**all photos are at the end in a slideshow so make sure to take a peek!
As I mentioned in the 10k recap, we went to bed right before 10 and got up at 3:20. We left the room right before 4. For this race, we dressed as Voyager Moana and Chief Moana-so much fun! Walked right into the bus and waited for it to be full before taking off. Traffic was terrible getting to the start and we had just enough time to drop our bag and head out. To make matters worse, there was construction on the walking path to the corrals and it took FOREVER. on top of that, they split the corrals a new way with 75% heading one way and add the long Porto lines, there were times we were at a standstill. I headed towards the front to use those Portos and then had a crazy long jog to get to my corral. I hopped in my Corral ready got at 5:30 and heard there was a 10 min delay because of the issues. I definitely think rundisney needs to figure out a better way because this is the first race that the getting to the corrals was such a mess. We did the same thing for the marathon and it was fine (it was also less people though).
I started in D and was feeling pretty tight so I decided to take the first 5k slow and steady. We headed away from Epcot and the course never got too crowded which was nice. We turned and headed to the MK gates and it was dark but still lots of room to run. We passed the Pirates and Princes but I knew I would hit them on the way back. Went through the magic kingdom gates and hit the second water stop (first water stop is about .5 miles in which I have always loved). There were Portos with no line but I was holding off until MK.
Headed towards the old speedway location and hit the 5k mark. It's amazing to have a regular 5k pace with no photostops. I knew the first stop was coming up! Mrs Incredible was right before we turned towards the TTC. Not far ahead was the Evil Queen from Snow White in human form and Maleficient! Jacque caught up to me here.
We continued through the TTC and passed the Japanese drummers and another water stop before the narrow bridge to MK. Crowding is always a concern here so we spent most of the time running in the grass. The DJ pumped up the crowd as always and before we knew it, we were backstage at MK!
Running down Main St is always my favorite but I'm not liking how ChEAR squad is in the street. They used to be on the sidewalk so you had more room to run. Once again I have no pictures of myself running down Main St. We headed to Tomorrowland and stopped for a picture with Buzz. The Queen of Hearts was in front of the Teacups.
Gaston was at his tavern and the line was long (easily at least 15 minutes) but it was the best character interaction I've ever had. He knew I was so not into him so he decided to just admire his favorite person-himself-in the reflection of my sunglasses. Amazing!
Next we had to stop for my boyfriend Gentleman Beast at his castle! Always such a gentleman. We then continued through the castle and got a castle pic before going to Frontierland. Woody was out in Frontierland and then we finally made it backstage where we had a 20 minute wait for Cinderella and Prince Charming. Mallory was able to catch up to us! We then finished the longest 5k ever and hit a water stop before venturing down Cone Alley. We ran mostly in the grass and made it through okay. Course crowding was now crazy!
We stopped for Penguins at Grand Floridian, the wedding singers outside of the pavilion, and vacation genie at the golf course. We hit the Clif zone and as we turned to head back to Epcot and stopped at a med stop for some Vaseline and Biofreeze. That cone Alley running made my knees sore. We finally got our Princes picture and Pirates picture. From there we focused on trying to keep as steady intervals as possible. As we were passing people, most were fine but some got a bit snippy. When someone says-excuse me, on your left, the response shouldn't be-well go around. Umm that is what we are doing?
The course crowding up the overpass and "hills" heading into Epcot was unbearable. We just tried our best but ended up walking a lot as to not do too much weaving. Backstage at Epcot we saw Mushu (foreshadowing for a theme next year?), hit the last water stop and finally at the 20k point. We decided to stop for a spaceship earth pic on the way back and at the turnaround saw Princess Daisy! We got our spaceship earth jumping picture and headed towards the finish. The gospel choir was in top form as we went by!
Another rundisney finish line and my 5th princess half. It was so much fun!
GARMIN RUNNING SPLITS: 10:58/10:55/10:38/10:49/11:04/10:30/10:58/11:!2/11:!6/11:00/11:37/11:41/11:27/11:05
texted splits:
Overall this was a fabulous Princess weekend and I can't wait to head back for the 10th anniversary and 5th challenge (now named Fairy Tale!) next year.
What's the last half marathon you ran? Have you ever met Gaston?
