It's Just a 13.1 Mile Walk in the Park - Feb. 2013 (10/9 Finally, It's Done!!)

[Eight]

Friday, February 22

Once again, the morning came quickly.

So I feel like I should give some background on getting in to the runDisney meet up.

On the Disney Parks blog, they post these special meet ups for some of the runDisney events. To get in, you have to send an email once they post the blog entry. I was fortunate enough to get in to the meet up for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, and I believe it filled up in 5-10 minutes. So getting in is competitive, to say the least.

They usually tease the blog entry on Twitter, saying what day theyll post it, but not what time. It was announced that it would go up on Friday, February 15th. I got up super early on that Friday, as I assumed it would go up pretty early Pacific Time. Its a little embarrassing, but I was on my computer for hours waiting for the blog post, as were many others.

Finally, around 1 or 2 PST, it was announced that some villains had gotten in the way, and that it would be posted on Monday instead. Okay. Disappointing, but I could deal with that. I figured I would just do the same thing on Monday, as I didnt have any plans that morning.

At 1:30AM Monday morning, I got a message from a friend telling me that the blog post had gone up! Wait, what? It was 1:30 in the morning! Slightly confused, I sent my email off, tried to get back to sleep, and hoped for the best.

When I woke up around 7:30 Monday morning, I had received an email saying I had gotten in! I was so excited!

So after all that, I was ready for the meet up on Friday.

Since they dont provide transportation to the meet ups, my mom was kind enough to drive me to Epcot where the event was held. I had to be there between 6 and 6:30, I believe. When I got there, I was given a runDisney tech shirt to put on. Then it was stand around and wait time. Despite them wanting you to get there by 6:30, the event didnt actually start until 7.

Most of the attendees were women, and I had a nice time talking to some of them while waiting for it to start.

And I took a bunch of pictures of Spaceship Earth. Consider this your warning.

Finally, it was time! (and finally the Spaceship Earth pictures stop!) The meet up started with a run around Epcot and the Epcot resort area. There were two groups, a running group and a run/walk group. I chose the run/walk group because I am not a fast runner at all.

(Photo courtesy of runDisney)

It was very cool getting to run through the World Showcase before the park opened.

As we ran by Germany we saw Snow White and Rapunzel cheering us on, and the Fairy Godmother in France.

We then circled around the Boardwalk and Yacht/Beach Club area, before returning to Germany where we breakfast was waiting for us at Biergarten.

As we ate breakfast, we listened to some speakers, including Rachel Booth who won the Princess Half Marathon last year.

After breakfast, we were given a bag with a water bottle and some H2O Products, and a 1 day park hopper ticket that expired February 28th. Pretty cool.

We also had the opportunity to get pictures with Princess Minnie, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Of course, I got picture with all of them.

As well as Sean Astin. I had gotten a picture with him at the Tinker Bell Half Meet Up, although it wasnt with my camera. I was a pretty big Lord of the Rings fan in middle school and high school, so I was excited.

After getting all those pictures, it was time to meet back up with my mom. She had been texting me while I was at the meet up, and had already ridden the new Test Track.

I took a few more pictures of an empty World Showcase (because there can never be enough of those), and met her in Mexico.

I mentioned I wanted to ride Test Track, so she suggested the single rider line because that was what she had done and had been able to get on quickly. So thats where we went!

My mom said she wasnt a huge fan of the new Test Track, but she decided to ride again anyway. Because lets be real, most of the time, riding a ride again, even one you dont love, is usually better than waiting outside.

My opinion of it? Not impressed. Test Track was never a must-ride for me anyway, and now its even less of a must-ride. I thought it might be cool visually, at least from what I had heard, but I thought it looked kind of cheap.

Oh well.

After that underwhelming ride, we drove back to CSR because I wanted to go to the Princess Half Marathon Expo to pick up my bib, as well as my moms for the 5K, and check out the merchandise.

 

[cheekypoppins]

Oh this is exciting,I have friends who have run the Tot last fall n this yrs princess half,and I'm going to do the 5k in Ak in May 2014

 

[Eight]

Oh this is exciting,I have friends who have run the Tot last fall n this yrs princess half,and I'm going to do the 5k in Ak in May 2014

The Expedition Everest Challenge looks fun. I want to do that one someday too! I know I keep saying that about all these races, but what can I say, I want to do them all!

Thank you for reading!

 

[Eight]

I realized when I was about to post this that I had NO pictures! I'm sure you'll understand why when you read it, but I did take a few pictures of the merchandise I got so at least there is something.

