Mar 23, 2015

Princess Half Marathon Weekend: Part 2

Forgive my lateness in this post, but the wrist situation has made recreational typing not a very appealing option after typing all day at work.

I left off after breakfast. Let me tell you I was so happy they were still making omelettes at the hotel. It hit the spot! We chilled in the room for a bit and I grabbed a shower. The kids and Eddie headed to the house, since they had some Cub Scout event that night, and Kris and I lounged around for a while. Then the hunger hit and we decided to get moving and head to Epcot for dinner. And Pluto welcomed us in.


We had stopped by Italy to get pizza a few months back, and never did, since it was a whole pie, and not just a slice you could order. But we were hungry and needed some carbs, so we headed right there to get our pizza. The pizza was amazing, we ordered the Capricciossa pizza with ham, eggplant, artichokes, and mushrooms. OMG, it was soooo good.


We walked back to Mexico to grab a margarita (we had to!), and then headed back to the hotel to get some shut eye before our 3am wakeup call. The 2nd 3am wakeup for me! We got dressed, and I even managed a half decent Jasmine-esque hairdo.


Then we headed to the buses and saw the HUGE line to get on. The line was long, but we figured, hey everyone else was waiting too. We finally boarded our bus only to get stuck in traffic. It took us about 45 minutes to get the 15 minutes up the road we needed to reach Epcot. By the time we entered, we went to check our bags and then had to rush off to the corrals. Here is the point where I swore off of the Princess Half and declared the Wine & Dine as my favorite half ever. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked (I'm thinking a mile, if not more) to get to the corrals. It was complete insanity. We weren't even in our corral when the first one went off.

We finally got to our corral, K, and waited for our fireworks. Unfortunately, the Fairy Godmother only sent off the first few corrals. But they gave us the go and we were off on the long road to the Magic Kingdom. We brushed off the craziness of the morning and the lateness, and set out for our goal, pictures! We never really stop for many pics, but we wanted to get a lot this time. And the first one was the biggie, the princes! Aladdin even asked if I trusted him!--just like he asked Jasmine in the movie. The princes were awesome. We got to see John Smith, my guy, Aladdin, Hercules, Flynn Rider, Prince Eric, and Phoebus. I was so happy to see most of the modern princes!


Then we passed the sign and were on our way to the Magic Kingdom. We managed to see another personal fave, Wreck-It Ralph with Vanellope Von Schweetz! We love Ralph, since he was our first Disney race character pic ever, so we had to stop and grab a pic with them.


We ran up and down some killer, steep ramps and finally circled around the back of Space Mountain and headed into the Magic Kingdom.


We came around the back and before we knew it, we were on Main Street, USA. And it was crowded. Like major traffic, but you could see the castle. And that was goal #2 of us doing this race, running through the castle.


Before we got to the castle there was a detour through Tomorrowland, and we met the Space Ranger himself, Buzz Lightyear.


Then it was time. We headed towards Fantasyland and around the back of the castle. This is where the word FAIL doesn't even begin to explain things. The traffic jam that was Main Street was laughable now. It was a terrible slow trudge. They put Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff at the back of the castle welcoming everyone. Now, I love the Frozen peeps, but to put your most popular characters at the most photo-worthy part of the course was a huge mistake. (I was standing still, and not by choice.)


Then we got to walk, well is there something slower than walking?--cause that's what it was, through the castle. I LOVE the inside of the castle. The Cinderella mosaics have always been so magical and wonderful to me. But it was so jam-packed... words just can't explain.


That was as fast as it got. We were pissed that our "running through the castle" experience was that. The official pics of us, are of me and Kris scowling... so not what I imagined. But we managed to get a castle selfie before heading into the hoard.


Next we headed to Frontierland, for a quick bathroom stop (since we didn't get one pre-race), and then we saw Woody. Had to say hi to him, since we already saw Buzz.


As we headed out around the back of the Magic Kingdom, Aurora and Prince Phillip were there waiting by the castle float from the parade. Kris's costume was supposed to be "Aurora-inspired" so we stopped to see her. She was stunning.


Then, we saw them, and they passed us as we waited for Aurora... the dreaded balloon ladies. I gotta say I started freaking out. We got our pic with Aurora and booked it. But there was a problem, this part of the course was super narrow, and there were a lot of walkers, so it was proving really hard to get more distance between us and the balloon ladies.

We ran where we could and picked up the pace on the walking otherwise. It was also getting hot, and we were in sleeves from the cold morning. We both started feeling it. I think we might have needed some more nutrition, since we were out there for 4 1/2 hours before we finished. But we made the trek back to Epcot, taking water and Powerade and shot blocks along the way.

The part of the run through Epcot was very short, but we were glad it was almost over. I was so happy to see another marching band along the way back. Those kids were great and really kept it going! (Plus, it was Kris's HS band rivals, so extra cool for her.) We came around the back of Epcot, which I know full well means the finish line is less than 1 mile away. And right near the end was a gospel choir. They were amazing and hearing that gorgeous music gave that final push.


And there it was at long last, the finish line! It was finally done. We got our character pics, trudged through the castle and made it another 13.1 miles! I couldn't have done it without Kris by my side. My bestie and racing buddy always helps me make it through the races! We got our medals, got pixie dusted and then I was able to pick up my glass slipper! Loved that it was blue. :)


We finished up with our medals, and headed to France in Epcot to get some quiches and croissant. We were tired and hungry and it was so delicious to sit and eat! We also might have had a croissant donut on our way back to the buses, but hey we just had just done a half marathon, we deserved it!


Each race is a totally different experience and I have to say that I was a princess, got my glass slipper, and I'm done. I love the Princess Enchanted 10k, but the half was not my favorite. This is one race that I won't be signing up for again. I was glad I did it and got my slipper, but the experience left much to be desired. I know each year the race is different and you can have so many different experiences, but I'm so glad to have my glass slipper, and now onto other races for me.

And since finishing this race, I've already signed up for 3 more races... a 15k in April, Wine & Dine in November, and the Sarasota Half next March!

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