I Can Go The Distance - A Princess Half Marathon Trip Report

Well, we just got back from our trip on Wednesday and we had an absolutely great time. This trip was a little different since it included our first ever half marathon and our first stay at a moderate resort. We were really excited to run in Disney’s Princess Half Marathon and to get another reason to visit WDW.

When: February 25th – 29th, 2012

Who: Ashley (me) and my husband, Wes. We got married last October and honeymooned on the Disney Dream with a stay at the Beach Club during the Food and Wine Festival after our cruise.

And now, on to the trip report!

Saturday February 25th – Travel, Travel, Travel and Some Firsts

Today our day started really early. Our flight was at 7:05am so that meant we were awake around 5am. We got up, finished packing last minute items and my Dad came to pick us up to take us to the airport at 5:30.

I love it when your countdown for a trip looks like this!

We arrived at the airport, went through security and were sitting at the gate by 5:49. I say this every trip but it is so nice to live so close to the airport. We boarded the plane and took off for a very uneventful flight. We landed at 8:49 and made our way to Disney’s Magical Express.

The line for DME was non-existent. We boarded the bus at 9:15 and made our way to Port Orleans French Quarter.

POFQ was the second stop after Saratoga Springs. We made our way to the online check in line where the people in front of us didn’t seem to understand what online check in was. I don’t know why the cast members behind the counter didn’t make the people move to the regular check in line but not too long after getting in line, it was our turn to check in.

We checked in and unfortunately our room was not ready. Not too much of a surprise since it was only 10:15am but you can always be hopeful. While I had been waiting in line to check in, Wes went over to the concierge to ask if we could buy my annual pass there. I thought that you had to buy them at the ticket counter in the parks but it turns out that if you are paying in full you can buy them at the concierge. Very exciting. So after checking in, we got in line to buy my first annual pass! I had done all kinds of math to determine whether or not I should buy the annual pass. I am potentially going on 3 trips to WDW this year so mathematically an annual pass was a necessity. I am going to be in Orlando in July for a work conference and decided to add a few days at Disney after the conference. There are also talks about going to Disney in December with my family. So even if I don’t go in December, it still made financial sense to buy the annual pass for this trip. Yay for math! :lol:

 

[plaz10]

Yay for this TR!
I'm loving seeing all the POFQ pictures - we arrive on Sept. 12! Can't wait.

:sohappy:

 

[fractal]

Loving the TR so far! Can't wait to hear about the race.

 

[mamamouse]

I dunno how u disney runners do it,I have character ADD,I'd see a character n forget I was there for another reason,I know ur race hasn't started yet but I'm excited to see who you run into:wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Love this TR so far!

I'm in the same boat as you about not spending enough time taking in the details and stuff other than the attractions at AK. There is so much to see there. It really is a beautiful park!

POFQ is super pretty. We were hoping to stay there in Sept for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler but we opted for All Star Sports so we could save some money... Maybe next time!!

Can't wait to read about the race!

 

[disneygirl1]

Awesome start Ashley! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Gucci65]

I was there in January for the 5k and was beyond impressed with the way Disney had everything set up! Can't wait to see the rest of your report

 

[Kristia]

Yay for a race report! Love, love, love race reports! They keep me running so I can run another Disney race! Can't wait for the race portion :sohappy:

That woman you ran into at the Expo is totally ridiculous! What is her problem? Who cares if guys run it? Kudos to the guys that do run it!

Those faces at POFQ are the only thing keeping me from trying that resort! :ROFLOL: Some of the decor there is just downright scary! Looks like something straight out of a horror movie!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

A half marathon! Awesome, Ashley!

 

[emh1960]

Great Report!

We were at AK later that day too, and Dinosaur was closed for at least 3 hours, and did not open up before the park closed! I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Yeah trip reports! I have been trying to talk my hubby into this. I may have to get him to read your story when you are done. BTW, I loved your honeymoon report. You made such a beautiful bride!

aw, thank you! i am glad you enjoyed my honeymoon trip report. we had a great time. i am getting ready to post the race portion of my trip report now so you can decide if you can talk your husband into running.

