It’s already been five years running as the #PrincessMen .. Five?! Crazy!

Really though, it’s wild to think that we’ve been doing this so many years in a row already. And even more wild to consider how many people still get a kick out of seeing us out there running. And now we see a lot more men dressing as princesses on the course – I like to think that we have had a hand in that to some degree. So many people comment and post and social telling us they’re going to dress as a princess the following year, or ladies comment and say they’re going to make their S.O. dress up and run with them! It’s awesome. 

But let’s recap a few numbers, yeah?
5 – years running and still positively received 
4 – additional friends have joined the original group
4 – times in Buzzfeed in the past years
3 – times posted to runDisney’s social channels this year alone <-this one is the coolest

Really though.. making their social feed the day of the race is probably the coolest acknowledgement we’ve received



We’ve made several different posts, blogs, and feeds over the years. Last year runDisney featured us about a week after the event. It was Me/Jasmine, Beau/Pocahontas, and Joe/Belle in a Boomerang on IG and FB. 
We’ve been in Buzzfeed several times for best dressed, funny costumes, etc. 
But this year making the official runDisney social feeds the day of the race, as well as being acknowledged as we crossed the finish line was by far the coolest one so far. 



Haven’t heard/seen anything from our past years? You can check those out below if you’re curious and have a lot of time to kill.
Year One – how it started
Year Two – the return
Year Three – we all grew beards
Year Four – scattered on the course
which then bring us to…

Year Five

Going into our fifth year we had the full group back again and as far as I knew, everyone was ready to run. 

Myself, along with Pocahontas and Mulan had decided to do the Challenge. And that turned out to be a great thing because the Challenge medal was Jasmine. And I would have been pissed to miss out on the Jasmine medal since that’s my character. I had previously run the Disneyland 10k several years ago solely because it was an Aladdin medal. 
To be honest though, all my Disney run medals are in a box. An Amazon box to be specific. They’re ridiculously huge and I simply don’t have the space to hang them all over my walls. I have my Ironman medals in a shadow box because those are races I (personally) had to work hard for. Disney races are simply for fun for me and my friends and we find enjoyment in not taking them seriously.

What submitted time?

Heading into race-month everyone within our group started talking about starting corral plans and questioning our submitted run times. 
I honestly don’t know why Disney breaks up the runners around corrals the way they do, I’m sure there’s some method to it. If I had to guess, it’s because the field would be incredibly lopsided between a faster section and a slower section. So, perhaps they scatter people around to keep the field mixed and diverse. 
But I will also say that the only reason this bothers me, personally, is that I run an A-pace and submitted a 45min 10k time… And I was assigned Corral E. I would have preferred that me and my group all have been assigned D corral. The reason for that is I require ask-very-nicely everyone in our group submit run times so we can choose which corral to start in just ahead of mid-pack. The size of our group, plus stopping/slowing for photos with other runners pushes us further and further back in the overall race. And I like to get us to the finish with enough time to say hello to the friends we’ve made who look forward to photos with us, or the people who want to meet us for the first time. 

…and we honestly do not run the race that fast anyway

During the Half I will push the group to maintain a 12:30 pace. This is not-fast for most of us, and in fact somewhat painful for several of us whose natural stride (like me) is much quicker. So each year my friends all get to tolerate me either telling them to slow down cuz we’re going too quick, or tell everyone in the back that we’re going to keep going and not slow down because we’re staying in the 12’s. It just depends on which half of our group people fall into to determine which bad-guy I am to them. haha! But, everyone deals with it, tolerates me being strict about it on the course, and afterward we all grab lunch and laugh and continue to have a great vacation together. 
It is truly win-win for everyone I believe, and, as old friends do, we all annoy each other a bit on the course because of different athletic abilities… and then we leave that frustration on the course when we’re done. 

So how was our weekend?

I’m going to leave a lot of the rest of my comments for my photos. I could easily write a huge breakdown of our weekend together for everyone. But that’s just not important on these type of Race Reports. I save my overly detailed stuff for other events and triathlons. 
I know most of you likely came here to see photos. 

And for everyone that tagged us on social media… those are wayyyy down at the bottom. I do my best to collect images from around the web that I can find that people shared with us. 

So, read on if you’re still curious to check out weekend and fifth year as the #PrincessMen. 
And for those of you racing in 2020, we’ll see you then! 


