One of my goals for 2013 is to complete two Half Marathons. Last year I loved the Disney Princess Half (last year's race post here!) so Lu and I signed up again to check the first one off the list for 2013!!
The Expo was amazing and absolutely packed. We ran into Jeff Galloway and I thanked him for writing "Mental Motivation for Runners" which I just read this week and really found helpful. He was super friendly!!
On the big morning we had to get up crazy early to be there on time. Last year we promised we would dress up next time which felt a bit ridiculous at 3am to be honest...until we got there and everyone else was dressed up too :)
It was my first time in costume for a race and it was actually really fun! And it really helped me stay focused on finishing...no self-respecting 41-year old woman is exactly 'living her best life' getting picked up by the SAG wagon dressed as Minnie Mouse :)
There were about 24,000 princesses ranging in age from 14 to 96! We met up with Amy in the corral- she's a "friend of" Snow White :). And took about a billion photos since we had over an hour to wait before the big moment...
And then the Fairy Godmother waved her magic wand and we were off!
The race started and we celebrated each and every mile! It was hot and pretty humid and very congested but really fun!
The entertainment and spectators were totally fantastic!!! Lu helped me stay focused on each step...first to the castle,
...then a 15k, then 10, 11, and 12 miles and then just one more!!! Right before the end they had a full gospel choir. I remembered it from last year and burst into tears :)
And then we were all done!!!
One of my favorite races - and beautiful bling too :)
The photos are in and I love the video that the RunDisney folks put together (here!)...such sweet memories...:)
This race has gotten me completely pumped up so I've added a bunch of races to the Upcoming Events tab to keep up the momentum - I need to finish at least 12 of them this year. Come join me!!
Today was a completely amazing experience for so many reasons :). One of my goals this year was to run two Half Marathons so I had planned one at the begining of the year and another towards the end. I just didn't feel ready for the Rock and Roll Half a few weeks back and was feeling terribly guilty about allowing myself to fall behind with training :(. When I discovered that Luciana was doing the Disney Princess Half a couple of weeks later, I signed up so that we could do it together. We worked really hard over the past few weeks to get ready and training with such a special partner has been a total joy :).
On Friday night before the race, we went to packet pick up at ESPN. We couldn't quite believe that our big weekend was here!
The Expo was just HUGE!
It started to hit us that in just a day or two we would officially be honorary Disney princesses :)
At the Expo we got to see running hero, Jeff Galloway speak. I even asked a question! We were totally star-struck. Here he is talking about 'downstairs' issues. Runners - you know what I'm talking 'bout.
The night before I just couldn't sleep hardly at all. There aren't many things scarier on the bedroom floor than the morning 'get up' all laid out...
On race day we had to meet at 3 a.m. to be sure to get there by 4 a.m. We were both really nervous but the outdoor dance party and photo opps were a great distraction...
We promised each other not to worry about time, to stay together, finish together and most importantly to have FUN :)
The runners are all placed into groups based on predicted finish time since there were about 15,000 of us! Each corral had a different song for the runners to get to the start line for their 'go' time and we started getting really excited (and terrified) as we watched the runners ahead of us get started...And then it was us and our song was Party Rock Anthem! The running Gods are good!
Ev'ry Day I'm Shuffling...
It hit 6:15, the fairy godmother waved her magic wand and we were finally off!
Every half mile or so there was some form of entertainment. Everything from a marching band playing the theme tune to Rocky, Disney characters, acrobats, trampoliners, a hot air balloon, live bands, racing car drivers, everything you can imagine! As we ran past the Disney Wedding Chapel there were even about 10 groomsmen proposing to us with glass slippers as we ran by! It was so entertaining and I think I only listened to my ipod for maybe 2 songs the entire race!
The weather was absolutely perfect and the majority of runners had some kind of costume. As we heated up, there were literally hundreds of jackets and tutus discarded alongside the roadway:)
We ran all the way from the Epcot ball to the castle in Magic Kingdom and back again.
We didn't really start hurting until about mile 8 but we celebrated every single mile regardless. I think we were the among the last princesses with our sense of humor still intact at the end...
Look at some of the grumplestiltskins in the background!! And we were not even half-way yet...
Serious athlete poses...
The magical halfway point...:)
This pic says it all :)
It got pretty tough after about 8 or 9 miles but we pushed through and stuck to our 5/1 intervals. As soon as we could see the Epcot ball it all seemed to rush by. My favorite part of the entire race was just before the finish line when we turned a corner and there was a huge gospel choir. We were both moved to tears and grabbed each other's hands for our big 'over the line' moment :)
The medals were so pretty...
