Nothing makes you feel more like a princess than a visit to Disney. Add in something major, like a RunDisney race, and you are given the true royal treatment. I had heard about RunDisney before, but had never considered a race. Not until a friend asked if I would do one with her. In the summer of 2013 I committed to doing the Disney World Princess Half Marathon in February 2015 with Jenny.
I went into this race knowing I wasn't doing it for time, but only for fun. Especially since I'd be running in a tutu. Every princess needs a tutu, right? :) Beyond my running attire, there are more than 20,000 people running in this half marathon. There was a good chance it would be too crowded to run fast enough for a PR. There was a time while training that I thought MAYBE I'd be able to PR. I had 4 long runs in a row where my average pace would have given me a PR. Even after those, I kept telling myself it was unlikely. I'm glad I didn't have my heart set on it.
Race weekend seemed to be creeping up slowly. I guess a year and a half wait will do that. Finally it was time. This race was so spectacular! It's hard to know where to start. Jenny and I decided to get up early on Saturday so that we could go to bed early that night. To give us something to do, we decided to go to the Enchanted 10k that was also happening at Disney World. My friend Tisa and her sister would be running the 10k and I was hoping there was a chance we could see her. So Jenny, Scott, and I got up and found a perfect spectating point.
Not only did we get to be spectators, something that I have never really done, but we got to watch a gorgeous sunrise over Disney World. Jenny and I clapped and screamed for runners for almost two hours as the went by. Spectating is so much fun! It also brings to perspective the other side of things as I ran the next day. And bonus, we DID see Tisa. :-D
After watching the race for a couple hours we went home to get ready for the day. We still had to go to the race expo to get our race packets and run a couple other errands. At the expo things got a little more real. It was huge!
It was a lot of fun walking around the expo, but my favorite part of the day was when I got to hear my favorite Biggest Loser contestant speak.
Danni Allen won her season of Biggest Loser a couple seasons ago. She seemed the most "real" on the show, and seeing her in person was so neat. She talked about her journey and her beliefs where it comes to health and fitness. We seem to feel the same about a lot. She also answered questions about the show. It was great!
We spent the rest of the day keeping busy until bedtime. We were aiming for an early bedtime because we had to get up at 3:00am!
Finally, it's race day! The reason for getting up so early is because we need to be to our corral by 5:00. We needed to leave the house by 4. It didn't take long to get to Disney. Jenny only lives 10-15 minutes away. The time it takes to get from our parking spot to our corral took longer than that. A lot longer. I'm estimating it was somewhere between a mile and a mile and a half from one to the other. Add to that all the beautiful princesses we would be running with and a potty stop, We got to our corral right around 5:00. It was nice having some time before we started. I thought time would drag, but instead there was enough going on that it was time to start before I knew it. Jenny and I were in Corral D. I was excited about how close we were. I thought that with so many people, even though we were only four corrals back, we would be further from the start.
The first two were sent off (by the Fairy God Mother!) fairly close together, and then maybe 5 minutes between the next two. Each corral gets a firework send off!
Now for the really good stuff. :) The excitement was emanating from everyone around us. We are running a half marathon. IN DISNEY WORLD! We started on a road outside Epcot and headed towards the Magic Kingdom. The first three miles went by fairly quickly. Through out the course there were Disney characters on the sidelines for photo ops. Jenny and I didn't stop, but I tried to take pics while running. Usually it works, but since it was still dark most of my pictures turned out blurry. The first character stop was Captain Jack and his ship. We also saw the men of Disney in the first 2-4 miles. It's too easy to lose track of where I saw everyone. :)
Just after mile 5 we made a turn that would take us to what I think was the cast member entrance onto Main Street USA- the main drag in the Magic Kingdom. Jenny had been building up the moment. Each step closer she'd tell me a few more turns until we were there. Nothing prepared me for it though. I expected the feeling I'd have when I got to the castle (coming up soon...), but oh my word, we made the turn and all of a sudden there were a TON of spectators and I was in the Magic Kingdom. The buildings were all lit up and people were yelling and clapping and smiling at us. All of a sudden I couldn't see through the tears in my eyes. It was a very cool moment. Somewhere in the crowd on Main Street Scott and Jenny's husband and son were waiting for us. I never saw them, but Jenny did. I loved knowing they were there, even when I didn't see them. After going down Main Street USA we did a small curve through Tomorrow Land and then BAM! Cinderella's Castle. Ohhh my word! I felt like a giddy little girl. It was barely getting light out at this point, but we managed to get a sort of castle selfie.
Smiles as big as they can get!! As we ran through the castle Hans, Anna, and Elsa were standing on a castle balcony to greet us!
We came out of the castle and stopped for a professional picture in front of the castle, and then we were back on our way. We ran through part of Frontier Land, passing Splash Mountain, and then we were out of the Magic Kingdom. I was almost sad. :)
Once we left the Magic Kingdom we still had fun, but there wasn't quite the excitement build up. Thankfully we had a few characters along the way. The pics aren't great, but the memories with them are.
The course is an out and back course so at this point there were few turns before the finish line, and most of those happened in the last two or three miles. That means that for almost 4 miles in the last half of this distance race it's about pushing through mental blocks and, in my case, some foot pain. I desperately needed new shoes and I was feeling it. I tried not to complain. I'm not sure if I succeeded. I don't know if Jenny would even tell me if I had complained too much. Things got quite in those miles. We did make a friend in mile 9-ish. I don't even remember how but she just struck up conversation with us. She stayed with Jenny and me for a couple miles. Her name was Amy and she was a very welcome, talkative, distraction.
I usually hit a wall around mile 9 or 10, I managed to push it away, but it pushed back and around 11 1/2 we were on our way up an overpass and I lost control. It took a little longer than normal to get my breathing back to normal. I was actually a little scared about how poorly I was breathing. I'm so thankful for Jenny and how understanding she was. She talked me down and and reminded me how great we had been doing. The fact that she reminded me about the cruise we were getting on later that day probably helped some too. I had completely forgotten about it. Shocker. I know. :) Anyway, I went in to mile 12 determined to finish fast and proud. It was the LONGEST final mile. EV-ER. I truly can't remember a final mile to any race feeling like it took as long as this one did. I know it was mental though.
The huge pick me up was when Jenny said, "Are you ready for this?" and all of a sudden we turned and there was Spaceship Earth!
As we entered Epcot there was music playing. I don't know for sure, but I am almost sure it was the soundtrack to Soarin'. (Side note, if you haven't been on Soarin' it needs to be on your must list.) The music was the perfect push I needed to finish. I can't say I sped up, but it made me feel like I could. Just before the bridge to the World Showcase, The Fairy Godmother was waiting to tell us we were almost done. We made a hairpin turn and Spaceship Earth was right in front of me again.
After we exited Epcot things are a little muddled in my head. I know there was only about 1/4 mile left. I know we passed a beautiful gospel choir and then we turned and saw the finish line. The most beautiful finish line I'd ever seen. And Donald was there!!
Jenny and I crossed the finish line holding hands in the air. Jenny got a PR! I'm very proud of her. I know I held her back too. I can only imagine how much faster she would have gone. I'm looking forward to hearing about her next half. We finished in 2:12:03, average pace 10:05. From the start of our training Jenny and I had said that we anticipated about a 10 minute pace, even when I had my faster training runs. So I'm thrilled that we stuck close to it.
After receiving our medals we got sprinkled with Pixie Dust!!
To say this race was magical is a huge understatement. It is clear the directors work hard to put on something so organized and special. Every detail from the expo to the parts beyond the finish line sparkled with happiness. I can't wait to do it again sometime!!