Still not sure how to pronounce this…

Sass ka go la. I'm from N'awlins. You can trust me on that one.

thank you! the whole trip I kept trying to pronounce it and I just wasn’t sure I was getting it right. now I know. thanks.

Great trip report, love all the pics and commentary! Can't wait to hear how the race went for you both!

thanks! getting ready to post the race portion of the trip now.

Yay!!! A Princess half report!!!! Lovin it so far!!

And your pictures of FQ are making me miss it so much. Just stayed there in the beginning of Feb. Beautiful resort!

Cant wait to read about the race!!!!!!

i’m glad you are enjoying the report so far. POFQ was a really great resort. the only thing i didn’t like was the incredibly loud plumbing. i am a heavy sleeper but every once in a while i would still wake up to the sounds of water running through pipes behind my head board. other than that i thought it was a great resort.

I totally forgot that you ran this, Ashley! So exciting!

thanks shannon! I loved your “Life’s A Beach, And Then You Run” trip report! i don’t think i could ever run an entire marathon! props to you for getting it done!!

So I ran the Princess Half in 2011 and also went to the Expo on Saturday...and it was just a nuts as you described it then, too! When I was reading your description I actually shuddered...bad memories! :lol:

Seriously, lady?! What a jerk (I wanted to say another word, but this is a family board). :lol: I think it's awesome that your husband ran this race with you! Last year I ran it with my brother and I don't remember anyone giving him any attitude.

yea, i was a little confused by her attitude towards guys running. i saw a lot of husbands, brothers and sons running with their ladies. i think it is wonderful that these guys would support us women in running.

I legit LOL'd at this! :lol:

:lol: they were such a nice family so i feel bad saying anything but it was just so funny how open she was with two complete strangers that she just meant in the line for EE

I think you're on to something about not taking pictures on the safari. I think I've done it every time I've gone on it, and I'm determined not to next time. It's hard to make yourself put down the camera and just experience the safari, you know?!

it was really hard for me to not take pictures and obviously i didn’t succeed but i was much better than i usually am on the safari. i thought only 7 pictures was quite the accomplishment.

Cannot wait for your race re-cap! Yay!

Woo, a princess 1/2!!! I so wanted to run that this year, good thing I didn't though... I'm at about 2 miles that I can run at a time right now. :lol: Can't wait to read along with your race and hear how you and Wes did!

and... I love the sticking heads out thing, what a fun idea!

i’m posting the race portion of my trip in a few minutes so you will see how much training (or lack thereof) that we did. :lol: without giving too much away, i think training is very important for a half marathon but you can absolutely finish the race without having too much training.

i am glad you liked the pictures. the gorilla gave me the idea! :lol:

Yay, I love race reports!! You and Wes make a super cute couple. And OMG, all these Port Orleans trip reports are making me really REALLY want to stay there! I went to LSU for graduate school and New Orleans holds a special place in my heart. The picture that made me snort was the rhino Ace Ventura reference. I can't wait to hear how the race went!

thank you! POFQ was a really nice resort but if you are a light sleeper i would avoid staying there. the plumbing is really loud and you can hear water running through the pipes (which just so happen to be right behind the headboards) at night. if you are a heavy sleeper and don’t mind hearing running water through the walls, you are fine. it was a beautiful resort and bus transportation to all of the parks was really great.

:lol: i am glad you liked the ace ventura rhino picture. i thought that was so funny and i am glad that i wasn’t the only one.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Your peeking pictures are priceless! (Alliteration!)

What a great TR so far - easy to follow along and your pictures are great!

Can't wait to hear about the race (though slightly concerned based on "more on that later"). Eep!

amazing alliteration, kenzie! (man, if only your name started with ‘a’ i could have kept the alliteration going.

i am glad you are enjoying the trip report. no need to be too concerned about my comment but you will have to keep reading to see how we did.

i am excited to read your recent trip report. the title looks like you had a really fun time! hopefully i will get some time to read your trip report later tonight.

