Disney's Princess Half Marathon February 2011

I'll spare all TWO of my readers the zillions of Disney World pictures I have - mostly because I am returning in two weeks for the WDW Half Marathon and Marathon Relay and I'm sure I will have plenty more to post!

So here's a brief recap of the race...which did not go smoothly.

I trained very hard for my first half marathon. Even though I was super slow with a time just under 3 hours, I felt great for almost the entire race. I also trained very hard for the next two races and I actually *gasp* was getting faster, shaving 12 minutes off of my half marathon time. Once the fear of not finishing was laid to rest, it became very easy for my inner slacker to once again regain control of my body. Sort of like in high school when I would do the bare minimum to maintain honor roll status, but not enough to actually strain any brain muscles. This has become my approach to running with each subsequent race becoming slower than the last....(insert dramatic sigh here.) If I didn't shells out hundreds of dollars for races, I wouldn't run at all.

Next up is the race recap for the WDW Princess Half Marathon 2011.




Here's T picking up her race bib. Notice the lack of crowds?

Yes, we were the very, very last group to squeeze past the Disney Armed Guard and force our way into the expo. We were in such a hurry, I almost left my race packet on a table when picking out a iFitness belt. (Don't leave home with one!)

I always order a Disney race commemorative pin because I'm nerdy like that. I don't collect Disney pins otherwise, but I've run three Disney races so far and have two more coming up, for which I have, of course, ordered the pin. Oh, and the Tinkerbell necklace. Damn you, Disney marketing!



source

We took it easy on Friday before the race and wandered mostly around Epcot and Hollywood Studios.



 T and me at Hollywood Studios.



T and her S.O., T2 (I can't come up with a better nick name since his name also happens to start with a T.)



This is NOT the first time she's done something like this in public.
Gotta rest up, right? Even if it's in the middle of Epcot....ummm.

We called it a night fairly early and headed back to the hotel. I have no idea what we decided to eat for our pre-race fuel up, but I do remember that we hit up almost every coffee stand and drank multiple bottles of water. I'm fairly certain we have a caffeine problem.

Anyway, Disney races start incredibly early - 5:45am, and we were told to be on the buses by 3:45am. Ouch.



Yes, I brought a crown, but I ended up wearing something much, much more fancy...



Jealous? I thought so.

So I didn't win the costume contest, but T and T2 certainly made a huge effort. In fact, this Ariel had other competitors asking to take their picture with him during the wait in the corrals.




Sexy!

I don't have very many pictures from the actual race because tragedy struck at the water station just after the castle. A girl crashed into me, knocking me down. I twisted my knee. Painful? Yes. But the REAL tragedy was the fact that my phone went flying and landed in a puddle causing the screen to short out. (My apologies to the poor T-Mobile guy for my near hysterical state while I demanded a new phone! And yes, I did get a new phone immediately after the race. I have my priorities.)




Pirates!



Entering Magic Kingdom...obviously.



I love running in the back lots of the Disney Parks. So much to look at!



I'm hoping the construction is finished in January!

Very shortly after this picture was the Phone Tragedy. I learned a lesson, though, about finding a place to meet after the race. Luck was on my side at the finish area because I found T and T2 by the bag check. Whew!



Post race. Why yes, we do love our phone apps!

All in all, I enjoyed my time at WDW. I was surprised by how warm it was was. Living in Phoenix, the weather is still chilly in February, but much warmer than in other parts of the country. I was expecting much cooler weather. I think I will pack less heavy stuff for our trip in two weeks.



Yup, T can chill just about anywhere. T2 is slinking away...



Refueling

Oh, and I almost forgot about the most important part! The bling! I'm not a huge fan of the lanyard color, but I like that it's embroidered. I saw the design for the 2012 Princess medal, and the lanyard is printed like all of the other races this year instead of embroidered. But it's purple, sooo I guess it's a tie for which one is a better design.



oohh la la! 2011 medal

This was my slowest time, yet, coming in at 3 freaking hours. Yeah, I'm lazy (and I did twist my knee). I'm working on that. Sort of. And yes, my times are going to continue to get much, much slower for the rest of the year. It's like progress in reverse. C'est la vie!



My mascot, the ninja slug. Slow, but fierce!