Princess Half Marathon Recap

Location: Orlando, FL
Date: 2/26/12
Temperature: mid 50's @ start
Official Time: 1:59:26 (9:07 pace)
Garmin Time: 1:59:26 for 13.26 (9:00 pace)
Place in Age Group (30-34): 191/2473 (top 16.6%)
Overall Place: 949/15803 (top 12.9%)

The Good:

Goals Accomplished: This race fell right in the middle of my Half Ironman training, which meant no taper and no attempt at racing for a PR. Instead, I set the following goals.

First, look fantastic. CHECK

Even without the eyeball, I know how to work it.

Second, have fun. CHECK - I mean really, it's Disney. Who doesn't have fun at Disney?

My Race Strategy: I decided before the race that I wasn't going to pay attention to my watch. I was going to run based on feel and the second I stopped enjoying the run, I was going to slow down. And I did just that. I ran the first seven miles harder than the last five, simply because I felt like I'd have more fun if I stopped pushing the pace. I sang along with every song on my iPod. And I tried to take in all of the entertainment on the course. It was awesome.

The Atmosphere: If you've never run a Disney race, then it might be hard to understand the atmosphere that surrounds a runDisney event. It's like all the favorite things about your childhood crammed into 13.1 (or 26.2) miles. It's an invitation to have fun. And it's the perfect excuse to act like a kid.

Always my favorite part of runDisney races ...

Plus, running through Cinderella's Castle is going to make any girl feel like a princess.

The Weather: Although, my personal preference for a race temperature is somewhere around 38 degrees, this race fell on a "textbook perfect" weather day for a runner - Mid 50's and overcast. I'm pretty sure no one was complaining about the conditions.

Meetups: Not only does Disney host events like runDisney Social Media Meetups and Race Retreats (think VIP treatment pre and post-race for around $100), but their events serve as the ultimate destination race for families. This usually means I know someone (or a lot of someones) who are attending. This year was no different. I ran into and/or spent time with a handful of my favorite blogging friends. But, unfortunately, failed to take a single picture.

The Bad:

Outfit Fail: Although I tested my outfit for chafing prior to the race, I did not test the adhesive on the eyeball. I just figured it would work. But, three miles and a little sweat later, I was blind. Or my shirt was blind. Either way, they eyeball fell off and I was transformed into the Green Devil instead of Mike Wazowski.

The Corrals: I first ran the Disney Princess Half in 2010. That year there were 8,000 runners. This year, there were nearly twice that amount. And while Disney does a great job with wave starts, including fireworks for EVERY wave, they are falling behind on getting everyone to the start.

In order to get to your corral, you must walk close to a mile. In years past, this walk took around 20 minutes. This year, it took 40. I walked into Corral A as they were closing it. Had I stopped to go to the bathroom, I would have missed the start. Perhaps, a wave start for the walk to the corrals is in order?

The Expo: Now don't get me wrong, I love an expo. But, despite the organization of bib pick-up, the expo is always a cluster. Overcrowded and hard to navigate (especially with three small children in tow). With all the property Disney owns, you'd think they could find a larger space to hold the event.

The Ugly: 

What ugly? Disney doesn't do ugly.

Three Things Thursday ...

Seven Days - On February 1st, I started a 10 Day Whole Food Challenge and I am happy to report that I made it a whole seven days before complete implosion. I was doing really well despite being constantly frustrated by the fact that most everything I wanted to eat or prepare for my family had either sugar or white flour in it. Other than GU during my Quad Brick, I didn't slip up at all.

But, then it happened. That's right. My birthday.

J got me food from California Pizza Kitchen for my birthday dinner and then of course, there was cake. There's always cake.

Southern Caramel Cake from Shyndigz

Trust me, it was so worth failing the challenge for.

Takeaways - Even though I didn't make it to the end of the challenge, I definitely learned a few things.

• I can make pretty much anything from scratch. It allows me to know EXACTLY what my family is eating, lets me manipulate the ingredients to our needs and is rather cost effective. It's something I will continue to do.
• We are done buying packaged snacks, other than pretzels, popcorn, dried fruits and nuts. I can make granola bars. I can make cookies and muffins. I can even make potato, tortilla and pita chips (not that we ever eat them). The people in my house are just going to have to fall in line with that one.
• The kids will eventually get on board. They liked quite a bit of what I made during the challenge. But, they also hated quite a bit of it. That's just kids being kids. If they are hungry enough, they will eat what I put in front of them.
• This is my new favorite recipe - Three-Ingredient Chocolate Bars.
• Sugar is everywhere. It can be avoided but it's hard. And what about things like GU that I use when I workout? I know what works for my stomach and I'm not about to switch that up.
• Tea with honey is not the same as coffee with cream and sugar. Not even close.

Sparkle Explosion - This arrived at my house yesterday.

The green skirt is part of my costume for the Disney Princess Half. The Power Bands are just to add a little sparkle in my life. Oh, and to make my kids wicked jealous. Seriously, I had a near mutiny on my hands when I told them that they were mine.

Wordless Wednesday: Dressing the Part

Source: Pinterest

My Disney Princess Half costume inspiration. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Our Disney Christmas 2011 ...

