Disney Princess Half Marathon

Sunday morning, I was up bright and early...3:15 am to be exact...to get ready for the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  I had laid out everything I needed the night before, so getting ready was pretty easy.  Ashley & I headed to the bus stop at the front of the resort and hopped on a special race bus to Epcot.

After arriving at Epcot, we checked our bags, hit the port-a-potty and headed to our corral.  I was pretty pleased to be placed in corral M, which was towards the middle, even though I had not turned in proof of time.  Ashley was nice enough to come back and join me in my corral since she had better placement.  We made it to our corral a little after the elite runners and corral A were starting, which 5:30 am.  That meant we didn't have to wait too long for it to be our turn.

Run Disney does a great job of making the send-off for each corral exciting with fireworks.  I was excited to get started.

It was pretty crowded, so I felt like we did a lot of weaving around people throughout the race, but especially in the beginning.  We decided that it was best for me to do run/walk intervals throughout the race so we would run for 3 min 30 sec and walk for 1 min 30 sec.  Before I knew it, we were at mile 1.

And then mile 2...

And the next thing I knew, I saw the Magic Kingdom toll booth!  Of course, I had to stop for a picture.

We also passed the elite runners heading back to Epcot along this stretch.  The leader was wearing a full Tinkerbell costume - she's my hero!  Next, we ran around by the Disney World Speedway and through some of the Magic Kingdom parking lot before passing mile 5 and heading into the Magic Kingdom.

I was still feeling great at this point and was SO excited to run through the Magic Kingdom.  We entered through a cast entrance on the side of Main Street and turned the corner to see a LOT of spectators cheering us on and run up Main Street.  It gave me goose bumps.

At the end of Main Street, we turned towards Tomorrowland and then made a turn towards Fantasyland.  I decided this was a good time to make a bathroom stop, since there were real bathrooms in the Magic Kingdom.  After a quick stop, we ran through Fantasyland, making the turn at the carousel to do what I had been waiting for - run through Cinderella's Castle.  Of course, we had to stop for a few pictures first!

I had originally wanted to stop for a picture in front of the castle, but the lines were SO long that we decided to just keep going.  We headed into Liberty Square, passing the mile 6 marker and then out of the Magic Kingdom by Splash Mountain.

After all the excitement of being in the Magic Kingdom, the next few miles were pretty boring.  It was also crowded, so a few times we had to run in the grass.  We ran past some backstage areas, the golf course, Shades of Green, the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian.  Around mile 8, my knee and Achilles were hurting me, so we walked for about 1/2 a mile and took advantage of some photo ops.

It was starting to get pretty hot at this point, so I made sure to hydrate with PowerAide and water at every water station for the rest of the race.  Miles 8 - 12 were all on the road and pretty boring.  Right at mile 10, there was a big on-ramp we had to go up and we were almost to Epcot.  Seeing Epcot was a welcome site!  We ran past where the start corrals were, over another overpass, through the parking lot and bus area before entering Epcot through a cast member area.  Then it was up past Spaceship Earth, through the middle of Epcot to the entrance of the World Showcase.  We doubled back here and were heading towards the finish line.

At this point, I was hot, tired and ready to cross that finish line!  We entered another backstage area, passing the gospel choir and then turned a corner to see the bleachers full of people and the finish line.  

I was so happy to cross the finish line...and make my goal of under 3 hours.  The official finish time was 2 hours 58 min.  That turned out to be right in the middle of my age group.  I couldn't wait to get my bling and take some pictures!

After a few quick photos, Ashley & I found a bus to the Swan & Dolphin area and then we were off to Hollywood Studios to meet everyone else for breakfast.

The Disney Princess Half Marathon was an AWESOME experience.  I am SO glad I did it.  I have enjoyed running a lot more than I thought I would...so much so that I have registered for a local half marathon and the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November.  I also hope to do the Disney Princess Half again next year!