It's race time!

The Half Marathon!

It was a long walk to the corrals and by the time I was nearly there...you guessed it. I had to pee AGAIN! I didn't want to stop and pee during the race so I thought it was smart to stop one last time and the lines were enormous. By the time I got to Corral B I think it was about 10 minutes before the start of the whole shebang. As I was waiting, I noticed that I was standing next to two guys dressed in full on princess costumes! They were the hit of the corral.

I didn't realize until after I'd gotten back home that guys were not supposed to start in Corral B. I guess they start them in Corral C or later as this is a women-centric race which is fine with me! So I'm not sure how they got there and I don't see any bib numbers on them. Anyway, the wait in the corral went so quickly and soon Corral A started and was gone. That meant that Corral B could shift up towards the start. I believe there are 6 minutes between the start of each corral and it was the fastest 6 minutes of my life. At that point, while waiting for our corral to start, I thought to myself. "What on earth are you doing here??? OMG, you're going to run a 1/2 marathon you idiot! Why did you do this?". And then BOOM with a quick countdown and some fireworks, we were off!

I felt pretty good and it felt like my pace was just fine. There is a lot of weaving through and around people to find a good pace and I expected that. It was still dark at that point. This might sound strange but I don't remember so much of the course!  I remember seeing some key things here and there but the majority of it is a blur. When it came to character stops, I kind of had a plan. If there was a short line, I would stop. If there was a long line, I would not. I was really torn because this was my first half marathon and I wanted to get a decent time but I also wanted to have fun (as much fun as one can have while running 13.1 miles I guess!). I remember running through the Magic Kingdom Main Street and it was amazing. I'm not a crier. I'm just not so I knew I wouldn't cry when I entered it like most normal people do and I didn't. I was more happy than anything and I heard so many shouts of "Go Packers!!" and "Go Pack Go" that it really kept me going. That and I didn't want to stop and walk in front of all those people. I did stop and walk for a moment though when we were "back stage" right before we hit Main Street and I think that was my first walk break. I did my only three stops for photo ops in the Magic Kingdom.

There were two people in line for Gaston so I quickly jumped in there and he was hilarious!! Definitely very in character. You get to run through the castle which was a high point for me and when you're coming out, I knew there would be a photo op off to the left and there was a woman directing you to it. It looks like you're the only person in the park in front of the castle and I was glad I did that. I'd actually practiced several poses for in front of the castle but when I actually got there, I ended up with this weird pose which was nothing that I'd practiced. And then as I got going again, there was Princess Tiana with virtually no wait so I decided I should get in line there. As I was leaving I stepped on her dress and my shoe got stuck in it. Sorry Tiana!

After that it's a complete jumble in my mind. For the most part I felt pretty good during the race but because of the humidity I was sweating like nobody's business. So I made it a point to stop at every single water stop. At the first water stop I tried to keep running while I was drinking but that didn't work so well and it ended up all down my chin, neck and shirt. Lesson learned. I knew that it would slow my time down to stop and walk at every water station but I also knew that it was hot and humid and I'd rather not get dehydrated. I remember one instance where one fellow was on the ground at about mile 5 with medics around him and that stuck in my head. I don't want that to happen to me.

Around mile 8 I started to feel a twinge in my right knee (the knee that I didn't have KT taped up of course). And it proceeded to get worse for the rest of the race. I think I was very focused on the pain in my knee and that's another reason why I don't remember squat! I do remember stopping to take this photo at mile marker 10.

Only 3.1 miles to go my friends!! However it didn't feel like "only" at the time. With my knee hurting, I ended up stopping to walk more than I think I normally would have (but I can't be sure of that). Also, the humidity was causing my fingers and toes to swell up. I could feel my toes jammed into the front of my shoes and my toenails were hurting as well. I remember approaching Epcot and seeing all of the spectators. So I knew that I didn't want to represent the Packers by walking so I slowly shuffled my way through the crowd. Once I was safely inside Epcot, I walked my brains out!! Ok, I didn't walk through all of Epcot but I did walk a good portion. But luckily this photographer caught me at one point when I was actually running/shuffling.

Look at that person next to me. She's cruising! While I look like I have bricks attached to my feet.

And then I knew that the end was near and as we were nearing the exit to Epcot, I saw some poor person who was down for the count in the bushes with medics around them. How much would that suck to run 13 miles and then go down right before the finish? Poor person. I kept running and ran until the finish. As I was about to cross the finish line I heard the woman in front of me (talking to no one in particular) say that she was going to do a cartwheel and I didn't want to get kicked in the face so I took a sharp right out of the way and proceeded to do the Aaron Rodgers (the Packers Quarterback) Discount Double Check across the finish line!

My official time was 2 hours and 34 minutes. I'm very happy with that!

After I was done I was a complete zombie making my way around. I saw someone giving out medals so I took a medal. I saw someone handing out bags of ice so I took a bag of ice. I saw someone handing out food so I took some food. It was so strange! My knee was hurting so badly so I just wanted to go back to the Race Retreat to sit down so that's what I did. I wandered into the Race Retreat and there was my zip up hoodie that I'd left in there! I was very happy to see it because I get so chilled after I run. I put my knee up on a chair and iced it. And then I hobbled up to the food and got myself a nice ice cold can of Coke as well as some eggs, bacon and fruit. I needed that. I had signed up to get updates on my phone for myself as well as Amanda so I could see that I had a little time to chill until Amanda came in (she started in corral E I think). And then I took a picture of this.

