Official 2016 Princess Half Marathon Thread

[Ariel484]

The 5K (especially) and the 10K were frigid this year, but the Half was darn near perfect temperature-wise. It was cool at the start, then sunny and pleasant at the finish.

That's how it was in January. 5K had a wind chill warning, 10K was cold but not as cold, half and marathon were perfect (IMO)

 

[DVCFan1994]

Honestly, I would have preferred those temperatures to the 70 degree 100% humidity during the Princess Half in 2014. That was brutal!

Thats what I would have thought, but I did them both (GSC 2014 and 2015) and I have to say, I'd take the heat and humidity over the waiting around in the freezing cold. I am a New England runner, and run outside in below zero weather at home regularly. Difference is, you don't have to stand around freezing your butt off at home. I was miserable for the 5k and 10k this year. The forecast changed after I'd left home. We had coldish weather stuff, but not enough. I swear I didn't warm back up on Friday after the 5k until 5pm that night. It was 30 waiting around for that to start, and I walked most of it with my 6 year old. For the 10k, it was mid thirties. The crowds being large and not being able to take right off into my normal pace meant it took until almost mile 3 of the 10k for me to finally get rid of my throw away sweatshirt. In addition to the sweatshirt I had my mylar blanket from post 5k for before the 10k, but still it was COLD. Next year I will bring throwaway sweatpants in addition to the throwaway sweatshirts!

Yes, for me running in the 30s was fine, I did it in a running skirt and just a tank once the sweatshirt came off for the 10k. But its the standing around. I'm shivering again just thinking about it.

Moral of the story, over pack, and then pack some more, in both lighter and heavier layers Seems like this race is a real toss up on conditions and the forecast changed a lot from Monday (when I left home) to Friday. Florida forecasts are the least predictable in my opinion.

 

[PryncessLace]

Hi Everyone! I will be doing the 5K with my DD9 and the Enchanted 10k on my own! This will be my first runDisney event and I'm SO excited!

 

[DVCFan1994]

Hi Everyone! I will be doing the 5K with my DD9 and the Enchanted 10k on my own! This will be my first runDisney event and I'm SO excited!

Welcome! The Enchanted 10k is my favorite race and its been my favorite shirt each year I love running through EPCOT and around the Boardwalk and Yacht/Beach. You'll love it!

 

[Luv2Run]

DVCFan hit the nail on the head: I actually prefer running in temps in the 30s & 40s, which is why I choose to run this race every year, so that I can train in the cooler temps. Notice, I've only run the W&D HM once, because it required me to start training in mid-August, which is sweltering hot here in VA. Not ideal, to say the least.

Thankfully, I packed many different layers for the PHMW races this year, but they still didn't help much, especially the morning of the 5K. I was dressed in a sports bra, running tank, long sleeved shirt, zip-up, cotton t-shirt, leggings, running shorts, and a windbreaker with a scarf & gloves. I looked like the kid from A Christmas Story. We were on the bus by 4:15am, and waited around shivering for over two hours since we were in Corral C. We tried everything to stay warm, from pacing around the parking lot, jogging in place, dancing along with the DJ, to drinking hot cocoa. Nothing really helped, and it still felt like my feet were going to snap off once we crossed the start line. We finally warmed up a bit just as we crossed the finish line, but we still grabbed the mylar blankets, because we knew that our sweat was going to get chilly quickly as we headed back to the bus to our resort.

Two days later at the Half on the other hand, I wore a sports bra, running tank, zip-up, and a running skirt with my tutu over it, and it was perfect.

 

[PryncessLace]

Welcome! The Enchanted 10k is my favorite race and its been my favorite shirt each year I love running through EPCOT and around the Boardwalk and Yacht/Beach. You'll love it!

That is awesome to hear! I started planning back in October, so I can't believe it is less than a year away now!

 

[margitmouse]

Thank you for starting this link! I'm jumping in ahead of the game for this weekend..... Signing up for the triple crown as long as the Active site cooperates.

Really tempted to try for a c2c.... And
Some day I'll make the full marathon!!

 

[Gryhndmom]

It will be really interesting to see how my body responds to running in Florida winter weather. On one hand, anything in Florida will be much warmer (and less snowy) than the weather here in Utah. On the other hand, I will probably be doing a lot treadmill runs leading up to it, so I won't be as acclamated to running outside.

For my PHM I did half treadmill and half outside and did fine. For my treadmill I made sure it was at a 2.0 incline which actually made me do better outside. I Didn't do much hill training since most of PHM course is flat with the exceptions of going up the clover leaf ramp after mile 10! For disneyland half 90% training on treadmill since texas summers are brutal ! I would think that doing treadmill training will make you better acclimated to Florida since most of the races have been more humid and warm vs cold like utah .

 

[jennynyholm]

Good point! So did you get your C2C medal then running the Disneyland half? That's on my bucket list for sure!

 

[margitmouse]

Moral of the story, over pack, and then pack some more, in both lighter and heavier layers Seems like this race is a real toss up on conditions and the forecast changed a lot from Monday (when I left home) to Friday. Florida forecasts are the least predictable in my opinion.

