Video recap: The 2019 Disney Princess Half Marathon

Did I carry my go pro for another 13.1 miles? You betcha! Today I’m sharing a recap of Kasey and my experience running the princess half marathon together. 

Race Recap: 2019 Disney Princess Half Marathon

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.

Race recap: 2019 Disney Princess 10k

Early morning number two. The hardest part is waking up, and the majority of that was now behind me. I laid in bed for 10 minutes after my alarm went off, eventually mustering up the will to get moving. I had packed my bag the night before, so I really just had to get dressed and get out the door. It was cold in the hotel room, so just before leaving I decided to grab a sweatshirt- something I learned would not be necessary the second that I stepped outside.

The morning greeted me with a wall of humidity, and it was clear this race was going to be a hot one.

The bus was waiting when I got to the loading area, and I hopped on and snagged a seat next to another runner. We didn’t have a wait like the previous morning, and instead we were quickly on our way to the start area. I was so sleepy on the second morning that I was tempted to close my eyes on the bus. We got to the start area in about 15 minutes, and walked through the Epcot parking lot to get to the security check. No line again today, just a walk up to the table where they checked my bag.

I was flying solo for this race, so I walked into the start area and found a space to go through my bag, sorting out the stuff I wanted to bring with me and the stuff that I would check during the race. They once again changed the bag check situation - this race instead of checking the bag based off the first letter of your last name, runners could go up to any truck and were given a sticker to put on the back of my race bib to remind me which truck I had used.

Once my bag was checked I headed right into the corrals, and found a spot to sit towards the front of corral A. We had waited almost 40 minutes to start the 5k the day before, and I was just ready to get moving on day 2. The humidity was already heavy on my lungs, and I wondered just how rough this run was gonna be.

Around 5:15 they started moving us toward the start line, and I was just a few rows of people back from the start of the corral, which was exciting. We watched as the announcers went through the pre race show, and I even got picked to answer a trivia question by one of the announcers (did you know that Mulan is the only Disney Princess who wasn’t born into royalty or married to a prince?).

Eventually it was time for the race to start. The wheelchair athletes went off first, then the elite runners, followed by all of us in corral A. I was able to settle into a sub-9 minute mile, which was all I was hoping for during this race. The first mile flew by, and the only character sighting in that stretch was Pocahontas, who was stationed on top of an overpass, posing above as the runners went by below. Shortly after the first mile marker there was a LONG line for a character - I wondered how a line could already be that long this early in the race, but then I saw it was belle and beast posing with a stained glass rose window, and understood the long line. I snapped a photo as I ran by, but didn’t want to wait in such a long line that early in the race.

There was a slight uphill during the second mile, as we ran onto the next stretch of highway. I heard Hawaiian roller coaster ride playing as we approached the second character stop, and sure enough stitch was there taking photos with runners, all dressed up in his Elvis costume. The second mile marker featured belle, and it was still dark as night as I ran into the third mile.

There was a Donald Duck character stop that I believe was in mile 3 - he was just on the side of the highway without any backdrop, but I decided to run in for a photo as there was no line. I was starting to feel the effects of the heat by this point in the race, and was struggling to keep the pace I wanted at this point. It gets humid in NY in the summer, but I wasn’t accustomed to this kind of weather at this point in the year, so struggled as the race went on.

After passing the third mile marker we passed the waste treatment plant behind Epcot, which is easily identified by its smell, and ran under test track. Joy and Sadness were on the side of the rode, and I regretted not getting a photo with them during marathon weekend, so I stopped for one. Disgust would not have been pleased with how sweaty I looked in the photo.

Finally, we entered Epcot for the first time and started making our way around world showcase. I spotted Pinocchio hanging out in Italy, and ran right in for a photo. The countries were all lit up, and while I was struggling and feeling like I wanted the race to be over already, I tried to stay with a sub-9 pace while running, and reminded myself that if I was going to be running in weather that was hotter than preferred, I may as well be doing it in Disney.

As I approached the France pavilion I spotted Marie, who I had never managed to catch during a race before, and was super excited to get a chance photo with her. So excited in fact, that I forgot to pause my garmin, but it was a super quick stop, so it didn’t mess up my moving pace too much.

