"You know you didn't have to run 13.1 miles just so you could go to Disney."

[crystalight33]

That was what my husband jokingly said to me about a month before I was going to run the Princess Half Marathon. My response? “Why didn’t you tell me that before I signed up for this?!”

So, who am I anyway? Well, I’m just an ex-Floridian living in Tennessee with my husband Bryan, cat Vishnu, and dog Hooch. The ex-Floridian will hopefully become re-Floridian once I finish veterinary school. I can’t say I’ve ever been obsessed with Disney (except when planning a trip) but it is high on my list of favorite vacation destinations. Plus, Disney has started a family trend: my parents had their honeymoon there, Bryan and I got engaged there, and my sister keeps insisting that she has to get married there to continue the trend. Who am I to argue?

Bryan and I

A little bit of background. I am so not an athletic person. I’ve been blessed with an awesome metabolism and have never used to worry about my weight, but when I noticed my jeans not fitting as well as they used to, I knew I needed to do something or it would just get worse. So I started running. And of course, I did everything wrong. I went too fast, too far, too soon. Fortunately, I didn’t injure myself, but I was getting awful side stitches and just was not having fun.

I was close to giving up on running when I stumbled across a trip report of the full marathon at Disney. I did a little research into the Disney races and that was where I found the Disney Princess half marathon. It sounded perfect! It’s geared towards women, it takes place at the end of February (early spring in Florida), and best of all, it’s at Disney World!

I knew that unless I had a goal, I wouldn’t stick with the running, so what better goal than the Princess half? After I made the decision to run 13.1 miles, I looked into training plans and bought Jeff Galloway’s book Half Marathon: You Can Do It and John Bingham’s Marathoning for Mortals. They introduced me to the run/walk method and made my running life so much easier! Pretty soon I was going for 6 miles and feeling pretty good. Then, I ran a 10k race…as in, ran the entire 6.2 miles. So, my goal went from just finishing, to running the half and trying to finish under 3 hours. Perhaps a little overenthusiastic, but I really believed I could do it. And you know what? I could.

So, because this is the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and because my husband the band director had their concert festival the week after the race, the trip turned into a girls trip with me and my mom. I tried to convince her to run it with me, but she was content to be my cheerleader. And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents - your dinner…I mean trip report!

 

[crystalight33]

Friday February 25th

The first day of vacation is the one I look forward to the most. Especially after a week where I ended up with 5 hours overtime at work and 2 tests at school. Can’t a girl catch a break? So Friday was a welcome sight. Mom and I headed to the Memphis airport bright and early (and let me tell you how disconcerting it is to smell barbeque in the airport at 6:30 in the morning) and made our flight with no issues. We ended up sitting next to a lady about Mom’s age who was running the half marathon. This was her 3rd princess and she gave me some good advice and lots of encouragement. We landed in Orlando (Yay for 80 degree weather!) at about 11:30, picked up our rental car from National (I kind of bullied Mom into picking the Volkswagon Beetle…a princess has to travel in style right?) and headed straight to the expo.

Yay! We’re here!

The expo floor. Lots of great vendors!

If I’m able to do this again next year, I will definitely go the expo as early as possible on Friday! We ended up going back to the expo on Saturday (buyer’s remorse) and it was soooo much more crowded on Saturday! It wasn’t empty by any means on Friday, but since I have Saturday to compare it to I can warn others: Go on Friday!

I picked up my bib and D-tag, made sure the electronics worked, then picked up the swag bag. Apparently the swag wasn’t as good this year as in years past, but I was happy with the green mesh bag and little Luna bar. We wandered around the expo for a little while and checked out the official merchandise. They had the cutest running skirt – black with the princess half logo in pink on the side – but I was not going to spend $50 on a running skirt. Sorry Disney. There was also a cute t-shirt that said “Today, the Prince will just have to catch up.” I looked long and hard at the I Did It shirts and at the Dooney and Bourke bags (they were having a 25% discount on their princess line) but I didn’t buy anything…today.

