Last week, I had the privilege of attending the runDisney Disneyland half meet up. It was my first west coast meet up, and I was stoked to participate…as you can see by the below photo.
I met up with some friends in the lobby (I use the term friends loosely, think Ali Vincent, Joey Fatone, and Sean Astin.)
Bloggers Meghann, Carissa and myself snagged a photo with Ali before we had to walk over to the meet up.
On the walk over, I took advantage of the small group of us and got some photos and even a fun video of Joey. He cracks me up.
You’re Welcome. If only I could have gotten him to twerk…
After introductions were made, we had a good form mini running “clinic” from New Balance. It was a fun way to start the morning, making sure we are all running correctly!
Before we headed out on our run I got to see Joe from The Marathon Show. He ran the half, maybe you saw him on the course?
Also, I finally got to meet some bloggers I have “known” for a long time online, like Monica! (With funny girl Carissa photo bombing us of course).
Also, I finally got to hang with Linzie for a bit.
We were split into two groups: the Galloway group and the straight run group. I headed out with the straight run group for a humid run through the parks. Having never participated in a west coast meet up, I found it really fun to run through empty Disneyland!
I was so excited when I saw the castle with no one in front of it. Not a shot you see often.
wweeeeee
We ran through the castle into Fantasyland where we were greeted by Alice! We took some photos then went for a spin on the teacups.
It was nice to have the breeze on the teacups. I underestimated the humidity, and immediately pulled my hair up and off my neck (what was I thinking?!?)
I was a LITTLE excited.
I don’t know why but the below photo cracks me up.
I got to hang out a lot with my buddy Cindy from runningskirts.com, and last year’s Disneyland half champ! Skirt buddies for the win!
We picked back up on our run and headed into California Adventure park and through Cars Land which was a lot of fun.
We stopped at one point and I didn’t realize the run was over, sad times! The Mad Hatter came out and did his best “crossing the finish line” pose for us (He really IS mad if you are wondering!)
As we headed over to grab some grub, I caught up with Sean Astin who is the king of funny faces.
When it was time to take a photo with the mad hatter, he insisted we stand facing the stage. Ok, sure thing!
We’re all mad!
It was time to eat and get ready for the program, yum yum, I was starving.
Cute spread
LOVED the water!
Since my earlier Joey photo was so dark, I had to get another and chat about the New Orleans concert I went to as a teen. Same convo from January. Maybe he remembered me? Wishful thinking I believe.
The program began, and I was super excited to learn more from Amy Roth of ABC about the new show airing this fall: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. I am a HUGE Once Upon a Time fan, so I am interested to see this spin off. We got to watch an extended preview of the show, so fun!
We also heard from Tara, runDisney’s nutritionist, about eating strategies: “just because you run 14 miles does NOT mean you can eat whatever you want.” Darn.
We also heard from one of the coolest dudes around, Jeff Galloway. He is always so encouraging and gives great race day tips.
The always inspiring Ali Vincent also took the stage and said she is running Dopey in January!
Sean Astin also talked about running, but with his daughter. He loves making it a family affair.
Joey Fatone broke our hearts when he said NSYNC was not getting back together. Sad. He did a little Bye Bye Bye dance for us though. More! More!
As the reigning female champ, Cindy got up and spoke about the race last year, and how important it was for her at that point in her life. She was also excited to run it again!
There was also a special surprise I was not expecting: the unveiling of some new runDisney medals by Faron Kelley! If you follow me on instagram you saw my feed blow up with individual photos of each medal. So pretty! My favorite is next year’s Goofy.
At the end of the program, we took a group photo. Can you spot me?
We were given gift bags as we left, so generous of runDisney and some of the Disney sponsors!
It was a fun morning, and different from the east coast meet up’s I have done. I loved getting to ride the teacups all by ourselves, and having meet and greets with some different characters was a blast. The meet up got me geared up and ready to run dumbo the following day! A huge thanks to runDisney for hosting such a fabulous event.
QOTD: Who is your favorite character from Alice in Wonderland? Do you like to ride the teacups?
Disclosure: I attended this event as media invited by runDisney, however all opinions are my own.
Can I just tell you– so jealous of your life. I would’ve died if I would’ve spent that much time with Joey Fatone… ahhh– my 90’s heart was beating so fast reading this haha!
trust me mine was beating fast too lol!
The Queen of Hearts! Yes I ride the tea cups.
well of course it’s the queen 🙂
Love the medals! My favorite is the Mad Hatter. Not a teacups fan, haha.
(((sharing))))
Heather, great post and with some pretty awesome pics. I really love following along on your RunDisney adventures!
thanks!
I was so jealous when I read the meet up would include a OUATiW preview. I’m also a huge fan of OUAT so I can’t wait to see what this one has in store.
Thanks for the great medal photos, btw. rD still hasn’t released anything official so I’m using your photos, well photo of the Donald, as motivation.
I can’t wait to see the show. GL with training!
Looks like SO much FUN!! I would love to be able to go to a meet-up someday!
Can you believe I’ve never rode the Teacups???
I think I have a fear that all the spinning will make me sick ( and who wants to be sick ad Disney? …haha)
Looks like a great time at the meet up. I couldn’t see the medals very clearly, but are any of them medals for the GSC in 2014?
We have that same Disney tote bag. It’s super cute isn’t it?
Thanks for documenting this event and sharing it with us!
no princess medals yet, just wine and dine and marathon weekend. 🙂
When I rode the teacups we didn’t do any extra spinning with the wheel, so I was ok!
So fun!!!!! I LOVE the pics and videos! Thanks for sharing your experience with us! I normally don’t ride the tea cups…I get too dizzy on that one. Give me a roller coaster any day but not something that goes round and round over and over lol!
too funny, I don’t do big coasters!
I love all of your pictures Heather! That picture of Alice made me chuckle as well. Too cute! Looks like you had a blast-I can’t wait to read all of your posts about the weekend. One of these days I’m dreaming of running at Disneyland and getting that gorgeous Coast to Coast medal!
it’s a heavy medal! hope you get one!
That looks like so much fun! I have yet to run anything over a 5k for races but if I do, I definitely want to make it a Disney race 🙂
you totally should!
Looks like fun! Love the empty parks! Btw, I would have had to skip on the teacups….my tummy wouldn’t have agreed! Great recap!!
I was nervous about that so I told whoever was going to ride with me that there would be NO extra spinning with the wheel!
That meet-up was super fun! Mad Hatter is my favorite, and I was definitely excited for a spin on the teacups. Love the DL version of the teacups, where they have all those lanterns overhead!!
Looks like fun! I’ll make it in one of these years.
The Queen is awesome.. Great blog Heather and of course awesome pictures and video with JOEY!!
I would seriously die to do one of those Disney meet ups… probably a good thing I probably never will then 🙂
Joey seems like the coolest guy ever!!!
Wouldn’t it be the best job in the world to be the Mad Hatter!!!?!? I bet by the end of the night, he’s like “leave me alone” to everyone 🙂
SO SAD I was on a plane during this meetup but your recap made me feel like I was there! – kinda 😉
Yeah, you totally played it cool in that first pic with Joey Fatone. You don’t look starstruck at all. : ) lol
Looks like such a fun meet-up! I’m loving the new blue shirts.
That looks like so much fun!!
The Mad Hatter is definitely my favorite Alice character. I like the teacups too.
How fun. Thanks for sharing, I always enjoy the recaps. Don’t stop!
It looks like you guys had a blast! Love the pic of you and Sean Astin! He seems like such a cool, down to earth guy!