Yay for this TR!
I'm loving seeing all the POFQ pictures - we arrive on Sept. 12! Can't wait.

POFQ was beautiful. we really enjoyed staying there.

Loving the TR so far! Can't wait to hear about the race.

i am glad you are enjoying the report. much more coming up.

I dunno how u disney runners do it,I have character ADD,I'd see a character n forget I was there for another reason,I know ur race hasn't started yet but I'm excited to see who you run into

it was hard to keep running with all of the characters out. i am getting ready to post the race portion of my trip now so you will see if/what characters we saw.

Love this TR so far!

I'm in the same boat as you about not spending enough time taking in the details and stuff other than the attractions at AK. There is so much to see there. It really is a beautiful park!

POFQ is super pretty. We were hoping to stay there in Sept for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler but we opted for All Star Sports so we could save some money... Maybe next time!!

Can't wait to read about the race!

it was really great to get some extra time to just explore different parts of AK. i think on my next trip i want to spend even more time there and check out some of the details and things i didn’t get to see this time.

i am all about saving money so i get your reasoning for choosing sports. after staying at POFQ, i think that we decided that if we weren’t staying deluxe and wanted to save money that we would just stay at a value resort. don’t get me wrong, we really liked POFQ but i just don’t know if it was worth the extra money considering how loud the plumbing was. if the plumbing wasn’t so loud we would probably stay there again in a heartbeat, but if we want to pay extra for a room we might as well go deluxe where we can’t hear water running through the pipes. :lol:

Awesome start Ashley! Can't wait to read more!

thanks reese! i am glad you are enjoying the report so far. i’m posting the race portion now.

I was there in January for the 5k and was beyond impressed with the way Disney had everything set up! Can't wait to see the rest of your report

i really enjoyed the princess half marathon. i have never run any other races so i am not sure how other places do it, but i think disney does a great job.

Yay for a race report! Love, love, love race reports! They keep me running so I can run another Disney race! Can't wait for the race portion :sohappy:

That woman you ran into at the Expo is totally ridiculous! What is her problem? Who cares if guys run it? Kudos to the guys that do run it!

Those faces at POFQ are the only thing keeping me from trying that resort! Some of the decor there is just downright scary! Looks like something straight out of a horror movie!

i am glad you are enjoying the report. i’m not sure what was wrong with that lady but she clearly wasn’t happy. yea, those faces in the food court at POFQ were a little strange. you could still stay at the resort, just don’t go near the pool or the food court. :lol:

A half marathon! Awesome, Ashley!

thanks tammy!

We were at AK later that day too, and Dinosaur was closed for at least 3 hours, and did not open up before the park closed! I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

very cool that we were both at AK on the same day. i wonder if we walked by each other at any point. i can’t believe dinosaur was closed for 3 hours!! wow. i am glad you are enjoying the report. more coming right now.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Sunday February 26th – Disney’s Princess Half Marathon

Today was the day! We were running the Princess Half Marathon!

Since this was our first ever half marathon we had some pretty basic goals. The number one goal was to finish. I didn’t care if we had to walk the whole thing, I just really wanted to finish the race and have a good time doing it. I don’t really consider myself a runner so I wasn’t concerned with getting the best time. I just wanted to have fun and get my medal. Our second goal was to try to finish the race in less than 3 hours. From our training we knew that it would be possible but I figured that it would be a little challenging to meet this goal.

We had been “training” for the half marathon since last February. We decided to join a gym and start running. I had never really run before besides being forced to run a mile every Friday in middle school. I hated those Fitness Fridays. And now here I was getting ready to run a half marathon. Crazy how things change. I started my “training” with trying to go to the gym 3 days a week. I didn’t follow this schedule very well. At the 26 week mark, we started following the Jeff Galloway training program plan for beginning runners. I was pretty good with following the schedule until our wedding in October. I totally dropped the ball. Between the wedding and the honeymoon, I missed a lot of time when I should have been training. By the time we got back from our honeymoon, I was really off the training plan. With about 2 months left I did really good at going to the gym the suggested days but the amount I was running was no where near what it should have been. The farthest I had ever run was in one session at the gym was 4.5 miles. Wow. And here we were about to run 13.1. The day of the half marathon was finally here.

