A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the runDisney Glass Slipper Challenge, and the second part of that challenge was to run the Princess Half.
My friend Jen and I wanted to wear matching costumes again (last year we were the evil stepsisters), and since neither of us are crafty or creative, we enlisted her mom to create our adorable hats for the race.
On Sunday morning, we got up and had breakfast at our hotel, Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek. We were cheered on by cheerleaders who even waited on us to go outside to our car after the buses had left so they could give us a proper sendoff. It was so sweet!
I am a dork and didn’t think to start taking pictures until after the race had started. It was kind of an eventful start too! We got stuck in some serious traffic and were lucky enough to get to park on the far end of the last row of the parking lot at EPCOT. We booked it to the family reunion area and then to the start line, and literally walked into our corral about one minute before we started moving! It worked out great but we couldn’t have timed it better if we had tried!
Our plan was to just have fun, nothing fancy. Oh, and we wanted to beat last years time of 3:00:00. Last year Jen had been in the hospital the day before and I was just coming back after having Emma Kate, so we took it SUPER slow. This year we wanted to have fun but still actually do some running.
We made it through the Magic Kingdom gates and I apparently had way too much water and coffee before the race because I had to find a bathroom. They had the ones at the TTC ROPED OFF and I knew I wouldn’t make it to the ones in the Magic Kingdom. I stopped off at some portable ones around mile 4.5, and felt SO much better. We made it to the Magic Kingdom and Jen needed to go and we both wanted to wash our hands, so we planned to stop again, but not before getting a castle shot!
We made it to Tomorrowland and just as I have done in pervious years, we went into the men’s room (along with a ton of other women) and were promptly shooed out by a cast member. The men didn’t care and said it was our race and that we should get to use their bathroom, but the cast member was having none of it. So, we made it through the other side of the castle and stopped in Frontierland. I took a picture with my favorite cowboy while I waited for Jen.
We had made it to mile 6, and my hip started to slightly hurt. At this point, I was wishing the race was a 10k like the day before!
We went out the back way of the Magic Kingdom and there was a gust of wind and it got COLD! it was crazy how we weren’t cold before. I call that the magic of Disney. I swear they control the weather. Anyway, we made it to the halfway mark and to the Grand Floridian where we snapped a picture with Bert and the penguins.
At this point we started taking walk breaks every few minutes because my hip was getting worse. I stopped and got some Tylenol at a med tent, too. We took some gels at the stop around mile nine, and were soon going around the overpass curve of death (to my IT band and hip), where the solider told us to MOVE MOVE MOVE towards EPCOT. Ah, what a beautiful site. I also started getting really warm about mile 11 and I felt bad for the people in the later corrals that would be running when the sun was up higher.
We made it into the park and I loved that the coach was here this year!
We looped around towards world showcase and towards the finish line. I Now have a love/hate relationship with this section of EPCOT thanks to runDisney races.
We passed the gospel choir, and headed towards the finish line. I am happy to say we stomped our goal and finish in 2:33, which isn’t too shabby for several stops for characters and bathrooms and med tents!
We got so many compliments on our costumes, they are definitely one of my favorites I have worn. We collected our two new medals before heading back to the hotel.
Another successful runDisney race, and I am so happy that we both were able to get our Glass Slipper medals this year with no illnesses or mishaps! The volunteers were great, the weather was great, and the spectators were encouraging, and a good time was had by all. Thanks runDisney!
QOTD Have you ever dressed up for a race?
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Looks and sounds like a fun time! Odd that the TTC restrooms were roped off! Congrats!
Looks like it was a beautiful day for a race. Reading your recap makes me that much more excited for Wine and Dine!
I’m hoping to do that one, too!
Great job!!!
Yes, I was a little perturbed by the TTC restrooms being roped off. I *REALLY* needed to go at that point and was irritated that I had to pass indoor plumbing to go use porta-potties.
And, YES, the sun was fierce. It definitely made the last few miles rough.
I KNOW! I ended up using the potties at the next water stop b/c I couldn’t wait for MK!
The “curve of death”! Lol! I ran the Princess this year, too, and was dealing with some serious tendinitis in my foot and your naming of this particular part of the course is SPOT ON! It killed me! The Princess is always a blast, though. I’ll be there next year!
I hope I will be too!
Looks like you had a great race! Princess is always so much fun! I LOVE the hats!!! So cute!!!
Thanks, I’m glad Jen’s mom is crafty!
Looks like so much fun! I ran the WDW half about 5 years ago–there wasn’t as much costuming and stuff as I see now. I may have to go back…
YES!
Oh I feel the same way about those curves! I thought it just bothered me the very first time I ran it cus I had IT band syndrome, but nope, I hate it each and every time!
I like the race though and look forward to going back. Cute costume idea!
Thanks! We wanted something fun but simple!
Great job! Your costumes were super cute! I dressed up like Ariel 2 years ago and could have really used some running buddies dressed like you two! 🙂
There were a ton of ariels! I took pics with a couple of them!