Oh My Gosh What am I thinking! Journey to the Princess Half Marathon Feb 2011 PTR

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hello Lindsay! I followed your link from the WISH and am so glad I did!

I will be thrilled to be following along with you as we all prepare for the Princess Half. I will be running it with Jude and hope to get a chance to meet some of my friends from the WISH while we are there.

We will be driving to WDW from Minnesota and will arrive on Thursday night. As Jude wrote, our plans were changed because of the date changes - no more couples weekend. It will be DH (who is also going to run the Princess) and my kids (they don't know they are going yet - they are going to FREAK out when they learn they are coming). We will be staying at the Pop and have free dining. We will have to leave on Monday and drive straight through to Minnesota because we really can't take that many days off of work.

I have not really started making the detailed plans yet. There is everything with the race that I want to be able to experience. There is the parks and the joy of being at WDW. There is being able to meet all my WISH friends. I am just not sure how it is all fitting in but I am going to try to cram in as much as possible.

Your report on the Tunnel to Towers 5K was so good. I cannot even imagine how it must have felt to take part in that event. Thank you for sharing it with all of us.

Can't wait to follow along on your planning and journey!
Jen

Hey Jen, Thanks so much for joining. I know i am trying to cram so much into that weekend that it makes me overwhelmed just thinking about it. Will your dh be wearing a tu tu. I saw some guys dressed up in the promo videos and it is hysterical. Good for him for running it with you. Im sure your kids are going to be so excited once they hear the news. When/how will you tell them. Anything special in mind?

 

[carissanboys]

So glad you started a PTR! You're looking fantastic, Lindsay!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

So glad you started a PTR! You're looking fantastic, Lindsay!

thanks carissa. Im glad you are joining in.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Lindsey--love your pretrip report and your race report. What an amazing experience!

I am staying at BWV with my three sisters.

We really like the counter service at Morroco at epcot. And you definitely want to take your aunt to soarin.

We've stayed at BW a bunch, so if you have any questions about the area let me know.

My one word of advice (after running last weekend) would be take transportation as much as possible before the run. We walked way too much before hand.

Hope I get a chance to see you sometime over the weekend.

Your pics are great!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Lindsey--love your pretrip report and your race report. What an amazing experience!

I am staying at BWV with my three sisters.

We really like the counter service at Morroco at epcot. And you definitely want to take your aunt to soarin.

We've stayed at BW a bunch, so if you have any questions about the area let me know.

My one word of advice (after running last weekend) would be take transportation as much as possible before the run. We walked way too much before hand.

Hope I get a chance to see you sometime over the weekend.

Your pics are great!

Thanks for your advice rose. I hope we can meet up at some point too. I was thinking that walking for a few days before the race is probably not the best thing to do but I will use your advice. Im worried about how tired I will be after the race too. Since it will be our last night at disney I plan on just pushing myself to keep going and then resting when I get home the next day.

 

[Belle&Boys]

Hi! I'm Robin and followed your post from the Princess 1/2 thread. You had commented to me that you were glad someone else was leaving the DH and kids at home.

I have had a similar journey with some health problems that caused me to gain about 30lbs after having my kids. I started to get my life back on track, and had a bit of a set back. I tore my ACL in exercise class. I had surgery to repair it in Aug 2009, and have been exercising ever since. I have lost 25lbs and could really stand to lose about 10 more.

I'm excited to get to Disney in Feb! I have my trip planned out so that I could take full advantage of free dining. My schedule is:
Thurs 2/24 - Drive 2.5 hours to my parent’s house after work. This will be the toughest part because I’ll be leaving DH and the boys (9 and 6).

Fri 2/25 – Leave parent’s house at 6am (I’m never able to sleep the night before leaving for Disney!) and make the 7 hour journey to POP. Quick check-in and drive over to the Expo for an hour or two. Dinner at Coral Seas at 7:05. Rest of the evening at Soarin’, TestTrack, etc.

Sat 2/26 – AK, dinner at Liberty Tree in MK so I can show parents the course through the park. I hope they’ll be able to find me in the crowd of runners. Any suggestions for what you’re doing for your parents to pick you out of the crowd? Are you wearing a costume/tiara?

Sun 2/27 – Race Day! Early celebratory dinner at Le Cellier and then head over to MK for EMH. Yes, I plan on wearing that medal all day!

Mon 2/28 – HS, dinner at 50’s PT Café (I hope I can still walk!)

Tues 3/1 – Final day, go anywhere we want to revisit, final dinner in the Biergarten per Dad’s request (his bday is the 4th, so we’re celebrating a couple of days early)
Wed 3/2 – The long drive home!

I hope I can keep up with this schedule. I’m afraid I’ll be limping around after the race, but hey, there’s no better place to limp around than Disney!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Sat 2/26 – AK, dinner at Liberty Tree in MK so I can show parents the course through the park. I hope they’ll be able to find me in the crowd of runners. Any suggestions for what you’re doing for your parents to pick you out of the crowd? Are you wearing a costume/tiara?