We exited Epcot after the France pavilion through the exit that leads to the board walk, and did a lap around the resorts before heading back into the park. The boardwalk loop was a huge struggle for me, knowing that I was going to have to deal with a few little hills within the next mile. The first was as soon as we left Epcot, and boy did I feel exhausted climbing that one. I had to back off the pace a little, as I started to feel nauseous as I climbed. Bleh. I do not miss summer running. As I made my way around the boardwalk Goofy was out, dressed as a baseball player. I thought about stopping since he had no line, but really just wanted to get to the finish line at that point. One more hill to leave the board walk, then into the construction area behind Epcot, where they are building the gondola system. It has been cool to see the construction progress over the last year, as many of the rundisney events have gone through that area. They had smart talking “construction workers” stationed in that area, joking around and rooting runners on.

We headed into Epcot a second time, and made our way towards future world. Mickey was stationed just before we turned towards spaceship earth with only 3-4 runners waiting, so I decided to do one more character stop. Our outfits did coordinate, after all, even if I was dressed as a villain.

I pushed hard to get back to a good pace after leaving Mickey, knowing that I had less than a half mile between me and the finish line. I ran towards spaceship earth, stopping for a jump shot along the way, then out of the park and towards the finish line. I didn’t make the same mistake I had during the wine and dine 10k and start sprinting towards the finish despite the heat, but instead just tried to hold a consistent pace. As I approached the finish line the runner next to me shouted “hi queen of hearts, this is good timing!” I turned to look, and she was dressed as Alice! Good timing indeed, as we did wind up in the same finish line photos.

I was very relieved to be done running, and happily accepted my medal, which featured Mulan. Then it was on to snack boxes and bag check. As usual, I checked a drawstring backpack to carry all of the goodies they give you at the finish line. There weren’t too many runners in the post race area so I headed over to the characters to check out the lines. They had aurora, Princess Minnie, and Elena out. I decided to hop on line for princess Minnie, which took about five minutes. Then noticed that the line for aurora was also labelled for Mulan. The cast member at the end of the line told me Mulan was due out in about 15 minutes, so I decided to wait there, but the line moved quickly and I got a photo with aurora. So, I hopped on the back of the line again, and was able to get a photo with Mulan the second time around. It was her race after all!

When the character photos were complete I made my way over to the buses and back to the hotel. We had breakfast reservations at be our guest, so I had time for a decent nap before heading to the parks for a day of fun.

Race recap: 2019 Disney Princess 5k

I never did tell Mom what time the alarm was set for, but when it went off at 3:35 A.M. it scared the crap out of me. I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to get dressed. Once I was ready I called out to mom, concerned that she had rolled over and fallen back asleep, but once I asked if she was awake she got up and began preparing for the morning’s race.

Twenty minutes later we were dressed as dalmatians and on our way out the door, headed to the bus stop at the all star music resort. We were at the bus stop just before 4 a.m. and as we climbed on board Kasey texted me saying that her, Aunt Karen, and Hallie had just arrived at the start area. We wound up waiting on the bus for about 15 minutes, but eventually we were on our way to the start to meet them.

We got to the start area a little later than planned, so lucky for us there was no line for the security check. Mom’s main goal at that point was to get a cup of coffee, and there hadn’t been any available at the hotel, so we got on the concession line to pick some up before heading to the corral.

We found the the rest of our group as soon as we entered the runners-only area, where the corrals are located. We hopped into our corral, and our next objective was to finish Kasey’s costume - she needed some white Cruella hair. I had brought white hair spray with me, and we moved to an empty area so I could spray one half of her ponytail.

We hung out in the back of the corral until they started to release runners, and when the crowd started to move we left the corral among the other participants. It was a slow crawl of a walk towards the start line, as they broke the corrals into mini-waves, so it took a long time for us to get to the start line, and we even got faked out just before the start, thinking we would get to go with the group ahead of us but the runners were cut off just before us. All in all it took a little more than a half hour for us to get to the start, and then we were on our way!

Mom, Aunt Karen, Kasey, Hallie and I all wanted to experience the race together, so we were all walking this one as a group. We took our time as we chatted on the road leading up to the backstage area of Epcot. I’m pretty sure Hallie almost puked when we walked by the waste treatment plant, but we powered through, passed under the backstage area of test track, and soon after entered Epcot. We passed some characters as we walked, but the lines were all very long so we just kept moving forward.

