This past weekend was the runDisney Princess race weekend sponsored by Corkcicle and this was my second time doing these races! Last year I only did the 5k and the 10k but this year I decided to give the Half Marathon a try too. My best friend cam into town to do the races as well, and this was her first time every doing any race of any kind so it was exciting! We had such a fun weekend and each race had it’s own bit of magic so I though I would share it all here this week in a little recap!
Race Expo
Thursday was the first day of the race expo at ESPN Wide World of Sports and this is the only time you have to pick up your bib if you are doing the 5k. We had originally planned to go later in the afternoon because we were going to go to Blizzard Beach but it was way to chilly for that so we got a virtual queue in the morning and went around 10am. You might be wondering what you need a virtual queue for at a race expo?? Well, the queue is to be one of the first people to get in to see all the race weekend exclusive merchandise before it sells out. Honestly, I am never too worried about this because I don’t buy a lot of stuff for the races. I usually try to get a magnet or a pin of each race I am doing but that’s about it. Although there were a lot of things I loved this go around!
Our queue was called pretty early so we went there first and then went to pick up our bibs, shirts and gear bags. I’m never a big fan of the race t-shirts as I don’t really like the dry fit material but these are super cute! We shopped around in the exhibitor hall for a bit to get some essentials. Insoles, KT Tape, Megababe anti chafe stick, you know all the stuff to help you survive the next three days! OH! And of course your refillable runDisney beer cup!
Art of Animation
For the second year in a row we booked a family suite at Disney’s Art of Animation resort. This year we got a Cars suite and it was so cute! The family suites are nice because there is a separate bedroom and bathroom on top of two full beds in the living room area. This was perfect for having my bestie with us because she could take the bedroom and have her own space (we’re crazy, she needed it! Haha). Plus there are 3 pools, a great pool bar, good variety in the food court and the busses are super convenient for getting to the races. We are big fans of AOA!
Mulan 5k
Friday morning was the Mulan themed 5k (3.5 miles) and it was COLD! Like bone chilling, I may never be warm again cold! Myself, my best friend, my husband and my youngest son all did the 5k. Us girls had our Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum shirts and hats on whole Jay had his own funny shirt to go with them. Thatcher was the smartest our of all of us! He had on his fleece onesie PJ’s with his pants, shirt and sweatshirt over top! He never even complained about the cold while the rest of us froze. This race is the “easy” one since you can walk it and take your time if you want to, no balloon ladies chasing your down. Which is what we did, we took it easy and just walked this one to avoid being sore for the rest of the races. There were not a ton of characters and the lines were super long so we didn’t stop for any of them. We were in the very last corral so by the time we got to everything people were already standing in line, making them all really long. With it being so cold I just could not justify standing still that long. We finished in about an hour and headed to get our celebratory race beers!
Jasmine 10k
Saturday morning was another 2am wakeup call for the Jasmin 10k (6.2 miles)! The little guy stayed in bed for this one and it was just me, Jay and the bestie. We were once again in the dead last corral so I was a little nervous about getting swept. If you don’t know who the balloon ladies are, let me introduce you. The balloon ladies are the pacers that start after the last group of the last corral and maintain a 16 minute mile. If they pass you and you can’t catch up you will be forced to get on a bus and not finish the race. I am not fast so I am always worried about getting swept but even more so being in the last corral.
We got to the corral pretty early and wiggled up as close as we could to the front. Once we started moving to the start line we hauled a** and got in with the first wave start group. This was as much room as possible between us and the balloon ladies. We decided it was every man for themselves and just do what each of us had to do to not get swept. We came together a couple of times during the race but all finished at different times. Jay, unfortunately had one of the bike medic people clip his heel as he returned to EPCOT and it caused him to fall pretty bad. They would not let him finish the last half mile but he technically did not get swept and still got his medal but this did take him out of the Half Marathon sadly. We finished this race in about 2 hours and got more celebratory beers, this is a thing, you must do it! The only thing I will say here is that last years course was better. We went through Hollywood Studios and Boardwalk, this year it was just Boardwalk and a lot of EPCOT. I feel like this is because they have construction happening over my Lightning McQueen and that’s where we entered last year but it was kind of a boring course this year.
