Disney Princess Half Marathon 2011

Wow! Just wow! What an AMAZING weekend! I had such a great time this weekend. Before I get into the details of this incredible experience, I want to tell you all how it began.

At some point this summer I looked down at the place where my abs used to show and I thought to myself "I need to do something physically challenging". I thought a great deal about what would be a challenge that if completed, I would be incredibly proud of. The idea of running a marathon popped into my head so I started researching different marathons. I came across the Disney marathon and started freaking out. Those of you who know me well know that I absolutely love Disney. I'm obsessed with it. I also came across a relatively new race- the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I decided to go for it. My first step- put it on facebook and see who wanted to join in on the fun. Not long after I had publicized this idea on facebook, one of my friends, Katie, wrote that she was actually considering the same thing. We met one afternoon in August at the Chilis on campus and filled out the online registration together. We had a surprisingly difficult time choosing our "favorite Disney princess". How dare they make us choose?! I eventually settled on Ariel, and Katie chose Jasmine. After we finished filling out the registration we sat there for about 5 minutes trying to muster the courage to press the submit button. Once we hit it, there was no backing out. We had dropped 140 bucks on this, so it was locked in. Finally, we submitted our registrations and began the planning process.

Thankfully, Katie is a super organizer, and is incredibly knowledgable about Disney. She found two other girls, Rachel and Jennifer, who wanted to join in on the fun. She booked us a room at the All-Star Music resort, and we settled on one-day park tickets for Epcot. Katie and I both used a 12 week training program designed by Hal Higdon. This program was absolutely perfect, and I highly recommend it to anyone training for their first half marathon. I'm not sure about Katie, but my training was full of ups and downs. I felt so accomplished every time I ran another mile. Prior to this, the longest I had ever run was a 5k. The downside to all this new running was the physical deterioration of my legs and feet. The place I have always purchased my running shoes from put me in different shoes this time and they completely tore up my feet. I had blisters on the tips of my toes, on the sides, underneath- all over! Furthermore, I developed hip problems. It was awful. Finally after several painful weeks, I switched back to my old shoes and kept on with the training. I didn't realize how much time the training would take up, so I'm thankful that I had a schedule of only one class a day. I'm sure I wouldn't have gone through with this if I had a normal class schedule.

So fast forward a few months and Katie and I are leaving Clemson at 6 AM on Friday morning headed for Charlotte International Airport. After four long flight delays, we finally get to Orlando! The Disney Magical Express picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. Katie and I were just as excited as the little kids on the bus- taking pictures and squealing in delight as we passed under the famous "Walt Disney World" sign. We arrived at our hotel, and discovered we were staying the Broadway building- how appropriate! We knew we were in the right place when the Glee version of "Don't stop believin'" was playing at the pool. After changing into our shorts we booked it over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports to pick our race packets up from the Princess Expo. The expo was awesome. They had tons of tables selling all sorts of running gear and princess merchandise. They even had olympian Jeff Galloway there giving race-day advice. Katie and I had been following Jeff's advice since day one, so it was exciting to see him in person. "Jeff says your pee should be clear, so it better be clear!!" We picked up our lime green, mesh bags filled with goodies and our super cool princess shirts.

After the expo we headed to Downtown Disney to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Ironically, our server used to work at Clemson. Small world huh? Supper was amazing, and afterwards we walked around the marketplace. The only damper to this day was being surrounded by a bunch of teenage cheerleaders who were in Disney for a competition. They were horribly annoying.

On Saturday Katie, Rachel, and I slept in then caught the bus to Epcot. We rode Test Track, Soarin', Imagination with Figment, and of course, the Viking ride. We ate lunch in France so I could have my legit croissants. We made sure to get pictures with as many Disney Princesses as possible and a few other characters. Belle and I had a rather in depth conversation. She greeted me with "Bonjour Princess! You are beautiful! Have you had many wonderful adventures today?" After a few other exchanges we took our picture and she wished me luck on my "very long journey" on Sunday. I also found Stitch and after fighting with him for a few minutes, he finally posed with me and sent me away with a kiss on the cheek. We walked around the World Showcase for a couple of hours and then decided to try our luck at getting an earlier reservation at the restaurant in Italy. Thankfully, we were able to sweet talk our way into being seated immediately. We enjoyed supper and celebrated Rachel's birthday with a cake made by the kitchen. After supper we made our way back to the hotel and we were in bed by 8 PM!