As I mentioned in the 10k recap, we went to bed right before 10 and got up at 3:20. We left the room right before 4. For this race, we dressed as Voyager Moana and Chief Moana-so much fun! Walked right into the bus and waited for it to be full before taking off. Traffic was terrible getting to the start and we had just enough time to drop our bag and head out. To make matters worse, there was construction on the walking path to the corrals and it took FOREVER. on top of that, they split the corrals a new way with 75% heading one way and add the long Porto lines, there were times we were at a standstill. I headed towards the front to use those Portos and then had a crazy long jog to get to my corral. I hopped in my Corral ready got at 5:30 and heard there was a 10 min delay because of the issues. I definitely think rundisney needs to figure out a better way because this is the first race that the getting to the corrals was such a mess. We did the same thing for the marathon and it was fine (it was also less people though).
I started in D and was feeling pretty tight so I decided to take the first 5k slow and steady. We headed away from Epcot and the course never got too crowded which was nice. We turned and headed to the MK gates and it was dark but still lots of room to run. We passed the Pirates and Princes but I knew I would hit them on the way back. Went through the magic kingdom gates and hit the second water stop (first water stop is about .5 miles in which I have always loved). There were Portos with no line but I was holding off until MK.
Headed towards the old speedway location and hit the 5k mark. It's amazing to have a regular 5k pace with no photostops. I knew the first stop was coming up! Mrs Incredible was right before we turned towards the TTC. Not far ahead was the Evil Queen from Snow White in human form and Maleficient! Jacque caught up to me here.
We continued through the TTC and passed the Japanese drummers and another water stop before the narrow bridge to MK. Crowding is always a concern here so we spent most of the time running in the grass. The DJ pumped up the crowd as always and before we knew it, we were backstage at MK!
Running down Main St is always my favorite but I'm not liking how ChEAR squad is in the street. They used to be on the sidewalk so you had more room to run. Once again I have no pictures of myself running down Main St. We headed to Tomorrowland and stopped for a picture with Buzz. The Queen of Hearts was in front of the Teacups.
Gaston was at his tavern and the line was long (easily at least 15 minutes) but it was the best character interaction I've ever had. He knew I was so not into him so he decided to just admire his favorite person-himself-in the reflection of my sunglasses. Amazing!
Next we had to stop for my boyfriend Gentleman Beast at his castle! Always such a gentleman. We then continued through the castle and got a castle pic before going to Frontierland. Woody was out in Frontierland and then we finally made it backstage where we had a 20 minute wait for Cinderella and Prince Charming. Mallory was able to catch up to us! We then finished the longest 5k ever and hit a water stop before venturing down Cone Alley. We ran mostly in the grass and made it through okay. Course crowding was now crazy!
We stopped for Penguins at Grand Floridian, the wedding singers outside of the pavilion, and vacation genie at the golf course. We hit the Clif zone and as we turned to head back to Epcot and stopped at a med stop for some Vaseline and Biofreeze. That cone Alley running made my knees sore. We finally got our Princes picture and Pirates picture. From there we focused on trying to keep as steady intervals as possible. As we were passing people, most were fine but some got a bit snippy. When someone says-excuse me, on your left, the response shouldn't be-well go around. Umm that is what we are doing?
The course crowding up the overpass and "hills" heading into Epcot was unbearable. We just tried our best but ended up walking a lot as to not do too much weaving. Backstage at Epcot we saw Mushu (foreshadowing for a theme next year?), hit the last water stop and finally at the 20k point. We decided to stop for a spaceship earth pic on the way back and at the turnaround saw Princess Daisy! We got our spaceship earth jumping picture and headed towards the finish. The gospel choir was in top form as we went by!
Another rundisney finish line and my 5th princess half. It was so much fun!
GARMIN RUNNING SPLITS: 10:58/10:55/10:38/10:49/11:04/10:30/10:58/11:!2/11:!6/11:00/11:37/11:41/11:27/11:05
texted splits:
- 5k- :34:08 (10:59 pace)
- 10k- 2:16:08 (32:54 pace)
- 15k-3:07:38 (16:36 pace)
- Finish-3:59:04 (18:11 pace)
Overall this was a fabulous Princess weekend and I can't wait to head back for the 10th anniversary and 5th challenge (now named Fairy Tale!) next year.
What's the last half marathon you ran? Have you ever met Gaston?
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