Princess Weekend Day 4, Half Marathon

Day 1 of my Princess Weekend is re-capped HERE.
Day 2 of my Princess Weekend is re-capped HERE.
Day 3 of my Princess Weekend is re-capped HERE.

Sunday morning meant it was time for the big race!  After running (okay, walking) the 10k the day before, I felt I knew a little about what to expect.

Nope.

As we got dropped off by the bus, I figured the walk to the start line would be about the same distance.

Nope again.

It felt we were walking and walking and walking.  I didn't track how far, but it was a decent distance! We wound down by the potties, through some trees.  Then they split off the corrals AA-?? went one way, we went another.

Finally we reached our corral, but we didn't have the extra time we had the day before.  We got into the corral basically as the AA corral was about to start.  Disney set up large TVs so we could see the start line and they had speakers announcing, trying to get us all excited.  In the 10k, I could see every corral...and even the start line.  For the half, it wasn't possible.  

The corral start times varied, but I would say it was an average of about 3 minutes.  Each time a corral would start, we would walk up into the next corral staging area.  Slowly, but surely we were getting close.  With each corral start, the Fairy God Mother would do her magical bibbity-boppity-boo and let off fireworks.  It was a fun way to start the race.

This is the shot I got right as our corral started, we were pretty much in the middle of the pack.

As we started, we stuck to a run/walk ration that was comfortable for all of us.  But soon, we just ditched that completely.  The first several miles were done on the highway.  At one point, we were running down a split highway.  As we ran down our side, across in the other direction we could see the first person running back...ready to finish.  

I wondered if anyone would notice me running like a mad woman across the grass to run behind her...she had to feel excited though, because everyone was cheering her on!  

As the course continued, we came up to the Magic Kingdom entrance.  Nothing looked familiar to me.  At all.

Even inside the Magic Kingdom, I couldn't tell where we were in the back areas.  That is, until we came on to Main Street.

I loved running this portion!  It felt so mystical and magical with the fog surrounding the castle!  There were lots of spectators lining the streets.  This was by far one of my favorite parts of the course.  I wish the whole course could have been ran in the parks.

We opted to take a quick potty break inside the park. 

I didn't go in, but I heard the bathroom was a yucky mess.

Thank you to the Disney park crew who has to go clean up that crap after we are done!

Gross!

We wound through Tomorrow Land and ended up behind the castle, ready to run through it.

This was the half way point.

Up until now, the course was crowded, but never bottlenecked.

Through the castle it got tight!

They had photographers snapping pictures, but you had to be on the left side of the castle as you were exiting to be in a picture.  Keep that in mind if that is important to you...

After we left Magic Kingdom, there was more running along the highway.  All of the roads are technically on Disney Property...they just take you from one park to another.  This is pretty much what most of the course looked like:

I had to snap a picture each time I saw one of the busses.

These busses were what shuttled those who were slower than the balloon ladies off the course.

Supposedly, they would pull up blocking off the road, and make everyone pile on.

Each bus we passed, we cheered.  We knew it meant we passed another pick-up.

Disney was cute and they had little "pick-me-up" signs all along the course.  

They made it a fun, sweaty, hard, humid party.

There were characters all along the course.

There was music playing!

The atmosphere was fantastic.

Mile 10 was a pretty big deal.

You see, after mile 10, the chances of being swept are very low.

(At least that is what we had in our minds.)

10 meant there was only 3.1 left...and who can't run a 5k?!

Little did we know that after 10 there was a nasty on ramp we had to run up and it had a strange tilt to it.  My knees were feeling it!  It was awkward and slanted and my least favorite point in the race.  It was also at this point we were able to look backwards on the course to see where we were in regards to those behind us.  It looked like the runners never ended.  

(Little did I know, a lot of them would be swept...)

The weather had been very cooperative until this point.  But it was starting to warm up, and get muggy.  I hate humidity.  It felt sticky when I breathed.  Ugh.

As we were trudging along, we came upon this girl:

It's hard to tell from the picture, but she is being led.

She's blind.

Did you read that last sentence?  

She is blind!

It was at that point that we all talked about how ANYONE can achieve what they desire if they put their heart into it.  I was in awe, inspired by her determination.

Also, in the back ground you see Epcot....that meant the finish line.  But clearly, it was still too far to get overly excited.

As we got into Epcot, the park had opened.  They had people holding off the crowds to let us run by.  Disney sure knows how to run a race!  As we ran through the buildings in Epcot, it got more and more muggy.  There was less breeze and honestly, I was just ready to be done!

But never, at any point along the race did it cross my mind that we wouldn't finish.

When we talked about doing this race together all those months earlier, the plan was always start the race together, and finish the race together.

No questions!

Had it come down to being swept, we were all perfectly fine being swept together.

