A Retreat Fit For A Princess!

Objective Achieved! My bling loot from the weekend:).

I did Race Retreat for my first Disney World Marathon back in 2012 and it wasn’t a great experience. Mostly, I think, due to my horrible stomach issues and not being able to really enjoy it after the race. I grabbed a bag of chips and we stayed MAYBE 20 minutes. Yes, the socks were nice, but a bag of chips and a pair of socks is not exactly worth $120.

This year, however, there was a whole group of us doing it together and it truly was awesome! Having a lit, climate controlled tent to hang out in and eat something before the race was great. I also loved that we literally just got up, got dressed, and left the hotel room and headed straight for our bus knowing there would be coffee and bagels for us in the tent. We didn’t do any character pics but they had all the Alice in Wonderland characters out and the line wasn’t bad. The continental breakfast consisted of fruit, bagels, oatmeal, coffee and powerade and sodas. Because we had boarded the very first bus from Old Key West at 3am, we had PLENTY of time to enjoy.

I loved having gender specific porta-potties with actual water to wash wish (albeit those pump stations so not a lot but better than nothing). I also loved the private bag drop then and upon our return.

We headed out to the corrals about 4:20 I think? Maybe slightly earlier. Don’t forget that you have that lovely (not) walk out to the start that takes at least 20 minutes so we made sure to make time for that and we wanted to meet up with our friends (some of whom didn’t do race retreat) and get our traditional group pic and shoe pic.

After the race, Sara and I bee-lined it to the race retreat and felt like celebrities! We got a very fun Princess Half towel and flip-flops in addition to the hot buffet.

Cute! They also had pink and blue flip flops, small, medium and large.

The champagne was not free, however, as I hear it has been in years past. Sara was kind enough to buy me a glass so we toasted a great day and then headed back to our resort to shower.

My friends enjoying their post-race pampering;). (Beth’s daughter Rose, the cute blond in the middle, ran her first 13.1! And she’s only 14! Impressive.)

Since I plan on greatly reducing the number of Disney races I do each year, I think I will be splurging on this luxury from now on. It just made the entire day feel very civilized and we felt so pampered, just as princesses should!!

Happy Running!

Jen