Disney Social Media Moms runDisney 2 mile fun run

I was invited to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at the Walt Disney World Resort May 9-12, 2013.  The conference fee permitted me access to special events and experiences made available to conference attendees and their families.  I am voluntarily writing about these events and experiences.  These are my own thoughts, opinions and photographs unless otherwise stated.

One of the experiences that I was most looking forward to was the 2 miles runDisney fun run at ESPN.  A large number of conference attendees had never been to Disney before and an even larger number had never runDisney.  Pictured below are all of the lovely ladies and gentlemen who woke up early Friday morning before a full day of sessions just to runDisney.  I count 44 of us...which includes one presenter, one conference organizer, and one motivational runner and her mom (Ali & mom).  So 40 conference attendees out of about 165 total took on the challenge.  

I wanted to participate because I of course love runDisney and I wanted to share that love with as many people as possible.  I heard over and over the same thought that I hear so often "I am going to run these two miles and nothing except Disney could motivate me to do it!"  That is why I love Disney so much.  It is an amazing motivator and runDisney has harnessed that power to get people active.  

I of course was rocking my Minnie Mouse ears and runDisney New Balance shoes as well as my Team Sparkle Minnie Skirt.  Never fear a woman with credentials is here.  That's right I wore those credentials everywhere...because we had to and even when we didn't, like in the parks, I still wore them.  Hey what can I say the lanyard was covered in black shimmery beads and I liked it.  Okay I like the "Disney Social Media Moms" logo as well!

Ali Vincent telling everyone about her pink grab bands.  She gives them out to motivate people to think about what they are grabbing before the eat it.  Wear it on the hand that grabs for things and think twice before you act.

We all hopped on a bus and headed to ESPN.  I was so excited.  Can you tell?  When I hopped of the bus guess who was there to greet us?  Bob Hitchcock - the head of runDisney PR.  Okay so I was excited to see him!  Enthusiasm goes well with runDisney!

runDisney PR photo

We headed up the hill to the entrance of the complex and stopped to chat for a bit and oh you know...take a few pictures!

The formal shot! I finally got a women's cut black runDisney shirt and I love it!

I tried to say hi to Tony Morreale, but you know he was kind of busy getting his runDisney social media on! Tina Trybus is over there on the left in the pink dress.

Faron Kelley welcomed us to the facility and explained the run and run/walk groups.  I was torn, but went with the run group for my first run around ESPN.

Action shot: caption the photo above!

runDisney PR photo

What an amazing group of ladies! Some of them only started running three weeks before the event when the runDisney fun run was announced.  They did what they could with those 3 weeks and darn it they ran/walked that morning and everyone crossed that finish line!

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

A Live Big with Ali Vincent moment before we all hit the road and were off and running.

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

Every now and then I take that extra shot. The one you don't even know you took while running.  The thing is that I usually like them for one reason or another.  "Disney!"  I also like them because they remind me of the effort that I put into my running and #TweetandRun!

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

These shots were taken after the run group finished! Great job ladies!

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

At this point I hung out at the finish line for a few moments and then doubled back to bring everyone home!  We wanted to make sure everyone finished their first runDisney event.  There would be no balloon lady on this course!

runDisney PR photo

Ali ran/walked it with the second group.  She was out there motivating everyone to keep going!

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

runDisney PR photo

Everyone finished and we headed up the back steps to move on to the presentation portion of the event in the ESPN Grill.

I love this picture of happy runner post run!

runDisney PR photo

Faron Kelley kicked off the formal presentation with a discussion of what happens at the ESPN Wide World of Sports facility.  Youth sports and professional teams converge to play at one amazing facility that occasionally gets overrun (my term) with avid runDisney lovers on the race weekends that we utterly love!         (I might be tearing up here at little.)

After Faron, Bob had a few remarks before he introduced Ali!!!

Ali talked about her motivation and motivating others.  She showed footage from her first runDisney race...the Tinker Bell Half in 2013.  We all watched and tweeted!

Then they did a give away.  Yes one pair of runDinsey New Balance shoes was given away and the lucky winner walked about with a voucher.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for a full day of sessions.

I stopped to chat with Faron on my way out and of course grab a picture.  He was great out there on the run.  He let Bob lead the way and he drifted around the course chatting with people.  I ran the first 1/2 mile or so with Faron.  I went ahead and asked him our big question: What about Paris?  He said they are really working on it and they really want to do it, but when I asked him about fall 2014 he settled on 50/50!  So there you have it Paris is a big fat 50/50 for fall 2014.  Not because they don't want to do it, because they do, but it is complicated.

On our way back to the bus we stopped for a few final pictures.

I could not resist taking a pic with Ali and the ESPN globe!

On the bus ride back Maria Bailey made sure we were all set to transition back into conference mode, but not before one final picture in front of the Contemporary!

You know me...anywhere is a photo op even the elevator up to our rooms.  Look mom...I even got myself in the picture.  See you soon!  There is so much more to tell you about!

DisneyRunFest2012 - Meeting at the Contemporary

Monday evenings first two activities were based at the Contemporary Resort.  I have always wanted to eat at the Wave and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  They bill themselves as being locally sourced, in season, and healthy.  That sounds like a great meal plan for runners.  Our reservation was at 5 pm so that we could meet, have a simple bite to eat, and then be ready to run at 7 pm.  Although others would be joining us for the run it was just Marcia, Rachel and myself at dinner.  The menu looked amazing but we all went simple with soup and salad.  We had a wonderful meal which ended with an email.  We were still waiting to see if someone from runDisney was going to be able to join us for either our Monday evening run or our Tuesday morning run.  

The entrance to the Wave

Marcia and Rachel

I had the cobb salad...

and the tomato soup with the smallest grilled cheese any of us had  seen.

After dinner we walked around the Contemporary.

And checked out the view!

There's the monorail headed from MK to the Contemporary.

Back to the email: after dinner I got an email from Tony Morreale at runDisney.  He indicated that Bob Hitchcock would probably be joining us for our morning run and that I should give him a call.

Hello Bob... (Thank's for the show of support Mickey!)

We stepped outside the building to find a quiet spot for a phone call and found this inspirational setting.  Bob had just returned from Greece where he had been on business for 10 days.  He would indeed meet us for our morning run, but not until after he had gone out with the morning Galloway run (at 4:30)!  Given the plans we had for the rest of the evening we had already decided to pass on the 4:30 run which left from a middle school in Orlando.  I wish we had video of my happy runner dance after the call was over!

It was time for us to get ready for our evening run.  So away we went to grab our gear and get changed in the restroom at the Contemporary.  Everyone kept asking us if we needed any help.  We were in and out of the lobby so many times that evening.  Everyone was polite though and no one hassled us.  I even did a little pin trading at the main desk.  They keep a pin book behind the counter if you are into pin trading.  I collect food pins.  (I will have to post photos of them sometime.)

Next up is the evening run!

If you want to see the full itinerary check it out at  http://lovedisneyrunning.blogspot.com/2012/07/disney-run-fest-july-16-17-2012.html 

Erin Williams – @lovedisneyrun on Twitter and lovedisneyrunning.blogspot.com
Marcia Barton - @TravelRunEat on Twitter and Travelruneat.blogspot.comRachel Wright - @runnerstales on Twitter and runnerstales.com