Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend

[imagination30]

@-em actually the hummus with potato chips where heaven , when I ate mine in jan! , just a little tid bit!

 

[Katherine]

Thanks for sharing your 5k pics @Ariel484 ! Looks like you guys had fun!

Congrats to everyone who ran this weekend! I hope you all feel like beautiful princesses!

 

[dreamfinder]

So I went down and ran the Glass Slipper the past weekend. My mom had set doing Tink 1/2 and then the Princess half as a "must do" for a milestone birthday (won't mention the number), both with my sister. Since I already had an AP, figured I register, and show up and surprise her. Only my sister knew until we had to get my dad involved about a month beforehand. Mom was very surprised, couldn't figure out who my sister kept texting all day Friday as I kept her in the loop on my flight delays, etc trying to meet up to surprise them. Beyond that, race recap. Didn't get to the Expo til about 4 on Friday, (was hoping to have been there by noon). It was pretty dead, but the merch was decimated. The HP house side (bib pickup) had maybe 1 shirt design left, plush and pins. The Josten's House had more, but still looked pretty thin.
10k - According to runDisney I'm still somewhere between the 5k marker and the finish. Never got a finish time, which I'm peeved about as I set a 6min+ PR. Was hoping to place in this race, and think I'm right on the bubble, but unless they can dig up my time, I have no idea. Emailed then within 15 mins of finishing on the advice of runDisney staff, hopefully they can get it sorted out.
Half - Holy humid batman. Thought the 10k was bad, but this seemed worse. The fog/haze that hung around til about 90% of the runners finished probably didn't help any. Timing on the corrals seemed pretty good, really helped to space out the runners in my opinion. Seemed a little light on the on course entertainment, definite lacking in bands/cheer groups. Went and hung out at 12.1 after I finished to cheer on racers, and someone may have hopped back on the course to run a mile with some family members. No name or numbers, just sayin, I've seen it.......

Characters
10k
White rabbit at ~.75 dogleg turn
Meeko ~1.25
Toy Soldiers from Christmas Parade at Epcot security gate
Louis, Naveen, Tiana in American
Marie in France
Baseball Goofy at ESPN
Family reunion characters - Rapunzel & Ariel trading with Cinderella & Belle

Half
Jack Sparrow & Barbosa ~2.25
Heroes/Princes - Hercules, Prince Eric, Flynn Ryder and Aladdin (saw both pairs and all 4) ~2.5
"Evil" - Queen of Hearts, Maleficent, Cruella deVil, and Evil Queen ~3.75
Japanese Drummers at TTC, nice to see these guys back
Buzz Lightyear in tomorrowland
White Rabbit by teacups
King Mickey/Queen Mickey by new castle wall
Louis & Tiana in Liberty Square
Aurora and Price by castle float backstage
Mary Poppins, Bert and Penguin at GF
Bachelors/Prom Dates/Who knows by wedding pavillion
Golf cart/golfing Characters (none out when I went by)
Genie (Aladdin backdrop was literally 10 feet from golf cart, Aladdin & Golf may have been swapping off)
"Sarge" at ~10.25 incline
Sophia just backstage in Epcot
Fairy Godmother just past Club Cool
Family reunion characters - Rapunzel & Ariel trading with Cinderella & Belle

Congrats to all the other finishers, hope the heat/humidity didn't affect you too much!

 

[Maryssa*]

Congrats to everyone who ran this weekend!
Oh my gosh I was drenched by mile 2 of the Half!! It was surprisingly uncrowded so it feels like the spread out corrals was a great idea. Only ran into a little trouble on the offramps. The big ramp at mile 10 was definitely not as scary as I imagined, though I had to run on the outside grass because that sideways bank of the curve was really hurting my left foot. That very last bridge behind the Epcot toll plaza was so mean I was pretty sad to miss getting my picture with Hercules, I jumped in the line coming back (somewhere in mile 9) but noticed a whole bunch of people cutting the line to stand with friends and got frustrated and I just wanted to finish. I didn't look that attractive anyway with all the sweat and humidity
Also we saw the olympic runner coming back down on our way to the MK toll plaza... WOW was she flying!! And I was majorly impressed that the wheelchair guy was decently close behind her!!
Favorite race outfits I saw: 2 girls as Gaston & Flynn, and 2 girls as Scuttle & Flounder.
It's a pretty different experience runnign this course compared to Tink. At Tink the crowds were dispersed among almost the entire race... here it got.. dare I say boring? on the in-between miles. But it was still amazing to run through WDW for my first time!
Got my gorgeous pink C2C medal and enjoyed wearing it around the parks! Even the characters at breakfast loved it. Forgot to bring my Tink medal to Florida so I didn't get a pic of me with all 3 but they will look awesome on my wall together.
Onto Dumbo!