J and I have started the tradition of taking our children on vacation in lieu of gifts on Christmas morning. Thanks to a canceled flight to San Diego, we ended up at Walt Disney World for the second year in a row. And although it wasn't our original plan, it couldn't have been more perfect. Here's the good, bad and ugly of our Disney Christmas 2011 ...

The Good:

Disney Rocks: I'm not quite sure if you've caught on yet, but we are kind of Disney obsessed in this house. The girls love it, J REALLY loves it and I have to admit, even I get all excited by the sight of Cinderella's castle.


Since March 2010, J, Dizzle and I have each visited the most magical place on Earth four times and this vacation marked Doodle and Dilly's third visit. In fact, we love it so much that we finally sucked it up and purchased annual passes. And our next trip is already on the books for February. (I'm running the Disney Princess Half Marathon.)

Bonus: Now we have the perfect excuse to race every runDisney event.

The Weather: Can you say perfect? 80 degrees and sunny. EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

My Princesses: The girls could not have been better behaved on this trip. They rolled with the punches, sprinted through the parks like champs and smiled the entire time. If they behaved that way all the time, they'd get anything and everything that they ever wanted.


Family Bonding: Since Dilly is now over 40" tall, she can go on pretty much everything. And since we don't really give our children a choice (if you are tall enough for the ride, you must go on), this was the first trip that we got to stick together the entire time. It was so awesome to do everything with our kids and not have to split into two groups (riders and non-riders).


Plus, it was pretty epic to take a two year old on Tower of Terror, Big Thunder Mountain and Dinosaur.

The Food: I already knew from our past trips that the food at Walt Disney World is delicious and um, calorie dense. We ate well (and by well, I mean we binged) all week long. And I loved every glorious minute. Especially those two chocolate dipped, candy coated rice crispies treats and the Ghiradelli Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. Delicious.

The Characters: For the first time, we waited in line (or snagged a fast pass) to meet the Disney Characters. The girls loved it. Dilly danced with Phineas and Ferb (her favorite part of the trip) and they were all struck with awe by meeting the princesses.


As for J and me, our favorite character was Prince Eric. Talk about hilarious. Trust me, if you are going to wait in line to meet one character make it Ariel and Prince Eric. It will be well worth your time.


Having a Plan: The thing about the Disney Parks is that unless you are visiting on a non-peak week, you need to have a plan to navigate successfully. Knowing how you are going to attack the park can mean the difference between hitting every attraction (without waiting in crazy long lines) and missing everything and waiting two hours for Toy Story.

We executed perfectly. Despite insane crowds, we hit every attraction at the four parks in our first five days. Sure, we had to get there before the parks opened to beat the crowds, but we rode rides 2 or 3 times while we watched people wait for HOURS to just get on once. We kind of crushed it.

Happiest Place on Earth: Seriously, Disney is the Happiest Place on Earth. We had the best time ever ...


The Bad:

Tired Feet: We spent 11-13 hours at the parks each day, which left all five of us we really tired feet (we didn't have a stroller with us). Every night, I was convinced I wouldn't be able to walk the next morning, but somehow, we kept at it.

The Crowds: We knew that we were visiting during one of the busiest weeks of the year, but I don't think we really knew how busy it was going to be. My advice, visit in September when the parks are nearly empty.

The Ugly:

Oddities: The crazy people at the gym. Still can't quite figure out what was going on with them.

Nutrition Fail: Remember that food I was raving about? Well, all that indulging didn't come without a price. The scale isn't my friend right now.

goals? what goals?

Back when I was training for National Marathon last winter, I had had enough of marathons. It was my second one in five months and I was ready to be done. But then, I ran the Princess Half and met Ethan Zohn (of Survivor fame) and he offered me a spot on his Grassroot Soccer NYC Marathon team.

How could I say no?

So, that was that. November 2011, I would be running another marathon. The goal from day one was always HAVE FUN. No time goals. No pressure.

But, then training started. And the miles started building. My pace zones were set for an uber-goal. The perfect day goal. I started to think, maybe that uber-goal wasn't so far-fetched. Who cares that this crazy plan I'm using peaks with a 16 mile long run? Maybe I should go for it.

Then, I caught a case of FOMO (fear of missing out) and registered for the Richmond Marathon with the posse (Note: I really hope this is the last marathon for a while, just saying). It's 6 days after NYC. That would be my "fun" race. Don't worry about time, just cover the miles.

It just fueled the fire. Burn it up at NYC. Cruise to the finish at Richmond. But wait, 26.2 is no cake walk. I started to doubt it all.

And then there's that 70.3 I'm registered for. It's my 2012 "A" race and the training cycle starts right after Richmond. Like the Monday after Richmond. But maybe it should start now? Which would mean less focus and time spent towards hitting that uber-goal at NYC (however, I might be better prepared for the 70.3 in that scenario). But wasn't that the plan anyway? Run for fun?

Needless to say, I have no focus or goals right now. And that doesn't work for me. Anyone want to tell me what to do?

Disney Princess Media Mixer Recap ...

