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Disney's Princess Half Marathon Race Report - 02/26/2012

 

Where do I even begin?  I feel like I’ve been preparing for this weekend for months and months and months (oh wait, I have) and then it came and went in a flash…. and without a happy ending, unfortunately.

Let’s start at the beginning.  My husband Anton and I left home bright and early Friday morning to make the hour and a half drive over to Orlando for the Fit for a Princess race expo.  We met up with Sara outside Disney’s Wide World of Sports and headed inside to pick up our packets.  Our friend Gabbie joined us there as well.  None of our bib numbers were close to each other so we all had to wait in separate lines to pick up our packets.  Of course, my line moved the slowest and it felt like I’d NEVER reach the front.  But eventually I did.

my bib on left, Anton's bib on right

The actual expo was HUGE – there were so many vendors there.

the view from the second floor
(thanks to Sara for the pic)

Many of them I've heard of while being a part of the online running community, so it was cool to check out their products in person.  I bought a SPIbelt, a SparkleSkirt, and Anton bought Zensah compression calf sleeves.  We spun a wheel and won some rice (LOL) and picked up several other free samples of stuff throughout the expo.

rice, Luna bars, and bandaids

The one thing I went into the Expo wanting was an “I Did It” shirt like this one. 

credit: RunDisney Facebook page

Part of me didn’t want to buy it before I actually completed the half marathon because I didn’t want to jinx myself, but Sara said having it already might give me extra motivation to finish on Sunday.  But they didn’t have it in my size.  I didn’t want to buy a shirt that wouldn’t even fit me, so I didn’t buy one.  I have to say that I’m a big believer in karma so a small part of me took this to mean I wouldn’t actually complete the race on Sunday.  More to come on that later.

We listened to Olympian runner Jeff Galloway’s presentation and picked up a few tips from him for preparation pre-race and on the day of the race.  It was cool to see him in person and the guy really knows his stuff when it comes to training/running!

Anton and I headed out soon after that and went to check into our hotel.  We stayed at the Pop Century resort on Disney property.  After we checked in, we ate some lunch (yay Disney dining plan!) and then went to our room to unpack and take a nap.  We had dinner reservations for 7:30 at Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club resort which wound up being a pain in the ass to get to.  I wanted to take Disney transportation (bus) to dinner, so we took a bus from our hotel to Epcot and wanted to jump on a bus from Epcot to Yacht Club.  Little did I know, there’s an “international gateway” exit outside the back of Epcot back where the countries are and that was the ONLY place we could get a ride over to Yacht Club.  Luckily we have Disney passes so we went into Epcot and traipsed all the way to the back of the park – we were in jeans and fancy shoes, as we were not exactly planning on walking through a theme park.  We wound up having to wait for a BOAT to take us over to Yacht club, not even a bus.  It just wound up being a huge hassle.  Luckily, the food at the Steakhouse was delicious as was the bottle of wine we both shared. :)

Race day was Sunday – Anton and I got up at 1:30am.  Yes, 1:30am.  We had plans to meet Sara at her hotel since it was a host hotel, so we could take the event transportation over to the race and not have to deal with traffic driving ourselves.  It takes me a long time to get ready/dressed/prepared for a race, even if I have everything laid out already.  So we wound up leaving our hotel around 2:30 and meeting Sara just before 3 at All Star Sports.  Gabbie joined us shortly and we hopped on the bus.

outside the hotel at 3am

on the bus heading to the race

Once we got to the Epcot parking lot, the bus dropped us off and we had about a 10 minute walk to get to the staging area.

doesn't anyone check grammar/punctuation anymore?
(thanks to Sara for the pic)

We stopped at concessions first for a quick snack, checked our bag, and used the port-a-potties several times.  Then we just kinda stood around for a few minutes soaking up the atmosphere.

Anton and me at staging area
(thanks to Sara for the pic)

Then we headed over to our Corral.  We all started in Corral H, the last corral.

(thanks to Sara for the pic)

Then it was time to just sit in our corral and wait and wait.  My race day anxiety got the best of me and had my stomach in knots so I made a couple more trips to the bathroom.  I knew I would be fine once we got to the start line, but it was the waiting that made me so anxious.  Anyone know of a good OTC medication to help calm those nerves??