The night before we went to bed at 8:40 and I suggested to Wes that we sleep in separate beds so we could get a really good night’s sleep. Wes was a little offended that I didn’t want to sleep in the same bed as him but I figured that we would get a better night’s sleep if we slept in separate beds. Well, Karma came back to bite me on that one. I barely got any sleep. I think I was so worried about not waking up in time for the bus that I woke up just about every hour and looked at the clock.

After a night of almost no sleep, our morning started extremely early. We got a wakeup call from Mickey and Stitch at 3am. The wakeup call was incredibly loud. I was the one to answer the phone and I had to hold the phone away from my ear it was so loud. We quickly got up and dressed. We were ready to run!

I was not taking my camera on the race so the rest of the half marathon pictures were taken on my iPhone. We made our way to the bus for the Expo and there was a pretty decent line already formed at 3:35.

A ton of buses were lined up though, ready to take all of us to the starting line. We boarded the bus and looked back at the line to see that we had gotten there right before a ton of people showed up.

We grabbed the first available seat we saw that was towards the back of the bus and it stunk back there. Not the best smell for 3 o’clock in the morning but we were excited for the race so we were able to block out the smell.

Woo hoo! So excited!

We arrived at Epcot at 3:55am. Of course our bus driver had to pull up to the farthest possible spot at the bus drop off area. :lol: That’s okay. We would just get a little extra warm up before the race. It was a little chilly that morning and there was a wind that would pick up every once in a while which really made it really chilly. I was really looking forward to the sun coming up so temperatures would get a little warmer. We made our way to the starting area and passed the beautiful Spaceship Earth.

Hello starting area.

We arrived in the starting area and we really weren’t sure what to do. We saw the huge stage with a DJ and some lines to take pictures. There were also some booths that looked like they were selling food. We walked around the area a little bit to see if there was anything that we should be checking out. We walked up to see what people were lining up for and there were just some backdrops that people were taking their pictures in front of. No characters were out. So we decided to jump in a line for a port-o-potty. I wasn’t sure if we would see any more of these before we got to the corrals so I decided I should go now. Man, were these lines crazy long. I think we were in the line for probably close to 30 minutes. It was fine though because we really didn’t have anything else to do. After using the bathroom it was now 4:36am and we made our way to the corrals. Here is the herd of people trying to get there.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Of course right after we walked through the tents to get to the corrals we saw a lot more port-o-potties. I guess we should have just waited. It was crazy the mob of people making their way towards the corral. Wes stood in front of me and I held on to him as we tried to move with the crowd without getting lost. We walked past some old broken down trams, an old friendship boat and what I can only assume was the Lights of Wonder. It was pretty neat to see all this stuff just sitting back there but it was hard to get a good look through the sea of people. We finally got to the point where the groups split, Corrals A-E and then F-H. We had been placed in Corral D. I was sure that we would be in Corral H since we didn’t submit a time and this was our first half marathon. I think because we had registered as a team, we were placed in Corral D. I am not complaining but I was just really surprised.

We made our way to Corral D and moved all the way up to the front right of the Corral. We got there around 5am so it did take about 20 minutes to walk there from the starting area.

A very sleepy Westin

I kept trying to take a picture of the two of us and I couldn’t figure out why the flash wasn’t working. Wes pointed out that maybe it’s because the flash was on the other side of the phone. Duh. It was early and I was not thinking clearly. :lol:

A little auto-fix lets you see us a little better.

While we waited for the race to start we stretched a little bit and then decided to take a seat. It was really funny seeing all of the different costumes people were wearing. I kind of wish that we had dressed up a little bit or at least worn a neat custom made shirt or something. Oh well.