Me being silly with the princess ears.

After touring all the different booths (Loved the sparkle skirt booth!) we realized it was well past lunchtime and both our stomachs were growling. We decided to go to Downtown Disney and try Earl of Sandwich since I’d heard so much about it. It certainly lives up to the hype! I had the Original (Roast beef with cheddar and the horseradish sauce) and Mom had the All American (Turkey with all the fixins and a cranberry spread). We ended up splitting them both so we each had a half of both sandwiches and they rocked! The horseradish had the flavor without the burn and the cranberries added a perfect tang to the turkey. Yum!

After lunch, we strolled around DTD for a bit. Tren-D is very very cute! We looked in World of Disney for a dog collar (I was hoping they would have one that featured Dug from Up since I have a hound that acts just like him) but was told they were designing a new line for pets and didn’t have any pet supplies. Maybe next trip.

By this point it was late enough for us to check into the hotel. We ended up staying off-property this trip – Holiday Inn Express and Suites at Lake Buena Vista. It was right next to a Walmart and had a mini-fridge so I was able to buy a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper and stash it in the fridge (why doesn’t Disney carry Dr. Pepper??). And it had free breakfast too! Just not at 2:30 in the morning…

It was a nice hotel, nothing spectacular. The beds were a little hard and the walls a little thin, but the price was right and it fit our needs.

After the crazy week I’d had I was ready for an early night, so we called it a day about 9PM (is it sad that I consider that early??).

 

[natale1980]

We went Saturday afternoon and it was PACKED!! Friday AM sounds like a much better idea.

-nat

 

[crystalight33]

Saturday, February 26th

We had plans of sleeping in today since we would be up well before dawn the next day, but that did not work out so well. First, I had a race dream. In my dream, the race was too crowded to be able to run, so we had to walk and for some reason Mom and Bryan were walking with me. When we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom, the crowd thinned and I was able to run the rest of the race. When I woke up, all I could think about was how upset I was that my finish time was 3:30 lol. Then, at about 6:30am, the fire alarm in the hotel went off. Seriously? So everyone headed out into the parking lot (some more willing than others) for about 15 minutes while the authorities arrived. Once the “fire” was cleared, we all went back inside and most of us went to the free breakfast, including Mom and I. Free hot breakfast = awesomeness. We found out later that the fire alarm is a regular occurrence at this hotel. They might want to look into that…

Where we thought the 'fire' was.

Now, if we lived in a perfect world and money grew on trees, than we would have spent the day park hopping. However, since a one day one park ticket is $82 pp and I really wanted to save the park for after the race (when I could hopefully show off my medal), we decided to do free Disney things today (mainly resort hopping). We drove back to Downtown Disney at about 9:30am with plans to catch a bus to either the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, or the Contemporary.

Getting my run on before the race.

While we were waiting, one of the drivers asked us where we were heading. When we told him the Poly, he told us that his route would take him there after Saratoga Springs. Great! He didn’t tell us that he’d also be going to Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary, THEN Poly. He was really nice though and we had a good time talking to him. The bus ride also took us on the route I would be running the next morning. We finally made it to the Poly and found an expo bus waiting at the entrance. I’d been second guessing myself on not buying the I Did It shirt, so Mom reminded me that I’d regret it if I didn’t buy it. That settled it.

So, we found ourselves on the Mears bus heading back to the expo. The entire ride there were 3 girls behind us talking about pregnancy and hormone shots and all sorts of TMI. Um, yeah, thanks.

Once we got to Wide World of Sports, we were shocked to see how much more crowded it was today than yesterday. It was crazy!! Then I saw all the kids with the Mickey Mile medals and realized that they were just finishing the kids races. No wonder it was so crowded. There was a big line just to get into the expo that wasn’t there yesterday, but when we got to the front, we found there was almost no line for the coachmen.

Getting the royal treatment.

I looked at the running skirt again, but I just couldn’t do it. Really, $50?? I did buy the I Did It shirt though and just hoped that I didn’t jinx myself.