They let Corrals go one at a time, letting one go every 6 minutes.  Each wave had its own blessing by the Fairy Godmother and its own mini fireworks show.  It was pretty awesome!  I liked that the last corral (basically the slowest runners) got treated the same exact way as the elite runners in the first corral.  Props to Disney on that one.

Finally just before 6:30am it was our turn!

ready to get moving!
(thanks to Sara for the pic)

the fairy godmother doing her thing
(thanks to Sara for the pic)

(thanks to Sara for the pic)

And we were on our way!  We planned on doing 30 second run, 1 minute walk intervals the entire time and for the most part, we kept up with it and maintained the minimum required pace.  The first 2-3 miles went pretty easy and I was feeling confident that we would make it and be able to finish.  The confidence stayed when an employee/volunteer told us just before mile 4 that we were one minute ahead of the required pace.  Woo hoo!

We passed this amazing spectator with a sign that made us all smile!

(thanks to Sara for the pic)

And then a little after mile 4, we saw Sara’s mom who took some pictures of us and cheered us on!

(thanks to Sara's mom for the pic)

Soon after we saw her mom, we were near the transportation and ticket center, which meant there were ACTUAL bathrooms and not just port-a-potties.  Since we were told we were about 1 minute ahead of pace, we thought we’d have time to take advantage of short bathroom lines (we used the men’s room) while we could.

When we came out of the bathroom, Anton said that he saw the balloon ladies pass by.  For those unknowing, there are ladies carrying balloons that indicate the slowest pace allowed on the course.  If they pass us, then we have a certain amount of warning time to try to catch up to them.  So when we got out of the bathroom and Anton said that, we started panicking and picked up the pace a little.  Unfortunately, we were just unable to get fast enough to catch up to her and were informed we’d be picked up at mile 5.  

If we had just another 20-30 seconds, I’m SURE we would have been able to catch up, but luck wasn’t on our side.  I felt defeated and disappointed.  I was mostly sad because we didn't even get to make it into Magic Kingdom to run down Main Street and through Cinderella’s castle.  That is apparently the BEST and most exhilarating part of the race.  I wouldn’t have minded as much if we could’ve just made it to that point, but we were about half a mile short of getting there.  We got stopped JUST outside Magic Kingdom.

(thanks to Sara for the pic)

They blocked the road so we couldn’t even get past them if we wanted to, and then the “parade bus” pulled up and we were shuffled on to the bus o’ defeat with about 30 other people. 

A sympathetic cast member was waiting for us on the bus, offered words of encouragement and wrote down our names and bib numbers.  He asked if anyone needed medical attention, provided water and PowerAde to those who wanted it, and gave us instructions about what to expect when we got off the bus.  He told us we would all be getting medals, but I had already decided I wasn't going to wear mine.  Although I did the best I could for those 5 miles, I did not earn that medal.  I didn’t finish the race.  People who finished the race got medals and I didn’t feel it was fair for me to wear it and pretend I finished when I didn’t even make it half way.

sad face :(
(thanks to Sara for the pic)

close up of the medal (pic from RunDisney Facebook)

I didn’t finish this year, but that’s not going to stop me from training and pushing myself and working towards finishing it another year.  I am not yet sure if I will be fast enough to finish it next year – I would need to take about 4 minutes off my current average mile time to do that.  I’m definitely not paying that expensive registration fee again unless I am SURE I will be able to cross that finish line.

Regardless of how the race turned out, the experience was a lot of fun and I had a really great time with Sara, Gabbie, and Anton.  I don’t regret trying; I just wish the outcome was different.

After all, you have to at least start in order to finish.

I Run For Pizza 5K Race Photos - 08/13/2011

These are some pretty horrible pictures, but I must remain consistent with my previous 5K race report and post the official photos.

I Run For Pizza 5K Race Report - 08/13/2011

Run for pizza?  Me?  Well, if anything will get me to run, it's pizza.  And maybe ice cream.  Hey, Running Zone, can we have that arranged for the next race in the series?  Mmm ice cream.