Edit: pic taken by my dad outside of Epcot with 1 mile to go!

 

[Brer Josh]

I ran the 5k, 10k and Half.

Didn't stop in the 5k and 10k for photos, wife kept pushing me for a good finish time.
I was in corral A for the 5k which was awesome but then D for the 10k which was alright... But in the Half I was in corral J.

I didn't notice the humidity, like at all, but that's probably because I'm from Australia.
You guys must have been in earlier corrals for the Half as it was an absolute nightmare in the middle to back.
There was far too many people on the course, a LOT of walkers dominating the narrow course.
Couldn't run my own race, the whole race I never got into groove as I was always having to weave between others, I ran over an extra 2 miles as a result.
I walked the first 2 miles because it was just redundant and impossible to overtake the mass of walkers.

A great experience overall and memories to cherish a lifetime but I wouldn't sign up again unless there was restrictions on the field in terms of numbers.

Oh and hit the EXPO at 9.30AM on the Thursday, which was open although it said 10AM and there was not a lot of people there. It was awesome, got everything I wanted!

 

[Banzai]

I ran the 5k, 10k and Half
Oh and hit the EXPO at 9.30AM on the Thursday, which was open although it said 10AM and there was not a lot of people there. It was awesome, got everything I wanted!

Great tip. Thanks
More than a bit shocked that you had to run that much extra distance. That's a big issue. I could see why you wouldn't do it again

 

[Howe]

I ran the 5k, 10k and Half.

Didn't stop in the 5k and 10k for photos, wife kept pushing me for a good finish time.
I was in corral A for the 5k which was awesome but then D for the 10k which was alright... But in the Half I was in corral J.

I didn't notice the humidity, like at all, but that's probably because I'm from Australia.
You guys must have been in earlier corrals for the Half as it was an absolute nightmare in the middle to back.
There was far too many people on the course, a LOT of walkers dominating the narrow course.
Couldn't run my own race, the whole race I never got into groove as I was always having to weave between others, I ran over an extra 2 miles as a result.
I walked the first 2 miles because it was just redundant and impossible to overtake the mass of walkers.

A great experience overall and memories to cherish a lifetime but I wouldn't sign up again unless there was restrictions on the field in terms of numbers.

Oh and hit the EXPO at 9.30AM on the Thursday, which was open although it said 10AM and there was not a lot of people there. It was awesome, got everything I wanted!

I was in corral D and J also and thought the crowding was miserable! It was annoying but bearable until after I waited 30 mins for Mickey and Minnie... After that it was just like walls and walls of walkers. And with the course being so narrow leaving MK it was terrible! I think between miles 7-12 I probably only ran 2 miles total because it really was just too much to try to weave around them!

 

[Brer Josh]

Yep, I ran on the grass at a lot of stages which was not safe at all, was the only way to get around people to be honest.

Not against walkers being in the Runs but there must be some kind of way to balance it so that runners can actually run properly and not be impeded.

 

[Mad Stitch]

It sounds like the walkers are becoming a big problem. Unfortunately the only thing that can be done about it is to qualify for a faster corral.

 

[Sumrdog]

Yep, I ran on the grass at a lot of stages which was not safe at all, was the only way to get around people to be honest.

Not against walkers being in the Runs but there must be some kind of way to balance it so that runners can actually run properly and not be impeded.

I had a pretty similar experience with the Princess Half last year. I was in corral H. It was much better for the full marathon this year, I didn't feel nearly as bottlenecked and actually was able to run through the entire Magic Kingdom despite still starting in one of the last corrals.

