16.2 Magical Miles

The Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend was this past weekend. My sister and I were going to run the full weekend for a total of 16.2 miles and my friend Michelle and niece Lorren were going to join us for the half on Sunday. 

Since the Royal Family 5K was on Cathy's birthday, I wore purple, which is her signature color. 

There were about 8,000 runners that morning, which really isn't that bad. I was just glad to be with my sister on her birthday!

The only thing I did not like about this race is that they do not time you, you have to time yourself. Plus, the first part of the course was really narrow. 

It was pretty awesome running through EPCOT though. They had the torches lit from Illuminations, it was so cool! We even saw Santa when we were running!

He actually ran both days, I guess that's how he works off all of those cookies. 

Cathy and I finished in 43 minutes and got some sweet medals...

After the run we headed to Whispering Canyon for a celebratory breakfast. Sister Eufrozina joined us for breakfast and said a few Hail Mary's after seeing our drinks.

That night we all went to Hollywood Studios for dinner. I was already not feeling awesome and figured it may have been nerves, but I'm thinking I was still dehydrated from the humidity and running earlier. We all went to bed crazy early and waited anxiously for the alarms to start going off. 

I chose Princess Merida this year and I even chose to wear a tutu. 

We left for the buses at 3:45 a.m., yes you read that right. Our bus driver looked exactly like Elvis, it was kind of amazing. 

When we arrived at the course we headed for the corrals and waited patiently for the race to start.

We started about 30-40 minutes after the first runner. It was insanely humid on Sunday and did not make for good running conditions. Even though the conditions sucked, we still had a great time. I mean, look at Lorren:

We even stopped in front of the castle for our very Disney photo:

At the half way point of the race they play a song that is the theme song for the race that we all vote on. This year it was Alicia Keys' "This Girl is On Fire", which trust me, after 13.1 miles parts of us were in fact on fire. 

Closer to mile 8, I believe, they had my favorite, the polka band. Cathy and I even started singing along. 

At mile 10 we were all dying. The last 3.1 miles were a true beast. We were all cramping up from the humidity and I was pretty sure I was going to vomit. The weather was such a witch, but I'm thankful the sun didn't come out. 

We all crossed the finish line in 3:39, which is 10 minutes slower than my first half marathon. I felt like total ass after the race and barely made it to the bus. As soon as we arrived at the hotel I threw up in the bushes and immediately felt better. I know I was dehydrated and have been rehydrating ever since. I'm feeling a ton better today. It was totally worth it though for the bling.

I'm so glad I was able to share the weekend with Cathy, Lorren and Michelle. I can't wait to do it again and hopefully it won't be as "tick" outside.