Hi Robin Thanks for joining my ptr. I was thinking that I will carry my cell phone with me and maybe just quickly call my mom when I get into MK so she knows to really watch for me. Depending on the weather forecast I would really like to get a cindy blue running skirt and a cinderella shirt and of course a tiara too! I dont think I could run 13 miles in a costume. I give some of those who really were a big get up lots of props.

Your plans sound great. I too am worried about all the walking the days prior and I plan to not take too much time after the race so we can get to MK. My aunt has never been to disney so I feel like we have to squeeze alot in. We are leaving the next day after the race so I am just going to push myself on sunday. I too will definitely be rocking the medal all day!!!!!!!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Boy I realized its been awhile since I posted an update on here.

Tomorrow I have my next race. Its a women's classic supporting women's cancers. It was the first race I ever participated in. This year instead of the 5K I decided to sign up for the 5.3 mile run. It will be the longest race I ever participated in. I am hoping to complete it in 63 minutes or less. I will give you a report and hopefully a few pics after the race.

I am also getting together with my mom and aunt tomorrow. My aunt lives 1 1/2 hours away so I dont get to see her often. I figured we can talk about some of the to do items for each of the parks. I want to have a plan of must do's to accomplish first and then we can hit other attractions if time is willing.

So moving along here is our day 3 itinerary:

Saturday Feb 26th

Grab breakfast at the CBR and hop on a bus to AK
Arrive at AK for rope drop at 9am.
Hit our to-do items:
most likely KS,EE,Dinosaur,ITTBAG, and if time allows either FOTLK or nemo.
Leave AK by noon.

Head to DHS.
Grab fast passes for TSM
CS lunch (any suggestions?????)
Spend the rest of the time at DHS.
Leave by 630p

Take a bus to the poly
ADR for dinner at Ohana's 7:10pm.
Explore the poly on our way out.
Head back to the resort and get to bed. Hopefully I will be able to sleep. Race day tomorrow!!!!!!

I wasnt sure if ohanas would be the best place to eat the night before the race but I dont have a sensitive stomach and as long as I dont over stuff myself I should be ok. I will eat light for the other meals this day.

Ok so any thoughts, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[carissanboys]

Good luck tomorrow!

The only CS place I've eaten at in Disney Studios is Pizza Planet. They do have pretty yummy pizza (and you get quite a bit of food for the price).

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

I completed my first 5.3 mile race today. This is the longest race I have participated in so far. It was a lot of fun.

It was the women's classic....supporting womens cancers. Only women can participate.

I ran this with my friend Ashley. Here we are waiting for the race to start.

The 5 mile race started first at 940am. It was a sunny day but cool and windy. I was freezing waiting to start but once we got going I warmed up quickly.

Here we are walking to the start

We somehow started in the front. We didnt plan it I guess we just werent really thinking. There were 350 participants and once we started it felt like all 348 of them were passing us.

We completed our first mile in 10:30 which is pretty fast for me but apparently still slow compared to everyone else. Ashley usually keeps a 10min pace for a 5K but since she has not run further than 3 miles she decided to hang back with me so that I can motivate her to keep going. Gotta love the girl she made me feel good for the day.

The first half of the run was pretty flat. Here we were approaching the 2.5 mile mark.

My parent and Ashley's husband were standing there to cheer us on which surprised us. It was a good motivation to keep on going. There was a paramedic cart there and I wondered why. Later my mom said a lady fell right before we got there. Poor thing.

The rest of the race was pretty boring. Not many supporters or music. There were 2 teenage boys during mile 4 standing and dancing on a picnic table cheering for us. It was quite funny and they were so cute I wanted to stop and give them a hug.

At the end of mile 4 there were 3 big hills kind of like an up down up down up down pattern. The downs were great but the ups were quite a killer. The first one I stopped to walk and at one point thought I would have to use my hands to crawl up it...it was so steep. The second and third we ran up. I was glad they came at the end because I think it would have really wiped me out in the beginning mentally.

Here we are completing mile 5 and rounding the corner to head to the finish.

We are still smiling!!!!!!

We started sprinting and then after a min or so I realized we still had a ways to go. i guess I thought .3 wasnt that far. I slowed down a bit because I could feel myself getting really out of breath. Ashley started to get ahead but noticed I was falling behind. She slowed down for me to catch her and we crossed the finish line together.

We completed it in 1 hour 2 min and 8 sec. a 11:57pace.
as we crossed we gave each other a high five. As we were walking away a reporter came over and asked our names and where we were from. I wonder if we will be in the paper tomorrow.

The post race food was good. We got a pink ribbon bagel from panera bread, pears, pretzels, and red robin gave out baked potatoe soup.

It was a great race and a great accomplishment. 13.1 miles here I come.

