2015 princess half marathon weekend- enchanted 10k, round 2!

Here we go again!  It's Princess Half Marathon time!

Disney race weekends are so much fun!  I'm finally a fan of the Expo experience, I'm comfortable with wandering around all the vendors (I actually go with a shopping list, now!), and I've even made time to see some of the speakers.  Remember, my first trip to a RunDisney expo where I felt surrounded by strange people, unrecognizable products, and crazy runner stuff?  And I wanted to go hide in the bathroom?  Well, I've drank the kool-aid and I'm one of them now.

Scot and I were both running the half marathon this time around- I'd worked on our costumes for a while.  I'd gotten so carried away with our couples Gonzo & Camilla outfits that I completely forgot to make myself something for the 10K!  I found my leftover crown and collar that I made for Sleeping Beauty In Blue from the WDW Half in January (a costume of which I'd re-purposed my Cinderella outfit from PHM 2014!) so I used the pink tutu from the Lady Track Shack 5K and a pink shirt to fashion Sleeping Beauty In Pink.  Ta da!

I got down to the expo after work on Friday, got my stuff, bought another SparkleSkirt (I needed it!) then headed over to All Star Music for some dinner and an early bed time.

 Expo madness!

 We were in the Country Music section of ASM.  It was in the back of the resort, facing the trees, and like a 12 minute walk to the front lobby area!  Never again.  Not my favorite by any means.  The food court sucked, too.

After some nasty-ass pasta (hey, I got spoiled staying in the downstairs, front room Nemo suite at AOA), I trekked back to the room and turned in around 10pm.  My alarm went off at 3:15 and I was up, dressed, and headed down to the bus at 4 and OH HOLY MOTHER OF GOD was it cold!  The Frozen-themed 5K was the day before and that had certainly lived up to it's name.  The weather today was about the same as the WDW 10K from Dopey Weekend.  I ran from the room to the bus stop- seriously, it had to be like a third of a mile- to try to stay warm.  Past 2 pools steaming in the frigid temps.  I didn't see many crazy costumes- I think the weather changed people's plans to pants and tutus.  I was wrapped in one of the airplane blankets Scot had brought home (we use them to cover the plants in the yard when it gets cold).  I found a girl on the bus to talk to- we commiserated together on the chill in the air and navigated the crowds in the Explore Lot at Epcot.  She was in minimal costume- something cute from Raw Threads.  We departed the bus, got through the no-bag-bag-check, and headed straight for the coffee vendors!  Because I got to the staging area so much later this time around (honestly, I was ok with that because it was freezing-ass cold) we didn't have much time to dance and goof around.  We chatted for a few minutes while watching the crowd before being herded like the usual perpetual cattle into the corral area.  My new friend was in D, we bid our good-lucks and goodbyes, and I stepped into corral A.  This was my 3rd time in an A corral- Expedition Everest, Disneyland 10K, and now here.  I was hoping to feel more at home this time- the Disneyland A group had left me in the dust.  You can read about that back in September!  

  

As 5:30 approached, my group was led up to the start line- we passed in front of the other corrals along the way so everyone was waving and cheering back and forth.  We did our best to pump everyone up!  I was so glad to not have to wait the 10 minutes between corrals like Sparkles and I did last year in D.  The countdown was quick, there was a POP of pink fireworks over the banner, and off we went!  I felt good, but I was frozen cold!  I kept my blanket and sort of wore it like a cape for the first mile and a half!  Right away, we ran under the overpass where Anna an Elsa were waving from above.  I had to stop for a photo!  

I passed the first photo stop- Tinkerbell and somebody else.  Never stop for the first photo!  Always such a long line!  I saw the Mile 1 marker ahead and vaguely thought that I hadn't felt my interval timer on my watch vibrate yet- SHIT I forgot to start my watch!  I hit the buttons, got a signal, and when I hit Mile 1, it started tracking.  I took the hairpin turn easily, and moved up and over the bridge toward the Epcot backstage area.  There weren't any characters for a while- not until we got to Epcot at least.  I was looking forward to seeing some princesses- the lines were too long last year and I was ready to finally get some good photos around World Showcase.  The crowds were thin enough for me to be comfortable and I was moving along at about 9m/m.  I trotted under the Test Track loop past some very tall characters on stilts at about 3.5 miles, then into the World Showcase between Norway and China.

Okay, it was a lot darker than last year!

I was about 30-40 minutes ahead of where I was in 2014 and I'd forgotten that the sun wouldn't be up for a while!  I circled around the lake, looking for princesses.  

There weren't any.

Like, none.

I saw Jimminy Cricket in Italy.  I saw Marie in France.

 Where was Sleeping Beauty?  Tiana?  Snow White?  Rapunzel?  Belle?  I swear I saw them last year!  I crossed over the bridge into the United Kingdom...still nothing.  I turned and headed toward the Boardwalk, up another hill, and over the bridge.  I could see the front-runners to my right just leaving the Boardwalk area.  Holy crap, they're fast!  I jogged along and as I approached the ESPN restaurant, I saw Donald Duck walking out from backstage with a handler.  Before I could think, I veered over and stopped for a picture.  I was the first one there and a long line formed immediately behind me.

I guess Baseball Donald is better than nothing!  I started wondering though, since I caught him as he was JUST coming out, were there other characters that I missed being in corral A?  Ones that didn't show up til later?  

I made it around the Boardwalk- I still love the cheering crowds, the signs, I even saw one sign a woman was holding that said "Maggie Run Your Ears Off!"  (I know it wasn't for me, obvs) but I still paused and said "Hey, thanks, MY name's Maggie!" and this woman looked at me like I'd dropped down from outer space.  Like, how dare I have the same name as whoever she knew!  Well, I let that bother me for about 20 seconds before I found other attention diverters.  Mile 5.5 brought us back toward Epcot and I saw Minnie Mouse!  Finally, a princess!  Sort of!