It was getting closer to the start time and waaaaaayyy up near the starting line there was a stage with some dude making announcements. They let us know that 21,000 people were registered for the half marathon! That’s so many people! They showed a little video, he introduced Jeff Galloway and Mrs. USA, who would both be running, and then the Fairy Godmother came out to get the race started!! It was 5:45 and the race still hadn’t started. They said that they were waiting for the all clear before we could start. About 3 minutes later Disney’s Princess Half Marathon had started!

The fireworks at the starting line

I didn’t realize that there were fireworks going off from the overpass that was right behind our corral. You can see in the picture above that a ton of people were looking behind us at the fireworks. The race started and our corral started moving up the line for our start time. We heard the countdown and saw the fireworks 3 more times before it was our turn. It was funny as we walked up the corrals to see all of the discarded clothing on the side of the road. I knew that people would do this but it is just funny to see all the articles of clothing. Wes was pretty cold and I think he was tempted to pick up something to wear. :lol:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We were getting closer!!

And here we were! I was really excited now and pretty nervous. I knew it was important for us to keep up a good pace and not start off too fast. It was 6:08 and it was now time for our countdown and fireworks! 5…4…3…2…1 and we’re off!! The heat from the fireworks felt really nice. :lol:

We had started the race. We kept to the right hand side of the path since we knew that we would be keeping a slower pace than a lot of the people in our corral. As we were running we saw many people start running into the woods for a pit stop. It seemed so early in the race to already have to go to the bathroom but we had been waiting in the corral for over an hour. In fact, I also had to go. Well there was no way I was going to pop a squat in the woods. :lol: I decided that I would try to make it as long as I could before I would stop. We kept running and didn’t stop until we got to the first mile marker.

Woo hoo!

One mile down and 12.1 more to go! I was feeling really good after the first mile. We ran the first mile in 12 minutes and we were on a really good pace. We decided to keep running and to not start walking just yet. We saw some glow in the dark inflatable things on an overpass and decided that we would start walking once we got past that. On the overpass were some people on stilts that were high fiving everybody. They were the first “characters” we saw. We took our first walking break and our plan was to walk for 5 minutes and then start running again. At some point we ran under these signs. Wes took a quick picture as we were running.

Not too long after this we were at the 2nd mile marker. Yay! This time we got a volunteer person who was standing at the mile marker to take our picture.

We kept up our plan of alternating running and walking for just 5 minutes. Before we got to the 3rd mile marker we ran under this glorious sight!

Beautiful!

I can’t remember when, but at some point between miles 1 and 3 we saw a giant hot air balloon and Captain Jack Sparrow. We didn’t stop for pictures with characters because we knew that we just wouldn’t have time. I am not a huge character person mostly because I don’t like to wait in long lines to get a picture with them. When we passed by Jack he had a pretty long line so we just kept moving. I don’t think we ever saw a character line that was less than 15 people long so sadly you won’t see any characters here.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We then hit the 3rd mile marker.

As we go on in the race, you will see how Wes started to forget that when he took a picture of me with the mile marker that he should get the whole sign in the picture. Sometime during Mile 7 I started looking at the pictures we had taken and I mentioned this to Wes that he was cutting off the sign. He said “Oh, I’m sorry. I was only trying to run a half marathon at the time” :ROFLOL: Touché.

It was after mile marker 3 near the Speedway that I decided I really should go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to wait to the point where I was going to p my pants. That would just be embarrassing. :lol: So after the 3rd mile marker we were on the lookout for ever so wonderful port-o-potties. Ugh. We saw some port-o-potties and were just about to stop when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was two of my sorority sisters from college! We had talked before the race and I found out that they were placed in corral E. They are like for real runners so I knew that they would pass us at some point so I was really excited that they actually saw us in the crowd of 21,000 people. I was also surprised that they didn’t pass us until halfway past mile 3. It was a really quick hello and “have fun” and then they were off.