Thanks for reminder! My first half was PHM last year and the humidity just killed me. I'm a New England runner too.... Though this year don't feel like much of a runner, cape cod streets and sidewalks have been impossible to run on :/
I really want to do the glass slipper plus the 5k and would love some opinions, input , guidance, on how you've trained for that.... How does it differ from your half marathon training?
Thanks

 

[keahgirl8]

Thanks for reminder! My first half was PHM last year and the humidity just killed me. I'm a New England runner too.... Though this year don't feel like much of a runner, cape cod streets and sidewalks have been impossible to run on :/
I really want to do the glass slipper plus the 5k and would love some opinions, input , guidance, on how you've trained for that.... How does it differ from your half marathon training?
Thanks

I used the Galloway plan that is on the runDisney website. It's a lot like half training, but it has back to back runs in it. I also did all 3 races, so I started doing 3 back to back runs toward the end.

 

[bumbershoot]

The 5K (especially) and the 10K were frigid this year, but the Half was darn near perfect temperature-wise. It was cool at the start, then sunny and pleasant at the finish.

Race-times. Not races. Last year we got to deal with a 21 degree day (with wind chill) at DTD. Joyous. This year I volunteered at the 5K where it started at 37 degrees at 3 and dropped 2 degrees by race start. So so so so cold standing there. My poor son and husband who were freezing waiting for the race. The staff were NOT handing out the space blankets (unlike what I heard for this year's Princess 5K (?)); they were hoarded in the medical tent (as I know because that's where the volunteers were hiding out from the cold and wind before the race start).

Both years my son and I have ended up sick for 2+ months after spending January weeks in Orlando. I can't take it anymore.


We were there in Feb 2013, and while it got cold, it wasn't THAT cold. Bearable. Didn't go home sick for months after that trip.


I participated in the 25 degree and windy Seattle Half in November, but I wasn't spending 2 weeks walking around outside at themeparks before and after the run.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My training for GSC went like this. I workout six days a week, but I run three of those days. I started following Jeff Galloway's GSC plan from the runDisney website. Eventually, I changed the training for the 10k portion. My long runs are always on Friday morning. About six weeks out I stepped up the training, adding running and speed walking on Thursday. I did all of this training on an indoor track. I would run straight for ten minutes, then walk until I had to pass people. At that point, I would do a small amount of running to pass by them. In my head, it seemed to replicate race day conditions. The first time out I did 45 minutes, building up to a hour and a half for the last 10k training session. My goal was to finish the 10k with very little effort.

 

[DIS-OH]

We (DH, DD and me) plan to be back in 2016 for our 7th PHM and 2nd GSC!

 

[Tiggeroo]

Does anybody have good message boards, blogs, etc for people training for a half or more specifically the princess half. I would love to follow other people's progress, read tips, get encouragement. These boards tend to get slow because it is just a small subset of the disboard members so I'd like boards that are just runners training for a half or beginner runners.

 

[MousekaMama]

My sister and I are planning to register for the GSC. This will be our first RunDisney event, and we are super excited! This goal has been my big motivation to get back into shape after baby #2, and what a better reward for doing so than a Disney vacation?!

 

[jennynyholm]

Are there any PHM veterans that can speak about staying in an Epcot resort? I'm wondering if the splurge is worth it in terms of transportation during those EARLY mornings! I'd love to see a TR from someone that did that if possible!

 

[Ariel484]

Are there any PHM veterans that can speak about staying in an Epcot resort? I'm wondering if the splurge is worth it in terms of transportation during those EARLY mornings! I'd love to see a TR from someone that did that if possible!

I've stayed at the Beach Club and the Boardwalk for Marathon Weekend in January (the start and finish areas are the same for Princess weekend). Transportation was good - all of the resorts share buses but the wait was short in the mornings and I'd normally just get off at the first stop coming back after the races and walk to my resort.

You can't walk to the starting areas from those resorts, and if you want to walk back after you'll need a park ticket to go through Epcot. But the buses were pretty good, I thought. Pretty quick ride.

 

[jennynyholm]

I've stayed at the Beach Club and the Boardwalk for Marathon Weekend in January (the start and finish areas are the same for Princess weekend). Transportation was good - all of the resorts share buses but the wait was short in the mornings and I'd normally just get off at the first stop coming back after the races and walk to my resort.

You can't walk to the starting areas from those resorts, and if you want to walk back after you'll need a park ticket to go through Epcot. But the buses were pretty good, I thought. Pretty quick ride.

Ok cool. Thanks for the info!

 

[Gryhndmom]

Good point! So did you get your C2C medal then running the Disneyland half? That's on my bucket list for sure!

We did PHM and then did disneyland to get our c2c....if I ever tried for c2c again I would do disneyland race in jan and then PHM in feb. DH and I also stayed at contemporary for PHM and loved having the monorail since I was so nervous about the buses after reading what had happened previous years. And talking about hotels makes me think I should start looking.....