But I knew it wouldn't come down to that!

This race wasn't about the race.

It wasn't about times.

This race was about friendship.

You see, friends are more important that PR's or medals.

And these girls that I spent the weekend with were my girls!  

I had spent the last year+ of my life, talking with them.  Sometimes crying to them.  We've gotten to know each others families, and pasts.  We have shared the triumphs of life, and the low parts that we'd rather forget.  These girls have been by my side as I struggled to finish nursing school...alone, in raising my kids...while Jason worked out of town.  They have literally lifted me up when I was at my low points.  They cheered me on when I was at my healthiest weight, but haven't blinked an eye after I gained a lot of it back.  They were there for me when I told them what a surprise Madison's pregnancy was.  They were there when I cried because I didn't want to be pregnant.  I have shared with them my honest feelings, some that I was too embarrassed to say out loud.  I've watched them send their own babies off to military, I've seen them get promotions they have worked so hard for and deserved.  I've seen them chauffeur around teenagers to football, rowing, shopping, and so much more.  I've heard about the incredible places they've visited, the difficult times they have over come, and I've become stronger after seeing their strength.

This race was NOT about a medal.

It was NOT about a PR.

This race was the moment we could all come and be together at the same time and celebrate our friendship.  We started as strangers, all those months ago, and crossed that finish line (with tears in our eyes) as friends.

Friends to the Finish!

See that is the amazing thing about races.  You grow and become someone you didn't know existed.  You laugh, you get annoyed, you cry.

But you finish.

Together.

Thank you Jenn, Windee, and Marcee.

Thank you for standing by me through the hard times we've each faced.

The finish line tasted beautiful because each of you were by my side!

Princess Weekend Day 3...10k

Saturday Feb. 22nd was the start of the races for our group.  I'm going to be honest.  I was worried about having the stamina and strength to finish the 10K Saturday and the Half Sunday to complete the Glass Slipper Challenge.

But I decided to bury the fear, and go for it.

Saturday morning, we woke early.  If I remember right, it was like 3am.  I had to calculate pumping time into the equation.

Once we were dressed and ready, we went down to the lobby of our hotel to catch the bus.  Everything went so smoothly!  I heard horror stories of previous years, but I have nothing but positive to say.  We weren't late, we got on the first bus that swung by to pick us up.  But I think some of the smoothness is because of the location of our hotel on the bus route.

You see, our bus filled completely with all the runners from our hotel.  So when we drove by the stop at the next hotel, there was no room for any of them in their long line.  But I'm sure another bus came along eventually....

Once we arrived at the bus drop off, we had a little walk to head over to the starting line.  I snapped a quick picture, and the excitement was everywhere!

I'm a huge people watcher, so I enjoyed walking through the crowd.  There were so many costumes!  And some were so random...

(Yes, you are in fact looking at a PURSE!)

(How could anyone run in that!?)

One of my favorite costumes at the 10k was an older couple (probably in their mid 60's) dressed as Prince Charming and Cinderella.  I loved them not for who they were dressed as (there were TONS of Cinderella costumes and Prince Charming costumes), but I loved them because they were so excited to get into the race...giddy, like 15 year olds!  They were holding hands as they walked to their corral.  I regret not snapping a picture...it was adorable!

Because we were early to the race, we had time to party it up and dance away.  The MC was great, full of energy, and got us warmed up!

As the race start time got closer, we decided to hit the bathroom one more time.  Only, we waited in line FOREVER!  My advice:  don't use the bathrooms closest to the corrals.  They were so much more crowded that others in the area.  :)

As they announced for everyone to make their way to their corrals, the excitement was buzzing!  If you haven't run a Disney race before, then let me explain the corrals just a little bit.  There are so many runners, SO MANY, and because of that there are delayed start times to try and help with the bottle-necking.  The corral you are placed in is based on your registration.  They ask you to submit proof-of-time from other races (10k or above).  This gives them an idea of where you might finish.  

With Disney, the big talk is about the Mickey carts and balloon ladies.  Because you run through parks, they require you to maintain a 16 min/mile pace or you get swept.  To measure this, they place pacers in the very last corral.  And the balloon ladies are the very last people out of that last corral.  They literally carry balloons and stay at that 16 min pace.  Anyone who falls behind them risks being picked up and swept.  

I wasn't worried at all, even with the lack of training.  You see, because of previous times submitted from earlier races we had a very good corral.  (And lots of buffer room.)  We decided that because we had a half to run the next day, we were going to not push the 10k.  We were just wanting to finish.  

As we went through the course, we mainly walked.  We would jog if we needed to pass someone.  But mostly, we walked.  