My first clue that the expo was going to be busy should have been all the buses trying to get in to Coronado Springs Resort.

Okay, actually, my first clue was really all the people on Twitter saying it was super busy, but it really sunk in when we had to wait a few turns at the light to get in, and then practically be interrogated by a security guard that yes, we really were staying at CSR and we just wanted to go to our rooms.

Finally we made it through, dropped some stuff off, picked up our waivers, and walked over to the expo.

It wasn’t too bad. At first. It was very deceptive. There wasn’t a long line for picking up bibs, that was easy. Too easy.

My mom decided she would go pick up her t-shirt, while I waited in line to see if I could change my corral. She got back right before I was changed from Corral G to Corral E, and the first thing she said was, “it's a zoo back there! There are people everywhere and there are no lines! It’s so disorganized.”

Luckily for her, there hadn’t been many people trying to get the 5K t-shirt, and she hadn’t had much of a problem getting hers, but trying to your Princess Half Marathon shirt was apparently ridiculous.

Okay. Well, let’s check out the official merchandise first instead, I suggested.

The booth for official Princess Half Marathon merchandise was impossibly small, and there was a line to get in, but it moved fairly quickly.

That wasn’t so bad.

But inside? That was a different story.

Like I said, the booth was super small, so there was this huge switchback line up people trying to pay in the middle, while on either side of the line, people attempted to maneuver through to actually see the merchandise. It felt claustrophobically busy.

In retrospect I should have taken a picture to give you an idea of how cramped it was, but at the time, all I could think of was get my merchandise and GET OUT.

My mom had the smart idea of getting in line to pay, figuring I pick up what I wanted while she waited.

What I wanted most was a Coast to Coast sweatshirt.

runDisney offers a special medal to anyone who does a half marathon at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland called the Coast to Coast Medal. Since I was getting that this weekend, having done the Tinker Bell Half Marathon at Disneyland the month before, I wanted a Coast to Coast Sweatshirt to commemorate that.

I asked a cast member where the Coast to Coast merchandise was, and he indicated it was in a back corner. I walk over there and…

No Coast to Coast sweatshirt.

The only Coast to Coast merchandise they had were two men’s tech shirts. I was a little upset. Just a month ago, at the Tinker Bell Expo, they had had tons of sweatshirts, women’s tech shirts, and men’s shirts. Now they just had men’s.

I’m fairly short and petite, and unisex/men’s shirts usually look pretty big and baggy on me. I grabbed a grey one anyway, and fought my way over to where my mom was in line.

This is not my greatest moment, but I very nearly starting crying in line. “I just wanted a Coast to Coast sweatshirt, and all they have are these dumb men’s shirts!” I fumed.

I’m not sure why I was so upset, but I suspect it was due to feeling claustrophobic and not having eaten well that morning.

So my mom got out of line and asked three different cast members if there was a chance they had any other Coast to Coast merchandise. They said they hadn’t seen any.

Dang!

I ended up also grabbing a Princess Half Marathon T-shirt and jacket as sort of a consolation prize, a pin, as well as the men’s Coast to Coast shirt because I did NOT come all the way to Florida to not get something!

The jacket is less green in real life, more of a teal. It's a really pretty color.

After we paid, we noticed a woman holding a white shirt. More specifically, a white small woman’s Coast to Coast t-shirt. What?! I had not seen those!

We asked where she had found that, and it had been hanging misplaced on another white t-shirt rack. But she wasn’t sure a small would fit so she was having a cast member look in the back for a medium for her.

Okay, where was that cast member when we were looking?

We made a deal with her. If that cast member brought back a medium, we could have the small.

So we waited in that small booth, which was awful because you were always in the way of someone.

Finally the cast member came back with a medium for her! And a sweatshirt!

Wait, a sweatshirt?!

“Excuse, is there any chance you could look in the back for a small sweatshirt, you would be my hero, seriously.”

The cast member gave me a funny look (perhaps he isn't used to being a hero?), but agreed, and came back with my beloved Coast to Coast sweatshirt.

Do you know awkward it is to take a picture of yourself wearing a sweatshirt? I mean, I could have taken it off, but I was already wearing it and it's cold in here!

Although at this point, I was officially over with the merchandise tent. My mom kindly agreed to stand in line yet again for me, while I checked out if it was still crazy to get your race t-shirt.

It wasn't crazy, they had finally organized a line to pick up your t-shirt, and while it ridiculously long, it moved quickly and was not in a claustrophobically small booth so I didn’t mind waiting in it.

