Princess half marathon –5K recap

S asked me months ago to sign her up for this since I was planning on doing it.  I will admit, I had major hesitations about having my 6 year old running the 5k with me. Disney races start really early, and I knew she was still going to be on CST. How was she going to do about getting up at 4:30 am?  She had never done a 5K before– how was she going to handle it?  And how whiny was she going to get?
The alarm went off at 4, and I hurried up and got dressed.  I then woke her up at 4:30; she must have been excited about it because she woke up with no problem.  She got dressed and then we were off.  We headed down to catch the bus, which already have about 35-40 people on it. There were groups of families with kids which was nice for S to see.

We get dropped off at Epcot and make our way to the runners area to check in our bag.  The nice volunteers kept telling me I had to tie the bag with the attached drawstrings but I couldn’t figure out how to do it.  I felt pretty dumb about that.  With that lovely ordeal done, we headed towards the central area.  There were lovely stained glass windows at the enterance, so we had our picture taken with one of them. My goal for this race was pretty simple: to completely follow S’s lead on everything.

We took some more pictures before we headed over the corrals. We were in line to see Mickey and Minnie; however, after spending 30 minutes in line, the annoucers told us to head to the corrals, so we were planning on meeting with Mickey and Minnie after the race.  We went into corral B, and heard someone playing the national anthem on some instrument ( I think the trumpet, but I honestly cannot remember).  It was one of many proud mommy moments of that morning when I look over and see S singing along with her hand over her heart.

Finally, our corral was off. We started running. S tends to like to sprint really fast  but can only sustain that for a few seconds. I had been prepping her to take it slow bc three miles wasn’t going to just fly by.  We started to do 1:1 intervals and we kept that up for about half of the run.  We stopped at every photo stop, where she was tickled pink because so many people commented on her costume. She had a couple of people taking pictures of her. And the characters were awesome! They were all so supportive of her, asking her how old she was and how proud of her they were.  Seeing her face so full of pride was the best thing about this trip, I think.

By mile 2.7, though, she was starting to fade a bit.  It was so hot and humid which didn’t help matters at all. So the last bit of the run, we ended up walking. When she saw the finish line approaching, she wanted to run.  So we ran across the finish line where we heard the annoucers congratulate us , comment on our sparkly skirts and then get excited when they actually saw S.

We got our medals and then picked up the ater, powerade and snack boxes.  One thing I loved about Tinkerbell is that they provided us with a bag to place all of our things.  It’s really hard to hold onto two people’s worth of food and drink.  After picking up our checked bag, we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom to meet the rest of the family.

The 5k was probably the best part of the weekend for me mainly because I got to do something so special with S.  Seeing her be so proud of her accomplishment was a great feeling. Even though she was tired, she powered through.  She never wanted to quit, and I loved how she pushed through all the way to the end.

Princess half marathon weekend– Expo recap

I was so excited to do the Princess Half Marathon (PHM) again this year.  I ran it back in 2011 for the first time and it’s what started me into running.  I was talking with my dad about it in 2010, when I first learned about runDisney, and I mentioned to him it would be something I would like to do.  He was equal parts supportive and skeptical ( I am anything but athletic).  It was pretty much the last conversation I had with him because he fell two days later, went into a coma and passed away three weeks later.  Given that, I had to do this race.  I had prepared and trained for 6 months to get to where I could go the 13.1– not fast but I could get it done. I then fell ill with a temp of 102 two days before we were supposed to leave. I pushed through and got it done; It was frankly not a fun experience.  So this race will always be about and for my dad, and this one was to my redemption run.  I felt good having come off Tinkerbell and then another half the weekend after, so I felt I was prepared to run and also have time for pictures.

We landed in Orlando on Friday.  While J and the girls went to Magic Kingdom, I headed over to the expo to pick up bibs and some other things I needed and had also pre-orderded. The expo was moved to Coronado Springs because of the Braves’ preseason.  The venue was way too small. Bib pick up went smoothly– I had to go to three separate areas to pick up my 1/2 and 5k bibs and then to pick up S’s 5k bib.  Then I had to fight the crowds to go all the way to the other side of the expo to pick up my shirts.  And there, again, I had to wait in three separate lines to pick up all of the stuff. I know that this is the most efficient way for runDisney to hand things out, but it was a little frustrating to spend 30 minutes in three lines which were essentially adjacent to each other.

Once the official business was done, it was time to pick up some pre-ordered stuff.  I had to fight my way back to the front of the expo just to see the map to figure out where the various vendors were.  Once I figured that out, I made a straight shot to the Sparkle Skirts, Raw threads, Sweaty bands and KT booths. I picked up only the stuff I wanted and had pre-ordered and then headed out as fast as I could.  It was honestly so crowded and overwhelming that I just had to get out.  Guess it’s a good way to save money.