The 10k with Pocahontas and Mulan


We we were not fast.
To be honest, I was feeling not-so-great that morning of the race. I had food poisoning of some kind the day before and was still recovering. But a 10k wasn’t going to kill me so I wasn’t going to skip the race. Plus I wanted my Jasmine Challenge medal. 
Me, Beau, and Chris started the race out slow and easy the first mile and a half… then it was just so muggy that our wigs became a legitimate concern. 

I’m not even joking. My wig started to fall loose with some flyaways, Beau’s wig started to knot up, and Chris’… well his was actually doing ok because his was an up-do. (There’s a full sentence I never thought I’d write). 
Anyway we ended up walking a lot of the 10k because getting incredibly sweaty and ruining our wigs before the Half the next morning was not worth it. And my stomach still bothering me wasn’t helping much either. 

All in all, still a great little race morning. and the 10k is excellent because you finish so early in the day. I think the 10k is actually a pretty perfect distance most of the time. Short enough to sprint if you want. Short enough to wear extremely elaborate costumes if you want. And short enough that you finish early enough to have the whole day ahead. 


The Half Marathon

Despite pushing everyone hard at the beginning the of the race, our back half was pretty slow. The good part is that the slower half of our group pushed themselves enough to stay up with us and we all largely finished together. 
I’m sure I’ll push everyone to train harder for next year, though. This pace is nearly twice as slow as I typically run – so half steps for me for 3 hours is brutal, man. haha! But if everyone in our group could reach a point that we remain in the 12’s the whole time, that’d be excellent. 

We’ll probably never get a full group shot crossing the finish cuz there are so many of us, but oh well..

Either way, read on below for more photos! 


The Weekend

Waiting at the airport for my flight. I realized i tend to wear this sweater a lot when I travel. 
But that’s how you do it with events, right? Wear gear from an event you’re proud of. In my case that’s Ironman:Lake Tahoe.

I actually got to fly with Beau on the way out. 15 years of traveling to Florida of reunions and trips together and we’ve never actually flown at the same time. hahaha

Pickin the up the rental car

So Chris was arriving 30 minutes after we got the rental car. And we went back in the airport to get food and wait. 
This proved a HUGE mistake for me as I’m 99% sure I got mild food poisoning from my dinner that night. Damn it. 

Catching up and laughing on the drive to the condo. 
Little did I know that I’m be up sick/nauseous the rest of the night through the next morning. It was horrible.  

Yoooo, is my screen working? I can’t see anything in this sunlight??

Joe/Belle caught up with us that morning. We were waiting around so Beau could have a henna tattoo done for Pocahontas 

The girl who did the henna thought Beau was joking at first. Nope. He’s definitely not joking

Brunch later that morning

Arriving at Wide World to check in. 
I can’t believe it’s already been a year since last time

Boys day out, amirite?

See what these guys get for becoming friends with me?? Getting them all out to do races. In drag. lol

Expo time. 
We were recognized (or I was) walking down the stairs as we entered. I think that’s record time…

Heading over the souvenir side of the expo

Even though I wasn’t feeling 100% I was super excited that it was Aladdin themed

Dis me! 

As we were leaving Sydnee was in line to get a photo with the glass slipper guys and saw us and yelled hello. I didn’t hear her but Biggs saw her/her reaction and yelled to me to stop. We talked for a minute and got a photo! She was laughing and saying she was so excited to find us since she saw us online. Thanks Sydnee for being awesome! Sorry I didn’t hear you the first time!

Low key evening with an early morning ahead. I went to bed early since I was still feeling a bit wrecked. 

Ugh. Horrible. 
We weren’t sure exactly how early we needed to get up so we played it safe. 
But 2:30 am is only 11:30pm for me and Beau who are still on CA time. We’re still awake at that time at home.

So, John… describe your friendship in a photo… 

Chris bought a new costume literally three days before the race and had it shipped to our friends local in Orlando. Probably the smartest thing he did since it looked a million times lighter than past years

we’re literally all on our phones. haha

Gotta make sure that dress is on right!

Heading in. Laughing at some of the “oh god…” comments we heard people say. haha!

Yasss, first Jasmine of the morning!

Biggs is always thrilled to find other Mulans. These girls were awesome and all had great costumes

Beau’s knee-pop might win this one, but her hair is way better, bro.. Sorry

Workin our way to the start. Little by little. 
I was freezing at this point. Honestly because I was still trying to kick that food-poisoning thing, not because it was cold out. 

Sun is coming up!

Beau detoured for some Icy-Hot since his shorts were rubbing under his dress..

“Oh I’m getting a photo of this bro… you can remember it forever”

Looking fab in Epcot. 
See how our wigs were already falling apart in the humidity? This is why we ended up walking a lot of the race

Nearly done 

Found an Elsa!