I was able to get my t-shirt and found my mom shortly after. We were both exhausted from the getting up early and the madness of the expo, and just wanted to leave and get food.

So we did.

 

[magichusky]

I'm so glad you found your sweatshirt!! I definitely agree- the Coast to Coast design is pretty awesome and I would have shamelessly accosted multiple CMs while trying to get one. How obnoxious that apparently only one CM knew about them- why didn't they like, put them out for sale...? I also really love the Princess 1/2 shirt! I'll totally wear anything that's fluorescent pink!

Those runDisney meet ups are so awesome- did you have to pay to get in? I can't believe that they had all those characters come out especially for the meet up. And Sean Astin again??? Why is he obsessed w/ runDisney? Did he recognize you from the DL meet up?

How weird it must've been to be at Epcot at 6:30am!

 

[jwwi]

Great start to your TR, and way to go with scoring your coast to coast merchandise!

 

[Eight]

I'm so glad you found your sweatshirt!! I definitely agree- the Coast to Coast design is pretty awesome and I would have shamelessly accosted multiple CMs while trying to get one. How obnoxious that apparently only one CM knew about them- why didn't they like, put them out for sale...? I also really love the Princess 1/2 shirt! I'll totally wear anything that's fluorescent pink!

Those runDisney meet ups are so awesome- did you have to pay to get in? I can't believe that they had all those characters come out especially for the meet up. And Sean Astin again??? Why is he obsessed w/ runDisney? Did he recognize you from the DL meet up?

How weird it must've been to be at Epcot at 6:30am!

I have no idea. It was all very weird. Eventually, after we found the nice CM who found it for us, he put more out on display. Oh! And of course, at the finish of the half marathon on Sunday, according to my mom, there was tons of C2C merchandise at one of the tents, including the sweatshirts and women's shirts. Go figure.

They are completely free, which is one of the best parts! Also why they are so hard to get in to, probably. Nah, I don't think he recognized me, but he was very nice. I don't know why he's obsessed though. It's kind of funny.

Weird..... but amazing!

Great start to your TR, and way to go with scoring your coast to coast merchandise!

Thank you! I wear my Coast to Coast sweatshirt all the time, it's cold in my apartment!

 

[laurenvic1312959]

I love the look of all your merchandise I think that's gonna be one of my favourite parts of the wine and dine half, buying all the goodies
looking forward to readin more x

 

[rani8600]

After all that expo stress, im glad you were able to get what you were looking for

I missed the expo this time around, but i hope that i will be able to go to one for the next rundisney race i do. Hopefully they will have learned from this and not try to put it there again.

 

[Eight]

So sorry for such a delay! I have been out of town for the past two weeks, and to be honest, working on this wasn't exactly my first priority. But I have a lot of free time tomorrow so I am hoping I will be able to get an update in then.

I love the look of all your merchandise I think that's gonna be one of my favourite parts of the wine and dine half, buying all the goodies
looking forward to readin more x

Oh my gosh, I love the expo and all the fun stuff you can buy there. I would have loved to have spent more time at this one. And you're doing Wine and Dine? Awesome! I'd love to do that one someday. It's not going to happen for me this year, but I'm crossing my fingers for 2014 or 2015.

After all that expo stress, im glad you were able to get what you were looking for

I missed the expo this time around, but i hope that i will be able to go to one for the next rundisney race i do. Hopefully they will have learned from this and not try to put it there again.

Me too haha. And I love wearing the tech shirts I got (especially the purple one) when I work out now. It all works out.

Since this isn't the normal place, I can't imagine they'd hold it here again, or if they did, I would hope they would somehow use more of the convention center, since it appeared to be large walking through it.

 

[Eight]

Oh, and something cool that happened while I was gone?

I am signed up for the Walt Disney World Marathon next January! All 26.2 miles of it.

I am terrified but excited.

 

[magichusky]

Say whaaaaaat!!! What in the Walt Disney World??? I was actually just having a conversation w/ someone the other day about how I don't think I'd ever have the guts to sign up for a full marathon. That's going to be one heck of a TR haha! Maybe Sean Astin will be there!

 

[Eight]

Say whaaaaaat!!! What in the Walt Disney World??? I was actually just having a conversation w/ someone the other day about how I don't think I'd ever have the guts to sign up for a full marathon. That's going to be one heck of a TR haha! Maybe Sean Astin will be there!