BLING!!!

I love this gorgeous medal!

In the Race Retreat, there was a private changing area. In my checked bag, I'd packed some clean clothes and some baby wipes to freshen up a bit. After a change of clothes, I felt a lot better. I also remembered to pack ibuprofen, thank goodness!! I left the race retreat shortly after I saw that Amanda had crossed the finish line. We met outside and decided to go to Epcot to meet some of the other facebook ladies but no one showed up. So we took a ride on Soarin' and went back to the room. It was such an amazing day and a magical race. I can now say that I've done a 1/2 marathon! I can't see NOT doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon next year and my sister and niece have been talked into doing it with me as well.

Next up on my agenda is the Chocoholic Frolic 10K run. My friends and I have decided to dress up as characters from Candyland. I get to be Mr. Mint and my costume is part skanky and part dork. I'm sure you'll get to see pictures!



Pre-Race at the Princess Half!

It's been a while but I'm here to finish up my Princess Half Marathon entry! After the expo we had two full days in the park and had a fantastic time. We stayed at Pop Century and on the eve of the race we walked over to the Art of Animation because we knew they had a create your own pasta station. I had an Alfredo pasta with broccoli, black olives, onions, garlic and prosciutto. It was good if not a little bland. But with a race the following day, bland was probably a good thing!

 After dinner we hunkered down for the rest of the night so we could get to bed early. We set out all everything we'd need like our costumes, KT tape, biofreeze, shoes, race fuel, etc. We set the alarm for 2 am (!!!) and tried hard to get some sleep. As soon as the alarm went off Amanda and I both got up immediately and went to work! We'd hoped to be at the bus stop by 2:45 am to be on the first bus but I think we left the room at about 2:45. There was a little bit of a line already but not too bad. We didn't wait too long before two buses pulled up right before 3 am and the first bus filled up so we walked right on to the second one. The bus drops you off quite a ways from the entrance (at least a 1/4 to 1/2 mile I'd say) but honestly, you don't even notice how far you're walking when you're looking at the costumes on all of the other people. Even walking to the entrance was fun!
This is me shortly after we were dropped off.

Did I mention that I'm a huge Green Bay Packers fan? When I decided to run the PHM and I heard that you could dress up, it wasn't even a question as to what my theme would be!

When we got to the area with all of the tents, bag check, merchandise tent, port-a-potties, etc Amanda and I had to split up. I had registered for the Race Retreat and when Amanda registered, it was sold out (she missed it by mere hours!).The Race Retreat costs a little extra but well worth it in my opinion. It is a huge temperature controlled tent with a private bag check, food, port-a-potties and photo opportunities. Here is a photo from inside the Race Retreat after it got a little more crowded.

 I made my way into the Race Retreat where it was not very crowded and I checked my bag with zero wait. I found a table,  and went to get some food. I knew that inside the race retreat they were serving bagels, peanut butter and bananas (and other items like yogurt) so this is what I'd been training with before my long runs and I knew it worked for me. As I was picking out my food a woman recognized me from the Princess Half Marathon facebook group and asked if I'd like to join her and some of the others. I was so thankful to meet some of the people I'd been chatting with, all wonderful women! I was even able to get in line for a photo opportunity with the fairy godmothers!

It was soon time to start heading to the corrals and I figured that I should pee before I left the Race Retreat to take advantage of the private port-a-potties because for the past week I'd been hydrating like a maniac and that included this morning. Apparently every other person in the place had the same idea and the line snaked through the entire tent! I got a little nervous until they opened up the men's side for the women to use and the line moved very quickly. I had brought a zip up hoodie that I was going to use to warm me up just until I got to the corrals and then I'd throw it away. Apparently many people do this and Disney gathers them and gives them to a charitable organization which is win/win. However when I started walking outside I realized that I'd forgotten it on the back of my chair inside of the Race Retreat! But it was already near 70 degrees that morning with 93% humidity so I didn't need it anyway. All that hydrating made me want to use the port-a-potties outside the Race Retreat as well so I stopped again. And then began the long walk to the corrals and it was even longer than the walk from the bus to the entrance. Here is a photo that I got on the way to the corrals because I love men in sparkly skirts. Please excuse the quality, my daughter's ipod touch does not take great photos. Next time I will invest in a very small quality camera to carry with me.

Up next...the actual race!

Welcome...to the Disney Princess Half Marathon!

Would you believe that I'm going to start my blog with a post about the fairy godmother of all half marathons...the Disney Princess Half Marathon?! I haven't yet gotten into all of my reasons for running and my struggles with starting to run at age 41 but we have time for that later! So I'll start with the big guns!