Sleeping Beauty Half Marathon
Sunday was an even earlier wake up call as we were once again in the last corral and wanted to get there super early to be at the front. This was my first ever half marathon (13.1 miles) and I would be lying to you if I told you I was well prepared…..I was not! I have been walking/jogging every morning for a couple months but nothing close to a half marathon or what I should have been doing to train for this. We got as close as we could to the from top the corral and I was incredibly nervous about getting swept. As I said, I am not fast and I knew I would probably slow down on the last half of the race as I got tired. We waited what felt like forever for the race to start, just me and the bestie for this one. Then, a miracle blessing! They had a whole second corral for G!! This meant that there was another full corral of people between us and the balloon ladies!
I started to relax….a little, not much but a little! We made sure to get up to be with the first wave of corral G when we started moving to the start line and took a friend we had made with us that was there alone. Once again we went every man for himself to just get it done. We figured since the waves were going at 2 minute intervals and we were the first wave there were at least 5 more waves behind us so that gave us about a 14 minute lead on the balloon ladies start. We had done pretty good at maintaining around a 15-16 minute mile in the 10k, even with bathroom and picture stops so that meant we could be about a mile ahead of them if we started strong. We probably started faster than we needed to but we wanted as much wiggle room for the last half as possible!
A little after mile one we were on an overpass and could see the hoard of people behind us…..no balloon ladies in sight! This meant we were over a mile ahead of them as far as I could figure. We kept up our pace and didn’t see the balloon ladies most of the race. This course started in EPCOT like all the others and went highway to Magic Kingdom. This was a bucket list item for me, running up Main Street USA through Magic Kingdom and right through the castle from Fantasyland! So incredibly cool and just the boost I needed at the halfway mark. Unfortunately the course back to EPCOT was not as fun.
We ran out of Magic Kingdom and through TTC parking lot, back to the highway to get back to EPCOT. This stretch felt LONG! There were not as many things to distract you on this stretch, at least that’s what it felt like to me. Very few characters, DJ’s, bands and such which is what I count on to distract me! Hahaha! I did get a little boost every time I hit a mile marker because each one was another milestone for me since I had never done anything past a 10k. Then, disaster….my earphones died just before mile 11. If you know anything about me you know that music is huge in my life, gets me through a lot. I was starting to get really tired at this point already, my feet were hurting and now I had no music and over 2 miles to go. I was feeling little defeated.
There were also way too many hills on this return stretch…..not nice runDisney! But then as I was hitting the top of the overpass hill I recognized Paula from @PracticallyPerfectFamily (instagram) and we chatted for a moment, took a selfie, she gave me a bracelet and then she pointed out how far back the balloon ladies were…..we were going to make it! I checked in via text with my bestie and she was not too far behind me so I knew she would make it too, just what I needed to get going again! When we got to the downhill I started jogging and decided I would do that on all the downhills and a little in the park to finish strong.
The last 2.1 miles felt pretty good, feet were still really hurting and I was tired but I felt good. I was little ahead of my friend and decided to wait at mile marker 13 to catch her and cross the finish line together. This was such a great feeling, I really wasn’t sure I could do it and I was so proud of myself when we crossed that finish line! BUT, the beer line was way too long and we were both hurting once that finish line high started to wear off so we opted for celebratory beers at the hotel by the pool. Hahaha!
runDisney Princess Fairytale Challenge
Because we ran the 10k and the Half Marathon (19.3 miles) we were part of the Fairytale Challenge and got an extra medal! This one was Snow White and the Evil Queen and so so cute! Our bibs were different as well since we were in the challenge and that’s what told Cast Members and volunteers that we were to receive the challenge medals. This is also, I believe, why we were in the last corral for the 10k. Our corral and bib numbers were the same for both races and since we didn’t have proof of time for the half we were put in the last corral, which makes total sense, just wish it didn’t mean that for the 10k too. We would have relaxed some in the 10k if we weren’t starting in the last corral. We still had a great time just didn’t stick together as much as I wish we had because we were so worried about getting swept!
Conclusion
Was getting up at 2am three days in a row hard? Yes. Was walking/running 23 miles over three days hard? Yes! Did I think I wasn’t going to make it to the end of the Half Marathon? YES!! BUT it was also really fun and I am beyond proud of myself for getting it done. If you had asked me on Sunday if I would ever do the half marathon again I probably would have said no. My feet were KILLING me and I was beyond exhausted in every way possible. But now that I have had time to rest and my feet are not hurting…..I will totally do it again! I will try to train and prepare better but I will definitely do it again! Something that really struck me when I got my second wind on those last two miles was how thankful I am that my body is strong enough to do something like that. It is truly a blessing and while the mind definitely played a big role in finishing, the body had to be willing. So thank you body for all the amazing things it can and will do, even if it’s just a 5k because that is amazing too! Thank you all for reading and have the most magical day!
