Disney's Princess 1/2 (Race recap)

State #8- Orlando FL

Disney World!!

I have been looking forward to this race for a few reasons

• first time experiencing Disney World!
• pictures with characters along the course, not worrying about my time
• run in a tutu my mom made for me! 
• gorgeous weather
• get to see my good friend Scott from HS who I ran the Ragnar Relay with earlier this year.

Due to Disney wanting the parks to be cleared by normal working hours, the race started UBER early. Originally I was supposed to be in Corral A, but with my faulty knee I started in Corral B with Becca. Even though our start time was at 5:53 (yes that exact), we got up at 3:00 am so we could make it in time for the half fanatic photo (factoring in crowds and traffic) by 4:45 am.

rise and shine princesses!

We had B's parents drop us off at a designated area in Epcot, then we had to walk the trek toward the stage for fanatic photo meet up. 

Epcot ball in background

never seen so many tutus for one race

on the red carpet

practicing my courtsey 

with one of the 'royal guards'

 We're wandering around looking for '4 disney character ballons' that D said would designate the meet up- no balloons in sight, but I did see an asian boy dressed in all pink (his description he told me to look for)- had a mini pic with a few of us early ones, than our bigger picture.

Afterward we dispersed and began our 1 mile (literally) trek toward the start line. One of my biggest pet peeves is a large moving group of slow walkers, so needless to say I was antsy after 20 min. of this. Finally reach our corral, stretch, and wait around for the start.

The Fairy Godmother was brought out to say 'magical words' before the each corral start and then the corrals were release after fireworks.

that was a 'frog prince' in front of me

First mile was extremely congested- by far the most 'bobbing and weaving' i have done in a race thus far. Eventually I had to get off the road (which was the highway) and run on the grass so I could pass people. My knee was bothering me from the get go, so I kept telling myself 'make it one mile before walking' First few miles were still dark outside and uneventful (all highway)so I decided to go faster until I reached my first character I wanted to take  a picture with. I made it to the 3rd mile (waaaaaaaaay farther than I anticipated) before stopping. They had tables with biofreeze pumps on them- I was so excited to lather it up on my knee!

Finally after about 4 miles we reach the first sign of life that we are approaching Disney World- goodbye boring highways, hello Magic Kingdom! 

It was so neat once we entered magic kingdom the level of crowd support. Since our bibs had our names on them you would hear a lot of 'way to go princess <insert name>'- always pumps me up hearing my name called out.  When we entered 'Main Street USA' and turned the corner, it was the first time I had ever laid eyes on Cinderella's castle, I had to capture it. 

Shortly after entering Tomorrowland, around mile 5-6ish I get my first worthy character sighting! BUZZ LIGHTYEAR with no line! I swear I'm really not as tan as I appear in the pics to follow, it was just SO HOT that I just naturally turn redder. 

Queen of hearts- apparently later Alice came out, but I missed her

Weaved around through tomorrow land, enter Fantasy Land and BAM, Cinderella's Castle that we actually get to run through the tunnel. Getting my picture with Cinderella was the longest wait, 2 whole minutes! Well worth the memories. I didn't find this out till after the race, but while I was waiting in line, B passed me at this point in the race and yet I never saw her. 

 Combo of the heat, humidity, running, and stopping for pics was really starting to tire me out, especially to my knee. Unfortunately I forgot to change my garmin out of 'auto pause' mode, so my times and mileage were way off, but I definitely could feel myself already significantly slow down around mile 7, so I took as many stop breaks to get photos with characters as I could.

Frog prince characters

Toy story 3

these were painted all over the course

Pinnochio and Jiminy Crickett- I tower over them both 

Unfortunately He didn't grant me any wishes :(

 I think we were only in Magic Kingdom for 2-3 miles and then again back on boring paved road, only this time there actually was crowd support with fun signs and some characters along the way to spice things up.

Princess Aurora and her prince (sleeping beauty) 

Prob one of my fav photos!

Shortly after all my pics my knee started acting up like back in New Orleans- locking up and getting stiff when trying to transition from walking to running- I passed Beauty and the Beast and even though I REALLY wanted a pic with them, the pain doing that transition wasn't worth it. Passed mile 8 and I'm mentally done with the race in terms of caring how I do- when else am I going to be in DISNEY?!?!? 

I see Pocahontas and since its the first time I've seen her all weekend, I push through pain and stop for a picture- literally right when I pull over the other Becka runs up and suggests we get a photo together (we had met up earlier in morning so made it easy to recognize me with my tutu).

 We ended up running the next 3 miles together, which was nice because I normally don't run with people and it was a great distraction to keep my mind off the pain, push me to keep going and not walk, but also fun to stop off and take a few more photos.

Finally around mile 11.5 I couldn't endure pain any longer, I told B that I needed to walk and good luck finishing the race- she took off and I stopped and walked- ugh 1.5 miles to go. I didn't tell her at the time, but if it weren't for her I don't think I would have pushed myself as much as I did by having someone to run with, so thanks B!! 

I didn't really look at the course map to see where the finish line was, but once I saw the Epcott ball I knew we were getting close! Normally no matter how much pain I'm in, I can always push it a little in the last mile, but for some reason i was so EXHAUSTED.

 Finally enter Epcott Park and there were a ton of opportunities to take pictures with characters, however I didn't recognize half of them or they didn't excite me, but I did make one stop for good old Pluto, ain't he cute?!?!

I'm getting to the point now where a lot of the volunteers and security folk are saying 'almost there' or '400 meters left to go' so I know i'm getting close, however I don't see the finish line still. Turn the corner and I saw the most lovely sight....

I've never been so happy to see mile 13 before! 

Trying to look victorious

I would like to say that I kicked it in and finished strong, but that didn't happen. Instead I stopped, took the above picture, and then just carried on with my normal pace-pathetic I know but I was so tired.

Aside from all the pain (despite 3 different bio freeze stops), and the extreme heat- I did enjoy this race. Since my Garmin crapped out at mile 5 or so I didn't run for time, just ran to finish and take some great shots along the way, which I believe I succeeded in that.
After I crossed the finish line B was waiting around with other B and her sister L. Grabbed some food, took a pic, then made the trek to where Bs parents would pick us up.

since we took a pic here way early in the morning, decided to do an after

B's parents came and got us, went back to our Villa, then showered, ate breakfast and waited for my friend Scottie to come down from Tampa so I could see Epcott with him all day. 

Exhausted but glad I'm finished and ready to see more of Disney World

State #8 completed

Official time 2:16:04 

Again this is the one race I didn't care about my time, but i feel I did pretty well with all things considered. Ladies, if you like to dress up, you'll LOVE LOVE LOVE this race. I'm tempted now to talk with B about doing the Disneyland race this fall in Cali- time (and finances) will tell

Next up- Little Rock Arkansas 3/6/11