Awhile ago, my cousin and I decided to do a destination race every year and we picked the Disney World Princess Half Marathon for 2013. We even got my brother and sister-in-law to run with us and brought along a small but effective cheering squad! Completing a half marathon is a great achievement but since I've already done a few half marathons, I have to find different ways to make sure it remains challenging. That's why I did zero training for this one and had a combined total of 4.5 hours of sleep the two nights preceding the race!
The race started at 5:30 am so that all runners would be finished by the time the parks opened.
My cousin, sister-in-law, and brother and I got to our corral well in advance, which gave us time to check out the runners wearing Disney character costumes. As was expected, there were plenty of tutus and tiaras for the princess race! We also discovered that actor Sean Astin, best known for his roles in the Goonies and Lord of the Rings, was also running in the Princess Half!
Fireworks lit up the sky for each of the eight waves of runners.
Entering the Magic Kingdom around mile 5.
The Magic Kingdom was packed with supporters. Rounding a corner led us straight to the famous castle. It was a great sight after all those miles but unfortunately it was really hard to get an iPhone picture to turn out while running!
Between miles 9 and 10, I started to fade and get low on energy. Fortunately, this was exactly when I spotted a tutu someone had discarded. I've always wanted to do a race in a costume, so I doubled back to collect the tutu. It was a perfect fit and was just what I needed to carry me the last few miles!
My time was just over 2:18, a long way off my best but was still pretty good considering I had run less than ten miles in the three months leading up to the half marathon. The course definitely isn't suited to anyone looking to set a personal record as it is crowded and the majority of the entrants seemed new to both the distance and race etiquette, but Disney is always a fun place to visit and, most importantly, just look at those finisher's medals!
Thanks again to my family for making it such a great weekend!