On the way out, I took a picture in front of the mini castle holding the bibs. I was a little bummed not to see the Fairy Godmother or the Royal Guardsmen, as they were both there two years ago.

All in all, the expo took me about 1 1/2 hours to get completed.  By this time, it was almost 6 so I headed over to Magic Kingdom with all of my expo stuff to meet J and the girls.

Tinkerbell half marathon weekend –5K

I guess a good way to start off a blog is with my first race report. Since we are planning a trip to WDW for Princess weekend, it made sense to go to California for Tink so I could get my Coast to Coast. It was a quick trip: In Friday evening and out Sunday afternoon.

I got to California Friday afternoon- just in time for rush hour traffic. Quickly checked into the hotel(Holiday Inn resort) and made my way to the expo to pick up my packet for the 5K, half, and for the breakfast. There was a separate line to pick up each of the packets. I think I was really tired from my trip because when I first got there, I had a massive headache and was really annoyed that there were separate lines for each event. Happily, Disney is so well organized with some many great and friendly volunteers that I didn’t have to spend too much time in line and was able to get back to the hotel and crash. The two hour time difference meant I was getting sleepy by 7:30!

Woke up the next morning and got on the ART headed for the 5K. I got onto the first bus and met some very nice people. I was a little worried about traveling alone and not talking to anyone. We got the the park and took some pics with Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the background. By the time that was all done, corral A was full and so I was ushered into corral B. My goal for the 5K was to take as many pictures as possible since I am too slow to stop for pics for the half. There was a cute preshow, filled with banter from the runDisney folks. The best part was watching Tinkerbell fly around the castle and then watching fireworks go off. After that, the air gun went off and Corral A took off. About 5 minutes later, it was our corral’s turn.

The air gun blared, paper streamers shot through the air, and we were off! I was in no hurry to run or even run/walk this 5K. I wasn’t sure how my legs would do running the 5K and then again the half the next day. Since I had heard that the 16 min/mile wasn’t as emphasized for the 5K, I just wanted to relax and enjoy the 5K. I stopped for every picture– and each one was at least a 5 minute wait. Since I was traveling alone, I tried to get myself in some of the pictures– some results are better than others. It was a little lonely, though, doing the 5K alone. Walking slowly meant I had more time to think and watch other friends and family chat with each other. In the end, though, there was a really nice mother/daughter team I ended up walking with as we kept getting in lines together for photo ops. It has made me excited for when S and I do the 5K at Princess next month.

My finishing time for the 5k was… I really have no idea. I just know it was the slowest 5K I have ever done. I think it was about 80 minutes? I was so slow that they cut off the line to take the last pic– with Pirate Mickey and Minnie.

I still got my adorable 5K medal, my box of food and then headed over to the Disneyland hotel for the Tinkerbell breakfast.

I wanted to do the breakfast because the description stated there would be characters there. Since I am so slow and wasn’t going to the parks, I wanted to maximize my character time. So I spent $70 for breakfast- and it was pretty disappointing. It was cereal, pastries, waffles and pancakes. I just did a 5K and was doing a half the next day! Some protein would have been appreciated. I sat with a brother and sister who also agreed. The waffles were Mickey Mouse shaped- super cute. And they did have mimosas, so that was something.

As for the characters, that was also disappointing. It was Capn Hook, Smee, and Wendy. I had gotten their pics at the 5k so I didn’t get those done either. All in all, the breakfast was a bit of a disappointment. I would have been better off eating at one of the character meals. Lesson learned.

After the breakfast, I headed over to the expo. I was helping out at the Sparkle Skirts booth later that afternoon. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel just for a few hours, so I sat there listening to the nutritionist give some pre and post rate nutrition tips. It was pretty helpful, actually. Since I was alone, I was also able to wander around the expo and explore it a bit which was fun. Everthing was nicely spread out and there was plenty of room to stoll around. While there were tons of people, it didn’t feel crowded.

I went over to the Sparkle skirts booth and did my stint, which was a lot of fun. It’s easy to help sell something that you love. And I do love me some Sparkle Skirts!
By the time I was back to my hotel, it was close to 7pm. I grabbed some dinner from the hotel, took a shower, and then crashed into bed to get ready for the next day!

“Long” run

Three miles this morning.  Neither my brain nor my knee was feeling it today.  I think I am still trying to recover from back to back half marathons.

3.05 miles in 45:39 min; 14:59 pace