Anywho, it's now the 6th of May and the Princess Half Marathon - the culmination of my blood, sweat, and tears that I called training - has come and gone. Before I delve into the happenings since then, let me try to fill you in on the PHM and our Disney trip!
So if you remember, my mom was flying out to do the race with me, Monica, and Monica's sister Mary. My husband and I drove up to Orlando on Friday morning and picked Mom up that night. We spent Saurday at Animal Kingdom - lots of fun, including my mom jumping in on a tribal dance demonstration! We had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants (we stayed at the military resort on property called Shades of Green, and when they say "resort" they aren't kidding!) and had the best Caesar salads ever. Bedtime came early for us, since we were looking at a 2am wakeup call due to the 530am race start.
So fast forward to 2am and our grogginess. Monica, her husband, Mary, and her adorable 3 year old daughter all got to our hotel around 3am to catch the bus with us. My husband, Monica's husband, and Mary's daughter all go back to sleep with promises of meeting us at the finish line, while the rest of us catch the bus to Epcot.
We walk our tired little butts to the front of our hotel and catch the Shades of Green dedicated bus to the race area, then do some more walking to the racers-only area, check our bags (can we say post-race flip-flops? - and didn't even have to stand in line: +1 for RunDisney!) - making sure to get a picture by every official photographer that we can! - and start the walk to the corrals. At this point I'm feeling alright, if a little unprepared since I didn't run a whole lot from mid-December on. Once we make the mile-ish trek to the corrals, my mom and I part ways with Monica and Mary, who are one corral ahead of us. We got there early (luckily) so we are near the front of our corral and sit down to pass the next 2 hours. The nervousness is really starting to set in now and I'm on the verge of an anxiety attack - and I realize we forgot to eat anything! Luckily I'd stuffed my pockets with Honey Stinger and Jelly Belly's, so we snacked as much as my stomach would let me.
Finally, our corral gets to the start line - and since we were so close to the front that we had an awesome view of the Fairy Godmother (!!!) sending us off, complete with our very own set of fireworks!
Now, I read in several race recaps from previous years to go excrutiatingly slow in the beginning if you could, because adrenaline will try to get the best of you and make you ignore your intervals. Well...I let adrenaline win, and we ran for the first 5 minutes. OH and I think I forgot to mention how utterly injured my mom started the race off being. She had a broken toe on her left foot, a torn rotator cuff, no training, and quickly developed shin splints. So we hit up the med tent to have her arm taped before we even hit the first mile. We stopped for photo ops quite often too - one canNOT bypass a picture with the Ugly Stepsisters!
Fast forward to the Magic Kingdom, quickly followed by running down Main Street USA and Cinderella's castle. Talk about rejuventation! So many people were lining Main Street USA and cheering us on - it literally brought tears to my eyes.
Around mile 5 we first saw the dreaded Balloon Ladies, who walk a 16 minute/mile pace beginning when the last person crosses the start line. If you aren't in front of the by the next mile marker, a bus pulls across the road and picks you up. Let me tell you, we started trying to haul booty! Not an easy task because it was such a crowded race. We got to the mid-way point of the race - around mile 7 - and they were blasting Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire," which was some much-needed motivation.
At mile 10 we were so hungry and tired that I was legitmately ready to quit and let the bus pick us up. Knowing how much pain my mom was in was a HUGE factor in my feeling this way, too. My husband sent me a text message around this time saying how proud he was of me, and my friend (and fellow recent first-time half marathoner) Kristin sent me another encouraging me to run with my heart when my legs get tired. This made me almost lose it and start crying right then! I remember we were at the bend/on-ramp where the Army Men yell at us to keep moving - between the texts, the Army Men, and my mom, we were able to push through!
Finally we made it back into Epcot, which was also lined with cheering people - and I once again found myself on the verge of tears. Next up was the church choir singing us to the finish line and I swear it took every fiber of my being not to lose it right there! We rounded a few more corners and my mom and I grabbed each other's hands and ran our way through the FINISH LINE of our FIRST EVER half marathon!! Words cannot describe my feelings as we crossed that finish line and the most beautiful medal was placed around my neck. Joy. Disbelief. Shock. So many emotions.
We opted not to wait in line for our picture with our medals, since Joe took some as we came through. We grabbed our snack boxes and went to find Joe and the group - which had to wait until I changed into flip-flops! Treated ourselves to mimosas then boarded the stinkiest bus ever to go back to the hotel.
My husband, mom, and I showered and headed back to EPCOT for lunch and the park. My mom and I were so unbelievably sore - including 2 almost-gone toenails on top of the first blood blisters I've ever had - but we still managed lunch (incredibly delicious and authentic Italian) and one ride before we called it quits and headed back to the hotel for an early night. We still had the next week in Orlando so we didn't mind.
And that's all I've got for now...I hope I won you back over!
Oh, our official finish time was 3:46:18 - not bad at all if you consider how many pictures we stopped for (I'll do another post with those later in the week, I promise) - and how much pain my poor mom was in!
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