Run Walk Repeat

A Fun Life At All Paces

2013 Princess Half Race Report – THE BIG RACE, Chim Chim Cherree

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Well its been a week now since I received my PHM Medal #3. Here’s how it went down…..

We awoke at 2:30 to get dressed, suit up and make the 3:15 bus.  I really wanted to avoid sitting in traffic this year and walking wall to wall in a shuffle to the start, so per advice from other, I heard you HAD to be on the bus by 3:15.  Plus PbRC was having a team photo at 4am, I wanted to meet up with my Drizella Patty and heard we might have a special celebrity at the photo.  The other princesses were NOT happy, but they did it for me.  Thanks for the no traffic bus ride ladies, I had a whopping 4.5 hours of sleep and arrived to Epcot parking lot ready for the fun.

Our race goals…  
1. Finish    
2. Finish feeling good    
3. Get Lots of Pics     
4. Have a Blast!

It was 70 degrees with 94% humidity….talk about thick. Hopefully the rain would hold off since I was in my part satin Anastasia costume.  I don’t normally wear makeup for a race but I piled it on for my costume – I was dolled up 80’s style like a Robert Palmer gal.  Amy had her basket and baguette from France on the ready…we were bummed we forgot to put a book in there, but major props to her for this.  She was like a legend among the crowd.   

Me as Stepsister Anastasia, Amy as Provincial Belle

We met up with Patty my stepsister and pinned on our back bibs Bonnie had made for us. They really set us apart from the “other” lesser Tremaine stepsisters. 

Yeah, we were having fun at 4am!

We met up with the PbRC facebook group for a team photo and team Run3rd Photo complete with Sean Astin….he totally high fived me before he left to go back to the VIP’s.  Totally nice guy and great pep talk we got.

Video from youtube Crystal Wiseheart, PbRC – hey look Wendy is checking her phone, Bonnie is applying lipstick and Amy has the Baguette!  He was wearing my new friend Laura’s tiara for the race – yeah, my KT Tape teacher…

Team PbRC and RUN3rd Pre-Race Group Photo…hey its Sean!

We began the 20 minute walk to the starting corrals and guess what…..you know the worst thing about being female?  OK its not horrible cuz it involves childbearing and all…BUT one of my posse thought Aunt Flo had made a visit and she forgot the provisions.  Oh that is the WORST!    Anyhoo, we walked to the corrals and Disney gave us a “Have a Magical Race” sign along with view such as these tucked behind the back roads of Epcot:

Snow White Bonnie ready to go for it! NOTE balloon in background is NOT Balloon lady, though sure looks similar!

YES, an old Resort Boat!  Seen better days I am sure… would make a great Jungle Cruise prop
We made it to corrals and YES Aunt Flo was our invisible runner!
SO humid and hot, I had a cooler shirt packed in my Sparkle Tech Skirt just in case.  YES those pocket are AMAZING they hold all kind of race supplies  ..

 

Amy, Patty and I would be starting together in Corral C.  Wendy would start in G and Bonnie in H.   

We get to the pre-corral POP’s (port o potties) and YES, its confirmed, Aunt Flo is with us.  We will be stopping at first medical tent available for supplies since none among us are prepared for this and well, we didn’t feel like starting to randomly ask around – good thing we have the basket to hold extra stuff.  Its hot and humid, we decide we are taking it slow AND will be hydrating.  THIS decision without “AND MONITORING OUR TIME” puts us in serious danger, though we have not realized it yet.  Keep in mind all week prior to the race I ate a daily banana, 2 coconut waters AND drank pickle juice as race prep along with drinking my water.  At the parks I drank LOTS of water and 2 powerades a day to avoid hydration issues.   I am worried about the heat and humidity and gladly agree to slowing it down.  We knew going in Patty is known as having to use the facilities alot and with all the hydrating we were prepared to stop. We forgot to think about keeping up with our time…..

