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That idea that wandered into my brain as I was huffing and puffing and thisclose to passing out on a 4 mile run- I followed through and did it. I finished the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and kicked ass at it.
I picked up Sparkles from the airport on Friday afternoon- her flight got in just before some nasty weather hit. The forecast for the weekend looked sketchy- 50% chance of rain, but highs in the 80s. We headed over to the Wide World of Sports to the Expo to pick up our packets, shirts, and check out the vendors. This was my third venture into a RunDisney expo and went significantly better than my first one for the Tower of Terror run, where I wanted to go hide in the bathroom away from the crowds and craziness. We got our picture taken with Princess Minnie Mouse, but only because I led us into the wrong line- I was wondering why we were waiting 20 minutes to pick up our t-shirts! After the expo, we headed over to Port Orleans Riverside to check in, get our Magic Bands squared away; Sparkles bought her park tickets, and we set off on the hike to find our room.
Which happened about a half hour later.
Because we got lost.
Between room 2763 and the parking lot.
If you've ever seen a map of Riverside, you'd understand.
Anyway, we unpacked and then took the bus over to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Earl of Sandwich and a free chocolate from Ghirardeli. After wandering around down there for a couple hours, we headed back to the hotel, set out on the expedition to locate our room again, and went to bed around 8pm in preparation for the Enchanted 10K the next morning. I slept like total crap. I mean, our Princess & The Frog themed room was adorable, but the bed was so uncomfortable and combined with the Christmas Eve-like excitement I had, I got MAYBE 2 hours total of in-and-out dozing.
At 2:50, my alarm went off (ringtone is "I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT, I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT!" from Madagascar) and I jumped right up to get dressed in my Cheshire Cat costume, complete with tutu. I prepared my usual peanut butter and bread with provisions brought from home and after Sparkles got into her Snow White costume, we headed down to the bus stop around 3:30. It was a fairly quick trip to the Epcot parking lot where we took time to hit up the porto toilet then hung out and soaked up the energy of the crowd.
I was prepared this time- I was looking forward to the warm-up dances with the DJ ("WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY? YI YI YI YI YI YI YIH!" twice) and the people-watching. Of course the costumes were crazy, the music was loud, and the cameras were rolling. We got a chance to wave at the videographer before breaking away for some quiet time after working up a sweat dancing. We hung out for the next half hour by the water coolers before being herded into our corral around 5am. I had been assigned B but got into D with Sparkles. There were only 5 corrals for this race-I'm not sure exactly how many people were there but there were under 10,000 finishers. At 5:30, the Fairy Godmother counted us down, a small burst of fireworks popped over the start banner, and corral A was off. I didn't have a watch but I estimated probably 10 minutes between corral starts- it took forever to finally get moving! I was pretty sure by the time the last person from corral E crossed the start line, someone from A would be finishing.
At the start line, the announcer pumped up our group a bit over the mic, we all screamed and cheered, the Fairy Godmother counted 3-2-1 and boom! We were off! I learned from running the Tower of Terror to be in the front instead of the back of the corral if I wanted to move faster than a crawl. I pushed Start on my running app and Play on the Pandora and we were moving.
Now, Sparkles runs over a 12 minute mile, while I'm very comfortable at a 9.5. I was pretty much speed-walking next to her, between short spurts of light jogging. Still, because she'd not been feeling 100% earlier in the morning, I wasn't going to leave my friend in the dust. As we headed out, we passed under an overpass and Elsa from the movie "Frozen" was up top, waving and talking to everyone. (Soap) snowflakes fluttered down from above as we got established on the course. Sparkles and I stuck together for almost the first 2 miles before she told me- for the 15th time- to go on ahead of her. I felt bad, I really did. I stopped to hit the restroom, and then I did pick up my pace and we waved goodbye. I did feel better running at the faster clip, but told her to call or text me if she had any problems at all.
I started passing people quickly, often hopping off into the grass. The route was going away from Epcot, making a u-turn, then headed back to the park, backstage, then popping out in the World Showcase, winding around to the rear entry. It then left the park and wound back through the Boardwalk hotel area, around that lake where the Yacht & Beach Club hotels are. As I got to the backstage area of Epcot, just before entering the WS at about 3.5 miles, dawn started breaking. Un-dramatically. I really could start to tell how nasty the weather was! Everything just turned sort of gray, with a misty, low overcast. As expected the lines forming for the characters all along the route were ridiculously long. I enjoyed looking and seeing the characters, but hey I'm a Passholder. I don't really care about getting my picture taken. I want to do the best job I can on the run and enjoy the sights. As we all hit the boardwalk at mile 4.5, there were lots of spectators up- some in their pajamas- watching this crazy parade and cheering with posters, signs, and noise horns. That part always makes me smile, I have to really try to hold it together, especially after seeing an elderly couple in a set of chairs holding a poster that read "Random Stranger- you're doing awesome!" So many people show so much support and it's amazing to witness. As I rounded the Boardwalk after the 5 mile mark, I saw what was pretty much the coolest characters ever- the Genie from Aladdin and Lumiere from Beauty & the Beast, but they were gigantic, lit up puppets! They had people controlling them from underneath, but I'd guess they were at least 15 feet tall! The Genie glowed a bright, L-E-D blue and the music from the movie blared over a loudspeaker. I'd turned off my Pandora radio long ago, finding the on course entertainment to be a lot more saturated than the Tower of Terror was.
I headed backstage again before popping out next to the Imagination Pavilion and moving along toward Spaceship Earth. Mile 6 was right alongside the big ball, and .2 miles later I was back in the parking lot and across the finish line! Usually I do 10K in under an hour, but because of my slower initial pace, I finished this race later. Not that I minded. I got my medal and my Glass Slipper Challenge wristband, headed out of the finishing area to grab a banana and my snack box, and waited for Sparkles. She arrived about 30 minutes after me. We caught up, then headed back onto the bus to go back to the hotel. I took a shower and she took a 2 hour nap! We headed to Hollywood Studios that afternoon, enjoyed lunch and some rides, then dodged the rainstorms to get back to the hotel and were ready for bed by 6:30! Tomorrow I'll detail the Half Marathon, so for now, enjoy some pics and our stats!
(sorry this is a phone screenshot because I don't plan ahead)
the route
the route
10K Times:
Me:
Bib # 21866
Age division place- 168th
Gender place- 930/7,928
Overall place- 1,178/8,967 (top 13%)
Chip Time- 1:06:07
Sparkles:
Bib # 32659
Age division place- 854th
Gender place- 5,100/7,928
Overall place- 5,872/8,967 (top 65%)
Chip Time- 1:34:04
I think we both did a great job! I'm not sure how many people did not finish- I'm guessing a few thousand. That always happens, I guess people either don't train at all, or they get so caught up in the lines for character pictures, that they fall behind the required 16 min/mile pace. We had great time, Sparkles was glad when it was over, and I was super-pumped for the half marathon the next morning. More to come!
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