The morning of the race was nuts. I woke up at 2:30 so nervous that I ran to the bathroom and threw up. Our alarm went off at 3 AM, and we reluctantly got up and got ready for the race. I literally force fed myself the bagel with peanut butter and banana that I had purchased the day before. At 3:30 we boarded the bus and were taken to the starting area in Epcot. The race started in Epcot, went out to the highway, up through Magic Kingdom, back out on the highway, and finished back in Epcot. The atmosphere was contagious in the starting area. We were surrounded by 17,000 other runners (mostly women, but a few brave men). They were blasting some good tunes, and we got pumped for the race. I wore my Disney tiara and a Clemson t-shirt that said "It all starts here". I was so surprised to meet so many Clemson people at the race. At about every mile I passed someone, or was passed by someone who was like "yeah! Go tigers!!". There were seven corrals, and since we had never run a half marathon, we were in the last corral. The race officially started at 5:45. Our corral started at 6:22. I was a nervous ball of energy when we got to the start line, but the excitement from the ladies around me helped me to relax. The fairy godmother counted us down, the fireworks went off, and we started our race.

The first few miles went by really quickly. We were so busy trying to dodge slower runners/walkers, that we didn't even realize how far we had gone until we reached the mile 3 sign. What I loved about this race was how Disney kept your mind off the race. At every mile marker they had characters, entertainment, music, and an MC. Since we weren't supposed to run with headphones, the music from the mile markers kept me going. I won't forget fighting the urge to stop and walk and I came up on the mile marker that had a huge pirate ship and it was blasting the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. I picked up the beat and was like "oh yeah! I can do this!" and kept going. Everything was great except for the fact that a TON of women decided to run with their cameras. Instead of moving off to the side to stop and take pictures, they would just stop in the middle of the road. You would be running behind someone and then have to peel to the side in a split second because they just stopped to take a picture. It was infuriating! I knew I was behind my pace, but I was having to dodge so many people, I couldn't do much about it. At mile 6 we ran through Cinderella's Castle. That was great because they had the guys with the the trumpets playing as we ran through. The only down part was that right when we ran out of the castle, we had  to run down this sidewalk. You could barely fit 4 runners across. So we were all running and then we came to a screeching halt. We were forced to walk for part because it was so crowded. We were all tripping all over each other. I almost went down a couple of times. It was so annoying. Katie and I stayed together until about mile 7 or 8, then we separated. I was doing well until mile 10. 10 miles was the furthest that my training program had me do, so I was dead by the time I reached that marker. The last 3 miles lasted FOREVER! They kind of slacked off on the entertainment at the markers, and we had to go up several hills and entrance ramps. I was dying, but I was determined to keep going to make up for my lost time earlier in the race.

I crossed the finish line at 2:27. I ran almost a minute behind my normal pace the entire race thanks to how crowded it was. I thanked God for making my mind and body strong enough to finish the race, and I stumbled over to an older man who was handing out the medals. I walked up to him and just dropped my head. He laughed at me and put the medal around my neck and said "You did it princess!" I'm not sure I have ever been this proud. This was an endeavor that I decided to take on. I put in the time and commitment to the training, and I did it!

I wore my medal all the way home. I took it off for a brief minute to go through security, but I put it right back on. From the beginning I thought this race would be a one and done type thing, but now that I have completed it, I want to do more. I fear I may have been bitten by the "running bug". I want to continue to do this race for years to come, and I wouldn't mind taking on a few others. This experience was incredible, and I am so proud of myself. In the process I have lost 10 pounds and I'm in the best shape I've ever been in. I can even fit in a size 2 now!! So with a tiara medal around my neck, and a body that I am truly proud of, I have renewed confidence to tackle anything life throws my way. I really and truly feel like a princess!