We first entered Epcot in the world showcase near the Mexico pavillion and when we got to Canada we spotted Daisy all dressed up in an adorable coat. We walked through the illuminated buildings in world showcase, and when we got to Germany it was time for a pit stop at the bathrooms.

There were plenty of photopass photographers on the course, and Kasey was never sure how to pose when we walked by them so we just had fun thinking of different poses as we went - this resulted in many awkward pictures that we got to laugh at later.

We left world showcase after the France pavilion, where we spotted prince Phillip. We walked towards the boardwalk resort area, but the course turned so we went through the gondola construction area. When we re-entered Epcot we were in England, and Rapunzel had a character stop. The sun was starting to come up as we moved through Epcot, and we eventually entered future world. We passed the fountain, and then headed towards test track.

As we were walking, Hallie saw a photographer snap of someone jumping, which lead to a series of attempted jump shots, and us learning just how bad Kasey is at jump shots, especially if that involves a heel click. Through many laughs we attempted our own jump shots, and failed miserably at coordinating our jumps, but at least we had fun with it.

The last part of the race took us by spaceship earth. As we left the park Kasey and Hallie started to get a little competitive, power walking ahead of each other. Soon enough there was a quick pass of Hallie’s phone to Aunt Karen, and then Hallie was sprinting towards the finish and Kasey chasing her down, as they raced to cross the finish line in the final stretch of the race. The rest of us laughed as they took off, and Kasey did win their showdown to the finish. Hallie stopped just before the finish line and ran back to us, so the four of us could cross the finish line together.

We collected our finisher medals, got our snack boxes, and took a finisher photo before heading onto the buses. We had a busy day ahead of us - starting with brunch at Chef Mickey’s to celebrate my Uncle’s birthday, and then a day in Magic Kingdom.

I carried my go pro along for the race to capture the fun, so here’s a video of our experience!

Princess Half Marathon Recap: The Half Marathon!

For the last post in my Princess half marathon weekend series, we are finally talking about the big event – the princess half marathon!

For those of you that are new to the blog, I will let you know that the princess half marathon holds a special place in my heart, as it was my first race EVER back in 2016. My cousin Ryan and I decided to sign up to run it, not being runners or having any idea how to train properly, but somehow managed to cross the finish line. The moment we were done, I knew that running was going to be a part of my life for a very long time, and have been chasing the feeling that I had at that finish line ever since.

So, for the 2018 Princess half marathon the theme was “Snow White,” with a big apple shaped medal. I wanted a costume that would go with that theme, without hitting the nail on the head and just dressing up as the princess herself. Rachel and I spent some time brain-storming this one, and we decided to go as the mine train (Rachel) and the poison apple (me).

I had so much fun putting these costumes together, and even learned some new skills along the way. I decided to make the focal point of the costumes the skirts, and then build the shirts and accessories around it. For my skirt, I made it to look like the poison apple itself, with a red base and a sparkly white top, shaped like the poison dripping down the apple, complete with an eerie face. Then I used my mom’s Cricut machine to create iron on transfers for my shirt. I decided to go with a play on a line from snow white – changing “Just one bite and all of your dreams will come true” to “Just one RUN and all of your dreams will come true.” To complete my outfit, I ordered a poison apple hat and a pair of red ProCompression socks, and I was ready to run.

So, on race morning I rolled out of bed too early for the third day in a row, and got myself dressed for the day. It was basically a routine at this point, so I had everything laid out right where I needed it. As I left my room I texted Rachel to see how she was feeling and asked if she was going to run the half (the day before, she had nearly collapsed from dehydration). She said that she was feeling better and was going to give it a go, and we agreed to meet up in the start area like we had for the 10k. I hopped on the next bus that pulled up to the All-Star Music resort and was on my way to the start village.

I found Rachel easily enough, and we hung out in the start area until it was time to begin the long walk to the corrals. For this race I was assigned corral B, while Rach was in F. We were originally planning to run the race together, but since Rachel hadn’t been feeling well the day before we decided to run separately, so that I wouldn’t wind up pushing her too hard. As I hopped in line for a porter potty she headed to her corral, hoping to get a spot near the front – for this race corral F had nearly 10,000 runners, about 30% of the race field.