Hahaha, I know! When I signed up, I was like... wait.... what in the world did I just do?!? I'll definitely have to do a TR. I already want to plan everything. I haven't booked a resort yet, but I'm dreaming of the Polynesian....
I wonder! Maybe he will! I bet he'll be at the Disneyland Half this summer.

 

[jdd]

Subbing! Was so excited to find this report. Due to some friendly pressure, I've just begun running. I mean, really, have NEVER run before in my life and I'm 45 years old - thinking this might be my mid-life crisis

Anyway, I'm signed up for a 5K in Pittsburgh this fall, and am trying to talk some girlfriends into doing at least the 5K at the Princess Marathon next February. I really wanted to do the 10K at the WDW Marathon weekend in January, but it's already sold out

I'm only up to 2.5 miles so far (with a pretty slow time) so I'm really interested in hearing how your race went!! I can't imagine I'd ever be able to run an entire half marathon, but if it's not too crazy to walk some of it, I think I could pull it off!

Excited to hear more - thanks for posting this

 

[Eight]

We had originally planned on going to Hollywood Studios this afternoon, but after the morning we had, we decided it might be in our best interest to just hang out at the room for a while.

We got lunch at the Pepper Market and ate outside by the water. It was pretty warm and humid that afternoon, and I was a little concerned about the weather for the morning of the half marathon. They had signs at the expo saying there was a heat advisory. Great.

I was also worried because my throat was feeling scratchy. It hadn’t bothered me too much on Thursday, but it was starting to feel bad again. Great.



After lunch, we both took like an hour long nap. It felt great.

Also, at some point, I hung out in a hammock which was also great.

We were on our computers for a bit, and then it was finally time to get ready for dinner.

We had an ADR for ‘Ohana at 5, and we had never been there before. I’d heard pretty good reviews of the food, especially the desert. The desert was the main reason I booked it, actually. I wasn’t sure how I would like the rest of the food, as I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I figured the worst that would happen was that I only ate the bread, salad, noodles, vegetables, and desert.

We arrived about 30 minutes early for our reservation, and wander around the lobby. My family has been talking about taking a trip to Hawaii this spring (which we did! that's were I was gone for part of the time I was missing on the DIS), and we’ve debated if we want to spend a night or two at Aulani (we ended up not staying there). My mom saw the DVC display and decided that since the guy working there was talking to someone else, she might be able to find some pictures of Aulani in the display book they have out while he was distracted.

I say that in the nicest way. It’s not that we have anything against DVC, but we try to avoid talking to the people because we’re not all that interested and don’t want to listen to a big sales pitch.

There weren’t really any pictures in the book, and then the man working there came up to us. My mom explained that she just wanted to see pictures of Aulani, and anyway, somehow or another, we ended up signing up to go to the DVC sales place the next day.

I know what you’re thinking; didn't you just say you had no interest?

Well, yes and no. I’ve looked in to it out of curiosity, and while I wasn't sure it would be a good fit for our style of planning, it was something I wanted to know more about. Plus the man sweetened the deal by saying we’d get some free fast passes, so sure, why not? Also, he told there were model rooms of Aulani that we could see.

Not to mention, I was afraid I’d be tempted to go to a park early the next day and end up wearing myself out before the half marathon, so this seemed like a way to stay mostly off my feet and get some fast passes while we’re at it.

And the guy promised we’d have fun. Okay, we said, we’re going to hold you to that.

Finally it was time to check in. ‘Ohana was not open yet so we had to wait around for a while, but once it opened, we were seated almost immediately.

I don’t have any pictures because I generally don’t do food pictures unless it’s something really special, but it was all very good.

I feel in love with the chicken wings.

You have to understand, I am not a fan of chicken wings. I do not like the idea of eating off the bone, and I do not like messy, sticky food that you eat with your hands, so chicken wings do not sound all that appealing to me.

Except these ones. I figured I should at least try them since they were included, and they did smell pretty good. One bite, and I was hooked. They were so good!

I ended up eating like three or four.

Like I said, the rest was pretty good too, but not as good as those chicken wings.

And the desert lived up to the hype. I was afraid it might not, but no, it was delicious too!

There were also breadcrumbs in the bathroom and we could never figure out why.

After feeling like I had eaten about three meals worth of food, we left. We didn’t plan on going to the Magic Kingdom or any other park that evening, so instead, we took a loop around on the monorail.

Something doesn't look right.

It was pretty out that evening.

Considering it was only about 6:30 or 7 at that point, it still felt to early to go back to the room, so it was off to Downtown Disney!

Where it was super crowded. All of the parking lot signs said full! Finally, we pulled in to one in hopes that someone would leave. Luckily someone did. It wasn’t a super close spot, but it worked.