The Fairy Godmother starts the race…then starts it for the corrals in front of us and soon its our turn ease on down the road – well until we find medical.  Those wonderful volunteers at the first medical tent…they helped out my friend and we learned here that well, it was gonna be a whole lot of bathroom stopping since Patty had to go!  Whilst we were there the friendly medics cut the tulle out of my sleeves to cool down my already hot shoulders. Those wonderful volunteers, were so darn friendly and helpful…the were a bit concerned about my satin.  I showed them my extra shirt and they seemed happy I had taken precautions.  

The first of MANY potty stops for um, some in our party.  Hidden and clean at least or so I heard.

The first few miles of the race we just did our intervals nice and slow…I don’t even remember what they were, Patty was in charge…thinking 2/1.   Once again we ran into Kat from Disboards…though this year we realized it BEFORE the photos….and took a photo of her.

Hello Internet Friend from Team Goddess!

We hit the Magic Kingdom parking lot and it was still dark and muggy out there….though daybreak if ya wanna believe was coming up…so let it shine, shine, shine…all around the World… Disneyworld that is. 

 Shortly after this we passed Lightening McQueen, he was on the wrong side of the road from us and it was crowded so we skipped him…then came across my ONLY must do photo…. The Disney Villains Lady style!  We saw a PbRC pacebook in line and jumped in with them so we would have a group photo and well not wait as long.  Drizella saw me and Patty between princess Photos and gave me a Thumbs Up AND a thumb/forefinger “OK” sign with her hands for our costumes….I was honored!

Look how excited she was to see us!

Here we all are!  Look we caught up with Laura over on the far left!

We then passed by the happiest entertainment on the course….the drummers from Japan’s Pavilion at Epcot.

They digged Drizella getting all up in their space!

Shortly after this we ran through the Magic Kingdom Ticket and Transportation center – the only time I went potty on the race BTW though we sure stopped a bunch and in the Men’s room, hey no lines. We came out and guess who we ran into?  WENDY, yep she started 30 minutes after us and caught up with our slow butts. So we all headed into the Magic Kingdom together.

As usual you are just running and next thing you know….there you are on Main Street surrounded by cheering family members!

Enjoying the moment!
Thanks Dude!
It’s Wendy!  She was running a race to catch us!

   We stopped for a group photo before the turn off to Tomorrowland….

We made the Castle!

Hey its Mickey and Minnie topiaries and a guy in drag as Rapunzel!

We had a blast getting some photos made…

To Infinity and Beyond…..
Disney Dave!
ALICE and Mad Hatter!
No One Eats Like Gaston!
Very Different from the rest of us is Belle…. hey look my race dedication is holding up on the arm!

While apparently our back bibs entertained along the race and many ran up behind us for a back photo, Amy with her basket, continued to fascinate.  We were rock stars I tell ya!  One princess ran up to Amy around the Teacups and said, “You are carrying that basket with bread the whole race”.  Amy graciously said “Yeah, its really not bad”.  The other princess told her that was awesome and ran off, then shouted out “I need six eggs!”.  Not missing a beat, Wendy yelled out to her waiving a finger “They’re too expensive!”  Love my Disney geek friends…oh and if you are scratching your head, its a song provincial Belle sings in the movie. Duh.

We had our “run” through the castle….more like a slow shuffle getting into a concert in a crowd and made it to the front for our castle photos. Royal Minnie and Mickey were on hand, but MAN it was PACKED.  I think we might have gotten some pixie dust at Bibbity Bobbity Boutique on our way too…

Run a race, are you nuts, I want a photo of this!

You know that shot RunDisney has of you running alone through the castle?  Well not my experience! But fun and magical nonetheless.
Sisters, Sisters, never were there such devoted Sisters….
Baguette still going strong!

Almost there….out of magic Kingdom and slowest mile ever…I have had faster miles in Extra Magic Hours! But who can say no to stopping for Prince Naveen and Louis!
Stop the race….Its my favorite ride Splash Mountain…how do you do? zip a dee doo dah!
All I wanted was a pic with Prince Charming, at this point the line was SO long and they were being switched out for Aurora and Philip….Yeah Patty is all smiles, I was not happy!  OK I was happy….just photo bummed. 
Splash mountain was under refurb while we were there and closed….look we ran by all the logs..they seemed so lonely and dry.

