Disney Part 2: #WDWRaceTweetup

Have I told you racecations are an awesome time to meet up with friends both long-time and "just meeting for the first time, but been friends through social media for awhile" friends? Enter the birth of the #wdwracetweetup, which I had the honor to host with my friends Kat (of Katrina Elle) and Linzie (of See Sharp Run)!!

On Thursday, January 9th, after completing the Family Fun Run 5k and getting myself cleaned up, the wife & I made a pit stop at the Magic Kingdom (like folks do)...

... before heading to grab lunch and meet Kat and Linzie at Downtown Disney for the tweet-up. :)

Thanks for sharing this pic with me Linzie!

We had a little time to set up our amazing giveaway prizes before folks arrived. I want to thank our awesome sponsors again:

ENERGYBits

Honeystinger

INKnBURN

Outside PR

Shower Pill wipes

Sparkly Soul

Zensah Compression

The swag was TIGHT!! I knew folks would be climbing over each other to win stuff. :)

As we sat eating and chatting, the rain started to fall. Eek! I got a tad nervous that folks wouldn't show, but I knew Run Disney runners were tougher than that.

As it approached 1, we set up camp near the Carousel. I may or may not have nudged us a little closer to the outside plug I had found the day before so I could charge my dying phone. ;)

Then all of a sudden folks started showing up! YAY!

It was wicked cool to meet folks in person that I had chatted with online for so long. I also met some folks I hadn't known before. That is the great thing about having 3 different bloggers inviting folks to meet-up.

We let Linzie handle the intros and as you can see he did a spectacular job.

It was a great enthusiastic crowd of about 20-25 runners. It was great to chat strategy with other folks that would be tackling the Dopey Challenge. I loved sharing why and how I use my ENERGYBits before and during races to fuel. I may have also shared how Showerpills shared me once or twice or more when I didn't have enough time to shower between a workout and a meeting. :) Plus, I get a great thrill giving away not 1 but 5 Sparkly Soul headbands!

Thank you again to everyone that came out, tweeted, shared, hugged and made some new friends with us! We really appreciated it.

A few folks showed up just as the tweet-up was coming to a close so we stopped at the nearby margarita bar to share an adult beverage with those new friends! :)

After rehydrating? - yeah sure - the wife & I headed over to Hollywood Studios to hit up some rides and meet my parents for dinner at Mama Melrose. Mmmmm carbs! :P

Where shall we meet next? The inaugural Minnie 10k of course!

Disney Part 1: Arrival & Expo

Did you all know I went to Disney? I don't think I brought it up here on the blog at all ... or on Facebook ... or on Twitter ... or in every conversation leading up to January 7th. ;)

January 7th. it was finally the day we had been planning for months. Now just before we were set to depart Boston was hit with some horrible weather and the Midwest was hit with freezing temperatures - both impacting dozens of flights in and out of Boston. I was terrified that our flight might be impacted so I may or may not have the wife & I get to Logan Airport about 3 hours before we needed to be. :P Oops. I just thought if we were there we would be apt to get off the ground. Makes sense, right?

So we decided to set up camp at the Boston Beer Works which was right across from our gate. Oh and it had beer! Win-win!

Thankfully our flight took out on time and without any issue. Yay!

We happily arrived in Florida to ... the temps in the high 30s/low 40s. Say wwhhaaa?? That isn't Florida. I was assured it would be warming up, but in the moment I needed more warmth.

My friend Linzie from See Sharp Run offered to pick me up a case of bottled water from a local convenient store and I jumped at the opportunity. We were both staying at Pop Century Resort so we met up as soon as we checked in and had a glorious airport type/big hug/movie type reunion.

Can't you feel the excitement through the picture? :)

Linzie would also be tackling the Dopey Challenge and would be co-hosting the #wdwracetweetup with me and the amazing Kat from KatrinaElle on the Thursday.

We both flew in that day and were feeling tired so we had another epic hug - after meeting some fellow runners from Canada. Gosh I love meeting new friends - and headed to bed.

Tori and I woke up early on Wednesday, January 8th to get ready for the Expo. The Expo opened at 10am so I wanted to make sure we got there on time so I could buy up all the Dopey Challenge gear I wanted. ;)

So I obviously knew I was running Dopey, being in Florida and attending the Expo should make the Challenge seem real, but it wasn't until I picked up the race bibs did it really sink in.

We would be using the green bib for the 5k and 10k and the grey bib for the Half and Full.

 After securing my bibs, picking up my t-shirts and grabbing all the Dopey Challenge merchandise I could carry :P the wife and I headed over to the part of the Expo with all the booths. AKA where more of my money could be spent! ;)

In an unshocking move, my first booth stop was ... Sparkly Soul! DUH I know.

I HAD to buy a Minnie Mouse Sparkly headband as they were 1) adorable, 2) new and 3) only $10 onsite! :)

After getting my sparkle on, it was time to stalk find my favorite Run Disney Announcer, Carissa from Fit2Flex. I could hear her voice echoing through the Expo (she was hosting it as well) and I knew I could track her down.

Success! And let me tell you after this she was stalking me. :P Every where I turned she was there. She is speedy in that tutu.

I took advantage of the free KT Taping (even though I brought my own) and after some more roaming around we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

Run Disney had put huge banners of all the races/race medals at the entrance of the Expo so I had to stop and take a picture with Dopey.

As we were waiting for the bus back to the hotel, a lovely Instagram follower Cerissa stopped to say Hi. I love meeting blog readers/social media followers in real life (IRL).

Thanks for stopping Cerissa! :)

Once we got back to the hotel, it was time to take inventory of all the race t-shirts I acquired.

I may never need to buy a t-shirt again.

Since we didn't get a park pass for Wednesday, we decided to head to Downtown Disney to walk around and check out the stores. We did a giant lap around Downtown Disney before my parents came to meet us. They flew down that morning from Boston and were ready for some food.

Oh and I even found a great outdoor plug to charge my dying food. Let me tell you this plug would come in handy in the coming days. ;)

It was great having all four us safely in Disney and ready for a great vacation.

Of course that included trying on tiaras. I clearly need extra Sparkle in my life.

With an early morning the next day for the Family Fun Run 5k (6:15am start), we attempted and were successful at pushing our dinner reservation earlier at Raglan Road Irish Pub. This dinner was a belated birthday dinner for my Mom, who is a New Year's Day baby. Raglan had great food, delicious brown bread, awesome Irish dancing to witness, yummy food and great beer. I couldn't decide which one to try so I went for the sampler flight. :)

After a fun dinner with the family, it was time to head home and prep for the following day.

I slept soundly in preparation for the big day - Day 1 of the Dopey Challenge! :)