Right after our quick hello with our friends, we got in the long line for the port-o-potties. It seemed like the line wasn’t moving at all. Wes decided that he would just run behind the port-o-potties and go. He said that when he ran back there there was a lady popping a squat and she said “Don’t look at me” :lol: Oh, the craziness. I continued to wait in line and Wes decided to run up ahead a little bit and wait for me so he wouldn’t be in the way. Finally, after about 10 minutes waiting line I was finally able to go to the bathroom. Thank God. I ran up and found Wes on the side of the course and we were off. Shortly after we started running again I started to get a cramp in my right side around my ribs. Ugh. This was the first cramp of the race. Wes kept telling me to try to stretch it but I wasn’t sure how. We walked for a little bit until the pain was under control and then we kept going.

Yea…that was a 23 minute mile. Yikes. We had some catching up to do after that potty break. Between mile 4 and 5 we started seeing the Contemporary.

After running by the Contemporary we ran under an overpass where a DJ was playing music and cheering us on. It was really nice to have some music going and it was really giving everyone a little extra burst of energy. People were running/dancing down the course. It was really nice to run downhill but that meant that we would have to run up the other side. Darn. I kept up a really good pace and didn’t stop running until we got to the top of the hill. Running up that hill took a lot more out of me than I thought but I knew that if I slowed down on the incline that it would be harder to start back up. So once we got to the top we slowed down a little bit and started walking. We saw the 5th mile marker and walked up to it to take our picture.

We were back on track with our time this mile and we were feeling pretty good despite the previous hill. In the distance we could see Space Mountain. We were almost to the Magic Kingdom! We started running again after our brief stop at the 5th mile marker.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After I took this picture of Wes with Space Mountain a girl behind us asked if we both wanted to be in the picture. It was so nice of her to offer. We said thanks and she said “no problem, it gives me a minute to rest” :lol:

I was so excited to finally get to run through the Magic Kingdom. It seemed like forever ago that we ran through the Magic Kingdom gates and we were just now seeing it. All of a sudden we were running through a back stage area behind Main Street.

We rounded the corner and there it was.

Cinderella’s Castle! It was so cool running down Main Street. It was a little crazy since the course narrows so much at that point but there were a ton of people lined up on the left to cheer us on. The extra encouragement was really needed and appreciated. We made our way down Main Street and ran on towards Tomorrowland. As we ran into the hub we saw Mrs. USA posing for a picture with the castle. It was neat to see her wearing her sash as she ran.

We ran through Tomorrowland and saw Buzz Lightyear and we ran through. We headed towards Fantasyland and saw Tiana and Naveen, and I think Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Once we got past the teacups I had to take a break. I was starting to get really exhausted and I knew that I needed to slow it down and walk for a minute. We passed by the carousel and then we saw the Castle again.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I was really excited to run through the castle so we decided to start running again right before we went through the castle.

As we ran by, we saw Mickey all decked out in his regal attire over to our right. His line was crazy long so there was no way we were stopping. We ran through the castle and towards Liberty Square. It was there that we finally saw the 6th mile marker. It felt like forever since we saw the last one.

This would have been a great picture if my eyes were open. :lol:

We made our way to Frontierland and then through another backstage area.

It was really neat running in the backstage areas and seeing pieces from the Jungle Cruise laying around. After I took this picture I told Wes that I really needed to walk. At this point my body was hurting really bad. I had never run this far before at one time and I was starting to feel the pain. This is also the point in the race where Wes and I got into a fight. The fight started because I told Wes that he was supposed to set the pace for us and keep us going at a good pace with alternating between walking and running so that I wouldn’t get so worn out. I said that he had been pushing me too hard and now I was running out of energy and we weren’t even half way done. He then said that he had been keeping us on a good pace to finish in 3 hours and I was slowing us down. At that point I just got upset so we stopped talking. We got close to mile marker 7 and I started to hear Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” playing. Thank God for that song. It gave me a little boost of energy as I listened to Kelly belt out some pretty awesome lyrics. So we ran until we got to the 7th mile marker.

