This weekend, the next runDisney race will be happening. It’s the Princess Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World. For the past week or so, I’ve been reading lots of bloggers posts who are going to Walt Disney World for this event. Since this is a race I will most likely never participate in, I’d like to highlight a few blogs that I found useful posted by those who are going or have run in this weekend in the past.

• Sarah, from Running at Disney, has put together a great one stop shop for all the information relevant for this years event in this blog post. If you haven’t visited Running at Disney, you should. Sarah does a great job at covering all of the runDisney races. It doesn’t matter if she’s actually running in the event, she will cover the event throughly. She always seems to have posts like this one about each and every runDisney race.
• The ladies at Prairie Princess Runners have put together a two-part blog post about how to survive the madness of this event. Part 1, and Part 2 could actually be posted about any runDisney race in Florida. So, even if you’re not planning on being in town for the Princess Half Marathon, you should check these posts out for information on what to expect at a runDisney race in Florida.
• Karen, from Just Me and My Running Shoes wrote an article that I wish I would have seen before heading out to Florida for my first race-cation in this blog post. She talks about how she packs for a run event that she has to fly out for. There are some great nuggets of information that I think would be very useful to anyone who flies out to a race…runDisney related or not.
• Heather, from Through Heather’s Looking Glass also wrote a post last year around the time of registration for this year’s Princess Half Marathon that offers some helpful tips as well.
• Sarah, from Sparkly Runner, remembers her experience of running the Princess Half Marathon in 2012 in this post. I love reading Sarah’s race recaps. If her race recaps don’t inspire you to get out and run long distance races, I don’t know what will. 

I wanted to highlight this event because it’s the latest runDisney race and the Expo for this year’s race has already opened. I said that I will probably never run this event. It’s not because it’s a bad event or something no one should run. I said it because I’m a guy. It’s a Princess themed race that’s in Florida. Out here in California, we already have one of those. It’s called the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. So, if I want to get out with all the princesses, I have an option that doesn’t require airfare. Running the Tinker Bell Half Marathon was amazing last year! It’s a race I’ll never forget and could see myself running again.

Now that I’ve spent so much of this post on a race I will not be running, I want to move on to races I do have on my calendar….

2014 Angels Baseball Foundation 5K – March 29th

For the third year in a row, I will be running in this super fun 5K. If you’d like to see what this race was like, you can check out my blog from last year, here. After running this race for two years in a row, why might I want to come back? Well, for starters, I’ve been hearing rumblings around the internet about the Disneyland Half Marathon course not being able to run through the Big A this year because the Angels are playing a game that afternoon (although, no official race course has been anounced). So, instead of missing out on a chance to run through the stadium this year, I decided to run in the Angels 5K to make sure I get that opportunity. Secondly, after two years of running this race without the benefit of earning a finishers medal, the race organizers are adding that perk to this years race. Before hearing about the possibility of missing out on running through the stadium at the Disneyland Half Marathon, it is this reason that made registering really tempting. I mean, after 2 years of running this race and NOT getting a medal, I owe it to myself to get one this year. Right? Third, my friend Emmanuel said he’d run this race with Brooke and I this year! So, for those three reasons, I decided to register. Even though it is not part of why I’m running this years race, they have also changed the course up a little. There will be more time with Angels Stadium in the background than in years past. So, there you have it. If you’d like to register for this race, visit their website and register. 

2014 Hollywood Half Marathon – April 5th

This is the third year for this race. Each of the previous two years, I’ve wanted to run in one of the races they offer but haven’t been able to participate. In their inaugural year, the race was held the day before Easter and I had a rehearsal that morning for my Easter gig. Last year, I didn’t have the money needed to register. So, this year, I was beyond excited about the fact that I had the money ready and the timing of the race worked out for me! Here’s something cool about this race (other than running the streets of Hollywood)…it was voted at the Best Half Marathon in the Pacific West Region by Competitor Magazine! Not bad for a race in its second year!

This video shows what the race director is all about. I love his story. I believe that its him and his wife that run Super Hero Events. They are runners themselves and take in all the criticism to make for a better race experience the next time. Super Hero Events also runs the Awesome 80’s Run that Brooke and I ran in last year. What I experienced in that race confirmed what I read about it. In year 1 of the Awesome 80’s Run there were issues. I read about those issues and saw that they had been solved in year 2. Likewise, year 1 of the Hollywood Half Marathon had issues that the runners who ran in year 2 mentioned were fixed. It’s awesome to see race directors that listen to the runners to create a better event each year. As I’ve mentioned before, Ken won the Inaugural Disneyland 10K race last year. I saw him on the course for the Disneyland Half Marathon as well. If you’d like to register for this race and join me in running the streets of Hollywood this April, visit the official web page, here. You can also find them on Facebook.

A training plan from now until OC Half Marathon will be coming later today or tomorrow in a separate tab. I haven’t officially registered for the OC Half Marathon, on May 4th, but I will be shortly. What races do you have coming up? Is anyone racing in the Princess Half Marathon this weekend?