…And after this week, I’ll be able to prove it! You see, this weekend is the Run Disney Princess Half Marathon and, of course, I’m participating.
I mean, I am a princess myself, after all. Definitely not official royalty, but I’m a Princess the same way Britney Spears is a “Pop Princess”.
Let’s look at one of the official definitions from Merriam Webster:
“ a woman of high rank or of high standing in her class or profession”
Am I a Princess?
I’m thinking, yeah, this fits for me for more than one category:
- I’m a Pleasure Princess!
- I’m a Rope Princess!
- I’m a Psychic Princess!
- I’m a Love Princess!
So, of course I’m a Run Disney Princess. I’m claiming it and after I prevail over the 10k and half-marathon this weekend, I’ll have the official medal to celebrate my Princess-ship! Princess-hood? Whatever. You know what I mean.
Right now, I’m averaging about 12 minutes per mile, so I’m on course to finish the race on time, with time to spare for character visits.
As would be true for any real Princess, I’m looking forward to meeting some of the characters, but not for normal reasons. My respect for Princesses comes not from their roots in romance or fairytales, but from the strength they find within themselves.
Run Disney Princess Hero #1: Mulan
Mulan is the face of the half-marathon challenge for the Run Disney Princess weekend races. I love that she’s representing my biggest accomplishment of the day, because I am incredibly excited to ‘meet’ her.
One of the things I love about Mulan is that she refuses to define herself by traditional beauty standards. This goes against most of the old school Princess stories, so it made what could have been a traditional Disney story something fresh and new.
Romance is the background (as opposed to the main storyline) in Mulan and it really works to its benefit, allowing a more realistic romance to develop between the two characters. It allowed both Mulan and Li Shang to be human before anything else. That’s such an important thing to remember in relationships.
The most important lesson I took away from Mulan is that strengh comes from our character, not our gender. It showed women could be strong, both physically and mentally. She faces many obstacles, both internal and external, and she prevails.
Plus, who doesn’t LOVE Mushu?
Run Disney Princess Hero #2: Tiana
My favorite thing that they show in “The Princess & the Frog” is Tiana’s frustration. Her life isn’t all peaches and cream; she gets discouraged. She’s honestly the most human Princess I’ve seen yet.
PLUS! She didn’t wait around for a man to sweep her off her feet. She didn’t need a Prince or any other man to make her a whole human. She knew she was enough on her own. I wish we all were born with that confidence!
And of course, representation is important. And this sort of representation didn’t even come along until 2009, which is way too long in my opinion.
Disney Princess Hero #3: Mirabel
Now, I know she’s not officially a Disney Princess yet, but I think she totally deserves to be. Here is a short list why. I could truly spend an entire blog post on this, but I wanna keep this one short, lol.
- She’s the one that answers the call to adventure!
- She has no problem saying exactly what is on her mind.
- She has a superpower of her own: empathy.
- She has a dream… and it’s to be more than she is.
Plus, she talks to animals. Total princess behavior. (Even if they don’t talk back.)
Who’s your favorite Disney Princess? Why do you love ’em? Let me know in the comments.
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