Princess Run Itinerary

3:00 am
WAKE UP
People are on their way home from the bar at that hour.   Alison and I were waking up to get ready for our 1/2 marathon.

3:35
DEPARTURE TIME
Mary Lynn (my mother in law and fellow runner) drove us to EPCOT for the start.

3:55
ARRIVE AT EPCOT
Try to remember where we parked the car (Create 42 and we did!)

4:00
WANDER INTO THE PRE-RACE AREA
Notice there are tons of women wearing tutus and glitter
Eat our PBJs
Pit stop

4:20
HEAD TO OUR CORRALS
Pass expired disney vehicles such as old jungle cruise boats and backlot trams
See a man wearing a tutu
Pit stop

4:45
ARRIVE AT CORRALS
Say bye to ML who is in group A after finishing her previous half in 2:02
We are newbies with no times and head to group D

4:55
DECIDE WE SHOULD SIT
Al finds a garbage bag so her yellow shorts stay clean
Watch the jumbotron which includes a bunch of nutcases 'hosting' the preshow [who Al was convinced were on drugs] act extra cheery about the ridiculous hour of the day

5:00
Outside temperature: 68 degrees
100% humidity
YIKES

5:35
GROUP A START
ML is off!

5:56
GROUP D START
We are off!

During the next 2+ hours, we 'off-roaded' to avoid slow people in our way on the pavement.  We heard words of encouragement from spectators and fellow runners.  We also had Mom, Michael, Sal & Mario there cheering us on.

We ran from EPCOT up to the Magic Kingdom, through Cinderella's castle, and back in 2:21.   Not the time we were hoping for, but you have to start somewhere.   The weather was not ideal.  It was warm and very humid.   I actually got the chills part way through the race because I was drenched.   Kind of gross.   But Al kept me going and we finished strong!

We heard live music and saw countless Disney characters along our route.   It was our first 1/2 marathon and I was so glad my sister was my running buddy.   There were 26,000 runners, and we finished 2842, so in the top 10.9% of runners.   For my first race, even though I did not run quite as fast as I'd like, I am happy to be in that group.

Now all we have to do is decide what race to run next.   Now that we have a time to submit, we can get a closer corral and start working on shaving minutes off our time.

More Funnies from Al

I asked her to be my running buddy, but looks like I got a comedian in the process.  Can't say I am surprised



I ran from E 6th st and East River (involved hopping 2 fences, as technically closed due to construction) .... It was WINDY. Eyes watering, nose running, stumbling sideways.  It was extremely un-princess like. 

Central Park was kicking my ass today ...  the notorious harlem hills necessitated a short walk break. I was thinking to myself "F - - - you, hill!" but that will only take one so far up a 84 foot climb. 

Auditory Amusements: Running Edition

All text messages received from Al before or after long Saturday runs

"Gametime!" -following the iPhone screen shot showing 18 degrees

"Forgot to mention that I raced a horse in the park"
Who won?
"I did!"

"Good news: I saw many dogs today!  Have you seen a dog before?  You probably have."

"I am going to check out the Park in a bit.  I am searching twitter and instagram for info"


"12.06 in 1:56. Take that, hill."

This Princess Wears Running Shoes

It started* last summer with an email to my sister

Subject line: a completely ridiculous question
Email text:
Disney hosts several races throughout the year.   I missed the deadline on the one in November. Boo.

Ridiculous question: would you be interested in running a half marathon?   I am not fast AT ALL and am not even sure if I could run 13 miles, but a Disney race seems the kindest way to start, or try it.   If you would want to try  a race, I would be your buddy.  I am not 100% sure I will sign up but I have been thinking about it.   And you could keep me motivated and make comments, etc. whilst racing

Al wrote back rather quickly:

I actually would consider doing the half. Do you know the date and registration fee?   If we decide to do it, you are in charge of coordinating training plans. Aka tell me what to do each week. I need to buy new shoes, which I am planning on doing as soon as I receive my gym rebate from my insurance. How thoughtful. And Central Park is good for running. I have yet to run outdoors in NYC, but autumn is prob not the worst time to start....

Time to put our money where our mouth was.   I signed us up as a 2-person team so we are guaranteed the same starting corral group, and we were locked in.   We gave ourselves more than 5 months to train, which is oodles of time, really, especially for someone who runs occasionally.  Throughout the 5-month time period, we have been in touch via chat and text and email.

I downloaded the 22 week plan for "running for a time" even though I don't have a firm time goal. "Finishing in the upright position" just suggests some chuggly couch potato, which I am not. I think of myself as an intermediate runner.

It has been lovely, and fun to track our progress.   Because I will forever be entertained by my sister and do not want to forget this training period, (and might need motivation for a future race!) I will be including fun texts and thoughts on the blog over the next 2 weeks.  

*Well I guess technically speaking it started a long time ago when I started to run for exercise regularly and realized if I could run 5 miles each morning 'for fun' then maybe I should try it in some sort of organized fashion as well.  But thinking about it is different than inviting someone along for the ride!