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Congratulations! It sounds like it went so well, and I know you appreciated having a friend with you. I ran 5 miles last Monday in almost the exact same time. Too bad I couldn't have joined you this morning. I need a local running buddy!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Congratulations! It sounds like it went so well, and I know you appreciated having a friend with you. I ran 5 miles last Monday in almost the exact same time. Too bad I couldn't have joined you this morning. I need a local running buddy!

it would be nice if we were closer. I enjoy running by myself sometimes to clear my head but it was nice to have someone to talk to along the way. It made the run alot more fun.

 

[carissanboys]

Great job!!! I'd be very happy with that pace for my 10k in two weeks. I'm going to try really hard to get under a 12 minute mile pace, but not too confident I can do it without killing myself.

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Plans for day 4.

Race Day!!!!!

Today we will awaken bright and early. I still have to verify times but I think I will need to be at the bus by 330am.

Mission: to complete the half marathon!!

Post race festivities...hopefully If I am still be able to function.

Magic Kingdom and extra magic hours.

I am hoping we can all go off of adrenaline and wont need to nap but I am going to say we are flexible. It will be the only day to spend in MK so I want to have my aunt see as much as she can.

No ADR's today we will just do CS meals. What are your favorites?

 

[Belle&Boys]

CONGRATULATIONS on your 5.3!!! That is wonderful, and hey… 10:30 isn’t slow. At least I like to think that since that is about my pace also. The longest I’ve run is a 6 mile training run. I ran that the past 2 Saturdays, but I’m taking a break. Unfortunately, I have a horrible sinus infection and have lost my voice. I’m trying to stay positive. Better sick now than in Feb! I’ve agreed to do a 5 or 6 mile section of my neighbor’s marathon training run. She’s lining up different people to go with her since she’s getting so bored by herself. That will be this coming Sunday, so I hope I’m fully recovered by then.
I don’t have any great recommendations for CS at DHS. We’ve done Pizza Planet, and it was fine. I’ve just never done any CS or TS that I was that jazzed about in DHS. I’m excited to try 50’s PTC this trip to change that blah feeling I have about eating in DHS.
I think O’hanas sounds good for the night before the race. It isn’t like you’re going to eat a heavy steak. I have the same fear about eating at LTT the night before. I’m telling myself that I’ll stick with the turkey and carb up on the side dishes.

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

CONGRATULATIONS on your 5.3!!! That is wonderful, and hey… 10:30 isn’t slow. At least I like to think that since that is about my pace also. The longest I’ve run is a 6 mile training run. I ran that the past 2 Saturdays, but I’m taking a break. Unfortunately, I have a horrible sinus infection and have lost my voice. I’m trying to stay positive. Better sick now than in Feb! I’ve agreed to do a 5 or 6 mile section of my neighbor’s marathon training run. She’s lining up different people to go with her since she’s getting so bored by herself. That will be this coming Sunday, so I hope I’m fully recovered by then.
I don’t have any great recommendations for CS at DHS. We’ve done Pizza Planet, and it was fine. I’ve just never done any CS or TS that I was that jazzed about in DHS. I’m excited to try 50’s PTC this trip to change that blah feeling I have about eating in DHS.
I think O’hanas sounds good for the night before the race. It isn’t like you’re going to eat a heavy steak. I have the same fear about eating at LTT the night before. I’m telling myself that I’ll stick with the turkey and carb up on the side dishes.

I hope you feel better soon. Thats a good idea your friend has about having people meet up during long runs. I hope you can breathe better by then. I feel the same way about DHS and eating. We did 50's PTC years ago and we liked it. Last year we tried mama melrose and it was ok nothing to rave over. I think we will either try Pizza Planet or the one near the backlot tour. Either way I am looking at it as just food and if it ends up being really yummy then I will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[carissanboys]

How's everything going?

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Wow I cant believe how long its been since I have posted on here. Time flies when your having fun.

This week started my official half marathon race training. Not like the last 6 months werent training but I am following the Marathoning for Mortals 14 week run/walk plan. It started this week. Below is the training calander I am using to keep me on task. Because I have a full time job and a dh and 2 kids, I know it would not be realistic for me to set a specific day each week to run. What I did was wrote on the right column how many minutes my runs should be that week and how many miles my long runs should be on the weekend. Then if I know in advance that I can run I will write it in and if not I will wait until it gets closer and plan my days accordingly.

This week I started my runs on sunday, I have planned to do the next on thanksgiving but it looks like lots of rain for that day so I am going to try to get it in wed. morning. I signed up for a 5K turkey trot on saturday and it fits perfectly because I am scheduled for a 3 mile run.

My current weight today was 179.2 which is a total of 35.8lbs lost. My inital goal was to get to 155lbs by the race but I will be happy if I can get to 160.

 

[mikamah]

Love your training plan, Lindsay. I think leaving the actual days open and flexible will make it easier to fit them in as we go along. The inspirational quotes are awesome!!

Loved readiing your race report from october. My computer was out at that time, so I never saw it. The first race i did was a woman's race, and I loved it and didn't feel intimidated at all. I've read that races geared toward women seem have a more fun and upbeat attitude.

On with the princess training!!!! You can do it!!!!!

 

[carissanboys]

Love your calendars and the inspirational quotes.