Official 2016 Princess Half Marathon Thread

[CampbellScot]

You've got to submit a POT of you don't want to be in the back. Personally, I like using a 10K. I can be a little fast than in a half. You can definitely use your W&D half time, but you still have to submit it, even if it is a Disney race.

thanks so much everyone for the advice. I think we will enter the 10K coming up. The W&D last year was not my best time. I was 3 months pregnant and it was more of a plod than a race! LOL. Is there a time you need to shoot for to better your corral?

 

[keahgirl8]

thanks so much everyone for the advice. I think we will enter the 10K coming up. The W&D last year was not my best time. I was 3 months pregnant and it was more of a plod than a race! LOL. Is there a time you need to shoot for to better your corral?

Honestly, I just did the best I could do, and I ended up somewhere in the middle. You can experiment with the McMillan calculator. You can put in your 10K time and it will give you your anticipated half time. Then you can look at the previous year's corral assignments. It won't be exact, but you'll get the general idea.

 

[FFigawi]

thanks so much everyone for the advice. I think we will enter the 10K coming up. The W&D last year was not my best time. I was 3 months pregnant and it was more of a plod than a race! LOL. Is there a time you need to shoot for to better your corral?

Pretty much any time will get you out of the last corral, which is a big help itself. As @keahgirl8 said, you can use last year's corral assignments and a race predictor to guess what 10k time you might need in order to move up even more.

 

[preciouspups]

I wish we had better places to run around here. Doctor wants me to stay off roads and sidewalks because they always cause me problems with my feet. The canal is gravel, which is fine, but I'm not entirely comfortable running there alone and I don't have anyone to go with me. The track at the Y is gravel but three miles going around and around and around is pretty boring! Not to mention I can't get into a zone because I'm dodging people walking four across dips that no one bothered to fill in. The treadmill gets boring because there is very little on tv at 8:00 in the morning. I guess I could take my ipad and burn through some data with Netflix. Not to mention, one Y close to me refuses to use air conditioning. After a mile in there I'm sick from it being so hot!

 

[Anisum]

I wish we had better places to run around here. Doctor wants me to stay off roads and sidewalks because they always cause me problems with my feet. The canal is gravel, which is fine, but I'm not entirely comfortable running there alone and I don't have anyone to go with me. The track at the Y is gravel but three miles going around and around and around is pretty boring! Not to mention I can't get into a zone because I'm dodging people walking four across dips that no one bothered to fill in. The treadmill gets boring because there is very little on tv at 8:00 in the morning. I guess I could take my ipad and burn through some data with Netflix. Not to mention, one Y close to me refuses to use air conditioning. After a mile in there I'm sick from it being so hot!

That definitely sucks. Do you have any local schools with a track that is open to the public? I can usually get on those in the evenings after practice ends and I find less people use them so you may not have to dodge people or dips. The biggest issue is of course they're still boring.

 

[Luv2Run]

I loaded a season of The Big Bang Theory, along with several digital copies of movies I've bought (Saving Mr. Banks, The Little Mermaid, Gangs of New York) onto the SD card on my phone, so that I can watch those while I run on the treadmill without burning through my data. You might want to invest in one of those clip-on personal fans to help with the heat issue while using the treadmill, since I know not all treadmills have built-in fans like at some gyms do. I loathe treadmill running, but sometimes it's unavoidable, so I try to make it worth my while.

 

[MyFavEeyore]

Good day all! So I am getting a little scared. Though I'm not doing a half (but on my bucket list and working up to it), I am doing the 5 and 10ks during PHM wknd. I hear so much about putting in a POT for the half to gain a better corral assignment, that I'm wondering should I do a last minute 10k here at home, and enter it for the 10k in February? I'm running with my son (yes, 22yr old son. I know, what boy hangs around with Mom to do that, but we do well pushing each other's buttons).

 

[SarahDisney]

Good day all! So I am getting a little scared. Though I'm not doing a half (but on my bucket list and working up to it), I am doing the 5 and 10ks during PHM wknd. I hear so much about putting in a POT for the half to gain a better corral assignment, that I'm wondering should I do a last minute 10k here at home, and enter it for the 10k in February? I'm running with my son (yes, 22yr old son. I know, what boy hangs around with Mom to do that, but we do well pushing each other's buttons).

You can't submit a time for the 10K - POT submission is only for the half. For the 10K they do it based on the time you submit during registration. So nothing to worry about. Just train and I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[joan4mickey]

Good day all! So I am getting a little scared. Though I'm not doing a half (but on my bucket list and working up to it), I am doing the 5 and 10ks during PHM wknd. I hear so much about putting in a POT for the half to gain a better corral assignment, that I'm wondering should I do a last minute 10k here at home, and enter it for the 10k in February? I'm running with my son (yes, 22yr old son. I know, what boy hangs around with Mom to do that, but we do well pushing each other's buttons).

Well my 22 year old asked to run the half with me and requested we go as Mary Poppins and Burt (I think you can click on it and make it big)

 

[bumbershoot]

Good day all! So I am getting a little scared. Though I'm not doing a half (but on my bucket list and working up to it), I am doing the 5 and 10ks during PHM wknd. I hear so much about putting in a POT for the half to gain a better corral assignment, that I'm wondering should I do a last minute 10k here at home, and enter it for the 10k in February? I'm running with my son (yes, 22yr old son. I know, what boy hangs around with Mom to do that, but we do well pushing each other's buttons).

