Princess Half Marathon

 Running the 15th Anniversary RunDisney Princess Half Marathon - 2/26/23

TL,DR: RunDisney kicks your butt in more ways than one

Full Trip Review:

Dates: Thursday 2/23 - Sunday 2/26

Resort: All-Star Movies; Preferred Room

Cast and Crew: Grandma, Auntie Titi and Dan (6)

This is one of those trips where the initial planning did not come to fruition. Aside from actually running the race, not one piece of the beginning planning phase came true. As the trip morphed and changed, we landed here:

I flew down solo on Southwest on a 10 am flight Thursday. My mom, sister and nephew all arrived on Monday morning to start their trip earlier and get the extra magic in. I ubered from the airport directly to All-Star movies where I met them. 

Check in was a nightmare. 

My sister had booked a package for her group. We called and confirmed with a CM that I could arrive later in the week and be added. Wrong. Just unhelpfully wrong. I was given a keycard and “day pass” so I could access the room for the nights I was staying (we were under max occupancy so that was the only reason they let me have a keycard). In case you are curious, Disney front desk and Disney travel (where you book online) are two companies.

Once we worked our way through that, we dropped bags and headed to the expo. My sister had joined the virtual queue in the morning and we had a return time around 2:30-3:00. We got right in to minimal lines. Some of the gear was gone but we were lucky to snag some of the fun 13.1 Race Weekend stuff.

After that we headed back to the pool and swam for the evening. It was hot for February and for a New Englander that is used to 30s.

Friday morning we woke up, got ready and headed to the bus. Even though they had a car, I recommended busing so that we could skip the TTC and we had plans of hopping in the afternoon. They were on day 5 but still going strong with little to no breaks in the day. Monorail hopping is so much easier than with a car, in my opinion.

Magic Kingdom was great! Not super busy, we did all the classics and got waffles at Sleepy Hollow. The view is to-die-for and we mobile ordered while in line. Win/win. Lunch reservation was at Liberty Tree Tavern, one of our favorites. Plus, this is when fueling comes in. Good healthy meals to fill you up and keep you full two days out from a race. Once we finished, we hopped over to EPCOT at 2ish to do some shopping and grab some drinks. 

I had one souvenir I really wanted: the engraved perfume from France’s pavilion. If you don’t know: they will engrave a perfume, for free with any design they offer. I got a Rose (I was Belle for the race) and my name as a special commemoration of the weekend. 

Once our feet started to hurt we headed for the exit and hopped on the sky liner. That was my first time taking it and my thoughts are: faster than excepted, clean, and easy to navigate. We went over to Hollywood Studios, did some wandering and then ended up heading to the resort to swim. All in all, a great/packed day at Disney.

Saturday was insanely busy. Between typical Saturday and race weekend, MK was bananas. 1/10 would not recommend. We made it a little before hopping over to Animal Kingdom. It was so nice, and quiet. We did a few things there and then headed back for an early night.

Sunday, race day! 2:30 am alarm. Up and on the second bus on the day. So easy, they drop you right at the bus depot at EPCOT and you walk over to the race staging area. 

They have everything you can imagine. First aid, food trucks, a million port-o-potties. There’s lots of entertainment and characters to meet. From there it’s athletes only to the starting corrals. I didn’t enter a Proof of time (previous race result to increase your chances of being in a higher corral) and I was in C. The let each group in the corrals go off in small bits to prevent congestion. Fireworks and all for each! Which is really awesome. I stepped off about 17 minutes from the official start time and I was mid-way back in Corral C.

The Race:

I’ve been running half marathons for 10 years. This was the first RunDisney one. It was a very challenging 5k to find a rhythm and pace with the amount of walkers and walk/runners. It was definitely something I wasn’t prepared for and would tell anyone considering a run to be patient miles 1-3. By mile 4, I was definitely in a groove and away from a lot of the crowding. I also didn’t stop for any photos which I’m sure isn’t something most people do, but I wanted to run through it. It was so emotional running under Mickey and Minnie on the railroad bridge coming into MK. My fastest mile was through the park and I wish I had taken more time to enjoy it. Also, there aren’t really any photographers on the course (except at characters) until you hit MK. I ran through and took it all in. My plan was to run to Grand Floridian comfortable and then try and get my pace picked up. I ran up the ramp near Polynesian and past the TTC parking lot just as the sun was rising. And it was the boost I needed. I came into miles 7-10 really comfortable, including a wave to Elsa where they were playing the song I walked down the aisle to… cue tears. By mile 10 I was on pace to hit my goal. I was feeling good, and was taking over a lot of ground. The run from the on ramps back into EPCOT was way more than I expected. It didn’t feel possible to have 5k more when I could see the Ball. But it was! Entered EPCOT over near the bus depot. Ran backstage and popped out near figment. The mile 12 marker was Nemo and Dory, text from hubs said “keep it up”…..cue tears. Dory is my daughters absolute favorite. And I cry every-time I think about that silly 12 mile marker sign and looking down: 12 minutes. I had 12 minutes to finish this last 1.1 miles and beat my goal. The last mile was a blur of pain, joy and complete elation. 

I crossed at 2:05:00….my goal was 2:06:00.

I crossed nearly alone… and burst into tears. The walk through the finishing shoot was so overwhelming and I was so happy to be done and under goal. 

Immediately FaceTimed Chris and Liv to see them. I hated finishing without them there. It felt so lonely. But I had picked this as a goal for myself in April of 22. I needed to get something on my plate to work for and get back into shape. All in all, I ran 13.1 miles in 2:02, and I lost 22lbs during my journey to the finish. 

RunDisney races are fun. Challenging. And different than anything I’ve raced before. The swing between “I’m never doing that again” at 2:30 am on 3 hours sleep, and “when can I sign up for another” is insane.

After all was said and done, we headed back. Checked out. Hung out by the pool after a lunch at TRex.

If you’ve hung in there this long…thanks for reading! And if you ever want to try a RunDisney race, let me know! I’d be happy to share my experience further.