The first (and only) stop was World of Disney. My mom and I play bar trivia every week with some friends of ours, and we have an entire pencil box of pens that we bring every week, and it’s become a habit that whenever someone on our team goes on a trip, they bring back a pen for trivia.

We found the perfect monorail pen! I love it!

Along with the pen, I picked up a magnet and a Vinylmation, and maybe something else? I was trying to spend $40 so that I could buy the promotional blanket they had. I had gotten one just like it at Disneyland (well, except that it was Disneyland themed as opposed to WDW themed) last November, and I love that blanket. It’s super soft and warm.

Plus I think the designs are adorable.

After making our purchases, we decided it would be best to head back to the room as my mom was getting up early for the 5K. I think we went to bed around 9:45 or 10. I am one of those people who need a lot of sleep to function and not be cranky the next day.

 

[magichusky]

Haha what was going on at the Poly that day? Grocery items in the public restroom and that carpet w/ the mirror image of the resort design? I also need to buy one of those monorail pens immediately!

That's great that you enjoyed 'Ohana- I wasn't sure about it either b/c I also don't eat a lot of meat. However, my mom and I are going back to 'Ohana in July pretty much exclusively b/c we want more of that banana caramel bread pudding!

 

[Eight]

Subbing! Was so excited to find this report. Due to some friendly pressure, I've just begun running. I mean, really, have NEVER run before in my life and I'm 45 years old - thinking this might be my mid-life crisis

Anyway, I'm signed up for a 5K in Pittsburgh this fall, and am trying to talk some girlfriends into doing at least the 5K at the Princess Marathon next February. I really wanted to do the 10K at the WDW Marathon weekend in January, but it's already sold out

I'm only up to 2.5 miles so far (with a pretty slow time) so I'm really interested in hearing how your race went!! I can't imagine I'd ever be able to run an entire half marathon, but if it's not too crazy to walk some of it, I think I could pull it off!

Excited to hear more - thanks for posting this

Welcome!

I think the 5K at Princess would be a fun one to do with friends! Granted, I haven't done any of the runDisney 5Ks, but from what my mom said about the one she did this trip, I think it would be cool. And yeah, the 10K sold out super fast. I was a little shocked, though after the Disneyland Half sellout, I guess it wasn't entirely unexpected. I almost wished I had signed up for it, but I think I have enough on my plate with the marathon.

It's not crazy to walk some of it, I did walk parts of the Princess half, especially toward the end when I was really starting to feel sick. I think the hard part about walking is trying to be aware at all times that you're not impeding anyone else. But I don't think it's crazy because trust me, maybe not as much in the first few corrals, but I saw lots of people walking at various points. Plus, I've even heard of people walking the entire thing. As long as you're keeping a 16 minute, it doesn't really matter if you're running or walking.

Good luck with your training!

Haha what was going on at the Poly that day? Grocery items in the public restroom and that carpet w/ the mirror image of the resort design? I also need to buy one of those monorail pens immediately!

That's great that you enjoyed 'Ohana- I wasn't sure about it either b/c I also don't eat a lot of meat. However, my mom and I are going back to 'Ohana in July pretty much exclusively b/c we want more of that banana caramel bread pudding!

Oh! I forgot that when we checked in to Ohana, there was a shaker of Parmesan seasoning sitting on the check in desk. Strange things were going on at the Poly.

The bread pudding. I would go back for that too. My mom and I made some comment to our server about how we didn't think we'd finish it because we were so full before he brought it out.

Well...

We finished it.

 

[emilyindisney]

Joining!

Glad you liked 'Ohana. I'm dying to go there on our next trip but I don't think I've completely sold my sister yet

Love those blankets! Very jealous that you're earning your C2C!

 

[laurenvic1312959]

We found the perfect monorail pen! I love it!

Love that pen so much, what a great find

 

[Eight]

Joining!

Glad you liked 'Ohana. I'm dying to go there on our next trip but I don't think I've completely sold my sister yet

Love those blankets! Very jealous that you're earning your C2C!

Hello and welcome!

Why doesn't she want to go? It's not a restaurant I would eat at every time because of the price, but I definitely recommend going at least once!

My C2C is probably my favorite of the four runDisney medals I have. I adore it. Glad I did it this year, since next year they are offering a pink C2C for doing the Tinker Bell half and the Princess half, and I like the normal one much better.

Love that pen so much, what a great find

I think we ending up buying three of those pens... In our defense, one was a gift!