Princess Half Marathon Thank Yous!

A great big “Thank You” to all of our Princess Half Marathon runners. We had 33 amazing runners participate in the weekend! On Saturday evening we hosted a pasta party for our Team Noah members to fuel them up for the big day. It was so great for us to finally meet our supporters who  had been fundraising for us (and very well we might add) for the past few months! We met family and friends and were thrilled to see new friendships forming. Founder Amber Larkin spoke to the runners, thanking them for their generous participation and debuted a thank you video featuring Noah’s sister, Lulu! All in all it was a great evening!

Next, was a 2 am wakeup call to get ready to cheer on our intrepid Team Noah competitors! They trickled in at first, along with a few other runners. Then about 4am, the crowds came and suddenly our tent was swarmed with marathoners who received custom-label water bottles and bracelets! We were out of water and bracelets in the matter of an hour!!

Now to sit and wait to see our runners victorious! Our first runner across the finish line was Winter Garden local, Sylvia Lynch! We had a few more front runners, Cheryl Pesina, Alex Hoffman, Doris Cuervo and Hannah Young. After that, they just kept coming! Some of our runners were “Perfect Princess” (completed all Princess runs)  and we had a couple “Coast-to-Coasters” (races completed at both Disneyland and Disney World.)  We even had a few mother daughter teams. IT was heartwarming for us to be able to be there to celebrate each runner’s amazing accomplishment. You could see it in their faces when they came up to the tent–joy and relief!

Another exceptional moment occurred when a group of 5 Team Noah members, who had never met prior to the weekend, decided to run the race together. It was so inspiring to witness the bond that formed between Manny and Abbi Napoleon, April Erndt, Gillian Carroll, and Lynn Honeckmann. Despite Abbi tweaking her ankle towards the front of the race, the group stayed together, cheering each other on, supporting each other, making sure they all finished! And finish they did!  Congratulations to every one of our Team Noah competitors!!

We really can’t put into words how thankful we are to this inaugural group of runners, but we’ll try!

• We are thankful these runners reached out to their friends and family on our behalf.  In addition to the critical financial support we received, our message was shared across the country–something we wouldn’t be able to achieve without Team Noah’s help.
• We are thankful these runners took a chance to run with a charity rather than just signing up for themselves!
• We are thankful for the commitment of time and energy of each person who contributes, bringing us one step closer to a cure for pediatric brain cancer.

Check out our Facebook album below. If you are interested in becoming a part of Team Noah and running a future runDisney race with us, check out our upcoming events!

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