Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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 ...

33 comments:

Unknown said...

Great job!! I love disney races! I hope to get this one on my schedule within the next year or two. I'm doing the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in the fall, should be fun!

MCM Mama said...

Great job! Congratulations on running negative splits! You rocked that race!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

CONGRATS! How funny is that you got to meet the person who won your tutu...what are the chances??

Love the outfit, as always. Wow that Yellow makes me SMILE...hmmmm..

Congrats on kicking it up a notch. Come to WA and I will pace you for a sub 2 hour half. Come on you know you want to?? Maybe next year?? Course I am SURE you will have a sub 2 hour before then.

LOVE the PR and race recap

Unknown said...

Great run! With times for each mile going down the way yours did, you'll break 2 hours next time for sure.

Love the outfit.

Anonymous said...

love your outfit! love all the details about your race...how exciting! sorry about the cold weather in the morning...but, looks like lots of sunshine in the end. i really want to thank you for visiting my blog. every time you do...you motivate me so much more! i really appreciate it. lots of hugs!

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

Great photos! I love your yellow outfit. (My fav color) Congratulations on a great race. And getting to meet up with other bloggies.

Libby said...

Yay congrats on your PR!! I wish I would have seen you at the end and I totally agree that I wish we would have gotten to spend more time together! That picture of us is adorable, if I do say so myself ;) I'm so glad I got to meet you!

Unknown said...

Great job on your PR and I LOVE your yellow skirt, I have one just like it! You look great in yellow. Thanks for the fun race report!

Unknown said...

Congratulations! The photos are great and I love the yellow outfit! Awesome job on the PR!

ajh said...

I love the t-shirt and did the cute blue socks come in the goody bag? Standing in the cold for that length of time does not sound like fun!

Starting a race with fireworks, running through the Magic Kingdom Castle, Yeah!

Not looking at watch, holding or picking up pace each mile - sounds like good race strategies to me although I guess I would look at each mile marker.
Look at those 8s in the middle miles!

Your time was awesome, studpendous, amazing! What a great PR!

I don't know what chomps are.

Great race report.

Paige (The Last Doughnut) said...

Wow! You did great!!! Makin' it look easy!

Teamarcia said...

Congrats on a monster PR!!!
You look adorable and I'm so glad the whole weekend was so much fun!

Jenn said...

Super Congrats!! 13 minutes is a huge PR! Even better is the rockin' outfit you wore. LOVE it!! Great Job!

Kerrie said...

LOVE your outfit. So cute! I want to run this race. Maybe next year. Look at your pace! Way to go the PR. I'm so proud of you!

Marlene said...

CONGRATULATIONS! That is a smokin' PR and yes, you WILL get that sub-2!

Awesome outfit and sounds like a really fun race.

Katie A. said...

Yay! Yay! Yay! I already knew how awesome you did, but I loved reading the race recap! You raced perfectly - congrats!
BTW, your outfit is crazy cute!!!

Jen Feeny said...

BOUT TIME! :)

Loved the recap and congrats on the killer PR! That is AWESOME GIRL!!!! Loved the "Belle" outfit you rocked too. What socks do you wear when you run? Do they hurt your feet or do you cut them off so you can wear your running socks? (Which is what I normally do)

I'm still so bummed you were in my city and I didn't get to meet you!!! :(

Stephanie said...

Great job and great time! I hope to race this race someday...looks like sooo much fun!

Sarah said...

WOW you definitely make me want to run that race, sounds so fun!

Love your outfit and congrats on the PR!!

Robyn said...

Congrats, you did so awesome! How many chomps do you take at once, the whole package?

Sarah said...

Congrats on the new HUGE PR!! You will definitely get the 1:59:59 in time though!

Cute running outfit, I LOVE the yellow!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Great job! Sounds like a fun race :) Way to kick some butt :)

kilax said...

Congrats! You did a great job! I sounds like such a fun race. I wish I could have run Disney in Jan (we were signed up but couldn't afford to go).

I love your race outfit :)

Molly said...

how fun!! I love the tshirt they gave you, and you really kicked it with your pace. How funny that you ran into a friend, I seem to do that at races too. congrats!!

gba_gf said...

So many things to say... I am so proud of you. I think your outfit is the bomb. I think to run the Disney Princess race I'm going to have to run away from home for a weekend... which is exactly what a Disney Princess would DO anyway.... Right? I would like to mention that 13 minutes & change is really 1 minute off each mile and WHO DOES THAT in a few weeks of training between races? I think you rock. I missed you while you were gone and can't wait to catch up on EVERYTHING.

Anne said...

You did amazing!! Rockin' time and you looked gorgeous. I love the yellow. I also really like the blue princess t-shirt you got!
Congrats on a great race :)

Hannah said...

What an amazing race you had! You'll get that sub 2 hours - I can feel it. You were so close! Way to go on your NEW PR!

Your recap gave me butterflies! Disney is a place I would love to run. I get excited just thinking about it!

Thanks for sharing. So glad you had a great experience!

Michelle said...

Great job! Congratulations!

Love the outfit!

Judi said...

Great socks! :)

Great pace the whole time!

Since my recent find of running blogs I have now just heard about the Garmin (I guess I am just out of it) - for now I use a $9.99 Target stop watch! How fun it would be to have something so high tech! My running partner has some sort of gadget that she holds in her hand that works similar to the Garmin - so she keeps me informed of our true running times.

What a fun experience you had at Disney!

Jill said...

What a killer time...GREAT JOB! Loved reading your report. You did so great. What a fun run.

Nicole Joy said...

Was this meeting with Katie and Libby the group that Running Diva Mom and I were supposed to meet with too? Sorry if it was! Our transportation from the hotel got us there with only enough time to check the bag and port-o-potty it up. Hopefully we both get to do it next year and we'll meet then! :-)

Running Diva Mom said...

Congratulations on a huge PR -- you rock! I'm so bummed that we were both in the same corral and still didn't see eachother. From your pic, I was RIGHT THERE!! UGH! Loved your race recap and excitement. All the walking around at the parks really affected my darn feet -- they were killing me during the entire race.

Fruit Fly said...

I'm running the Princess 1/2 next year and it will be my first 1/2 EVER! This just got me even more pumped. I kid you not, I totally got chills when you talked about running through the Castle. Good times!!

Your outfit is super cute, too!