Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Race Itself


It's been more than a week since the Disney Princess half marathon and I'm still trying to sort it all out in my head. I am conflicted. On one hand it was the best race I've ever seen. The Disney "magic" was certainly in the air with great entertainment along the course, and the sheer awesomeness of running through the parks. However, on the other hand, it was by far the most crowded race I've ever run. The crowds ranged from "discomfort at losing my personal space for many miles", to "slightly dangerous when I almost trip over the girls who stopped in the middle of a narrow path to take a photo." Enough with the editorializing. Here's the rundown:

2:30am: The alarms ring. I squeeze into my compression pants. My "magic pants" became the butt of some jokes, but they are worth every second of the five full minutes it takes to get them on. It takes even longer to change out of them. Why do they have a drawstring?!?

They're made of magic. I'm not crazy for posting a picture of them, either. You were curious.

3am: Manda, Tess and I board the bus that will take us to the race. everyone on the bus wears the same bleary-eyed look.

3:15-5ish: We wait. There's a stage with a DJ playing music and trying to make witty banter about racing. My gut tells me that this guy doesn't know much about running. He does give out my favorite quote though, referring to the runners as "16,000 princesses and a couple of dudes." (In reality there were more like 600 men. Although, truth be told, many of them were dressed as princesses). Our group spent most of the time sitting (or laying) on some old sleeping bags. We were super-lucky to have them since everyone else had to choose between standing or sitting on the cold ground.

5am: The dj tells us to make our way to the other side of some big white tents.  Signs stating "runners only beyond this point" make me think we're going to the starting line. FALSE ALARM. We're in another parking lot. We continue to sit on our snuggly sleeping bags until it gets too crowded. More and more people are coming over from the first parking lot, and there's not enough room for people to sit, so we end up standing again.


5:15ish: We finally start walking to the starting line. I was in the middle of the crowd, so I'm unsure of why couldn't go to the starting line earlier. It takes about 20 minutes (not including porta-potty break) to walk to the start of the race.



5:35: The starting line! Well, we were a few corrals back, so we couldn't really see the starting line, but we knew it was there. Disney had set up huge TVs to show us what was happening on the main stage. Each wave of the race got a 3...2...1...go from Cinderella's Fairy Godmother and fireworks.

6:10 or so: And we're off!

Mile 1: Did I mention that the race was crowded? We are elbow to elbow in the pre-dawn dark.

Mile 2: Marching band! I'm excited. I may have told the mellos to keep their chins up.

Mile X: There are tons of Disney characters and other cool attractions.

Mile 6: We enter the Magic Kingdom. The course narrows as we run down "Main Street USA" towards the castle. This is where two girls stop right in the middle of the course to take a picture. The girl in front of me stops suddenly and I almost trip trying not to run smack into her. Running through the castle is pretty cool. I'm a dork, so I'm especially enthralled by the herald trumpets.

Look very carefully at the landing on the stairs, to the right of the tunnel. You might not be able to see for yourself, but I'm telling you those are herald trumpets.

Mile Y: The entertainment continues and the sun is finally up! I'm afraid I'm getting a sunburn. Sunscreen wasn't really at the top of my list when I left the hotel in the middle of the night.

Mile 12: We're in Epcot! This is probably the prettiest part of the entire course. The Ecpcot flower festival starts in a week or so and they're already getting ready. The landscaping is beautiful and bright with all kinds of different flowers. The fountains are pretty, too.


The finish; Hooray! Back to the dj and parking lot from 6 hours ago. I get my medal, some water ad powerade, and a blueberry muffin. I have no idea why Disney cheaped out on bagels. In general I don't care for bagels, but I crave them after a race.


Next: Showers and a day in the theme park! We were tired, but happy.

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