The line was very long, but Disney knows how to do lines. It took me less than 10 minutes to buy my shirt ($23 for a tee shirt btw). Since we’d seen everything at the expo the day before, we high tailed it outta there ASAP! We walked back to the busses and I think we ended up on the same bus we came on.

Back at the Poly, we wandered over to Capt’n Cooks for a Dole whip. I’d never had one before, so it was extra delish. As we sat out by the pool and enjoyed our treat, we really felt like we were in Hawaii. You just can’t beat Disney theme-ing.

Mom with her Dole whip.

After soaking in as much of the Poly as I could (without sunscreen anyway) we hopped on the monorail to the Grand Floridian. I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures of the GF!! I love how Victorian it is, so grand. I bought a Basin White bath bomb while we were there and we just sat in the lobby chilled.

I was getting a little tired and we were both getting hungry, so we grabbed a bus back to DTD. Mom had a Chili’s card that she wanted to use and I knew I wanted some sort of pasta for dinner, so we went off property to Chili’s. Let me take a moment to explain some differences in philosophy here: when I’m on vacation I like to eat at places that I can’t eat at home. However, Mom was buying tonight and she doesn’t share my philosophy. I will say that Chili’s Texas fries are pretty freaking awesome!

After dinner, I took a short nap, then I got all my race day attire ready for tomorrow. Mom braided my hair for me (like she used to when I was a little kid at Disney) and we went to sleep.

 

[crystalight33]

We went Saturday afternoon and it was PACKED!! Friday AM sounds like a much better idea.

-nat

Yes!!! When I picked up my bib and goody bag there was no line at all Friday. Also, we were able to actually walk around the expo on Friday and check out all the booths and get a good look at the official merchandise. No way we were able to do that on Saturday.

 

[Danhockey04]

It's awesome you kept it up and didn't quit and awesome to see you have had great memories at Disney before and good to see them continue. I hope to one day do what your husband did at Disney and get engaged there to my gf, have a good idea of how, but don't wanna say here, incase she somehow finds it.

Anyways, if you buy the I did it shirt, you have to finish, or you will be upset, but it gives you that extra encouragement to finish. When I went to the expo on Friday after work, I had no wait picking up my package, looked around, got a pink running shirt for my costume.

But keep the report coming along, its nice reading all of them. And don't give up on running, I'm sure you had a blast running and keep up the hard work!

 

[Swmr359]

If I’m able to do this again next year, I will definitely go the expo as early as possible on Friday! We ended up going back to the expo on Saturday (buyer’s remorse) and it was soooo much more crowded on Saturday! It wasn’t empty by any means on Friday, but since I have Saturday to compare it to I can warn others: Go on Friday!

I agree! Saturday was madness; but Disney sure does know how to run lines! I bought a mug because I regretted not buying anything last year (and it was really cute lol!).

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I'm joining in! I'm excited to hear how the half went. I'm planning to do it in 2013. It will take me that long to get ready.

 

[SKWDW]

I'm subbing too! Looking forward to lots of your pictures.

 

[crystalight33]

It's awesome you kept it up and didn't quit and awesome to see you have had great memories at Disney before and good to see them continue. I hope to one day do what your husband did at Disney and get engaged there to my gf, have a good idea of how, but don't wanna say here, incase she somehow finds it.

Anyways, if you buy the I did it shirt, you have to finish, or you will be upset, but it gives you that extra encouragement to finish. When I went to the expo on Friday after work, I had no wait picking up my package, looked around, got a pink running shirt for my costume.

But keep the report coming along, its nice reading all of them. And don't give up on running, I'm sure you had a blast running and keep up the hard work!

Awww, Disney is a great place to get engaged!! And I am definitely not giving up on running. These things are addictive!

I agree! Saturday was madness; but Disney sure does know how to run lines! I bought a mug because I regretted not buying anything last year (and it was really cute lol!).

Yeah, I am really sad because I missed out on a car magnet that was an oval that had 13.1 on in with Mickey ears. But I am glad I went back for the shirt. I almost bought the thermos that they had, but the shirt was enough for me.