Half Way….sheesh, its been like 2 hours, the song was Alicia Keys “this girl is on fire…”….um with my sweat and this crowd, there was no being on fire here. Not my favorite song, but it won the vote as official half way motivational song.  What evs…

We realized at this point we had fallen WAY back, between all the potty stops I haven’t mentioned and photos and long lines, well we were back there with the walkers.  We told Wendy if she wanted to run ahead she was more than welcome since it was her first half…but she said it was fun hanging with us, and it was!  Though this stretch of the race is 1 lane and PACKED, so you just have to enjoy the company and get ahead best you can.

Hey Santa!  Run!  This rockin’ Santa, actually beat us – I saw him crossing the finish before us.  
A Sweep is as lucky as lucky can be…..well unless you get swept at a race for going to slow and we did not realize it, we were in danger!

We came across these cheesy dudes at the wedding pavilion.  I got some funny pics with them last year so we had to stop.  We were waiting in a  very short line and I realize “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Tarzan was playing.  I looked at Patty then my arm dedication and got all teary eyed.  I was like “its Caleb’s Song”. Patty was so sweet she just touched my shoulder and said “i know its so hard”…..she lost a child too, she gets it.  So I turn around and cry a minute….then regroup and get this shot.  Amazing I chose not to have my music, yet just over half way through the race, Caleb and my song was playing!

I was like all “my precious precious” from LOTR with the glass slipper in character. Notice at this point Patty was hot and changed her shirt and took off her bustle and bows.

Ran by the golf course and well we need photos in the Mickey Golf Cart…I mean its a must before Mile 8 you know?

We came across the mile 8 marker and I snapped a photo…see those buses behind it, the yellow ones, those are the ones they use to pick up people who fall behind pace…..you have to maintain a 16 minute mile from the time the last runner crosses the starting line to not get picked up by a bus.  When the official race pacer AKA the Balloon lady’s pass this point and others on the course…the buses pull across the street and you are forced to get on and get a ride to the end. You are “swept”. We had no idea when we ran by this sign how close we were to the balloon ladies. So looking at the time in this photo below….the balloon ladies were on our heels based on the 16 minute mile minimum pace and sheesh…. clock time vs start time vs our time….I think the sweepers were like 6 minutes behind us at the point.  Thank goodness we didn’t wait in the Cinderella line, I think we would have been forced on the bus!    

In our fun race bliss as we did NOT pay attention to the clock, we trotted on.  The race opened back up to a few lanes, but man it was slow going.  LOTS of walkers and it was full and people were all over the road so to get ahead you had to weave around alot or run on the shoulder which worked for me – my joints love the softer surface, but not for others – was bothering ankles. Still had time to enjoy the entertainment.
Me with the Orlando Accoridan Club  
At this point Patty was worried and decided to run ahead.  She had many potty stops and was worried about holding us up and about finishing without being swept since we were so slow.  We agreed and picked up the pace a bit.  We did stop however for the “heroes”, the Disney dudes.  I told Li Shang I was Mulan last year for the race and he was my favorite warrior, he told me “I have missed you this past year”.  

