Friday morning came very early, but I jumped out of bed when my alarm went off. I was so excited to get to be a part of the Jeff Galloway meet up/tweet up. We had to meet the vans at 6:00 to drive over, and it was still dark when we got to EPCOT.
We waited in line, and had to sign a waiver. We were given our shirts (I was bummed I was given a large in my bag when I had ordered a medium, but oh well!) and I changed shirts on the spot. Who cares, right?
me and Callie.
me and Meghann
I didn’t care that it was chilly out, I was about to run through EPOCT with no one in it, with some amazing people.
Bob chatted to us for a bit and introduced us to Jeff as well as Rachel, the winner of the Disneyland half, Betty from Fitness magazine, and Suzy Favor Hamilton, Olympian. We split up into two groups to run. One of course being Jeff’s run/walk group, and the other group was led by Bob and Rachel, a straight running group. The plan was 2 miles around EPCOT, and we took off at a VERY quick pace. I am a warm up kind of girl so it was tough keeping up!
We made it around the world showcase 1.5 times and then stopped in Germany for a great buffet breakfast. We each also got a princess tiara! I also took the opportunity to get a pic with Rachel. She currently lives in my hometown of Mandeville, LA, so of course we became instant BFF’s.
I also got to chat with the super friendly Jeff Galloway.
Rachel, Betty, Jeff, Suzy, and Bob all gave a short speech.
aannddd then we had a dance party.
To wrap things up, Minnie Mouse came to tell us hello and we all got a free 1 day park hopper pass!
We were then sent outside to our own private character photo session. Minnie was very excited I was wearing her signature polka dots.
I felt like a giant next to Rapunzel.
The lovely Kelly Olexa. Love this lady so much!
We had a great time at the meet up, I got to meet some great other bloggers and readers of my blog (hi guys!) The weather was great, company was awesome, and I feel so blessed to have gotten to be a part of it. runDisney are some great folks, and I cannot thank them enough!
This was such an amazing experience – Epcot empty and plenty of time to take photos with the characters! runDisney is AWESOME! What is your next race?
I love reading these recaps. It’s making me itch to run this next year!
You grew up in Mandeville? My neighbors lived there for a short time. The Wilsons? Not sure how big/small the town is. 😛
Yes I did!
haha its pretty big, sorry I don’t know if I know them?
Looks like you had a great time :). Glad you got to take so many pictures too, especially pictures with the characters. I always look like crap in race pics so I would hate to see how bad my pics would turn out with characters during a race. And your shirt looks great even if it’s the wrong size.
Uber jealous you got to meet Jeff Galloway too 🙂
Ahh such a cool experience! I’m not sure which sounds more fun, meeting Jeff Galloway or running through an empty Epcot. I’m so glad you got to do this 🙂
Still loving all of your photos. How cool to run Epcot before it opens?!
That is SO AWESOME! What a great opportunity!
You have so many great photos from the weekend!
It was an incredible opportunity!! At least you got a size larger than the one you asked for – mine was way smaller than what I had asked for. Oh well. But it was such a great event. I think I spotted you across the way, but didn’t get a chance to say hi.
so sorry I didn’t get to say hi!
still jealous but love all the pics!!!!
I love these pictures! Your outfit is absolutely adorable!
Great recap – looks like an awesome time!!
thanks, I love my skirts, of course
Me too!
so fun! great pictures! i love those tiaras too, they are perfect!! I’ve never done the Galloway meet-up before but would like to do it eventually. Glad you had such a good time with so many lovely ladies!!!