 

[-em]

Ive tried to figure out why my experiences in the same corral (I) for Jan Half and Princess were so totally different despite for most things identical (approx same # of runners total/similar # per corral/same course etc) and the only thing I can point to is the demographic and 'race attitude'- I was able to 'run my race' almost the whole distance in Jan yet almost none at Princess- I never felt 'smothered' in Jan but almost completely in Princess and had over double 'extra milage' (runkeeper milage was 13.3 for Jan 13.9 for princess)

I do know that Donald is back to a must run and princess is off the table...

-em

 

[FerretAfros]

Ive tried to figure out why my experiences in the same corral (I) for Jan Half and Princess were so totally different despite for most things identical (approx same # of runners total/similar # per corral/same course etc) and the only thing I can point to is the demographic and 'race attitude'- I was able to 'run my race' almost the whole distance in Jan yet almost none at Princess- I never felt 'smothered' in Jan but almost completely in Princess and had over double 'extra milage' (runkeeper milage was 13.3 for Jan 13.9 for princess)

I do know that Donald is back to a must run and princess is off the table...

-em

I think it might have to do with the distribution of finish times. I was in the same corral for both (B), and the January race was comfortably busy the whole time, while Princess was very spread out after we got to World Dr. My finish times between the two races were within 1 minute of each other, so it's not like there was a huge variation there

Even with the different 'attitude' (assuming Princess is more 'fun'/less competitive), I'm not sure that accounts for everything. The princess/mirror-castle float photo-op behind Splash has always had a line ~40 runners deep when I've seen it in January, but when I got there in Princess I literally had to interrupt a conversation that Aurora and Phillip were having with the handlers so that I could get a photo

I've read that of all of Disney's Halfs, Princess has the highest average finish time, and given the lack of crowds I encountered, but saw while I was watching friends finish, I could definitely believe it

 

[Brer Josh]

I actually think the start times between corrals wasn't 10 minutes like they said. Felt more like 5.

 

[dreamfinder]

I actually think the start times between corrals wasn't 10 minutes like they said. Felt more like 5.

The 10 min spacing doesn't exist anymore at most of the WDW races. 10 mins between corrals going from A-P would mean over 2 hours from first gun to getting the last corral off. Not sure who is still saying 10 mins, but that definitely not the norm.

 

[Brer Josh]

The announcers, 2 guys on the stage, did several times between corral starts - which is why I thought the Fairy Godmother left after, what, 4 corrals had started?

 

[Mad Stitch]

I thought it was 2 minutes between corrals. I read it was causing them problems because when they got to the last few corrals, the slow runners and walkers were not clearing the fireworks fallout zone before the corral behind them was given the go.

 

[dreamfinder]

I know that the early corrals were closer to that 2 minute spacing. I vaguely recall that as the corrals grew in size/slowed down in pace, the spacing switched to 5 mins. I do know that at the half in Jan, corral P started about 1 hour after the first corral. So however they spaced then out inbetween

 

[Ariel484]

I know that the early corrals were closer to that 2 minute spacing. I vaguely recall that as the corrals grew in size/slowed down in pace, the spacing switched to 5 mins. I do know that at the half in Jan, corral P started about 1 hour after the first corral. So however they spaced then out inbetween

I think they did something similar at Wine & Dine too - first few corrals were smaller with 2 minutes between, last few corrals were bigger with 3-5 minutes between, or something like that.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Yep, I ran on the grass at a lot of stages which was not safe at all, was the only way to get around people to be honest.

Not against walkers being in the Runs but there must be some kind of way to balance it so that runners can actually run properly and not be impeded.

I ended up running on the grass alot too...I was fine the first few miles, i sped up knowing I would be waiting fo the heroes...but after that it was just always wall to wall people of a alot of walkers, especially towards the end. I mean I admit I do the run/walk and I felt bad when I stopped because I tried my darn hardest to move to one side or the other.

 

[bduncan]

I am planning on running the princess half in 2015. How are there so many walkers? I thought there was a 16 min mile rule.