disney's princess half marathon.

{heads up, this is a LONG photo filled post!}

my 3rd half marathon is complete! disney's princess half marathon was a great, fun run. the weather was good....almost too good! 65*ish at the start, the sun rose as we headed to the magic kingdom, totally different than the disney world half marathon last year in january.

everyone decked themselves out for this run, there were tutu's, costumes, sparkly skirts, and tiaras galore. even some men ran, some full on in costume which was fun to see. from a tutu to a full on cinderella costume....everyone just soaked up the fun!

i stopped A LOT along the route, making this my worst time ever, but my goal was not time, it was fun! actually, my final time was less than a minute slower than last january, so not bad! i threw in some sprints here and there between the stops! i took a ton of photos along the way, as you will see below.

i loved wearing my sparkle skirt, and saw lots of others sporting theirs too. run team sparkle was out in full force!

as for my run, it went well. there were 6 corrals (A - F), based on your estimated finish time....i was in corral b, which i was proud of since i used my myrtle beach finish time to prove as my estimated finish, but i knew full well i would not finish in that time! anyway, i was the 2nd corral to take off from the start. (when filling out the application, you had to choose your favorite princess.....so i chose cinderella)

i definitely could feel the training difference by the end though (having done it all on a flat, broken screened, archaic treadmill, really not knowing how far i trained during those runs).....my legs held up good though, they hit the wall around mile 10, after the longest incline, then pretty straight into another, but not major. my right foot made me stop to adjust my shoes as it was going numb, which has been a problem here and there, but usually at the start of a run. by mile 11 i had to stop to fix it. i think it is just too tight and after awhile it gets numb, b/c after the adjustment it was fine for the rest of the race.

on race day, i awoke at 2:55 a.m., to get ready and to get some food in me before heading to the bus for a 4 am pickup. i had on a "toss away" hoodie i had gotten from goodwill to wear until the start, and made arm warmers (which appear in pictures before the magic kingdom) out of cheap childrens tights!). around 5 am, i began the long walk to the start corrals, making a pit stop at a porta potty (ew, but what else can you do) along the way. i arrived in my corral with about 20 minutes until the start.

ethan zohn and jenna morasca were also participating in the race (they are both winners from the tv show "survivor", and talked about the race and ethan's survival of cancer). they made a quick appearance on the stage before the first official start.

i think i heard there were 17,000 participants this year. i think around 13, 000 completed the race, from what i have heard, meaning the rest either didn't finish, or were swept as they couldn't keep up the required pace time....which must be so hard to have happen.

so here, in pictures is my run. there are a lot, but pictures are what you are here for...right?! i had a blast and would love to run it again next year. it was so nice to run in sunshine while in disney (last year it was sleet! and grayness).

i definitely earned my bling for this race, and i love it. it's a crown with diamonds and a big green gem. so girly!! (hard to get a picture of this close up! the color of the part that goes around your neck is actually a light green, and the big gem in the middle matches it in color....the crown is trimmed in diamonds).

(i snapped a picture of myself before leaving the room....before getting all sweaty! i love my sparkle skirt!!! it was so lightweight i didn't know it was there!)

(resting my legs/feet for a few minutes before the trek to the start corrals)

the long walk to the corrals/start.

all of us in corral b!

each start had fireworks, these were for the wheelchairs...then next came corral a, then my corral b! the fairy godmother sent us all off!

crossing the start line!!!

there was lots to see along the way!

captain jack sparrow and his pirates

it says magic kingdom, but we still had 2 miles to go til we got there! (it's really for the parking lot)

mile marker 3

hot race car drivers from the richard petty driving experience

hula dancers near the polynesian resort (where we stayed!!)

lilo, myself, and stitch as "elvis"....hair and all!

chEARleaders!!!!

more chEARleaders! kim tells me that addy said "go maggie go" while they waited to see me come by!!!

big hugs from addy!

since she is my running buddy, she wore her own sparkle skirt!!! (thanks to the old navy clearance department, we matched!!!)

time to head off!

more entertainment.....notice the fog lifting off the ground in the distance, it was cool!

the moment it is all worth, running up main street toward the castle!

taking a right turn into tomorrowland!

chip and dale!

fantasyland

trumpeters at the castle

their royal highnesses!

princess and the frog characters

these ladies were funny....they were ghosts from the haunted mansion.....they had the funniest conversation which i can't remember, but this one was "dead tired" and had to sit.

woody!

splash mountain

horace horsecollar and clarabelle

mr. smee and captain hook

geppetto, jiminy cricket, and pinnochio

the genie

goofy on the golf course

meeko (from pocahontas)

hello boys!!!!

bugs life

hot air balloon!!

mulan

phineas and ferb

pluto

duffy the bear

sparkle skirt girls!!

my finish time was 2:51:32 (less than a minute more than my disney world half marathon (2:50:48), not bad, considering i stopped along the way much more this year. i think i had a 30 minute mile in the magic kingdom.....the line for mickey was probably a good 15 minutes or so!)

thank you to my 4 chEARleaders for coming out so early and dealing with the crowded monorails! it was so fun to see you all along the route! i am so glad to have had you there!

all in all a fun race and i want to go do it again!

i'll post some video i took during the race, and the rest of the vacation later!!!