Disney Princess Half Recap

So, I'm sure by now you are completely fed up with waiting to hear how my race went and have already taken it upon yourself to look up my results via the Disney Endurance Sports website, dailymile or facebook.

But, if not. Here is my recap. The short story and the not-so-short story.

The Short Story

I got up super early. And waited. And waited. And froze. Then I ran. And it was sweet. Two hours, one minute and 36 seconds later, I finished with a 13 minute PR.

But, since I know you want more than that (especially the pictures), here is the the not-so-short story ...

The Not-So-Short Story

As you may or may not know, I had two goals for this race. First, stop sucking at racing (or to race like I train, as G puts it) and second, to finish in 1:59:59. I rocked the first goal and barely missed the second (sub-two hour half, I will get you yet!)

Race weekend started bright and early on Friday at the expo. On my way there I called Katye to see if she wanted to meet up, but she was still en route (waiting at her connecting airport I believe ...) So, instead I dragged J, the girls and my little sis with me. I was greeted by this glorious sight.

Hands down the best expo ever. For everyone else in my party, I'm pretty sure it was pure torture (although I could tell that J was a little bummed that he couldn't find a pair of size 15 sneakers anywhere). Realizing how much they wanted out of there, I picked up my race bag and number.

Then did a quick sweep of the arena and left. Which is probably a good thing. Had I been without them, I would have spent a FORTUNE.

Fast forward to EARLY Sunday morning. Like 3:00 am. I barely slept the night before, but was ready to get going. Race organizers had threatened heavy traffic and strict deadlines for arrival (no later than 4:30), which kind of scared me. So, I got up, ate breakfast (if you can call it breakfast at that time) and got dressed in this spiffy number.

At 3:45, I headed out, fully prepared to sit in traffic on the way to Epcot. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), that supposed traffic never arose. Which left me standing in the cold (it was 40 degrees at the start) for over two hours.

But there was a bright side to standing around all that time. I got to meet up with Katye and Libby (we were supposed to meet a few other bloggers too, but sadly that failed to happen). I spotted them (Libby in the tutu I made that she won from Tall Mom and Katye in her Belle skirt) as I was walking around trying to stay warm. Here we are before walking to the start (ignore my ugly clothes, they got ditched before the start)

They are both super cute and so sweet. Plus, Libby was awesome course support for us (she was an injured princess). Take a look at her recap and the sweet signs she made HERE. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with them.

Around 4:45, we headed to the start which was a 20 minute walk away. Just after 5 a.m., I checked into Corral A (also known as the "ELITE" corral), to freeze my butt off. Here I am waiting ...

Then, promptly at 6 a.m., the fireworks went off and we were on our way. I knew early on that I had to start conservatively, which wasn't hard considering the congested start. After the first mile, I decided that I wasn't going to look at my watch for the rest of the race. I was just going to try to kick it up a notch with each mile marker (or at least try to hold my pace). It took forever for me to warm up, but by mile four, I was in a nice groove and finally was without goosebumps.

At mile five, I took my first Chomps and instantly got a boost (I swear that sometimes eating those things gives me a mental boost more than anything else). Shortly thereafter, we ran through the Magic Kingdom and Cinderella's Castle. Talk about AMAZING. Honestly, it is hard to describe, but trust me, you want to run this race for that reason alone (and all of the other entertainment along the course didn't suck either). Once we exited the Magic Kingdom, I knew we were headed back to Epcot and I tried to kick it into high gear. And it worked until about mile 10. I had taken my second Chomps at mile nine, but I didn't get that same boost this time. Those last two miles were KILLER. My legs were dead. I knew I had to really push it if I wanted to break two hours. And I did. But like I said, my legs were dead. Once I hit the mile 13 sign (at 1:59:57), I knew I was going to miss my time goal. But, I knew I was going to have a HUGE PR, so I kicked with everything I had and crossed the line with a chip time of 2:01:36. 13 minutes and 18 seconds faster than my previous best. I was beyond excited. I FINALLY raced like I train!

This is how the race went according to my Garmin:

13.19 miles (9:13 overall pace)

mile 1: 9:45

mile 2: 9:30

mile 3: 9:27

mile 4: 9:25

mile 5: 9:15

mile 6: 9:17

mile 7: 8:57

mile 8: 8:54

mile 9: 8:54

mile 10: 9:04

mile 11: 9:06

mile 12: 9:13

mile 13: 9:04

.19: 1:39 (8:42 pace)

I didn't stick around long after the race (we had a big day planned), but I got my super cute medal and ended up running into a friend from elementary school (we played basketball together and her mom was my fifth grade teacher). She rocked the race too, finishing in 2:03. Don't we look super cute for just finishing 13 miles?

All in all, this race was fantastic. Not only did I race well, but Disney knows how to put on a great race. Yes, the entry fee was crazy expensive, but you definitely get your money's worth. Now, if I could only convince J to let me come back and race it again next year ...