I made my way to the corrals surrounded by thousands of other runners, some in costumes. Near-by was a man dressed as Ursula, joking about needing to brace himself for the calamari jokes he was likely to hear throughout the day, as the temperature rose. It was about a 15 minute walk to get to the corrals, and once I found corral B I headed in and tried to relax, feeling more nervous than I usually do before a race. As the start time grew nearer, I took some time to stretch, and eventually took my first Gu of the day. By that time, the announcers were on the stage and the pre-race show was underway. Jeff Galloaway remarked casually about the 90% humidity, as if it was an everyday activity. To get the race started, they brought out the Fairy Godmother and had her countdown to race start with a cry of “Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo!”

The first wave of runners were released with a show of fireworks, and then corral B was moved right up to the start line, and a minute later, we were off into the morning. My plan for this race was to have fun, and soak in every bit of Disney magic that I would encounter over the next 13.1 miles.

The first mile was a little congested, with all of the runners trying to find their groove. There were volunteers lining the side of the course, cheering as we started our trek down the highway. Since I knew I wanted to make some stops for characters along the course, so I picked up my pace to make up for time i would loose in lines. My plan for characters was simple – if there was little or no line and I wanted a photo with the characters, I would stop. If it was the Evil Queen disguised as an old woman, I would stop – since it matched the theme of my skirt. But most of the time, I wound up snapping a quick photo or video as I ran by.

The first stop was at mile 1.7, where I saw that Jack Sparrow was set up with his pirate ship. The props made it a cool stop, so I pulled over and got in line for a photo… but then realized it was a slow moving line and decided to cut my losses and keep moving. It was still dark, but I was already feeling the heat of the morning. This was the day that I would learn how much I am capable of sweating.

Soon after the pirate ship I came upon the entrance gate to magic kingdom, lit up and shining. This is one of my favorite parts of the race – even though the park is still miles away, I get so excited knowing that I am headed there. I stopped and took a selfie, mimicking one I took with my cousin in 2016.

The next stop that I came upon had an assortment of Disney princes and heroes, and I deemed it a necessary stop – after all, it is the princess half, and I felt like to post with the princes was a photo I had missed out on the first time around. It left a dent in my time for that mile, and I took off fast as soon as my photo was done. Of course, soon after came the one character stop that I “NEEDED” – The evil queen, and boy did she have a line waiting for her. I suppose since I was in an early corral and all it wasn’t the worst wait it could have been, but when I was moving I was running paces in the low 8’s, and my mile average still came in at almost a 14 min/mi for the two miles that I did these character stops.

On the upside of things, I was quickly approaching the Magic Kingdom, and over the next two or so miles it was all highway and no characters, so I was able to make up for some of the lost time. I wound up settling into a pace close to a 9 minute mile, but then slowing myself down as I approached the magic kingdom, not wanting to miss a second of time there. We passed mile marker 5 just before running though the bus bays outside of magic kingdom, then headed through the park’s main entrance and down main street USA – the smile on my face in the race photos says it all, and I found myself holding back excited tears as I made my way through the park. Have I been to magic kingdom before? Yes. But there is nothing quite like running down main street. Plus, this was the first time I was starting a RunDisney event in my designated corral rather than dropping back to run with someone, and I was in awe of how empty main street was.

Once I made it down main street the course turned into tomorrow land, and I felt like it was a parade of character stops in magic kingdom – first up was Buzz Lightyear, before running passed the story book circus, then into new fantasy land, where I spotted Gaston near his tavern and the White rabbit, who was probably running late and shouldn’t have been doing a meet and greet. Just before the castle Cinderella’s evil step-sisters were stationed, with people pulling over for pictures, when I could hardly contain my excitement enough to even consider stopping.

Then one of my favorite moments of a Disney race: running through the castle! I had it nearly to myself, and stopped to get a picture in front of the castle before going onward into frontier land. I quickly spotted tiana and Louie, then Woody and Jesse, followed by Goofy. There was only one person on line to meet Goofy, and being a sucker for classic Disney characters, I stopped for a photo with him before continuing to run to the part of the course that would bring us backstage in the magic kingdom.