Can you tell that I am getting tired? :lol:

That mile was a little rough. I was really getting tired and our little fight didn’t help. We started talking again about how exhausted I was and that I needed to walk. Wes said that he was on a runner’s high and he just wanted to keep going. He told me that my pain was all mental and I needed to push through it. He was also upset with me that I said he wasn’t keeping a good pace. I explained that I meant he wasn’t sticking to the walk 5 minutes, run 5 minutes plan we had discussed and that is what I meant by “good pace”. We kept arguing over stupid technicalities and how Wes wanted to keep going. I was getting really upset because I felt like I was holding Wes back. I tried to pull myself together and not cry. This race was supposed to be fun and here I was getting all upset.

I managed to pull myself together without crying and we kept moving. I still had some energy left so we kept up with a combination of running/walking. I think around this point we were passing by the Grand Floridian and there were some funny guys on mics asking girls for their shoe size. They were dressed in tuxedos and were looking for their brides. One guy was holding a silver sequined tennis shoe. The guys were pretty funny and helped lighten the mood between me and Wes. We passed by the golf course and I had to get a picture with this awesome golf cart.

A nice couple offered to take our picture if we would take theirs so we could both get in the picture. Shortly after passing by the golf course, we were at mile marker 8.

Another friendly group of runners offered to take our picture. We offered to take theirs but there was some confusion of who would be in the picture etc. and they told us we could go on so they wouldn’t hold us up. Very nice. We actually saw this same group at the next few mile markers. It seemed like we kept passing each other and then by the next mile marker we would all be there. What was funny is that when we got back to our resort after the race, they were staying there too.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Miles 9 and 10 I was still doing okay with our run/walk method. I was definitely physically exhausted at this point but I kept trying to push myself so I wouldn’t hold Wes back. I know that it was getting harder and harder to start running after our sessions of walking. My body felt so sore that it took a couple minutes before I felt okay again after running. I was laughing to Wes that my face was just a total grimace every time we were running. Wes kept telling me how proud he was of me for continuing to run and that helped me feel better about our argument earlier. I don’t remember a whole lot else other than just trying to keep moving. :lol:

Yay for 10 miles!

It was miles 11 and 12 that almost had me crying. After mile 10, I hit the wall. I felt like I had absolutely no energy left. I told Wes that my entire body was hurting and that I really just needed to walk. I felt so bad because I was holding Wes back but I just couldn’t bring myself to run. I kept telling Wes that I wanted to run across the finish line and if we didn’t walk now, I would have to be dragged across the finish line. He again told me that it was mental but I just couldn’t make myself run. This was also the part of the race where we had two separate ramps to walk up. I knew there was no way I could run up them. Right before the first ramp we saw the 3 hr pacer guy with his balloons. It was exciting to see him but then it got sad as we saw him get farther and farther in front of us. I know Wes was really disappointed to see him getting away from us. The first ramp was really slanted which really messed up my back. Walking on that slightly slanted angle after already running 10 miles was painful. Once we got to the top, we moved to the side of the course so I could quickly stretch my back. I felt a lot better but not enough to run. We walked past some announcers and a giant jumbotron type screen showing us runners. After that section it was up yet another ramp. Why did these have to be towards the end of the race? Those miles were absolutely the most difficult of the entire race for me but I managed to put on a smile for the camera.

Only one more to go!!

We were almost to the finish! Once we got past mile marker 12 we started running again. I had saved up enough energy that I thought I would be able to run the last mile. We got to the entrance of Epcot with a bunch of people cheering us on when it felt like my right foot was falling asleep. Then all of a sudden I started getting cramps in my right shin and my left calf at the same time. Really?! Come on, body! We were so close. We had to start walking again until my legs started working again.

We ran past Spaceship Earth and towards World Showcase. We made the turn to start coming back and I was able to run up until we got back to SSE. I wasn’t sure how far away the finish line was and I was so tired that I wanted to save my energy. Wes kept saying that it was just right after SSE but I said that until I saw where the end was I wasn’t running again. :lol: We passed by SSE and saw a gospel choir belting it out on the final stretch to the finish line. What a brilliant idea to give people that extra push at the end. They should have a gospel choir at every mile of the race and I bet people would run a lot faster.

