2015 Princess Half Marathon

Today I’m sharing a recap of one of my most fun races to date (the Princess Half also happens to be my favorite runDisney event)!
In case you missed any other recaps from the weekend, here they are:

• Princess Half Marathon Expo & VLOG
• Spectating at the Princess 5K
• Princess 10K Recap

I didn’t discuss my outfit of choice for the Half Marathon ahead of time simply because I had NO clue what I was going to wear. I wanted it to be a functional outfit but also one others would recognize.

Finally, the week before the race, I came up with Belle. Thankfully my mom agreed to help me by sewing on the collar, which saved me a huge headache. The night before we left for our trip, I was still editing this outfit, trying to make it all work. I think next time, I might just go with one costume for the weekend vs two.



I did love the finished product, though! :)



My alarm went off around 2:30 a.m. on race morning. I didn’t make Jason wake up with me because I knew he would be waiting a long time for me to cross the finish line. He slept a little bit later, then caught a spectator bus.

It wasn’t terribly cold the morning of the race, but I was grateful for my mylar blanket from the previous day’s 10K!

As soon as I arrived at the race starting area, I headed for the Race Retreat area to see a few friends!



Heather
 

 
Mindy

I also used the port-a-potties here which had NO line but shhhh…that’s our little secret! ;)

After saying goodbye to my friends, I  began walking towards the family reunion area to meet up with Melissa and her family.

On the way, I heard my name…



It was Megan!! I was so excited we were able to meet up and it was so good to see her again! We briefly discussed the Castaway Challenge, then said our goodbyes.



After meeting up with my friend Melissa (from the 10K the day before), we began the long journey to our corrals.



Following the crowd – this is such a long walk!



We parted ways at the corral crossroad and wished each other a great race! I love this sign! :)

While waiting for the race to begin, a runDisney PARIS race was announced (YAY) and I immediately text my husband and Melissa’s husband saying “SAVE THE DATE”! Hehe!



Before long, it was Corral B’s time to run!



My race strategy was the same as the day before….run as fast as I could in-between characters and stop for any ones I wanted to take pictures with!



As I was taking this picture, I heard my name – it was Christine and her mom Pam! I caught up with them to say hello but didn’t keep their pace long (y’all, my watch said 8:35)! They were rocking it!!

Up next were several character stops I’d been looking forward to for a long time. Last year, I didn’t stop for any of these because the lines were SO long. I was hoping to avoid that by starting in Corral B and I did! YAY!



This is one of my favorites! These guys were hilarious!! One of them began singing “Tale As Old As Time….” as I was standing there!



The short character lines made me so happy!!



This is another one I skipped last year but am really glad I stopped this year!
Before long, we approached the Magic Kingdom sign!!




Love these drummers outside of the TTC!



This is the dreaded “hill” by the Contemporary and the first real obstacle of the Princess Half course. The DJ at the top of the bridge always makes for a fun time, though!



After weaving through the back entrance into the Magic Kingdom and the Cast Member parking lot, we were on Main Street.



You know those moments in your life you wish you could bottle up and keep forever? Running down Main Street is one of those for me. It’s truly a magical experience!



Castle! I love fellow runDisney runners – they are always willing to take pictures for you. (I return the favor of course!)



I stopped to say hello to Buzz in Tomorrowland and the Tweedles in Fantasyland!



As I approached the castle, I could hear voices – it was Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff!



Yet another favorite part of the Princess Half is running through the castle!



Woody was hanging out in Frontierland near the mile 6 sign.


If you haven’t run one of these events in the past, this is just to give you an idea of what a typical character line looks like (in this picture, the character is to the left and runners are to the right).



Do you guys remember this last year? I was dressed as Snow White, I got in this line, then she switched to Aurora? Don’t get me wrong – I love Sleeping Beauty, but I already had a picture with her from a previous princess half. Well, this year I was dressed as Belle and look what I got…a picture with Snow White. Figures! Haha!



After leaving the Magic Kingdom, we made our way to the Grand Floridian and Polynesian areas. I’ve also never stopped for this picture, so that was fun! These guys were pretty funny, too!



This photo is hands down one of my favorite pictures from the entire race! Love it!



This one was rather cute, too! I’ve never seen “vacation Genie” before! Love his hat! :)

By the way, where were Lilo and Stitch? I’m so glad I didn’t decide to re-wear my Lilo costume from the rainy Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I was rather sad they weren’t on this course again. Whomp whomp.



As I was taking this picture, I heard my name…



It was Heather and Jen!! We snapped this quick picture before parting ways again.




This was the closest I got to Belle the entire race. Sad times.



At the Clif area, I grabbed a Mocha clif shot and held onto it until our next water stop. As you can see, the sun was also out in full force. I was very grateful for my glasses this race!

The signs for Epcot began to appear and I knew we were getting close to yet another “obstacle” in the race course – the curved overpass.



I saw this sign right before the overpass and I died laughing. Very original!



Hi runners! You can make it!



These photos are just to show the enormous amount of runners in this event…isn’t that crazy?!



Mile 12! YAY Almost done!!



The Fairy Godmother said, “Trains like a beast and runs like a beauty!”



We looped briefly through Epcot before leaving again…

I text Jason so he would know I was on my way!



I was so tired and delirious by this point, I had taken up the “princess wave” to every photographer I saw.



After receiving my medal, this lady sprinkled me with pixie dust!




Food boxes, bananas, water, and gatorade were available for runners. They also gave us these cute drawstring bags to put our treats in!



In my opinion, this was one of the best food boxes yet! It was packed with lots of goodies!



Glass Slipper Challenge #2 complete!



We hung around the finish line for a while, waiting on our friends to cross the finish line. We shared our race stories, then said our goodbyes! 



My post-race treat of choice? A Dole Whip Float…and I enjoyed every bite!

Even though the race was over, I wasn’t sad – we still had a cruise on the Disney Dream to look forward to AND the Castaway Challenge! Stay tuned to read all about it!

Thanks for following along! :)

Are you a Villain, Hero, or Princess fan? (Or all of the above?) :) I love that this race has a mixture of all of them!