I AM a Princess

Well- I finished the Princess Half Marathon and I know that should be enough BUT I finished it in the time that I wanted to 2'16"10!!!

It was an amazing experience and I am just chomping to find another race soon :)

My recap is a little haphazard but I just want to remember as much as I can.

I honestly do not understand why Disney required runners to arrive at the starting line so stinking early! It may have had something to do with the 13,000 runners but other marathons don't require you to be there 2 hours ahead of time. It was a very chilly 38 when we arrived at Epcot at 4 a.m. (why oh why) where we sat in my van with the seat warmers going full out until about 4:30. We sadly had to leave the warmth and walked toward to potties ( which for a Disney race -there was hardly a line and they had 3 different locations GREAT JOB ON THIS DISNEY) and then headed through the bag check tents to walk to the starting line. I did read the packet instructions where it said it is a 1/4 mile walk to the start- which I really didn't listen to but I wish I had. We walked in a HUGE circle (over the 1/4 mile) all bundled together and all of this before running a single step. I am guessing once again, that this is because of the number of runners because at 4:30 a.m. it didn't make much sense to me.

We finally arrived at the location of the start and made our way into the corrals. We lined up with the others that were in corral B and then the waiting began. Now, I knew we would be waiting for awhile- nearly an hour and a half before we started running but it was sooooo cold. So, first suggestion to Disney...if the temperature is under 40 please get some of those big heaters and have then set up if you have to have us wait to start for 2 hours. I think all the runners would really appreciate it. So T and I hung out, tried to stay as warm as possible, and chit chatted with the other people around us. We complained a lot about being cold but in the afterglow of a great finish, I don't remember that all too much. Then all of a sudden it was 6 a.m. and time to get started.

We took off at 6:07 and I was so cold from standing outside in 30 degree weather that my toes were a tad frozen. So we started running and I had a plan for this race. I really just looked at is another long run with a lot of people I didn't know. I started running and the pace was a little slower than my usual because i honestly couldn't feel my toes for the first 3 miles. The first 2 miles went by so quickly but i knew they would because you try to get into "your" zone while you have all of these other people trying to get into theirs too. There were the typical people who are so excited to start, that they begin sprinting right from the beginning and there was also those that were walking from the start as well. I figured as long as I just did what I normally did that we would be ok. We hit mile 3 and when I could feel my toes again I began to just look around and enjoy the other runners. My 5k stats were 00:34:08. T and I kept plugging along and at mile 5 were approaching the Magic Kingdom. I have done many Disney races in the past but I do believe that this was my favorite (except for the waiting around). I also knew, that people would be stopping left and right to take pictures during this race, especially in front of the castle. We raced through and saw a ton of characters, they also had the floats from the parade out with the characters around them as well for pictures (which many runners took advantage of). 10K stats were 1:06:30. Miles 7-10, I knew beforehand were going to be long and BORING!!!! and they did not disappoint. 15K stats were 1:38:14. By mile 10 I was still having a ton of fun and I knew I only had to run a 5k. The lat 3 miles where a lot of hills (aka expressway ramps) but then we ran back into Epcot and I knew that we were almost done. I did get a little sad when approaching the finish line. Then it was over in a short 02:16:10. I am so happy that I did it and am proud that I was able to accomplish this race in the time that I was shooting for. Now I have to go and look for another race:)