Morning two of setting a far-too-early alarm, but at least I managed to grab a good night’s sleep before the Disney Princess Enchanted 10k. I woke up a few minutes before my alarm went off, and silenced my phone in an attempt to not wake up Dad.
I had packed everything I needed into my checked bag the night before, that way getting ready at 3 am didn’t require too much brain activity. The real surprise is that I managed to get compression socks on while hardly awake. It was warm compared to winter time in NY, but since I had been a little chilly waiting for the 5k to start the day before, I pulled on a light jacket that I could throw into my checked bag as I left the room, and headed for the bus stop.
I was planning to meet up with Rachel, my fiancé’s sister, before the race. We were staying at different resorts, so we made plans to board buses at the same time, and then meet up at the start area. Once my bus had dropped me off at Epcot I waited in the parking lot, scanning the hoards of runners passing by, and eventually found Rachel. We had coordinated our outfits, both wearing knee-high ProCompression socks and a skirt featuring some of the Disney princesses, which I had sewn using a reclaimed sheet.
When we approached security, the lines seemed long, but they were moving quickly to get runners through. Once we were through security we went and waited near the bag check area, that way I could hang onto my sweatshirt for as long as possible. Once we saw people migrating to the corrals I dropped off my bag, and we headed towards the corrals.
Now, Rachel and I have run a handful of races together, and this was not her first RunDisney event (I think she’s actually participated in a few more race weekends than I have). Unfortunately, this was the first RunDisney event that Rachel had completed her registration for so close to the event date, and when she registered it was long after the proof of time was due. So, when she did not submit a proof of time while registering, she got locked into a later corral.
When corrals came out we were placed in very different spaces. I was in corral A and Rachel was in corral D for the 10k. I had been debating if I wanted to race the 10k or just enjoy it with Rachel, and when we headed to corrals, I decided to at least wait with her in corral D, and figured I could always leave D and move to A when the race was about to start. We got to the corral early enough that it was still pretty empty, so we were able to get a spot close to the front of the corral. After the crowding that I had experienced during the 5k, I was worried that the same thing would happen during the 10k, but ultimately decided to stay with Rachel so we could run the race together.
Rachel had been working towards a goal of breaking an hour in the 10k, so we decided to put her training to the test and go for it during this race. As is expected with any Disney race, we watched as the race started and fireworks went off as each group of runners was released. Eventually it came time for our corral to be released into the starting chute, and we slowly stepped forward as we made our way to the start line.
We knew that the best opportunity to gain ground during this race would be during the first three miles, while we were on the highway. The highway is the widest part of the course, so if you ever find yourself in a corral that is moving slower than you’d like to be going, it’s the best time to gain some ground.
We took off a little faster than we needed to be going at the start of the race, and spent the first mile finding our grove, and it clocked in at just under 9:30. As we ran under an overpass, we saw Merida waving all of the runners on.
We ran mile 2 a little easier, as the pace was just outside of Rachel’s comfort zone, and got through it in 9:55. Mile three was our last mile before entering the parks, so we pushed our pace back down to around a 9:30. It was a warm day in Florida with high humidity, and we were used to running in winter weather in New York. The heat was starting to take its toll on us, so we decided to slow the pace a little as we entered the back lot of Epcot, and made our way through mile 4.
Finally, we entered World showcase and passed through mile marker 4 – Our pace had slowed a little as we entered the park, and it wound up being the slowest mile we ran at 10:42. The sun was still rising, and world showcase was lit up. We stopped and took a few photos as we ran through the first half of Epcot. Flower and garden festival was about to begin, so there were some character topiaries lining the course, which I was excited to see.
From world showcase we headed onto the boardwalk, and ran by the hotels that are seated just outside of Epcot. I pushed Rach to pick up the pace a little, as we were going to be cutting it very close to an hour with this race. About half-way through the boardwalk we hit mile five, then as we finished our loop of the boardwalk we headed back into Epcot, and they had the course run through a construction zone! I thought this was a little odd, but it was cool to see the progress that was being made on the new gondola system that will connect a few resorts to Epcot and Hollywood studios.
Back into the world showcase we headed, and then down the path in Epcot that leads to spaceship earth. With the clock ticking closer to the hour mark, I encouraged Rachel to push the pace a little more, as we neared the end of mile 6, and the finish line. It is always exhilarating to approach Spaceship Earth during RunDisney events, knowing that the finish line is within reach. We looped around it, and mile 6 rang off on our watches – 9:12. One final turn, and the finish line chute was in sight. We unleashed the last push we had left, and took off towards the finish line, happily crossing it in 1:01:41. Not quite under an hour, but still a new PR for Rachel!
After the race we headed back to our hotels to shower and change, and made plans to meet in Magic Kingdom. Once I was ready for the day I hopped on a bus from the all-star music resort, and took the quick ride over to magic kingdom. I got there just after park opening and easily got into the park without too much crowding, and made my way down Main Street.
Rachel and her Mom were meant to meet me in the park, but they had decided to drive over from their hotel, and got stuck in the traffic that was caused by the race day road closures. I had plans to head to Epcot with my Dad, so I didn’t have a long time to spend in Magic Kingdom that day. Rachel and Barbara eventually gave up on getting into the Magic kingdom parking lot, and instead headed towards Epcot, thinking maybe it would be faster to hop on the monorail from there.
Since my time was limited, I headed over to Liberty square to grab one of the waffles that I love so much from Sleepy Hollow, and found a table with a good view of the castle to eat at. I made sure to drink some powerade with breakfast, as it was a hot day and I knew I needed to re-hydrate after the morning’s 10k. Once I finished eating I made my way out of Magic Kingdom, and took another bus ride back to the hotel.
Dad and I headed into Epcot, where we had fastpasses and lunch reservations. We started our day in Epcot with a walk through world showcase, before going on some rides. Eventually we headed to lunch in England, at the Rose & Crown dining room. Dad got fish and chips, while I opted for a Scotch Egg and a Yorkshire – YUM!
Next up for us getting on a few rides, and eventually we decided to wait in the stand by line for Journey into the Imagination. As we were getting into the ride car, I got a frantic text from Barbara – apparently Rachel had nearly fainted in the living seas, and they had called paramedics to get her checked out. As soon as Dad and I got off the ride we headed to that part of the park, to see what was going on. As we approached the aquarium we saw Barbara rolling Rachel in a wheelchair, and Rachel looking a little worse for wear. Apparently the paramedics had checked her out, and determined that she was dehydrated. They had wanted to take her to the hospital, but she declined, so they recommended the wheelchair and heading back to the hotel to take it easy for the rest of the day.
Dad and I walked Rachel and Barb to the front entrance of Epcot, as they were going to heed the advice that the paramedics had given and spend the rest of the day taking it easy at the hotel. On the way out we passed some photo pass photographers, and my Dad joked that we should take a photo – and Rachel was 100% on board, so we stopped for a photo break before they called it a day.
Dad and I spent a few more hours in Epcot before calling it a night, as I had my third and final early morning ahead of me. Rachel and I had originally planned to each run the 10k solo and take on the half together, but since we had ran the 10k together, we hadn’t decided if we would stick together for the half or take it on solo. After her dance with dehydration, we weren’t even certain that she would be up to run the half marathon. So we headed to bed, without a final plan for the next morning.