Now at some point around here, to be honest I can’t remember if it was before the hero’s picture or not, we saw the Balloon lady.  She had a mylar balloon – just one, a princess one.  We were like “Is that her?”  Some princesses around us said “YES THAT IS HER!” and we started to get scared.  Amy was saying “We Might Get Swept!”.  Who???? Us????  We trained well above the pace and were here to have fun. We.do.not.get.swept.  Yet there she had been and we picked up our pace and passed her.  We saw Bonnie around this time who started in the last corral.  Yep she had caught us, we started like 45 minutes ahead of her!  She was so shocked she asked, “Have you guys finished already and are out here?”  Um no, we are taking our time! We told her she was  a little in front of the Balloon Lady and she said she knew and had her eye out for her.  Apparently when the Balloon lady would say “Get in front of me or be in danger of being picked up” it was like a shark and fish swimming away.  God Bless Bonnie for witnessing that many times, staying steady with her pace and staying ahead!
I had my garmin and decided time to put as much space between us and the balloon lady as possible, so we started a 2/1 interval – or however long I could run at less than a 10 minute mile pace.  I would walk to get my breath back and try to bust it.  Again, poor Wendy, she was not used to intervals!  I would look down at my garmin and yell “This is a 9:35 minute mile….lets keep this pace a couple minutes”…then we would walk and I was “OK, “13 minute mile….we are good making up time!” – what kind of coach was I?  The only way to speedily get past the sea of the back of the pack was to run on the shoulder.  Knowing we had done pretty well, of course we stopped for another photo with Captain Jack Sparrow, but as we were waiting in line…….. THE BIKERS!  These are the guys who warn you if you are falling behind….we were like 5 princesses away from every one’s favorite pirate, and he and Barbosa were all taking their time and princesses didn’t have camera’s ready, so Amy is like “WE BETTER BOOK”.  Abort, Abort, Abort….we got out of line riding like the wind!  We made it to mile 10 but due to our feel of getting swept, didn’t do the PbRC prescribed make a video of yourself doing the chicken dance.  However Wendy had a cute photo made for posterity which I cannot believe came out as well, I was nervous about the on ramp was just ahead.
You can see princesses cheering us on on top of the bridge after running the clover leaf ramp.
We did HOWEVER, stop for Sarge mid ramp cuz well no line and no sign of the bikers.  We are just a little obsessed in our quest for photos….man I am red faced below and yeah, I think I look a little stressed!
We found Patty waiting for us on the last turn and approach to Epcot around mile 11.5 or so – she wanted to be sure we hadn’t been swept.  She now says I looked all serious at this point, um yeah, I just busted it out! Shortly after that is the approach to Epcot.  We THOUGHT we were safe at this point from being swept, but knew that once we got INSIDE Epcot, they don’t sweet you and let you finish the race.  A HUGE sigh of  of relief hit. 
As we approached the entrance to Epcot, I found Peggy!    She is a staple at Disney races and her  
‘Complete Stranger’ sign is always an inspiration.  Her daughter runs half marathons and she is always there to support her and the rest of us.  Her sign was a welcome sight!  Because she is such a great supporter of the runners, the PbRC has adopted her as well our personal cheerleader and we are now so glad we are not strangers anymore!   You can usually find Peggy earlier in the race at the Ticket and Transportation center and she is at many RunDisney races!
We are finally de-stressed about the Sweepers!
Deciding we needed to finish as sisters, mid last mile, Patty put on her Drizella garb again….yes she had 2 wardrobe changes mid race.  The funny thing about Amy’s baguette, people were so tired and we heard over and over “Look, she’s got bread!!!!!”  It was like we were in the zombie apocalypse and were the last one with food.  I thought she might get jumped a couple times. 
We did the down and back at Epcot and FINALLY GOSPEL SINGER TIME!  They truly are the best part of the race!