Nadine and Jenni! We have photos with them every year pretty much!

 

Back at the condo that evening. 

Everyone hit that point of just being tired/screwed up from travel and early mornings. 

But it was great to sit around and catch up over dinner with everyone. 
Super low key and a great way to spend time together before an early day for all of us. 

The guys cleaned up after the girls had cooked. 

You know, for someone who does photography professionally my selfie-game was weak that weekend..

Everyone getting ready to turn in. Gotta be awake in about 6 hours

Ugh. Another early day. But we all got up at 3am… slept in just slightly. haha!

Fitness game ready, ladies!? …close enough

Ric is way too happy to wear his wig and dress, I swear..

Quick bite before heading out

How do we look?

Fabulous. That’s how we look. 

Arriving at Epcot

Timed it just right with Scott/Theresa, too

This was great, Joe found a female Gaston

Ana arrived! Had to get a photo with her as always!

Woo hoo! another Jasmine! 

Crew’s all here!

Walking to the start corrals

That’s a long way up there, man…

Ryan went as Snow White this year instead of Anna. Honestly the sweat band and chest hair were funniest parts of his whole costume. hahaha

Getting closer.. little by little 

Magic Kingdom entrance gate!

Ok so the group is too big to get the sign in it, oh well

Hi Mickey!

In line at the castle

I made everyone stop for a group shop in Magic

Sorta worked out, haha

Bigg’s parents always come down to Orlando to cheer us on. it’s awesome

they’re always right there by the castle waiting to cheer on their daughter son

Back out on the course on the roads.
We lucked out and it stayed overcast nearly the entire day

These girls in the back photo bombing are great!

Approaching Epcot. Walking to give our group some time to catch back up

they changed the route this year so you couldn’t get a group shot in front of the Epcot ball/Spaceship Earth. bummer!

Another great year! 

The Lifeguard group. 
We all met working the water parks here at Disney years ago. 

Another dude as Jasmine! Had to go get a photo with him

Later that night we all went for ice cream before getting dinner. Like champions do. haha

Early morning for Beau and I again. Heading home

I paid the $40 for priority boarding upgrade since my flight was full and I wanted the extra-leg-room seat

Quiet flight home, which was good. I mostly rested since it was a long weekend without much rest

Arriving home in the SF Bay

there’s always that guy at the airport that waits right at the baggage door… foot on the belt.. like the extra 20 seconds he’ll save are life and death

Lunch back home. 
After not feeling totally 100% Saturday and Sunday from that food poisoning or whatever, it was great to finally feel like I could eat something. And a burger sounded amazing. 

 

And just like that, another year done!


Finding our tagged photos online searching #PrincessMen

First up.. tracking down photo tags on Instagram – I’m sure I missed a bunch, though..

 

Andddd, Facebook posts: 

I posted up in two different groups on Facebook

Whew! That’s it… I think I found most all the tagged photos of us from the race. 

Thanks again to everyone for sharing!

 

 

Waiting at the airport for my flight. I realized i tend to wear this sweater a lot when I travel. 
But that’s how you do it with events, right? Wear gear from an event you’re proud of. In my case that’s Ironman:Lake Tahoe.

I actually got to fly with Beau on the way out. 15 years of traveling to Florida of reunions and trips together and we’ve never actually flown at the same time. hahaha

Pickin the up the rental car

So Chris was arriving 30 minutes after we got the rental car. And we went back in the airport to get food and wait. 
This proved a HUGE mistake for me as I’m 99% sure I got mild food poisoning from my dinner that night. Damn it. 

Catching up and laughing on the drive to the condo. 
Little did I know that I’m be up sick/nauseous the rest of the night through the next morning. It was horrible.  

Yoooo, is my screen working? I can’t see anything in this sunlight??

Joe/Belle caught up with us that morning. We were waiting around so Beau could have a henna tattoo done for Pocahontas 

The girl who did the henna thought Beau was joking at first. Nope. He’s definitely not joking

Brunch later that morning

Arriving at Wide World to check in. 
I can’t believe it’s already been a year since last time

Boys day out, amirite?

See what these guys get for becoming friends with me?? Getting them all out to do races. In drag. lol

Expo time. 
We were recognized (or I was) walking down the stairs as we entered. I think that’s record time…

Heading over the souvenir side of the expo

Even though I wasn’t feeling 100% I was super excited that it was Aladdin themed

Dis me! 