Anyway, this morning, I got up bright and early (like 4:50am) to prepare for this 5K.  I know I need an hour in the morning to eat something and then let the food settle/pass through, whatever.  Apparently, the recommended pre-race meal of toast with peanut butter does not work out for me.  I won't go into details but lets just say when I got to the starting line, my stomach was still ...not happy.  We'll leave it at that.


So that combined with hot, muggy weather made for a horrible pre-race feeling.  I didn't even want to race, I wasn't feeling well, I haven't been training well, and I just didn't want to do it.  But of course, since I was already there, I did it anyway.  I just didn't expect to have a great time... I just wanted to finish.  So I could get pizza.


So now some photos:

The starting/finish line.

Shannon and me waiting for the start.
You can see in my eyes that I was not feeling up to this. lol

The section we start in.  It says "healthy WALKERS", but people in this section always jog after crossing the start line and then I feel slow because I'm walking and I feel pressured to go faster.  But I don't want to start at the end of the pack.  Dilemma.

Okay, so the actual race.... my plan was 5 minutes warm up walk, 1 minute hard running, 1:30 of walking as fast as I felt like to recover from the hard running, then 1 minute hard running, 1:30 recovery, etc.... I was going to attempt doing that through the whole 5K.

I started off with the 5 minute warm up walk, instead of starting out slow jogging like I did for the last race - lesson learned, don't start off too fast.  After about 4 minutes of warm up, I started to pick up my pace into a very slow jog because I knew the hard running was coming soon.  I did pretty well with the hard running/recovery intervals for the most part.  I'd say out of like 18 intervals (37 total), I walked through the running part on maybe 5 of them.  I just needed more time to recover and didn't want to push too hard.  Based on my RunKeeper activity log, my fastest running interval was 10:33!  WHAT!!  I had no idea I could even move that fast.  Of course, that might have been for one of the intervals I had to cut short because I ran out of breath.  The walking interval following that was 25:48 pace. lol  That same log shows my slowest interval was a walking pace of 28:21 after a 10:40 running pace, so yeah, kinda balances that out.  I run faster, but then I need to walk much slower to recover.  I must find a happy medium here!

Anyway, I survived and I finished!  My official posted time was 50:07, which is a whopping two seconds faster than my previous 5K time.  Amazing, but hey, it's a new PR!  Next one, I WILL be sub-50 dangit!

So then it was pizza time!

The line was really long. :(

Shannon had to leave, so I waited over by the stage area for the little bit until the pizza/food area became a little less congested.


Then it was time.

Oranges are 100% definitely my new favorite post race snack.  
I ate so many. lol

They also had danishes and bananas.
Much better food selection than my last 5K too!

I didn't take a picture of the pizza section because I was too anxious to get it on my plate ASAP.

My post race plates of deliciousness!

My reason for completing this race.

So after chowing down on all of that satisfying food, it was time for the awards ceremony.  This is the WORST part for me.  I will never ever win.  It's always the same people that in.  And there are like 5378957829 age categories (for male and female of course, so DOUBLE that) and it takes FOR-EV-ER.  But the grand prize giveaway (today's was two football game tickets for any Florida football team with a night's hotel stay) is always given after the awards, so I am forced to sit there and be hot, sweaty, and miserable.  

People waiting for the grand prize giveaway.  I'm sure the majority are only waiting for that and don't really care that the top male finisher completed the 5K in 14 minutes. 

I didn't win the grand prize, or any of the lesser grand prizes, so I picked up one of these for my drive home.

Well deserved, in my opinion.

Three Things Thursday

I've seen several other people doing these Three Things Thursday posts where they write about 3 things, related or not, that are on their minds.


So here we go!

1.  I haven't run since last Thursday.  Friday was a rest day, and it was followed by a busy weekend, so had no time to run.  Then every night this week, I have been sleeping horribly, probably due to sleeping on the awesome king size bed with fluffy pillows and a luxurious duvet cover at my favorite resort over the weekend.  Coming home to our queen sized uncomfortable bed with flat pillows and scratchy sheets/blankets was just miserable.  We really need to get a king size bed and splurge on quality linens, but with a wedding in 3 and a half months, all that is just not in the budget right now.


