At last, I am finally ready to share the post you have all been waiting for: The 2019 Disney Princess half marathon!
Ok, so maybe the one person who has really been on the edge of her seat waiting for this is Kasey, but I am here and ready to share either way, so I hope you’re on board for a RunDisney race recap!
On my third early morning of the weekend, I left my hotel room at the All Star Music resort at 3:25 in the morning, and caught one of the last “runner” buses to the start area - RunDisney requests that all runners be on the bus by 3:30 am the morning of the Princess Half marathon, and I was cutting it close with my departure time. They keep running buses after this cutoff, but they are considered to be spectator buses at that point, and their frequency decreases. They bus was in the process of loading when I got there, but I was able to find a seat near the front, so I would be able to get off quickly when we got to the start area. Kasey was staying at All-Star Sports, so we were planning to meet at the start area.
When I got to the start area, there were already thousands of runners making the walk from the bus to security, which had a short line to get through. Kasey messaged me that she was sitting near the first tent after the start area sign, and I quickly spotted her sitting in an area that just barely allowed her to not get stepped on by people who were walking by. She was about as sleepy as I was, and hated me more than ever for talking her into running - even if she had signed up for this race of her own accord. We relocated to another area that had more space for sitting, and ate our pre-race meals there. The start area was much more crowded than other RunDisney events that I have participated in. Once we were fed, I sorted through my bags, and separated the the things I needed for the race from the stuff that I would be leaving with bag check, and then we applied some KT tape to my knee and Kasey’s foot before heading towards the start corrals.
They had changed the bag check system from previous RunDisney weekends, and instead of checking your bags based on your last name, they allowed runners to pick any of the trucks stationed near the finish line, and we were given a sticker to put on the back of our bibs that showed which of the trucks our bags were in.
I made a brief stop at the porter potty, while Kasey resigned herself to wetting her pants over using a porter potty, and then we were on our way to the corrals. It was almost a mile walk from the start area to the corrals. Kasey was assigned to corral D, so that was where we would be starting our race from. When we got into the corral the pre-race show had started, with the announcers speaking about the race charity, and quizzing runners in the corrals with disney trivia. Since we were in corral D we had a little bit of a wait as the race started, and we inched our way closer to the start line as they released waves of runners.
When we finally did make it through the start line, there was immediately course congestion, to a point that really prevented us from getting a full stride in as we ran. We tried to find a consistent pace as we made our way through the first mile, but we were stuck going at a slower pace than we had planned. Even going through the first water stop, it was too crowded for me to make my way from the middle of runners over to the side.
In the second mile they had Jack Sparrow out with his pirate ship, but as usual he had a long wait, so we didn’t stop for a photo. Once we hit the highway the congestion eased up a bit, and Kasey actually seemed to be having a good time. As we approached the Magic Kingdom sign during mile 3 we pulled over to take a selfie before continuing to the park. The announcements of “caution runners, speed bumps ahead” rang out as we went through the toll booths. The next part of our run took us through the parking lot at the ticket and transportation center, where we ran by a character stop that had an assortment of Disney Princes, and a winding line. We passed the third mile marker shortly after, and stopped to get some water at an aid station near by.
They had fog machines our around the evil queen’s character stop, where she was in full witch form, and cooking up some poison apples. We finally got to the the ticket and transportation center, and were able to stop at a bathroom near where the monorail loads. It was surprisingly empty, considering that it was the first real bathroom on the course.
When we ran by mile marker 4 I tried serenading Kasey with a little number from frozen, but she was not amused. She was liking me less as less as we got deeper into this half marathon. The had the RunDisney logo in pink as we ran under an overpass, and towards the magic kingdom. It was the standard entrance into the park, where they loop runners through the bus stops, and then have big light up inflatable pillars guiding runners through the park entrance.
We passed the 5th mile marker just before entering the park. The lights were still on at the entrance when we got there, as the sun was just coming up as we made our way onto main street. Kasey was starting to die a little by this point in the race, and she even broke out her post run forward fold when we stopped to take a picture with the castle. There were pink lights projected onto the castle, very fitting for the princess half.
We made our way into tomorrow land, where runners seemed to be dipping and diving to get to a character… I couldn’t even tell you what character, I was too busy trying not to crash into people. Must have been a good one, I guess. After tomorrowland we ran by Alice’s teacups, then passed the storybook circus and ran through new fantasy land. We took a momentary breathing break there, as both Kasey and I were struggling with the humidity. Once we got moving again we ran by the carousel, then spotted Cinderella next to the castle, and hopped in line to get a photo with her, since we were dressed up as Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother - it was only fitting.
After we snapped our photo we ran through the castle, then pulled over again, this time for a photo in front of the castle. Sadly, our time in the magic kingdom was coming to a close, as we ran through frontier land, passed the 6th mile marker, and headed backstage to leave the park. The park exit lead us into the dreaded cone alley, which was actually less congested than the race start had been. We ran past the resorts that are in the area of the magic kingdom - the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian, and passed by mile marker number 7. They had a group of grooms our near the Grand Floridian, and as we approached mile marker 8 there were signs with various princess themed jokes.
I tried serenading Kasey again during our 8th mile, when we heard some frozen playing, but she still rolled her eyes at me instead of joining in like Mike would have. There was an aid station during mile 8 that handed out sport beans, and it was around that point that Kasey started to let me know that her foot was broken - our walk breaks became a little more frequent, but we kept moving forward. Soon after her stomach went a little sour, but I talked her into eating some skratch gummies just after mile 9, since when I get nauseous during long runs it is usually because I am doing a bad job fueling. It seemed to help, and she was able to keep going.
During mile 8 we started to notice some fireworks going off in the distance, and at first thought it must be the first race finishers. But they kept going well into mile 9, and I never did figure out what they were for…. so I guess you all can just wonder with me forever now.
Right after mile marker 10 they handed out cool sponges, and then it was time to climb the on ramp, and run by the green army man. With only a 5k left, we were nearing the end of the princess half marathon. It was hot on the highway now that the sun was totally up, but it was a manageable distance ahead of us. Being on the overpass meant that there was a bit of an uphill between miles 10 and 11, and the road had narrowed once again, so it had become more congested.
Mile 12 was placed right at the entrance of the Epcot bus area, and as the park was opening, there were plenty of people waiting to cross through runners and get into the park. We weaved through a backstage area as we headed into epcot, and Kasey spotted some characters from her favorite Disney movie - Mr and Mrs Incredible, in the flesh. She pulled right over to hop in line to get a photo with them, and I was totally on board with the move. After we struck a pose we hopped back onto the race course, and headed into Epcot.
We entered the park near Figment’s Journey into the Imagination, and ran by the character spot, heading towards spaceship earth. We went through future world, passed spaceship earth, headed back stage, and then it was a quick turn and we could see the finish line.
We smiled as best we could as we crossed the finishline, got some pixie dust, and were handed our medals for completing the race. I liked that they had some glitter to them! The real reward was the cooling towel that they give you right after the medal though. We walked through the finisher chute, grabbed some poweraide, and I collected my fairy tale challenge medal. Kasey and I stopped to take a finishers photo together, enjoyed some treats from our snack boxes, and headed back to our hotel rooms for some well deserved naps.
At the end of the race I asked Kasey which of the three half marathons she had completed was her favorite - she at least seemed to enjoy this one more the the half we did together in D.C. last year, but she refused to answer and told me she was never running more than three miles again. I mean, I guess I’ll let her stick to that for a few more weeks, but she is signed up to run the Hot Chocolate 15k with me in Brooklyn at the end of April.