As we were leaving Sydnee was in line to get a photo with the glass slipper guys and saw us and yelled hello. I didn’t hear her but Biggs saw her/her reaction and yelled to me to stop. We talked for a minute and got a photo! She was laughing and saying she was so excited to find us since she saw us online. Thanks Sydnee for being awesome! Sorry I didn’t hear you the first time!

Low key evening with an early morning ahead. I went to bed early since I was still feeling a bit wrecked. 

Ugh. Horrible. 
We weren’t sure exactly how early we needed to get up so we played it safe. 
But 2:30 am is only 11:30pm for me and Beau who are still on CA time. We’re still awake at that time at home.

So, John… describe your friendship in a photo… 

Chris bought a new costume literally three days before the race and had it shipped to our friends local in Orlando. Probably the smartest thing he did since it looked a million times lighter than past years

we’re literally all on our phones. haha

Gotta make sure that dress is on right!

Heading in. Laughing at some of the “oh god…” comments we heard people say. haha!

Yasss, first Jasmine of the morning!

Biggs is always thrilled to find other Mulans. These girls were awesome and all had great costumes

Beau’s knee-pop might win this one, but her hair is way better, bro.. Sorry

Workin our way to the start. Little by little. 
I was freezing at this point. Honestly because I was still trying to kick that food-poisoning thing, not because it was cold out. 

Sun is coming up!

Beau detoured for some Icy-Hot since his shorts were rubbing under his dress..

“Oh I’m getting a photo of this bro… you can remember it forever”

Looking fab in Epcot. 
See how our wigs were already falling apart in the humidity? This is why we ended up walking a lot of the race

Nearly done 

Found an Elsa!

Nadine and Jenni! We have photos with them every year pretty much!

 

Back at the condo that evening. 

Everyone hit that point of just being tired/screwed up from travel and early mornings. 

But it was great to sit around and catch up over dinner with everyone. 
Super low key and a great way to spend time together before an early day for all of us. 

The guys cleaned up after the girls had cooked. 

You know, for someone who does photography professionally my selfie-game was weak that weekend..

Everyone getting ready to turn in. Gotta be awake in about 6 hours

Ugh. Another early day. But we all got up at 3am… slept in just slightly. haha!

Fitness game ready, ladies!? …close enough

Ric is way too happy to wear his wig and dress, I swear..

Quick bite before heading out

How do we look?

Fabulous. That’s how we look. 

Arriving at Epcot

Timed it just right with Scott/Theresa, too

This was great, Joe found a female Gaston

Ana arrived! Had to get a photo with her as always!

Woo hoo! another Jasmine! 

Crew’s all here!

Walking to the start corrals

That’s a long way up there, man…

Ryan went as Snow White this year instead of Anna. Honestly the sweat band and chest hair were funniest parts of his whole costume. hahaha

Getting closer.. little by little 

Magic Kingdom entrance gate!

Ok so the group is too big to get the sign in it, oh well

Hi Mickey!

In line at the castle

I made everyone stop for a group shop in Magic

Sorta worked out, haha

Bigg’s parents always come down to Orlando to cheer us on. it’s awesome

they’re always right there by the castle waiting to cheer on their daughter son

Back out on the course on the roads.
We lucked out and it stayed overcast nearly the entire day

These girls in the back photo bombing are great!

Approaching Epcot. Walking to give our group some time to catch back up

they changed the route this year so you couldn’t get a group shot in front of the Epcot ball/Spaceship Earth. bummer!

Another great year! 

The Lifeguard group. 
We all met working the water parks here at Disney years ago. 

Another dude as Jasmine! Had to go get a photo with him

Later that night we all went for ice cream before getting dinner. Like champions do. haha

Early morning for Beau and I again. Heading home

I paid the $40 for priority boarding upgrade since my flight was full and I wanted the extra-leg-room seat

Quiet flight home, which was good. I mostly rested since it was a long weekend without much rest

Arriving home in the SF Bay

there’s always that guy at the airport that waits right at the baggage door… foot on the belt.. like the extra 20 seconds he’ll save are life and death

Lunch back home. 
After not feeling totally 100% Saturday and Sunday from that food poisoning or whatever, it was great to finally feel like I could eat something. And a burger sounded amazing. 

 

And just like that, another year done!


Finding our tagged photos online searching #PrincessMen

First up.. tracking down photo tags on Instagram – I’m sure I missed a bunch, though..

 

Andddd, Facebook posts: 

I posted up in two different groups on Facebook

Whew! That’s it… I think I found most all the tagged photos of us from the race. 

Thanks again to everyone for sharing!

 

 

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