2.  Relating to number one, since I haven't run since Thursday, I went out last night.  I was going to run outside like I usually do but instead found myself walking over to the gym (a 4 minute walk, it's right next door, so not anything extravagant) and decided to hit the treadmill.  I previously posted my disdain for running on the treadmill but for some reason that was what called me.  I was going to attempt Week 7 Day 3 of C25K (25 minutes of straight running) but after the first 5 minutes of jogging, my heel was hurting badly from my plantar fasciitis, and my right thigh was hurting, I have no idea why.  Just felt like cramping.  So I thought maybe I'd walk 5 minutes, then run 5 minutes, walk 5 minutes, and so on.  So I walked the 5 minutes, and started to run again and could only make it through 3 minutes.  I just hate the treadmill!  It feels like so much more of a workout than running outside.  Plus there are just SO many distractions at the gym - the TVs, the people, the machine with flashing red numbers glaring at me.  It just makes it a very miserable experience for me.  So what I wound up doing was 2 minutes walking at 3.2, and then 2 minutes "power-walking" at 3.7-3.8.  I tried pushing up to 4.0 but that was way too fast for me to call it walking, I couldn't keep up.  And I had to hold on to the rails to keep up with walking at 3.8.  I really need to pick up the pace for this half marathon.  Somehow.  So I did walking/power-walking for the entire 5K and finished in about 55 minutes.  When doing the 5K outside, it takes me 57-58 minutes, so I was a little faster at power-walking than I am at jogging.  I just had to hold on.  Definitely some room for improvement there, not sure how I will go about that.


3.  My 30th birthday is next week.  I am going to buy myself a SPIBelt.  I think it will really help with my running outside.  Right now I keep stuff in my pockets - my ID, my phone, my keys, and it would be nice to have them all NOT in my pockets weighing me down, bouncing up and down, and being all bulky.  Plus I want to hang my sweat towel (gross I know but I HATE having sweat on my face, so I wipe it a lot) around the belt so I don't have to hold it until I need it.  I also might get this handheld water bottle which seems like it will be a little easier to carry than just carrying a regular water bottle like I've been doing.


OK, that's my three things. :D

Bondi Band Review

Today was Week 6, Day 2 of Couch 2 5K.  Ten minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking, and 10 more minutes of running.


I got my Bondi Bands in the mail yesterday so I decided to try one out during this morning's run.  Unfortunately, I am not impressed yet.  I'm thinking it might be because I was wearing my sunglasses so they were causing the sweat in my eyes.  But people made the Bondi Bands sound magical like they would prevent any sweat from appearing on the top half of my face.  I'm just not sure how that could work unless it was sweat from my hair/forehead dripping down into my eyes.  But I still had eye sweat and it was still annoying.  However, the Bondi Band is much more comfortable than the regular headband I usually wear, even though Anton, my lovely fiance, told me it looked like I was wearing underwear on my head.  .....  yeah.


So I think I'll give it another try on Thursday when I go for my next run and not wear sunglasses and see if anything's different.  Regardless of the sweat in my eyes, they are cute, and do a REALLY great job of keeping my hair up off my neck and out of my face, so I'll continue using them for that reason.  I'm just not completely sold on the whole "no sweat" thing yet.  I still had to carry my hand towel and continuously wipe my entire face.


Anyway, Week 6, Day 2 was a success and I am still impressed with how much my endurance has improved since I first started this.  I haven't run since last Thursday and I picked right back up on it today without an issue. Yay!

Bondi Bands!

I just ordered 5 Bondi Bands. (website)


I've read nothing but amazing things about them.  They are basically headbands to wear while running/exercising to wick sweat away from the forehead and keep sweat out of the eyes.  This is something I definitely have a problem with and I found a coupon code for $15 off an order of $40 or more, and the bands are $8 each so that's at least an order of 5.  (They also have a Buy 3 Get One Free coupon code, but for $1 more in the end, I get one more Bondi Band. Yay!)


I ordered a chocolate colored one, an off white colored one, a purple colored one, a black one with a gold tiara on the front (for the Disney Princess half marathon!) and a black one with glow in the dark ink that says "Slow, it's the new fast!"


I can't wait to get them and use them!