I'm joining in! I'm excited to hear how the half went. I'm planning to do it in 2013. It will take me that long to get ready.

I gave myself just under a year to prepare. I knew that if I waited any longer, my motivation would just keep disappearing. And the Princess half is a great first race. I had so much fun!

I'm subbing too! Looking forward to lots of your pictures.

And I've got plenty to share!

 

[crystalight33]

Sunday February 27th, Race Day!!

So yeah, 2:30am is not a pretty time of day. It isn’t even day, it’s still night!! But that is what time we woke up, and once I woke up, I was up and excited! Adrenaline is a wonderful thing.

Mom wanted to leave the hotel at 3am so that we would be there in time. Well, we were a little early, but it was warm (comparatively) the DJ was fun and it was fun to see all the other costumes.

My, “It’s 3am and I’m about to run 13 miles, why did I sign up for this?” face.

It’s awfully dark still.

We were so early that they hadn’t opened the bag check area yet. So Mom and I just hung out for a little bit and I explained to her how to get to the Magic Kingdom from here (“Really, just follow the crowds”).

Soon enough they opened up the bag check and I thought we’d be able to go to our corrals, so I said goodbye to Mom and went through….only to find another holding area.

Bye Mom!

About 30 mins later we were allowed to go to our corrals. The ’20 minute’ walk to the corral was not that bad. I considered it a nice warm-up.

Retired backlot tram.

Very retired Jungle Cruise boat (?)

Before the race, I had submitted a 10k time of 1:11 that somehow put me in Corral B. There is no way I should have been in Corral B since my average pace is about 12mm. But, that is what my bib said, so that’s where I was.

Look, the start line!

Once in the corral, I met up with Danhockey04 from the WISH forum and we had a nice chat. His pace was 9mm. I was so in the wrong corral haha!

Corral A fireworks

Then, all of a sudden, our fireworks went off and I’d just started my first half marathon!! Because I was in the wrong corral, everyone was flying past me. Fortunately my wings were pretty small and just barely came past my shoulders so I wasn’t hitting anyone with them.

 

[crystalight33]

I tried to keep my pace down, I really did, but the excitement and everyone else blowing past me made me go faster than normal and I got a little bit of a side stitch. That is what forced me to slow down into my normal pace and I was golden!

Mile 1 already?? That clock is 8 minutes faster than my time.

Sometime in-between mile 1 and 2, the realization set in that this was a half marathon and I had a lot of running to do.

Mile 2

But then, I spied some pirates on the horizon! This is why I’m running this race!

I asked Jack “Where’s the rum??” His reply, “We couldn’t get the cork out, they screwed it on too tight.”

Pretty soon I came up on the hero/prince crew. I didn’t wait in line for a picture but Flynn Rider made it very tempting.

All of a sudden we were entering the Magic Kingdom toll booths! “Watch the bump!”

Not too far past Mile 3, Lilo was waiting with a certain blue alien for us.

“I’m in love…..I’m all shook up, Mm mm oh, Oh yeah, Yeah!”

Mile 4

The Japanese drummers were one of my favorite acts of the whole race. They were so loud and just amazing! And there were so many of them!!

At this point we were just passing the TTC and I’m thinking, “Man, I still have to go halfway around the lake before we get to MK” (and yes, I used MK in my internal discussions). My knee was started to bother me just a little, but only because I was thinking about it.

The trampoline guys were pretty amazing, you just can’t tell from my picture.

And then there was the Contemporary! It came up so fast! I got my cell phone out of my running belt and sent Mom a text that I was about 15 mins from MK.

Almost to the Magic Kingdom!!

 

[Swmr359]

Before the race, I had submitted a 10k time of 1:11 that somehow put me in Corral B. There is no way I should have been in Corral B since my average pace is about 12mm. But, that is what my bib said, so that’s where I was.

Look, the start line!