We probably would have stopped for pictures with characters.....if there had been any we really wanted.  I was kind of disappointed with the lack of "main" characters placed in the 10k.  We mostly saw the "side-kicks."  Like the cards from Alice in Wonderland.  The one place we did stop to get a pictures was for the Genie and Lumiere.  They were giant!  And you can't see it from the picture below, but they had real people hooked up to them...operating them and talking.  It was probably my favorite character spot (in both races).

When all was said and done, we crossed the finish line and felt great!  The medal was big and beautiful.  It was a fun race, and Disney did a great job with all their aid stations.  The best part...by finishing, it set us up to be part of the inaugural Glass Slipper Challenge finishers the next day.  (more on that tomorrow...)

The rest of the day we spent at parks.  From riding Toy Story, to Tower of Terror, we tried to do it all.

One more thing I want to comment on was the weather...I was SO grateful for the weather we had.  The humidity was minimal compared to what I expected!  And during the race (and even at the parks) it was over-cast and manageable.  We even got a little rain Saturday afternoon....although the rain did bring a little more humidity than I liked.  (But at least it wasn't during the run!)

Disney Princess Weekend Day 2

This is the second post in my Disney Race Re-cap...check out the first HERE

On Friday (Feb 21st) we decided to hit the park.  We spent the day in the Magical Kingdom.  Before we left for Florida, we decided it would be fun to play matchy-matchy and order matching 'Party like a Princess' shirts.  It was fun, and all over the park we were referred to as Princesses.  We each brought tiaras and also wore those.  I'm not typically the tiara kind of girl, but I HAD to do it...it was Princess Weekend after all!

This was my first time to any of the Disney World properties so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Our hotel provided us a boat shuttle to the entrance which was fun.

Once we got in the park, I felt right at home.  I was surprised at how similar the Magic Kingdom was to Disneyland!

We started the day off with the mandatory tourist photo...

Most of the morning, we spent in lines for character photos.  From Alice, to Mary Poppins, to Merida...we cheesed it up with them all!

While planning this trip, we each had some mandatory must-do items.  One of the things we hoped for was to try the new Be Our Guest restaurant.  Only, the are reservation only for dinner...and usually book out MONTHS in advance!  However, here's a TIP:  Lunch is open for all, you just have to wait in line.  We waited maybe 45 minutes?  Would I do it again?  ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY!

Let me preface this by saying I am a HUGE, HUGE, HUUUUUUGE Beauty and the Beast fan!  It is my all time favorite Disney movie.  But even if I wasn't, I still think the wait was worth it.  You eat dinner inside the Beast's castle and it is magical.  And the food was DELICIOUS.

This is outside the entrance with the gargoyle's....

Here are some different views from inside the restaurant.  At lunch you are able to pick your own seat in one of 3 rooms, all are equally fantastic!  This was the room we ate lunch in:

The west wing room is decorated just as the movie...the Beast has torn the room up, and this is where the enchanted flower and mirror are.

As far as food goes:  my advice is ORDER DESSERT!

I got the fancy lemon cupcake and I was in heaven!

On the way out of the castle, after your dining experience is over, there is a place to stop and get the perfect picture!

All in all, lunch was amazing!  And if you can't get dinner reservations, make it a point to get in line quickly for lunch!

The rest of the day was spent riding rides, and enjoying the park!

We probably would have stayed a little longer, but I had issues.  You see, I am nursing little Madison.  But since she was left at home, I was pumping...or trying to pump.  Only, I have an electric pump.  So it wasn't like I could just whip it out and pump where ever.  After many, many hours I was really hurting and my sweet friends were kind enough to head back and let me pump even though it cut our day a little short.  When we got back to the hotel, I did a little researching.  Turns out, Disney is AWESOME.  They have baby centers in each of their parks.  I had NO IDEA!  I've been to Disneyland too many times to count, and I have NEVER known about this.  I've taken babies, and toddlers...and WISHED I would have known about this.  So....let me clue you in on a HUGE secret:

At every Disney park they have this baby center.  In it, there are TV's playing cartoons.  There are baby changing tables. There are high chairs.  They sell baby food and formula and diapers and wipes!  They also sell baby clothes...just in case there is an accident.  They have quiet, private rooms with rocking chairs where you can even nurse!  (or pump in my case)

I was AMAZED!  After I learned this, I brought my pump with me each day and pumped in their mother's rooms, saving a TON of time (and pain).  Seriously, check them out on your next Disney trip!

All in all, the Magic Kingdom was indeed MAGICAL.  Have I mentioned, I LOVE Disney!

That evening (after I was done pumping in the hotel room because I had yet to know about the cool baby centers), we headed to Epcot.  We picked a country to eat in and wandered around.  It was a great day!  That night, we tried to get to sleep early as the 10k race was the next morning and we needed to be up and awake by 3:30am (1:30am Utah time)....more on that day coming tomorrow, check back!