Disney Princess Half Marathon

Part 1 - History and the Expo

  When I decided to sign up for the Princess Half Marathon (PHM) I'd only done one 5K at that point. How crazy is that??? I don't know what made me think that a half marathon would be a good idea but it was Disney after all, right?? It's got to be a magical 13.1 miles! And after I did something stupid, I decided that misery loves company and I told my friend/co-worker Amanda that she should sign up as well! And she DID!! So we began our PHM journey together. We kept each other in check, talked about how our runs went, complained and whined about various injuries (I ended up with a tibial stress fracture and Amanda did some time in a boot!) and became obsessed with all things running.

The day finally came when we were to make our way to Disney. We spent three nights before the race and one night after at Disney's Pop Century resort. We arrived on Thursday, just narrowly missing a giant snow storm that would have delayed us. The first thing on our agenda was to hit the expo! The expo is where you pick up your race bib (the number that you pin to your shirt while you run), the shirt that you get when you run, any other information pertaining to the race and my favorite part...vendors!!! We were very excited to do some shopping! We lined up very early so we could be on the first bus to the expo and once we arrived, the lines to get in were crazy long but eventually we made it to the front. The expo was held at the Wide World of Sports in previous years but this year it was held at Coronado Springs resort.

When we got there, the first booth we saw was Raw Threads. They have lots of cool running shirts/gear here. Amanda had pre-ordered a Rapunzel shirt so we stopped to pick it up. As you can see, it wasn't super busy here at that point.

We then made a beeline for the runDisney merchandise. This area, my friends, was nuts and it proceeded to get worse the longer we were there. I really surprised myself by only getting an "I Did It" shirt and a 13.1 Mickey ear magnet for my car. I'm the world's worst impulse buyer so you should really be proud of me. Here is the crowd inside the runDisney merch area and it wasn't bad...yet.







And here is the checkout area. There is a long winding checkout line to the right and the cashiers are to the left.

After that we went to explore the rest of the expo. I bought some cute little charms to attach to the laces on my running shoes, I bought a baggie full of little Biofreeze packets (have you tried Biofreeze? If not you totally should! It really helps my aching muscles and I use it before and after I run), and seeing as I'd managed to sign up for another Disney half marathon before I'd even completed this one I needed something for my next costume. So for my next race, I went to the Team Sparkle booth and I got a Minnie Mouse type skirt! Seen here when we ate at Cinderella's Royal Table inside the castle the next morning.

We then went to pick up our race bib's. The process was easy and painless. I love the expo! Here is a photo of what the bib pickup area looked like - no lines, in and out in a flash! Pretty cool, huh? Please remember this as we're in for quite a shock.

After this I needed to hit the Runner Relations booth to submit my 10K time that would hopefully move me up into a corral that was closer to the front and I also needed to pick up my wristband for the race retreat (which I'll talk about later). Amanda didn't have to do either of these things so she went to get in line for the next step in the process which was to pick up the bags that contained our shirts, race programs, buttons, pins, etc. This area was in a completely separate end of the room. I stood in a short line to show my 10K time. I had a printout with me and I showed it to the young girl who seemed a bit confused by my printout. She said "What time are you shooting for?" and I said "2:20" and she placed a Corral B sticker onto my bib! Corral B is what I was hoping for. I then got my race retreat wristband in another area and then I went to pick up my bag.

Can you imagine my shock when I saw this??

It may not look THAT bad but trust me, it was. This was about 10 or 15 minutes into my wait. There were no lines and it was a knock down, drag out fight to make your way to the front. See that girl with the headband on? She writes one of my favorite blogs, Running with Sass and I got to talk to her for a little bit which was super cool! Anyway, I kind of stayed behind her and made my way to the front. My phone started to die and I knew that Amanda was somewhere in that mess of a bag pickup. So I got out of there and it turns out that Amanda was still in there and they cleared everyone out so they could start making some tape lines on the floor and to start directing people. So she was stuck there for a long time while they did that. So she was in that area for a super long time.

While I was waiting for Amanda I looked around the expo a bit more. For a brief second I contemplated getting the Minnie Mouse themed New Balance running shoes. But then I saw this line for them and I decided that I didn't need them! 



The expo probably would have been fine if not for the cramped and crowded runDisney merchandise booth and also the jumbled maddening mess of a bag pickup! I have one more comment to make about this. Do you see the tiny area for the bag pickup? Go ahead and look at that photo again, I was in the very back up against a vendor table when I took that photo so you can get a sense of how small that area is. Now look at the other side of the room that they have designated for bib pickup, runner relations, and packet pickup for the kids races and 5K. (Ok, it's not letting me upload that last photo but you can see the bib pickup photo above). But trust me, it is at least half of the room, it's a gigantic spacious area that is not crowded and not being used at all!! Why not make that that bag pickup area because it's so huge? Or at least make that area smaller so the rest of the expo can be bigger.  I think the real fail here, is if they choose to send 20some thousand racers to this expo in a smaller venue and then they aren't able to utilize the space in an efficient manner.

I don't want to leave my first blog post on a negative note. Eventually I found Amanda and we got the heck out of dodge! We went to the Polynesian for a Dole Whip and then we met a fellow runner at the Grand Floridian for afternoon tea which was absolutely delightful! We felt a great sense of accomplishment once we got out of the expo and we were ready to enjoy two days at Disney before the race!