Once in the corral, I met up with Danhockey04 from the WISH forum and we had a nice chat. His pace was 9mm. I was so in the wrong corral haha!

I was in B also, I should have looked for you! I have pace that goes between 9:30 and 12; you were in the right place

 

[luckylady]

Just found your TR. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the race.

 

[crystalight33]

I was in B also, I should have looked for you! I have pace that goes between 9:30 and 12; you were in the right place

Awww, I wish I'd seen you. I loved your costume. The bow really pulled it together.

Just found your TR. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the race.

Thank you! I'll be putting up some more shortly.

 

[crystalight33]

We ran through the bus stop for the Magic Kingdom and there was a recorded message saying, “Path narrows in the Magic Kingdom, please use caution.” They should start playing that after the morning rope drop…

And then we were there, running up Main Street! I didn’t take a picture because I was keeping my eyes peeled for Mom. I was so afraid I would run past her and not see her. I scanned the crowd as I ran past, but no sign of her. We made the turn into Tomorrow Land and I still hadn’t seen her. My spirits drooped, I really thought I’d missed her. I was still in a race though, and I saw two futuristic chipmunks I wanted a picture with. I was in the middle of the line when Buzz Lightyear walked up and switched out, so I got a picture with him instead.

“To infinity and beyond….or at least back to Epcot.”

I ran past Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum, I only noticed later that Alice was with them.

I have to say that I was getting really depressed at this point. Mom had come on this trip with me and gotten up way before a decent hour just to come see me and I had totally missed her. I got into the line for Royal Mickey and Minnie mostly so I could collect myself and check my phone. I had a message from her saying that she was just outside the castle, so I called her and I started to get my hopes up. It turns out she was just on the other side of the castle waiting for me!! Yay!!!!


I stepped out of line for Mickey and Minnie since the CM was saying they were switching out with Cinderella anyway and ran towards Mom. I did snap a picture as I passed.

Mom found me, and I found her!

Posing.

I gave her a hug and she waved me on my way.

 

[crystalight33]

We headed into Adventure Land, but not before passing Mile 6.

If you look at the times, it took me 15 minutes to go from Mile 5 to 6. Stopping for pictures does not make for fast miles lol.

But I just can’t help myself when it involves a Royal frog…er prince. He ribbit-ed for every picture.

I ran past the Haunted Mansion ladies

and Jessie

I had to stop for Horace Horsecollar though, especially since he had no line.

Pretty soon we were running over the train tracks and back into the backstage area. They were playing “Always Let Your Conscious Be Your Guide” on the loudspeakers and everytime the lyric “Give a little whistle…” came on, they would blow the train whistle. Too cute.

I did have to stop for a certain pirate captain. I’m two for two on pirate captains.

And then we were out of the Magic Kingdom. I’d stopped so much for pictures and was still riding the high from seeing Mom that I felt awesome! At mile 7, there was a girl by herself that was trying to get someone to take her picture with the mile marker. I watched her ask someone and get totally blown off, so I ran up and told her I’d take her picture. She returned the favor.

As we were passing the Grand Floridian, I saw a character setup coming up. I saw it was Belle and Gaston and just had to stop.

I thought about blowing a kiss to Gaston, but I didn’t want Belle to feel like I was dissing her since she is a princess and everything… plus, I was hitting both of them with my wings… Sorry!

 

[wingedjojo]

Subscribing! I would never be able to run these things; just thinking about them tires me out.

Those Taiko drummers look pretty amazing. Could you hear them from far away? Looking forward to more!

 

[PolyAddict]

Thanks for doing your report...

We are considering the Princess in 2012!!

 

[crystalight33]

Subscribing! I would never be able to run these things; just thinking about them tires me out.

Those Taiko drummers look pretty amazing. Could you hear them from far away? Looking forward to more!

I feel like as soon as we came up to the TTC, you could hear the drums. There were 4 rows of drummers, so many!

Thanks for doing your report...

We are considering the Princess in 2012!!

It is such a great race, I had so much fun! I would do it again tomorrow if they'd let me.