Which came first? (NOT about chickens and eggs)

[ksoehrlein]

For all you Disney racers out there, which came first: your love of Disney theme parks or your interest in training and racing?

For me, it was definitely Disney Parks first. A while after I joined the DIS Boards, I started lurking around the WISH threads and -- despite being a total couch potato -- I became intrigued by the thought of running a race at WDW. (As in, "There's something other people are doing at WDW that I've never done before?" ) It captured my imagination, I took the plunge and registered for the 2008 Race for the Taste, and here I am with a half marathon under my belt, another in my sights, and a registration for the 2010 WDW Marathon in my email in-box. I've made a pretty dramatic lifestyle change, and "it all started with a Mouse."

Now I know this is the DIS Boards so the poll may have a built-in bias, but I'm curious to hear your story. Did your love of Disney Parks change your life the way it did mine and lead you to start training? Or did your love of training/racing lead to a Disney event, which then led to an interest (or obsession ) in the Disney parks? Have you always been both a fitness and Disney enthusiast? Or are you just here for the WISH Team, with no real interest in Disney Parks? Please discuss!

 

[FireDancer]

Mine are completely unrelated. I was always a big Disney fan as a kid and played a lot of sports. After college I had time to get back in shape so I started lifting weights, running, cycling, eating right, etc. After I got some mileage up I decided to try the Disney half.

Now, the way I found the DIS was a Google search once for "Disney + running". I started reading the WISH board, wandered around the other boards, found the podcast, the rest is history.

 

[Kirsty-Leigh]

(As in, "There's something other people are doing at WDW that I've never done before?" ) It captured my imagination, I took the plunge and registered for the 2008 Race for the Taste, and here I am with a half marathon under my belt, another in my sights, and a registration for the 2010 WDW Marathon in my email in-box. I've made a pretty dramatic lifestyle change, and "it all started with a Mouse."

I am exactly the same as you, except I was at Disney in Jan '08 and accidently ended up at the finish line of the Marathon, there I was cheering on people and thinking, "there is something at Disney I havent experienced in my 20 yrs of coming here, where do I sign up?" So I registered for the Minnie marathon in '08 then ran a few other races and realized its not as much fun without the mouse, so I came back for the princess, and last week I signed up for my first Goofy !!!!

SO it also started with the mouse for me, yet another thing I have to thank him for!!!

Kirsty