Princess Weekend Kids Mile - Feb.25, 2012

The 1 mile race team - in the sun!

This year we focused on the Kids mile.  Before the timed race began Jester Goofy came out to get the kids all excited to run!

The signage was much better this year!

My 2 daughters and my nephew did the mile together.  Well they were at the start line together.  My oldest took off like a shot.  She was wearing her RunningSkirt, a tank top and her Rapunzel flowers in her hair.  I ran along with my youngest.  She had on her RunningSkirt with a yellow Rapunzel flower on her shirt.  My brother-in-law ran with my nephew.  The youngest two were both little troopers.  They did a little run/walking along the way.

12:15 on the fields at ESPN can be a brutal time of day and it was full sun and warm despite a cool wind.  The official water break was a welcome stop for my youngest.  Once we got around to the track for the finish line stretch she took off and I stepped aside to the outside of the stands so I would not get in the way of runner photos.  This year runDisney did special Tangled medals for the kids races.  They were a huge improvement over the shields they got the last few years.  They also got Tangled t-shirts instead of just I Did It shirts.

Great mementos to go with great memories!

The happy finishers on a very sunny field!

They all grabbed their snacks after the race and we were off again.  I had to head back into the expo to exchange my Princess 1/2 shirt for a smaller size.  I had exchanged my 5k shirt earlier in the day.  I had intended to check the shirt sizes on Friday, but had overlooked that detail.  I registered for these races the day they opened...July 5 and needed smaller sizes after all the focused training and lifestyle changes.

4 cousins - 3 milers & 2 5k runners among them

Love the medallion - They look like a happy couple!

Princess Expo Saturday

Some race expos are so good you want to go to them more than once.  That goes for all runDisney expos. Friday was just for me, no kids, and all business/shopping.  Saturday was for sharing with the kids.  After the Tangled 5k the 5 of us headed straight to the Princess expo.  We were all still in our 5K costumes.  When you love your costumes who wants to get right out of them!

Although we already had all of our race bags we still headed to the big white tent so my sister could get the full experience.  That included getting our pictures taken with the footmen and Cinderella's carriage.  She too had to stop at the little Official Merchandise stand in the tent before we proceeded to the center.  Once we were inside the expo it was watch out world.  She had been looking forward to this weekend since I had run the Princess in 2011 and the expo was part of the anticipation.

What girl doesn't need a little pixie dust?

We spent the next 2 hours or so looking around the expo.  I was able to share my Rapunzel costume with Suzy Favor Hamilton who loved it!  I also got a few looks from little girls!  Alas there were no Saturday sales at the runDisney Official Merchandise booth this year as there had been in 2011.  I did buy one more shirt on Saturday that had eluded me on Friday.  Other than that I was already starting to focus on the Kids mile that was scheduled to start at 12:15.  My older daughter and I got lunch at the ESPN Zone and waited for the rest of the family to arrive with our younger runners.

Up next is the kids mile!