In 2010, I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon and it instantly became my favorite race. The course was magical. The medals were adorable. And the experience was amazing. I told every runner that would listen that they should partake in a runDisney race. I knew that I'd be back. Eventually.

It didn't look like it was going to happen in 2011, but then Wifey contacted me with an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. She asked if I wanted to take part in the Disney Princess Media Mixer hosted by the Walt Disney World Resort in association with The Blogrollers' Get Moving! Initiative.

Um. Yes! (Was it even a question?)

Heading into the weekend, I had no idea what to expect. And to be honest, I couldn't have ever imagined all that was in store for myself and the other fabulous women who were invited.

We started our weekend with a visit to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex where we were given a facility tour followed by a trip to the race expo.


And once we had shopped ourselves happy, we were treated to a welcome reception (talk about VIP treatment), where we chatted ( and became BFFs) with Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca from Survivor and had a Q & A session with the amazing Jeff Galloway.

(Note: I was in rough shape for most of this part, sitting on the sidelines trying not to puke up my crackers.)

Our evening ended with dinner (a.k.a. food coma) at Mama Melrose at Hollywood Studios. Laughter filled the air and carbs filled our bellies. It was perfect.

Day two began at the far too early hour of 3 a.m., when I woke for the race. We boarded the shuttle to Epcot at 3:50 and headed over to the VIP tent for a few minutes before the start. (Full race/VIP tent recap HERE)

After the race, we headed back to our host hotel, Disney's Polynesian Resort, to clean up and relax before the onslaught of afternoon events. I took this time to call my friends and family to brag and to take in the views from the balcony of my room.

At 1 p.m., we headed back to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for the Atlanta Braves Spring Training Season Opener and a delicious lunch.

Our baseball adventures were followed by an hour long private golf lesson at Disney's Palm and Magnolia Golf Course (Note: My golf skills are CRAZY. Be jealous!)

and a Disney Dining and Nutrition presentation by Chef Gary Jones, Culinary Dietary Specialist and Ironman.

We ended our night with an extravagant dinner at Bistro de Paris in Epcot, followed by a private dessert party (think lots of chocolate and specialty champagne) where we watched the IllumiNations firework show.All in all, it was a DREAM weekend. And I would like to give a HUGE thank you to Walt Disney World Resort for hosting such a magical event and a special thanks to The Blogrollers for inviting me to partake. I couldn't imagine a more amazing experience.

Disney Princess Half Marathon Recap ...

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably already know that I had a blast this past weekend. Disney truly treated us like princesses and I will fill you in on all of that tomorrow. But first, my race recap.

Location: Orlando, FL
Date: 2/27/11
Temperature: A balmy 61 degrees at the start
Official Time: 1:57:06 (8:57 pace) for 13.1 miles
Garmin Time: 1:57:07 (8:51 pace) for 13.21 miles
Place in Age Group: 142/2365
Overall Place: 638/13091

The Good:

The Course/Atmosphere: I love this course. To begin with, it's simply magical. You start just outside of Epcot and run through the Disney property to the Magic Kingdom through Cinderella's castle and back through Epcot. When you add the scenery of this route with the on-course entertainment, atmosphere and support, and this course is hard to beat. Plus, Orlando is flat and with the exception of one hill at mile 12, so is this course. If you are looking for a fast time, this could be your race.

The VIP/Media Tent: As part of the Disney Princess Media Event, several other bloggers and I had access to the Media Tent before and after the race. No lines for the bathroom. No need for bag check. A post-race brunch. Talk about being spoiled. I'm not sure that any other race experience will ever compare.

The Outfits: Disney race participants are known for their rather inventive race apparel. From princesses to witches to frogs, you will see it all at the Disney Princess Half. Heather and I even saw someone running in a string bikini. We, on the other hand, were a little less adventurous, but fun, nevertheless.

A New PR: In 2010, I finished this course in 2:01:36. This year, I crossed the line in 1:57:06, a 4:30 course PR and a 56 second half marathon PR. While not what I was shooting for, a time I am very proud of considering the fact that less than 12 hours before the race I was vomiting at the expo and living on crackers and water (thanks Doodle for sharing your stomach bug!)

Celebrity Sightings: We were fortunate enough to hang out with Jeff Galloway (yes, that Jeff Galloway) post-race. He is a wealth of knowledge and perhaps the most approachable person I have ever met. And he makes one mean Jack Sparrow. I was truly honored to have had that opportunity.We also got to spend time with Ethan and Jenna from Survivor. And thanks to that encounter, it looks like I will be running the NYC Marathon with Ethan and his foundation, Grassroot Soccer.

The Bad:

The temperature: It was a humid 61 degrees at the start. A good 10 degrees warmer than I would have preferred and 30 degrees warmer than I am used to running in. In my last few weeks of training, I have done 16 mile runs with no water. That was so not the case during the race. I was drinking from my handheld by mile 2.

The Early Wake-up: Disney races are EARLY. We boarded a shuttle for the race at 3:50 a.m. By the time I finished the race just before 8 a.m., I felt like I had been up for an eternity.

The Ugly:

Vomit: Did I mention that whole stomach bug thing? Yeah. Because that really sucked.