It's time for the Disney Princess Half Marathon recap...It was a fantastic weather weekend for running in Orlando. This time of year can be iffy and boiling hot or freezing cold. It was a perfect low-50's kind of morning for a nice jaunt between Epcot and the Magic Kingdom.
So now for race day. This is an early morning event, so not for the weak hearted. You have to park by 4am and be in your starting corral by 5am...in a perfect world. We left our hotel at 3:30am to ensure we had plenty of time to make it by 4am. Ended up in massive traffic for the race, but got parked by 4:15am. Went straight to the port a potty line
and stood there until 4:45am. Now mind you, its a 20 minute walk to the starting corrals and we are supposed to be there by 5:00am, so I'm already behind again. Somehow made it to the starting corral through a mass of people by 5:10am...after seeing some fantastic costumes. Props to the guys for really stepping it up this year! Especially you, gentleman with the mermaid tail and at least 300 hundred individually glued sequins designing your naked torso. And then, at roughly 5:50am, the first wave was off! (Oh yeah, that was my wave...I was number 395.)
Anybody who's run a Disney race knows that these are about the experience not the time. You cruise past every imaginable Disney scene set up along
the roadside, get the opportunity to take pictures with just about every Disney character ever created, and of course, run through Cinderella's Castle, which is why I love this race. Last year I didn't do much of the photo safari aspect of the race, this time was different. Disney had more photographers out on the course, so I took full advantage...plus being in the front of the race meant no lines. I was able to pop off course, have a photo taken and resume running in less than 15 seconds each time :) Hopefully the photos don't look too goofy.
Anyway, the run felt pretty decent, though I was really concerned on the front half of the race because my left hamstring and right quad were really giving me fits and starts. I applied biofreeze and sucked it up. The course was better managed this year than last, I think. You could
breathe easy without worrying about sucking in diesel fumes from the generator's lighting the otherwise dark course, and believe me, you definitely did not need to bring your own hydration - 9 water stops over 13.1 miles. And, of course, there is nothing quite as awesome as crossing that finish line well ahead of where you thought you might on the timer. The race was fast and fun.
So here's the down and dirty - Overall, I finished 878 out of 15, 784 women, 151 out of 2,543 aged 35-39.
Happy trails!
Stats-
Miles: 13.29 (plus 1 mile to the start and 1/2 a mile sprint in airport)
Time: 1:56:48 (average 8:47 per mile)
Location: DISNEY WORLD!!!
Feeling: Really awesome!!!
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