Two weeks ago my family and I made the long drive from the Midwest down to Orlando, FL. Our goal? To have an amazing family vacation in Walt Disney World, of course! And amazing it was. I will be sharing some of my Disney vacation tips that I picked up during the lengthy planning process in a series of posts here, but today, I wanted to share with you the original event that started us on the path towards a full-blown Disney experience.
You all know that I started running a couple of years ago to get rid of unwanted baby weight after Ms. A was born. As you also may recall, I fell in love with it, ran my first half marathon 7 months later, completed a second this past fall, and started a year long run streak January 1, 2014, which is still going strong (day 431, baby!). Since I started looking at half marathons, the gold standard (to me) of distance races were the Disney races. Who wouldn’t want to run a course that involved Disney characters, the Cinderella castle, and fireworks? I mean…if you like to run ½ marathons, that is.
Cue my desire to run the Disney Princess ½ Marathon in Walt Disney World! You better believe that I set my calendar to remind me of the date race registration opened up (because Disney races fill FAST!), then told my husband how much I wanted to run this race…”Babe, it’s on my bucket list!” He graciously agreed and was even excited at the prospect of taking our three girls to Florida for vacation so I could run my bucket list race! Score!
Obviously I was able to register and the planning for the trip began (I promise- more on that later). The race itself was on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 5:30 am EST. Yikes. Disney races start early because they want runners out of the parks as much as possible before visitors arrive and it’s brutal. We stayed on resort, in a hotel that provided start-line transportation. I went to bed Saturday night full of nerves, and awoke Sunday morning at precisely 2:30 am. Double yikes. My shuttle came at 3 am, and I rode, a bundle of nerves, to the start line. Actually, I didn’t go to the start line. I took the bus and walked to the Runner’s Retreat. It was an extra runner’s package aside from the cost of the race itself, but not knowing what the weather would be like I bought the retreat package as insurance in case it was raining. Runner’s Retreat lets you get into a climate-controlled tent where there is food, beverage, a self-treatment area, massage area, an area to meet and get your picture taken with Disney characters (I got to meet Belle and Beast), private bag check, private toilets, and areas to relax before the race. Post race, the retreat provides a hot breakfast and extra swag (on top of the swag bag and AMAZING snack box Disney provides every runner after the race). More on that later.
Around 5 am we shuffled out of the retreat tent and started making our way to the start line. It takes quite a bit of time for all the runners to get out on a Disney course because there are MASSIVE numbers of people who run these things. In this particular race there were over 24,000 runners and they took off in waves…25 waves, to be exact. I was situated in corral H (A is obviously the first wave), so I had time to get over my nerves before I took off. Fun thing about these races: with every wave, the race organizers shoot off fireworks, so in corral H I got to see 8 rounds of fireworks, which is so fun!
The course itself starts in Epcot and runners take off towards the Magic Kingdom. About ever mile or so there are Disney characters available for photo opportunities…characters I saw included the Hero’s (all the princes), Captain Jack Sparrow and Blackbeard from Pirates of the Carribean, and little green army men from Toy Story, among others. Each set of characters also has their own stage and prop area, so it’s a whole photo experience when you stop to meet characters! The whole first half of the race is super energizing- running into the Magic Kingdom, through the front gates, the park, and into Cinderella’s castle is simply…magical! I seriously can’t describe the chills I got running through the castle!
The race, once it leaves Magic Kingdom is a bit boring…runners go behind the Grand Floridian and head back towards Epcot. While there are clumps of crowds, DJ’s and characters to see, the landscape is uneventful and tedious…and its about 5 miles of boring, which is rough at the end of a race. Also in that 5+ mile chunk: some unexpected inclines in the form of on-ramps (you are running on the inter-park road system and have to take an interchange to get back to epcot). They aren’t bad, or long, but any hill in the second half of a long race stinks!
Running back into Epcot was INVIGORATING! By the time we were returning, crowds had started to gather in the park and in the lots, and the cheering was electric! The last mile and a half, or so, is actually in Epcot and the course, again, is lined with spectators and interesting sets to see. The finish line, though…I mean, you look forward to a finish line in any race, but this one…this one is special: grandstands filled with gobs of cheering, screaming people! It was one of the most surreal things I’ve ever experienced and I found myself sprinting, despite pain and exhaustion, to the finish, energized by their excitement.
I made my way through the crowd to get my medal, my water (or 3 bottles of water…whatever), and my snacks (seriously- a box about 8 inches long, 5 inches deep, and 2 inches tall filled with snack foods), and then wandered back to runner’s retreat where I scarfed down some food before heading back to my bus. All in all, I’m so excited to have experienced this race and I DEFINITELY will do it again! SO GREAT!