I only got to spend a quick minute backstage, as we just ran by a few buildings before leaving the park, but they had some festival of fantasy parade floats out, so I grabbed a quick photo with the giant dragon float, since there was no line and I couldn’t resist such a cool photo op. There were some princesses out with their floats as well, but I ran on by as I said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. I made one last photo stop on my way out – they had the rail road car pulled right up to the course, so I threw myself in the path and posed dramatically, as one does. I was basically dying because of how much I was sweating at that point anyway, so I may as well get a good photo of it.

The next few miles were all highway, as we made our way back to Epcot. We ran by the grand Floridian, where tinkerbell was hanging out with her fairy friends. As we approached mile 8, they had put up signs with cheesy jokes on them to amuse runners as they went by, all Disney themed of course. My favorite had to be “Who is the funniest Disney princess? – Ra-PUN-zel!” But I am a sucker for cheesy jokes. Just after mile 8 they had props and performers from the long closed Adventurer’s Club, which was once a restaurant in downtown Disney. Having read stories about it, I may always be a little bitter that I never got to visit myself, but I always enjoy when RunDisney brings out entertainment like that.

As I continued on the highway, miles 9 and 10 ticked off on my watch. The mile marker for mile 10 was a little special, as this was the 10th anniversary of the princess half. I slowed my pace a little at this point, as I was starting to feel the effects of the high humidity. Plus, my thigh was starting to chafe! I had run TWO marathons and countless training runs in the shorts I was wearing and never had any issues, but apparently the humidity was doing me in for this one. By the time I was finished with the race, I had a raw patch of skin on my leg. With mile 10 came the overpass, AKA the one “hill” of this Disney race. Once I was up the overpass, I could see runners on the highway for quite some distance.

With mile 12 I started to enter the Epcot resort area, and mile 13 brought me all through the parks. I was loving this race, but the heat was getting to me and I was more than ready to get to that finish line! I picked up the pace a little for the last mile, running passed spaceship earth, and to the final out and back of the course. Then one more trip passed spaceship earth, around the bend, and the finish line was in sight. There was still confetti on the ground from the winners crossing the finish line, and Prince Mickey and Princess Minnie were waiting by the finish line as runners approached. As I ran by Mickey I snagged a high-5, then threw my hands in the air as I crossed the finish line, full of joy.

Finish time: 2:13:37

A volunteer handed me my medal, and they had fairy godmothers in training on hand to sprinkle finishers with pixie dust. Then it was just a long walk down the finishers chute, where I collected Gatorade, water, and a snack box, then verification at the fairy tale challenge tent, where I collected my second medal of the day. The last thing to do was pick up my checked bag, and head for the bus back to the hotel.

I completed my second Disney princess half marathon, and my first glass slipper challenge. It was exactly the magic that I was hoping for, and that I have come to expect from RunDisney. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my family at my aunt and uncle’s house, just taking it easy and celebrating a successful race.

As for Rachel – she finished too, and even snagged herself a new PR, crossing the finish line in just over 2 and a half hours.

Princess Half Marathon Recap: Arrival to Florida and Expo day

My journey to Florida for the princess half marathon began at MacArthur airport in NY, where I boarded a flight with my parents on Wednesday night. Dennis was supposed to be joining us for this trip, but he recently started a new job and had to cancel. Dad won the seat game, when he snagged the emergency exit row seat that had no seat in front of him – talk about leg room! I had recently gotten some free drink coupons from Southwest, so Mom had a celebratory vacation drink as we flew to Florida.

The flight was smooth sailing, and when we got to Florida Mom and I collected our luggage while Dad grabbed the rental car, then we were on the road to Disney. This first ride of the weekend through Florida began the saga of the tolls, where we scrambled for the millions of quarters that we would need to chuck into the provided bins. In retrospect, we probably should have invested in a SunPass, but at the time we didn’t realize just how many quarters we would have to dig for.

We pulled into the All-Star Music resort, and found our room in the country music section. I had completed the online check in that Disney offers, so I didn’t even need to stop by the front desk when we got there – we had received a text with our room number and our magic bands would open the door. The most complicated part was figuring out where to park! We started by following the numbers around the building, starting high and marking them off as they got lower… but the parking lot ended at building 6 and we were headed for building 5. So we doubled back and realized that we needed to be in the parking lot that All-Star Music and Sports shared.