As was said, definitely don't worry about this. I don't even think POT is accepted for the 10 or 5Ks. When you registered you put in an estimated time, and that'll be enough.

And there's nothing wrong with a young man running with his mom. Many families are close, and growing up doesn't always mean pushing away. If my mom had been into running when I was 22 I'm quite sure I would have joined her; she's the one that originally got me and my brother started jogging, after all!

 

[preciouspups]

I loaded a season of The Big Bang Theory, along with several digital copies of movies I've bought (Saving Mr. Banks, The Little Mermaid, Gangs of New York) onto the SD card on my phone, so that I can watch those while I run on the treadmill without burning through my data. You might want to invest in one of those clip-on personal fans to help with the heat issue while using the treadmill, since I know not all treadmills have built-in fans like at some gyms do. I loathe treadmill running, but sometimes it's unavoidable, so I try to make it worth my while.

That is a good idea for the movies. One gym is fine and has fans so I usually get a treadmill by one. Although I love when I'm panting and drenched and someone comes along and asks if they can turn it off!

That definitely sucks. Do you have any local schools with a track that is open to the public? I can usually get on those in the evenings after practice ends and I find less people use them so you may not have to dodge people or dips. The biggest issue is of course they're still boring.

Not really. My sons school has a trail and a track but I'm not sure they would let me use it. The public high school doesn't have a track.

 

[keahgirl8]

I loaded a season of The Big Bang Theory, along with several digital copies of movies I've bought (Saving Mr. Banks, The Little Mermaid, Gangs of New York) onto the SD card on my phone, so that I can watch those while I run on the treadmill without burning through my data. You might want to invest in one of those clip-on personal fans to help with the heat issue while using the treadmill, since I know not all treadmills have built-in fans like at some gyms do. I loathe treadmill running, but sometimes it's unavoidable, so I try to make it worth my while.

That's a great idea! I use audio books or podcasts. I can do short treadmill runs with music, but long ones are too boring with no scenery.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

I do all my runs with audio books, treadmill and outside. I discovered that I can't run and watch a screen at the same time, it makes me seasick.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I hate the treadmill too, but I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of this winter. Our air quality gets so bad in the winter that we are advised to not be outside at all on certain days! My gym has plenty of TV's, but they are usually turned to the most boring channel possible! I like podcasts and audiobooks as well, but they have to be pretty engrossing to take my mind off the fact that . . . ya know, I'm running on a treadmill Music with a good beat is usually what gets me through.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I hate the treadmill too, but I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of this winter. Our air quality gets so bad in the winter that we are advised to not be outside at all on certain days! My gym has plenty of TV's, but they are usually turned to the most boring channel possible! I like podcasts and audiobooks as well, but they have to be pretty engrossing to take my mind off the fact that . . . ya know, I'm running on a treadmill Music with a good beat is usually what gets me through.

 

[Keels]

thanks so much everyone for the advice. I think we will enter the 10K coming up. The W&D last year was not my best time. I was 3 months pregnant and it was more of a plod than a race! LOL. Is there a time you need to shoot for to better your corral?

I used a 10K time - my very first ever 10k! (except for Dopey, I had to use a half) - and it slots me at an estimated 3:00 finish. I think it's 1:18? 1:21? IDK. I'd have to go look.

That said, in two rD races so far I've been "bibbed" in at least the top 1/2 of the issued numbers - so, a time of any sort is better than NO time. I was in the 4000s for Disneyland (that was first 1/3 of the field) and I'm in the 6000s for Wine & Dine, and that still puts me in the first half of the field with an estimated 3:00 finish.

I've improved on that half time by maybe 15 minutes, but I goof around too much on races for it to make too much of a difference.

I got frustrated at Disneyland because my corral was so crowded - but my husband and friend in B and C ended up running for time and stopped to take zero pictures or anything else. I'm not out there for time, so it doesn't really matter to me. I'm in it to have fun and I just want the cushion to goof around without the threat of being swept.

 

[FFigawi]

For the treadmill runners, Amazon Prime will let you download movies and TV shows to your iPad. That's how I made it through my Comrades training last spring.

 

[preciouspups]

For the treadmill runners, Amazon Prime will let you download movies and TV shows to your iPad. That's how I made it through my Comrades training last spring.

I totally forgot about that! I will have to go look this afternoon. I know we have software that allows us to add our own movies to the ipads but I haven't used it in a while so I'm not sure I remember how.

 

[Anisum]

Somehow I convinced myself I should run a 10 miler this Sunday that requires a 15mm pace (I usually come in around 14:00-14:30) and now I'm just hoping I have a good day and can keep that pace to the end.

 

[joan4mickey]

About time submission and corral placement ...
I submitted the same time this year as last year, a 10k from Thanksgiving last year. I submitted a 53:53 and it gave me an estimated finish time of 1:59 and last year I was in corral C. In the last year or two, can't remember, they have made smaller corrals so "C" is near the beginning. The first few corral start only 2-3 min. apart and then they get a little longer apart as it moves through the alphabet.
Do try your best to submit a time. And train..there is still a lot of time to slowly increase miles. And on your short run/walk days try do a faster pace than your LR days.