We finished with me leaping over the finish line, which I did twice and my calves were like “UM STOP THAT NOW!”  So happy to be done, I mean it was a blast, but that stress at the end YIKES. I have a new respect for the back of the pack racers.  The weather conditions were NOT favorable as you had to slow down to avoid getting ill….thank goodness it never rained and remained cloudy the entire race so at least we didn’t have the sun beating down on us.  My garmin had us finishing in 3:59, yes a new record….in slow…but we sure enjoyed ourselves.
We got our medals and some ice and waited for Bonnie.  Amy had been tracking her on her phone….we know she was close to the sweepers and hoped she could keep her pace.  She trained up to 10 miles at a good pace, but the humidity had us worried.  
ICE ICE BABY with the medal…oh my arches and heel were so happy! And yes, the KT tape, held and LOVE my new FEETURES socks!
 When we received the text via Amy’s phone that Bonnie made it, we all JUMPED FOR JOY!  We were so happy.  Amy had offered to run the race with Bonnie in the back but Bonnie told her to go to the corral she had earned. Its fun to run a race with your friends, but normally I am the slowest one and I totally know the feeling of not wanting to hold your friends back.  Under the weather conditions and with the crowds and constantly being reminded of the sweepers,  with this being Bonnie’s first 1/2, I am so proud of her for finishing!  I mean I knew her training had proved she was capable, but you can’t factor in things like extreme temps/humidity and MASSIVE crowds that are hard to pass.
Nice Bling and well deserved for your strong finish Bonnie!
  We headed to the bus back to the resort, thanks for making us wait between 2 lines of Port O Potties …P.U.  Princess poop…yeah it does stink!  We got on the bus and got off  at Port Orleans French Quarter to get some post race Beignets…they don’t have them at Riverside and I figured the walk between the 2 resorts would be a nice little recovery…which it was.
We showered and prepared to go enjoy our last afternoon/evening at the parks.
It was a wonderful race. I wouldn’t change a thing, I can now laugh about our sweeping fears and how close we came.  I failed miserably at getting a photo though of the balloon ladies and the bikers…so sorry!
Our finish time was 3:59:46 and I beat out of 26,000 runners…. 337!  We all finished and we all finished feeling GOOD. Patty’s garmin told her our moving time vs total time was 3:15:12, so considering I trained at a 13 minute mile pace – which was completely comfortable for me, slowing down to 14:12 moving pace was perfect to compete the race feeling without getting heat illness.  Its recommend for the conditions we had at the start, we should have slower our normal pace down by 1:05 per mile, putting me at 14:05…PERFECT!  And we had a blast too.  Made all our goals!
For those who wonder, here are the splits from my Garmin….the 32 minute mile… a new record and worth every second!
Mile 1 14:29

Mile 2 15:38
Mile 3 14:33
Mile 4 18:44
Mile 5 15:53
Mile 6 20:59
Mile 7 32:29 a new record!
Mile 8 22:01
Mile 9 14:34
Mile 10 19:46 – Hello Balloon lady and guys on bikes!
Mile 11 12:30
Mile 12 12:20
Mile 13 14:28 – can you say, lets finish this nice and easy while Patty changes her attire!
Mile .1 13:39

Thanks to my friends who made this an incredible fun and yes, learning race.  Hopefully see you there next year! I want to do Tink, and do love the Princess weekend!  Going for Coast 2 Coast next year!
    
Julie @RunWalkRepeat
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About Julie @RunWalkRepeat

Wife, Mom, Southerner, Former Cubicle Dweller, Sting Fanatic and Reluctant Runner. I got started on family a little later in life than most and run for my health. A fan of Food, Entertainment, Travel, Galloway Running and Disney, I like to find the fun in all things in life.

Comments

  3. Julie Franklin says

    Ter, the sweepers are necessary so they can open the roads back up….most every race has some kind of minimum pace…but with all the characters and photo ops at disney…well one gets distracted. It was a blast though!

  4. ter@waaoms says

    As I read this I felt myself holding my breath about the sweeping!!! I’m glad you didn’t get swept. I didn’t know they did that???

  6. K80K says

    Nice recap. I remember you signs from on the course. I was running with another set of Step Sisters. 🙂

  8. Lovie Dovie says

    Love the recap! This was my first race and when I saw Peggy (I didn’t know her name before I read this)and her sign I cried the whole last mile. I wished I had stopped and hugged her. Does her daughter have a blog, twitter, or facebook? I would love to tell her thank you.

  9. Julie F says

    Thanks everyone….we had so much fun. Total amazement now for the back of the pack runners! RunDisney really puts on a great race!

  11. Krista says

    Y’all moved out. You were only 30 seconds ahead of me at mile 8, and 7 minutes ahead of me by mile 10, when I quit…I’m
    impressed!!

  14. Julie F says

    Aww thanks Jemsmom! My sister on the race Drizella’s mom made our shirts and bustles….we were wearing our Sparkle Tech skirts. Fun race!

  15. Jemsmom says

    Hi Julie!!! I remember seeing you on the course and my friend and I commenting on how awesome your costumes were!!! Congrats on finishing your race! This was my first time and my goal was to cross the finish line alive and uninjured. I did it! I have never felt so strong in my life!! I will definitely be doing this again! Great recap!!