Once we lugged all of the luggage into the hotel we settled in and called it a night, planning to get up early and meet up with my mom’s sister and her family, and all go to animal kingdom together.

In the morning my Aunt Liz and Uncle Keith met up with us at the hotel for breakfast. Since the best way to start a Disney day is with a Mickey Waffle (or a cinnamon bun, I’m not picky), Dad and I both got bounty platters, complete with Mickey waffles to start the trip off on the right foot.

We all piled into the minivan that Dad had rented and headed for animal kingdom, and were directed to the Dinosaur lot. We got there just a few minutes after opening, and once we were in the park headed to Pandora. The first ride of the day was “Na’vi river journey,” and since the park had just opened there was only a 20–minute stand by line.

After the ride we found my cousin Keith, his wife Kristen, and their baby, Ainsley. Or, more accurately, they found us! Kristen jumped right into a photo I was taking of my parents, and we all got a laugh out of her photo bomb. 

After a few minutes of catching up as we hung out in Pandora, we made our way to flight of passage. Just a week before our trip the park hours got changed, which released an extra hour of fastpasses, and I managed to snag us each one for flight of passage. I was happy that my mom agreed to come on the ride with us, as she isn’t always a “ride” person, but we all had a great time.

When we exited the ride we found Keith and Ainsley hanging out by the gift shop, and all headed to dino land so we could take Ainsley on tricera tops spin, then hung out there for a little bit. We made our way around animal kingdom throughout the rest of the day, taking in festival of the lion king, riding expedition Everest, and grabbing lunch at flame tree BBQ.

We all had a great time just hanging out and enjoying the park and each other’s company, but as the afternoon rolled into the evening I needed to head to the Expo to pick up my race bibs, so we all parted ways, and my mom left with my aunt and uncle, as she was planning on staying with them for the next few days as Dad and I hung out in Disney.

We headed to the expo around 5 pm, and hit a little bit of traffic heading into the ESPN sports complex. Once we were parked we went to the bib pickup area first, as bib pickup was obviously my priority. We headed into the arena, and the process was easy enough. Flash my ID, trade my signature for a bib, and then do it once more for a challenge bib. Since it was the 10th anniversary of the princess half, in addition to my bib I was given a luggage tag in the shape of the half medal, a set of bib boards featuring mickey, and a button featuring the race logo.

The next stop was the main expo hall, where the shirts were waiting to be picked up. There was no line to get into the building, so we were able to walk right in. I stopped for a few photos with some snow white props they had out, and then we walked to the back of the hall where the shirts were set up. I tried on one of my shirts and it seemed good. While we were in the Visa center we stopped at the pandora booth. I wanted to check out the charm they were selling for the race weekend. It was kind of pricey, as it had to be purchased with a bracelet, but my annual pass knocked 20% off the price, and we had a $50 gift card from waiving maid service in the hotel room, so I wound up getting the charm in the end. I walked around the vendors a little, but there was nothing that I really needed in terms of running supplies, so the only other thing I picked up was some applesauce and buy one get one free chipotle coupons. 

Finally, we headed to the runDisney Merchandise area. I picked up the pre-order jacket that I was bought – there was no reminder that I had purchased one at any point in the bib pickup process, so if you pre-order merchandise, remember to retrieve it! It has the same logo on it that the annual passholder shirt bore, with each race distance and associated princess. Then we wandered around the merchandise, and I picked up a few things – a wine glass, a tervis water bottle, the pins of the race medals to add to my backpack, and a 13.1 magnet to add to the back of my car…. Yep, I’m THAT kind of runner. For the first time, the runDisney merchandise had its own building, which I really preferred over the usual arrangement. It meant that there was plenty of space for the merchandise to be spread out, so I was able to shop leisurely instead of being crammed into a small aisle with too many people. Before heading out, I waited in line to get a photo with princess Minnie, all ready for race weekend in her pink dress. 

With the expo complete, Dad and I headed back to the hotel and grabbed some pizza from the food court for dinner before calling it a night. I set up my outfit for the next morning and packed my bag with everything I would need, and headed to bed, excited for the weekend full of running that I had ahead of me.