Disney Princess Half marathon, March 7, 2010
The day started off early. I got up at 3:15 a.m. because I planned on leaving at 3:45 and I wanted some time to have a cup of coffee. I had bought a 3 pack of the Starbucks VIA the night before. I just brewed some hot water and poured in the packed. Perfect.
I left the hotel on time. I got to the Epcot parking lot pretty fast. My hotel wasn’t that far away. I talked to Brenda and made a plan to meet her and Joanne. I found Brenda first, and once we made it through the baggage drop off tent, we found Joanne. We hit the porta-potties then started the long walk to the starting line. It was cold! I was happy that I brought the mylar blanket from last weekend’s Gasparilla half. I also had on my arm sleeves, which defiantly helped. We got a group photo taken before Joanne headed off to her B corral. Brenda and I hit the porta-potties one more time before going to the Group A corral. We were pretty close to the start line, it was a great spot to be. I think they had groups A through E. They started 7 minutes apart. I was happy that I didn’t have to wait any longer than I already had to, which was 30 minutes.
A big spray of fireworks started us off. I tossed my mylar off to the side and tried to stay behind groups of people to keep the cold wind off of me. Normally I like to get out on my own, but since it was crowded anyway, I thought I might as well use it to my advantage. It helped a lot. Somewhere in the first couple of miles I saw a few of the men of Disney movies on a stage, so I ran over and got my first photo taken. This was my plan for the race. Go out and have fun. Take lots of photos. I pushed pretty hard last weekend, so I wasn’t too worried about time today. Even though I had to deal with the crowd and stopped for the photo, my first few miles where fast!

Mile 1 -9:39
Mile 2- 9:09
Mile 3 – 9:26
Mile 4 -9:39



I’m feeling pretty good at this point. I needed to make a pit stop, but they were all pretty busy and I didn’t want to waste time waiting for one to open up. By mile 5, just before running into Magic Kingdom, I spotted a large group of porta-potties, so ran over to use one there. I added a good minute here, but no worries. Running through Magic Kingdom was great. So many photo opportunities! Running down main street, heading toward the castle was great. Lots of cheering people. I stopped and asked a guy to take my photo with the castle behind me. We then ran a loop around to the back of the castle. Then I stopped to get a photo with Minnie and Mickey before running through the castle. I stopped again right in front of the castle for another photo before continuing on. I stopped again for a photo with the Genie before we ran out of the park. Still feeling good. At this point last year I was miserable. The only issue I started to notice was the small blister on my second toe on my right foot. I could feel that it was going to be a lot bigger when I got my shoe off. Thankfully it wasn’t painful. The next few miles went by fast. A few more photos with with Belle, the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and her Prince.



Mile 5 – 10:53
Mile 6 – 10:16
Mile 7 – 10:18
Mile 8 – 10:23
Mile 9 – 9:41

By mile 10 I was starting to feel tired. My quads were getting tight and my feet were hurting. It’s time to retire these shoes. They have close to 500 miles on them. I couldn’t believe how cold it still was! Much colder than last weekend. I still had on my arm sleeves. So happy that I made them out of socks. In the last 3 miles, I got photos taken with Jack Sparrow and with Tinker Bell and friends. I was so happy to make my way into Epcot knowing the finish line was less than a mile away. I was walking a lot at this point in last years race. I took off the arm sleeves in the last mile, didn’t really need them anymore. I was so happy to be feeling pretty good and running pretty strong. I was very happy to see the finish line ahead. I didn’t push it hard, just ran it in with a big smile on my face.
Mile 10 – 10;08
Mile 11 – 10:25
Mile 12 – 10:45
Mile 13 – 9:47
Mile .27 – 2:29 ( a little more than the .1 it should have been!)

I got my beautiful finishers medal, got a photo taken with it and then headed for the drink table. I saw a big jug of Biofreeze at the medical tent. They had paper cups next to it, so I grabbed one and pumped about 5 good pumps of the biofreeze into the cup. I knew I would need it after a shower. After picking up a banana, I thought of trying to wait for Brenda or one of the other WW ladies, but I was getting cold, so just decided to head to my car and take off.
I am very happy with the results of this race. Much better than last year, about nine minutes faster, and I had a lot more fun with it too.
Now I just need to figure out a good recovery plan for this week leading up to my 3rd half in 3 weeks!
Stats:
Chip time – 2;12:56; overall- 2397/11324; Division: 469/2052; pace- 10:01