We ran past the gospel singers and then we saw the finish line! Finally! We started running and Wes asked if I wanted my picture with the final mile marker but I was too determined just to finish the race already that I said forget it. Wes snapped a picture of the marker as we ran past.

Wes had said earlier on in the race that he would run ahead of me so he could take my picture as I finished the race. So after we passed the final mile marker, he ran up ahead and took my picture as I finished. As I made my way up to the finish line I was so happy to be finishing. I could see where people start to cry when they finish a race. Right before the finish line Daisy and Donald were cheering people on in their finest regal attire. I waved “hi” as I ran across the finish line.

There’s me celebrating with jazz hands!

Close up. Can you tell I was excited?

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After Wes took this picture a man asked if we wanted one together. Thanks guy!

We did it!! :sohappy: We finished our very first, ever half marathon! My final clock time was 3:37:38. Later I saw our official finish time online and my time was 3:19:21. Wes’ time was 11 seconds faster than mine. We had accomplished our first and main goal which was wonderful. Unfortunately, we missed our second goal of finishing under 3 hours. We were both a little bummed that we didn’t finish with our goal time but I was just really happy that we finished.

After we picked up our medals, we made our way through the area picking up a water for me and a Powerade for Wes. We also went over and picked up our box of snacks and then we made our way to the buses. We saw the DJ was still out playing music and it looked like some people were actually dancing. I am not sure how they were dancing since I was just focusing on walking my way to the bus. :lol: We didn’t feel like staying around since we were so exhausted so we found where our bus line was and then had to walk back to find the end. Man, that line was long. Luckily they had a lot of buses waiting so we were able to get on the 3rd bus that was already there waiting to pick us up. It felt wonderful to sit down!

Once we got home from our trip I looked through all of my pictures of the mile marker clocks and calculated our time for each mile. Looking back at our times, I was actually really proud of myself. Aside from our bathroom break at the 3.5 mile point, mile 1-6 we did really well at keeping about a 13 minute mile pace. Miles 7-11 were in the 14-15 minute mile range and then mile 12 was our worst with almost 18 minutes. The final mile was at 16:35. Overall considering that this was our first half marathon, the lack of training as much as I should have and the pain I was in during the race, I was really proud of myself when I looked over the individual mile times. Even during some of the most challenging parts of the race when I felt like I was going to die, we still managed to come pretty close to the 16 minute mile pace.

Looking back at the times it also made me realize how close we were to accomplishing our second goal of finishing in less than 3 hours. We were so close! If we hadn’t stopped for the bathroom we would have shaved 10 minutes off our time. Also, if we wouldn’t have gotten in that fight around mile 7, we probably would have had some better mile times on the back leg of the race.

We really had a great time running the half marathon. Going into the race I thought that this would probably be a onetime thing that I could check off my bucket list as something I did but after running our first race, we really want to run another runDisney race! This is so shocking to me but I really want to go back and run in another race especially after looking at our overall and individual mile times. Now that we have done one race, I know where we need to improve and where we could do better in the future. How does Disney have this effect on me? Last year I went on my first Disney Cruise and I loved it. I didn’t think I was a cruise person and now I can’t wait to go on another Disney Cruise! This year we run in our first ever half marathon and now I can’t wait to run in another runDisney race! I still wouldn’t consider myself a runner and yet I really want to run so I can do better in my next runDisney race. I must be crazy!

I am so happy that we did the Princess Half Marathon. Despite all of the challenges during the race we had a really great time and I can’t wait to do it again!

Up next: A very slow day in the parks following running 13.1 miles

 

[mamamouse]

GASP!!!! You ran past my beloved Jack???? LOL He's totally in love with me ,he just doesn't know it yet.
Aha I love the mile 6 pic!!!!
Aew I'm sorry you hit a rough patch but very glad things started looking up shortly after and you should definately be proud(I could never do it) you did a great job way to go!!!