I just had one of the best experiences of my life. I mean that with all of my heart. My friend Jen and I spent the weekend in Orlando and ran in the inaugural Disney "Princess" Half Marathon.

     It was beyond amazing.

    We started the race at Epcot and ran 13.1 miles through the Magic Kingdom and other parts of Disney.  There were thousands of "princesses" running in the race and about 200 "princes" joined us. A lot of the women were wearing costumes or custom t-shirts. I shot video the whole time. It's really shaky ala "The Blair Witch Project" but as soon as it's ready I'll post it. You will love some of the outfits these women came up with. I couldn't get over the creativity. It was awesome.

    It was such an empowering event. I was really moved by the fact that all of these women joined together to stay fit and achieve a goal. It also helped raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and you can't beat that! 

    The runners came from all over the world. I heard French, Spanish and some German while we were waiting in line. I saw women in wheelchairs, teenagers, grandmothers, best friends, sisters and everything in between. Everyone was excited, supportive and pushing each other to make it to the finish line.

   I started to cry a couple of times just because of the sheer emotion of it all. Towards the end I wanted to cry because I was in physical pain and thought I wasn't going to make it (:  It took a long time for me to finish. I wanted to beat my time from the half-marathon we ran at Marshall in November but I didn't come close. Clearly, I need to train harder.

   All along the race route there were special suprises. They had all the Disney princesses and characters set up at different spots to cheer us on and pose for pictures. There was also plenty of musical inspiration. Several d.j's, a drum corp, a string quartet provided us some music to keep moving.

   Add to that thousands of friends and family who turned out to give their support. My mom was there and probably more excited than we were. She took a lot of pictures and I could tell that she was so proud. She was so inspired that she told me today that she is going to start entering 5k run\walks.

   The volunteers were also supportive beyond belief. Throughout the route they were ready and waiting with water, Gatorade, protein bars, energy shots, BioFreeze, Vaseline and plenty of positive reinforcement. There was a lot of clapping and shouting. They were the best group of cheerleaders I've ever seen.

     It was the first year for the Princess run and I would definitely call it a success. The first woman to cross the finish line did it in 1 hour and 16 minutes. Can you imagine that? Simply amazing. What an inspiration!

    Jen and I will be back next year. So will my mom. We're going to try and get our other close friends to sign up too.

   I never thought I would love any shoes unless they came with a 4 inch spiked heel. Now I know that my glass slipper is a running shoe.

 Jessica