My first real “Runcation!”

Just a few years ago, when Red turned one, I ran my first 5k on his birthday (Man, reading that post is a blast from the recent past!).  The Cinco de Mayo celebration was a huffing, puffing, nearly 40 minute haul, dragging myself behind Chase and the jogging stroller.  I swear I almost didn’t make it.  Due to my past Lyme disease, I had locked myself into the “Allergic to Exercise” crowd and was very pleased with my sweatpants and bonbons.  But as time passed, I started to enjoy running.  There has never been a runner’s high, or anything like that, but I started to enjoy building race costumes, celebrating the culture of the runner, and generally being able to eat more ice cream.  And dole whips.  

Ever since, I’ve been slowly building my medal collection and have run the Princess Half Marathon in 2014 as well as 2016.  This April, I took off to Walt Disney World once again to run the Star Wars Inaugural Dark Side races with my husband and brother.  A runcation of sorts! (A runcation is a vacation with a race or two thrown in. Lots of sweat, but also a good amount of play!)

I was SO HAPPY to take my whole family with me.  I’ve seen my brother only a few times since he entered the Coast Guard, since he’s been stationed in some remote locations, and I honestly can’t remember the last time our family went somewhere together without anyone else tagging along.  It may have been about 2004 on a cruise, perhaps?  Either way, we were all headed to my the Happiest Place on Earth and I was ecstatic.  I made sure to purchase a Memory Maker (You can read all about why I think it’s the BEST splurge for a Disney Vacation here) to get the whole family in on the magic AND score every single one of my race photos.  WINNING. 

Talk about some awesome family pics – the magic shots are my favorite. They add a little something extra!  We hit all four main parks, Disney Springs, and of course, the runDisney EXPO.  I LOVE IT.  Everyone picked their favorite rides, I struggled to get us the right fast passes and scrambled after dinner reservations – those suckers are hard to get!!  Check out the fun!

And besides spending a ton of quality time together, we also had some goofy moments.  My Dad, brother, Chase and I drank around a few countries in Epcot (next time we’ll start BEFORE sunset…. the bars close so early!) and we made tons of jokes and memories.  This picture I took myself has to be one of my favorites.  Mom wanted to ride with the kids on Dumbo, so I sat in front to take photos of everyone, which left Dad and Chase to ride in an elephant by themselves… together.  The good spirits and “cheese” on their faces cracks me up.  My Dad was barely holding it together before they took off – it was great!  

So how’s that for a little Mommy and Me moment this week? I can’t wait to share more experiences from this trip to Walt Disney World – be sure to check out my entire category on the blog for more Disney content!