starting line of the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. Photo courtesy of runDisney.

With a little bit of faith, trust and pixie dust, the inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon got off to a flying start on Sunday, Jan. 29 at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. More than 10,200 runners finished the debut event aimed at celebrating women and fitness.

The race marked my first trip to Disneyland, unless you count the time my mother says I went as a 4-month-old. So I decided to do it right. I willed my 5-foot-8-inch frame into a child’s XL Tinker Bell costume, wings and all, and lined up in the all-women’s corral A for the 5:45 a.m. start.

As I shivered in the 50-degree air waiting for the race to begin, I noticed I wasn’t the only one doing as the Romans do. A sea of fairies, princesses and tutus surrounded me. I saw runners dressed as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Alice, Tiger Lily, Peter Pan, and, of course, Tinker Bell. It’s safe to say that half the runners wore something other than regular running gear, be it fairy wings, a sparkle skirt, or a full-fledged costume. Read the rest of this entry →

Kellie Nickerson of Albuquerque, N.M., won the inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon in 1:27:52. Photo courtesy runDisney.

The half-marathon is the fastest growing distance in the U.S. It’s also runners’ favorite distance to race according to Running USA’s National Runner Survey. Who is driving this phenomenon? Women.

It’s no wonder that when runDisney decided to add another flagship race to their series, they opted for a women-focused half-marathon. The Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend enjoyed its inaugural run at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 29. More 17,000 runners participated in three major running events over the course of the weekend: 12,000 runners tackled the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, 4,000 jogged the Never Land Family Fun Run 5K, and 1,300 tykes tried the runDisney Kid’s Races.

Women-only or women-focused races are a growing segment of the running industry, fuelled largely by an influx of women into the sport. And while races welcome men as well—920 men lined up at the start of the Tinker Bell Half along with 11,080 women—race directors are luring women with extra perks like preferred placement at the start, ladies cut race T-shirts, and expanded awards for women only. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners wait for the start of the Never Land Family Fun Run 5K. Photo by Karla Bruning.

The inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend kicked off on Friday with the Never Land Family Fun Run 5K. An estimated 4,000 runners lined up for the 10:30 p.m. start of the very first nighttime race ever held at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. I was on hand to take in all the action and run the debut event.

The atmosphere was more like a party than a race. A DJ dressed as a fairy helped runners warm-up with Top 40 hits under the lights of Main Street USA and Sleeping Beauty Castle in the Disneyland Park.

Who better to kick off the evening than Tinker Bell herself? The famous fairy swooped down from the sky and flew over Sleeping Beauty Castle, sprinkling pixie dust just before the start of the race. The spectacle drew audible gasps and applause from the runners in the corrals. Read the rest of this entry →

Making goals for the year can help keep you motivated. Photo by Charles Thompson.

Runners tend to be goal-oriented people. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule, but so many of us have a few dreams hitched to our running shoes. It’s the nature of the sport; when there are hundreds to thousands of us in any given race, the vast majority of us aren’t in it to win it.

We call them races, but we’re really racing against ourselves more than any of the people around us. Unless, that is, you are national class runner who is fast enough to actually win, like some of my friends and teammates who’ve nabbed victories at races all over the globe like the Red Rock Canyon Marathon in Nevada, the Brooklyn Marathon in New York, and the Antarctica Marathon.

But if you’re a mid-packer like me, you’ve probably never won a road race, unless it was in high school. I know the sweet taste of victory as a swimmer and a rower, but it has eluded me as an adult runner. My best finish was 10th in a local race in Rhode Island. I felt like I’d won the Olympics. Which is why making and then chasing down goals is so important to me as a runner. If I can’t win the race, I can still win the goal. Read the rest of this entry →

Racers run through Cinderella's Castle during the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Photo courtesy of runDisney/Todd Anderson.

I like a good challenge. The Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak? Check. Four hours on an elliptical machine? Dunzo. My first triathlon? In the bag.

So I’m making my first goal of 2012 another challenge—runDisney’s Coast to Coast Race Challenge. Runners who finish a half marathon or marathon at both Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California in the same calendar year receive a third medal to mark the occasion. I do like a nice medal. Read the rest of this entry →

The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon

What does it take to put on a race in the happiest place on earth? A little bit of magic and a whole lot of teamwork. More than 50,000 runners planned to participate in the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend from Jan. 6 to Jan. 8, culminating in the Walt Disney World Marathon today. But shuttling 50,000 runners, plus their families who have come to watch them, through six race events over the course of three days is no simple task. Working year-round, runDisney aims to make these racing events fun for the whole family, while maintaining the regular Disney magic for the thousands of other park and resort guests enjoying a dream vacation.

“The biggest challenge is trying to put a half-marathon or marathon in Walt Disney World when you have on any given day 50,000 to 100,000 day guests,” says John Phelan, entertainment show director for Disney Sports.  “The logistics are one of the key challenges of doing all of this.”

Jon Hughes, race director for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and other runDisney events couldn’t agree more. Read the rest of this entry →

There are lots of runDisney races out there—the Walt Disney World Marathon, the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disney’s Princess Half Marathon, the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon and many more—and thousands of people who run them. If all those Disney runners are anything like me, I’m guessing they’ve got a few Disney tunes on their iPods to help get them in the mood. What are your favorite Disney songs to run to?

In the spirit of sharing, here are mine. These are the Disney songs that have gotten me into the runDisney spirit, and made me feel like a kid again as I’ve trained for the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Read the rest of this entry →