Know what sucks about Corral A?  All your photos are taken in the dark!  Lord help me, my eyes make me look like I'm on a mission to kill poor Minnie Mouse. 

Next stop along the way coming in from backstage was Goofy!  Astronaut Goofy in Future World in Epcot again.  As I rounded the corner coming out of the Land Pavilion area, I only briefly thought about the last time I was on the course just over a month ago.

And guess what?  The camera guy here actually called me "Aurora!"  Not Sleeping Beauty.  Not...just nothing.  He used her real name, and that made me very happy!

I crossed behind Space Ship Earth, hit Mile 6, then breezed across the finish less than 2 minuted later.  Woot!  Now to find a blanket!  I got my medal and then saw the most beautiful sight ahead-

OMG they were giving out space blankets!  I guess Disney learned a very hard lesson from the Marathon weekend and the freezing temps then- people were absolutely up in arms that there weren't any foil blankets after the races with temperatures in the low 40s.  I remember, I was a little blonde popsicle too!  I wrapped myself in a space blanket, collected my banana, snack box, and powerade, then headed directly for the buses.  

Know what I learned too late?

Princesses were there, AFTER the race.  Like, where I found Dopey after the 10K before.  You had to go stand in line, and they were up by the front stage.  

Shit.

Maybe next year I'll get it right.

I was on the first bus to leave the parking area, and after I got on, we just sat there for almost a half hour.  We eventually found out that was because some of the roads were still closed for the later corrals.  Brrrr.  I was still cold.  The bus dropped me off at ASM and I skittered back to my room 2 football fields away and into a hot shower.  

I had to go to work after that, so I stretched, used my foam roller, then headed back north towards Orlando.  It was going to be a short day- I had a spa appointment scheduled for that evening!

Hell yeah.

My results:

Enchanted 10K

Place: 648/10,989 finishers (top 5%)

Age group place: 103/1,656 (top 6%)

Gender place: 494/9,740 (top 5%)

Chip time: 57:07

About average for a 10K for me.  I'm happy with it, especially since I stopped for some photos!

vegas and a damn race

So Scot had to go to Las Vegas for work for like 3 weeks this month.  He gets back in the nick of time for the Princess Half, and good for him he's been able to do some running out there!  I went to visit for a few days (call it an early Valentine present) so we spent zero dollars in the casinos (they're yucky and smokey and kinda sad) and instead went to see "Jersey Boys"- which was fantastic- and did a LOT of walking around the Strip.  Like, 22,000+ steps a day.  That's like 14 miles.  A day.  And guess what?  While we were wandering around the atrium in the Bellagio, I saw a woman wearing the orange Goofy Challenge shirt and carrying the Marathon Weekend Dooney bag!  I had to stop her and chat- runners are such randomly friendly people!

Anyway, we also went to the Valley Of Fire state park for sunrise and got some awesome photos!  More walking.  Hiking.  Scrambling up and down rocks.  It was great!  

 Arch Rock

Scot hiking up the White Domes

 Petroglyphs, aka ancient Indian rock carvings

 This is the perch we watched the sun rise on

 Pretty incredible views!

Balanced Rock 

 Elephant Rock

Best-looking couple in the park that day, right here!  (Uh, also the only people in the park that day.  We were there by 5:45 am after over an hour drive and we were done and leaving by 10:30 am)

I'd signed up for a virtual Track Shack run last month- the Lady Track Shack 5K.  It has an awesome finisher's medal AND you got a tutu!  I brought these items plus the race shirt to Las Vegas to get my race in.  Scot and I did a 7 mile run around the hotel area, and I for sure earned that medal!  
Did not give a crap that I was running around Las Vegas in a tutu.  Probably not the weirdest sight people there have ever seen. 

The altitude didn't really bother me!  I drank a ton of water though, it's so dry out there!

 View from the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel & Casino

Bellagio fountains

A pretty cool thing we also did was go up in the Stratosphere tower.  Apparently, it's ridiculously expensive to go up to the observation deck (where they have rides that swing you out over the edge and a zip line so you can jump OFF THE TOWER.  So many nopes!)  We took a different elevator to the cocktail lounge on the 107th floor, had some half price drinks and appetizers, then went up to the observation deck at no charge.  All that for less than 2 tickets to just go up and look.  And check out this view!  I played with the color a little bit but this was pretty much what we got to look at:

Sunset.

When I got back to Orlando, I did a little more work on our Magic Bands, getting them all prettied up for the race next weekend:

Tonight I stopped by my local Fleet Feet after work for the kickoff party for the Best Damn Race Orlando in a couple weeks.  Turns out, (unbeknownst to me!) I'd won a Facebook comment contest from their page back in October, and I finally connected with the right person to redeem my $25 gift card!  So I bought socks.  If you run, you can understand my joy over 2 new pairs of Balegas.  They had a 5 mile group run tonight and although I didn't know anyone there I was able to immediately strike up conversations with the runners in RunDisney shirts!  We can find each other anywhere!  I was in my Goofy Challenge shirt, there was a woman in a Dopey shirt and a man in a 1/2 Marathon shirt.  I also saw a girl with a Marathon Weekend Dooney bag that was a great conversation starter.  Love my Disney peeps!

By the way, I kicked ass on my run: 5 miles, 43 minutes!  AND I was able to hold a conversation with one of the girls in the group for the last 2 miles.  Definitely getting there :)