McKenzie's Magical Half-Marathon

Our newest Fleet Feet Employee, McKenzie Wampler went to Disney to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon and as you can see, had a blast! Read on to hear about her Magical Experience!

I had the opportunity to zip down to Orlando for a fun-filled weekend full of characters, 85 degree weather, awesome expos, parks, and of course 13.1 miles in the Disney Princess Half Marathon. My mom and I flew out Friday morning and began our weekend of little sleep and lots of fun. We experienced our first running expo Disney style on Friday afternoon with thousands of others and hundreds of booths. My expo experience was nothing short of a royal occasion complete with a running-friendly free hair and make-up makeover on stage, and a 13.1 magnet for my fridge. Saturday it was time for park-hopping. We spent the day in Disney's Hollywood Studios and made our way over to Epcot for dinner with some fellow friends in a restaurant with Nemo and friends. The night had an early end as we crawled in bed slightly before 9pm and begrudgingly set our 2:30am alarms. Race day began with us sporting crazy colorful leggings, our newly designed "Half Crazy" shirts, and of course, Minnie Mouse ears. We made our way over to the start line where we cha-cha'ed, cupid shuffled, and wobbled our time away until the start gun. Corralled into groups of several thousands, Cinderella's Fairy Godmother counted down and a fireworks show set us off on the trail before us. The run was spectacular, weaving our way through the parks and stopping for pictures with our favorite characters. The halfway point was the Castle in Magic Kingdom and the finish was full of thousands of friends/family/cast members cheering us on. We decided to get cleaned up and spend the rest of the day in our favorite parks. Needless to say, when we woke at 4:30 the next morning to catch our flight, we were exhausted. We had a magical weekend indeed; unfortunately then, the only thing stopping us from making our way back to the real world in Tennessee was a stop by the TSA because the crown on our new Princess medals looked too sharp for a carry-on bag. - McKenzie Wampler, Contributor and Fleet Feet Employee