Disney's Glass Slipper Challenge

After last year's half marathon experience, I had said that I would never run another long distance race at Disney... but then I went back on my vow and chose to register for the 2014 WDW Marathon.

Part of my decision to register for the WDW Marathon was because I wanted to see if I actually could run 26.2 miles (in a row), and I knew that doing it at Disney would allow me hard corrals which would allow me a little extra time if I started toward the front of the corrals.

The other part of my decision came from the sheer joy of spending uninterrupted quality time with my dear friend Brina.

When I suggested running the marathon, Brina really didn't seem all that interested. She had run a marathon before, and hadn't overly enjoyed the experience (because she ran by herself?). But she liked the idea of having a friend to share the experience with if she did it again. It didn't take much arm twisting, and eventually I convinced her that she wanted to do it with me, and we registered.

The half-serious (but not quite joking) agreement that we made was that she would do the marathon (that she claimed that she didn't want to do, but I believe she was only half-serious about not having interest in), but in exchange, I would register for a race that I wasn't all too keen on, if she really wanted to do it.

But then I started half joking about doing the Center of the Nation series (and adding the Montana Half Marathon to it for a total of 6 half marathons in 6 days), and somehow I sort of wound up roping her into doing those races as well. And while I would never force her into doing races that she didn't want to do, it becomes very clear that when it comes to choosing the events we participate in together... I seem to be the bad influence (always picking ridiculous goals and pushing for more and more).

Brina is perfect Princess, meaning she has run the Disney Princess Half every year since it was introduced. I knew she wanted to run the Princess half marathon all along, and we had planned for me to join her. But about a month ago, Run Disney announced that in addition to their family 5K and the half, they were going to add in a 10K race and create a 2 race challenge called the Glass Slipper Challenge, where runners would tackle 10K on day 1 and the half marathon on day 2... for a total of 19.3 miles at Disney (and 3 medals).

Of course it sounds crazy.

Not quite as crazy as 78.6 miles in 6 days, but still pretty crazy.

So of course we are in.

Today, the Disney Princess race registration becomes available to the general public. Being an annual pass holder allowed me early registration last week, and because we were both afraid that the Glass Slipper would sell out early, Brina and I jumped at the opportunity to register.

It is going to be crowded. Probably much more crowded than I would normally like, but I'll get a girls weekend out of the deal... and I'll get to represent my favorite Disney princess.

Yep, that's right. When you register, you choose your favorite Disney princess, and her likeness is printed on your bib.

Now I'll just have to come up with a cute costume to represent her.