{"id":22451,"date":"2025-03-06T14:07:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.johnremus.com\/blog\/?p=22451"},"modified":"2026-03-07T21:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:09:34","slug":"year-eleven-of-princessmen-and-another-triple-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnremus.com\/blog\/year-eleven-of-princessmen-and-another-triple-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Year Eleven of PrincessMen – and another triple challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another PHM race weekend has already flown by again. These weekends are ones that we all look forward to as it’s become our annual reunion trip for quite some time now.
\nAnd while some years are busier for some more than others, it’s still a blast to have some time to sit around and catch up with old friends – oh, and run three early morning races.<\/p>\n

That, too..<\/p>\n

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Wednesday<\/h2>\n

This trip started off with another Wednesday of travel for me. It’s been my go-to method the last couple years to fly in “early” and get a hotel room at the Marriott Bonvoy for one night before kicking off the weekend with everyone on Thursday at the Hilton Vacation Club we usually stay at.
\nThis trip I flew out of Orange County again on a first flight out to try and avoid any delays. Work had been pretty hectic, so I was quite ready to start my vacation (as much as possible with the occasional work email I expected to get).
\nI arrived that evening, picked up my rental minivan, and got checked into the hotel. What was great is that Biggs was already in town, too, so we had time that evening to just sit around and chat about a whole range of topics while I waited for Kellie’s late night flight to arrive from Boston.<\/p>\n

Thursday<\/h2>\n

Thursday morning started off chilly! We got dressed in shorts for the day, and quickly changed to jeans before going to pick up Biggs, and then heading heading down to Check-In at Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

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Naidymar met us there right after we got in the long, but fast moving, line to check in and get our bibs. After the bibs, and retrieving our shirts, we sat down for lunch to wait until our turn for the Expo. We had logged into the app and got our placeholders that morning, but the digital queue was moving pretty slow. There were Jasmine and Mulan themes this year but I have to admit that neither myself nor Biggs really cared for the designs of the merch. Compare that to the 2023 Jasmine 5k artwork that I really loved and this year was a bit of a disappointment to me. I don’t think I bought much more than a pin and magnet “because they had jasmine and I always buy one”. At least I saved money.<\/p>\n

That afternoon included a pit stop to Target to stock up on food and drinks for the weekend ahead. Beau arrived late that night on a flight this time rather than driving in. And then it was just a matter of trying to get a bit of sleep before the first of the early mornings ahead.<\/p>\n

Friday – 5k Race Day<\/h2>\n

3:00 AM, a cold race morning again<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first of the early mornings is always the hardest for me coming from California time. That’s only midnight at home.
\nThe race course was changed since last year as well – the route through Epcot changes nearly every year based around park maintenance and construction.<\/p>\n

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One thing I did ahead of this trip was order a bulk package of space blankets on Amazon to bring to the race. That morning was 43 degrees outside<\/strong>, which is damn cold – especially in our costumes. But we had our space blankets to use which helped a ton.
\nWe met up with Amanda, Lorren, and Jillian while Beau did morning-of bib pickup again and then made our way to corrals, and start of the race.<\/p>\n

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The race itself was a very crisp run – especially near the start that passes all the grassy areas and you have extra-cold air coming off the grass and marsh. But we kept a steady pace in the chilly weather to not take much longer out there than we needed to.<\/p>\n

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It was still dark at the finish, we got the quick group selfie with everyone and our fresh new runDisney blankets. And then we headed out to go change, warm up, and start the day.<\/p>\n

That afternoon was followed by going back to the Expo once more – this time with Beau, Aaron, and Tracie so they could all check in and collect their stuff as well<\/p>\n

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I had bought everyone shirts on Ebay\/Amazon with our princesses on them because OF COURSE.
\nSo clearly we all looked great.<\/p>\n

Saturday – 10k Race Day<\/h2>\n

3:00 AM, Earlier Morning. still a bit crisp\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Challenge Day 1, for me, Beau, Biggs, Naidymar, Kellie, and Tracie<\/p>\n

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Not quite as bad out weather-wise this 10k. But still a chilly arrival.<\/p>\n

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The group of us got split up on this race day, as expected, with Beau and I jogging along ahead of everyone else doing their own pace. Kellie ran with her sister Tracie.<\/p>\n

Once the sun came out it turned into a great morning – and later a great day. I enjoyed the amount of Aladdin themed costumes of course since this was the Jasmine 10k, after all.<\/p>\n

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That afternoon I met up with Joe and Erin for some annual family photos. And then caught up with the rest of the group at Downtown Disney for Ghirardelli and people watching<\/p>\n

Sunday – Half Marathon Day<\/h2>\n

2:30 AM, a packed house and our earliest morning of the weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’re all very squarely adults at this point. Quite a few people have families and kids. But there’s a still a level of fun with a tinge of nostalgia mixed in on a morning like this. Everyone had all crashed together at our resort so we could all get up and get ready together in the morning. And it’s just so much fun to talk and laugh as we’re all getting ready. It’s reminiscent of the huge trips we would do together after college – everyone packed into one place as a group on vacation.<\/p>\n

Although back during those trips we were still awake at 230am from the night before… not getting up to start a new day and go running…<\/p>\n

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It was another cool morning, but between all the space blankets we had from the 5k and 10k days, and remaining ones I brought, we were all set<\/p>\n

And after making our way through all the corrals we ended up right at the rope for where they cut the group between waves. As soon as the rope dropped, though, Aaron TOOK OFF RUNNING AND SCREAMING. It was honestly hilarious. And one of the guys in the stands not only caught it on video from that perspective, but found us after the race and got us a copy of it.<\/p>\n