Despite the fact that afterwards I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, I'll never forget this race. And I promise to follow the training (yes all of it) next time. And there definitely will be a next time. Thank you Princess Lu - look at what we did together!! You were right - pain is temporary, but pride is permanent :)
Here's Mike pounding the pavement at the Inaugural Rock and Roll Half Marathon in St. Pete! His second half marathon time was amazing - 1:47:26!! So proud of you Mike - Congratulations!!!
I was supposed to have joined him but fell behind with training:(. I'm so dissappointed in myself that I didn't make it and let life get in the way. Thankfully, Luciana - my new running buddy - came along at just the right time and I have been able to jump into her slipstream since she is doing the Disney Princess Half in just a couple of weeks:). No more excuses - I going to do it with her and get back on track right away. Wish us luck!!
I think today is one of the proudest days of my life :). This morning I completed my first Half Marathon, the Women's Running Magazine's Women's Half in St. Petersburg to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Back in February, several of my girlfriends completed their first Half Marathons. When I was approached by another friend to join her team for this race I thought it was about time that I gave it a shot (they later bailed so I actually ended up running alone :(). I registered online and got a free 12-week training program so I decided to follow it as closely as I could and only run on raceday if I had completed the training. For me, I found it easier to commit to doing a training program rather than the actual race which felt like a mountain to climb at that time. Anyway, the training went really well - one of the biggest challenges was learning to do long runs alone since I knew Mike wouldn't be joining me on the day :( - until about week 9 when I injured my ankle. I had already started to exceed the mileage on the long runs a bit so I think it was a case of too much, too soon. Anyway, after a particularly bad run one night, I actually passed out from the pain in my ankle! I took this as a sign to take a week off and instead of giving up altogether I decided to substitute the training runs for the crosstrainer at the gym and be a lot more careful, particularly on long runs. I was very nervous when it came time for the only 10-miler during training (the program only went up to 10 miles based on the assumption that adrenaline would get you to 13 on the day:)) but I managed to do it without too much trouble at all! That was the point at which I decided that I would go for it and do the race itself :).
There were about 7,000 registrants so the bib pick up is all handled the day before. We booked a hotel in St. Pete for Saturday night and drove over earlier in the day to get the fancy bag of goodies and T-shirt.
Just a little terrifying to see my name on the list...
One of the best pieces of advice that I had was not to do anything different from training on the actual day. With that in mind, I ran in my old Newtons and promised myself a pair of these if I actually managed to finish (and ever wanted to run again :))...
We caught the sunset after the Expo and took a walk on the beach on the way to the restaurant to 'carb up.'
When we got to the hotel, there was a wedding reception by the pool. They had fireworks while Maddy was taking a swim!
To ease my nerves I got everything organized and laid out for the next day. It didn't work; I barely slept at all :(...
We woke up to leave at just after 5am. At this point I just wanted for it to be over...
Aside from all the runners wearing pink, everything at the hotel was pink, including the Christmas tree!
When we arrived I was totally overwhelmed by the scale of the whole thing. It was quite reassuring to know I wasn't going to be suffering alone. That didn't stop the tears though and I didn't stop crying until we actually started running...
I planned on taking millions of photos during the race but very quickly decided to just focus on being present with the whole experience. The course route went past several landmarks in St. Pete and there were 7 live bands. I barely even used my ipod, the spectators were just incredible and I also met several fantastic ladies throughout the race! I did get a picture of the pier at mile 8...
After 10 miles I started to feel very nervous since I hadn't ever run that far before. It was starting to get a little too hot, the breeze had subsided and my feet were starting to get really sore. My favorite part of the whole race though was running through the air-conditioned Tropicana Field stadium on the astroturf and seeing the 12th mile marker right outside! I couldn't believe how close we were to the finish but I still didn't believe I would actually make it until I had less than a half mile to go:). I was also amazed at how close I was going to be to my fantasy time of 2:30! It suddenly occurred to me that I was just about to do something that I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I was capable of and I burst into tears (again) as I crossed the line and hugged the lady who gave me my beautiful medal :).
The start/finish line was right outside the beautiful Dali museum...
Mike was so very proud of me!
After a couple of pics I was ready to go home and get some food and rest. When I woke up later on I took a walk to stretch out my legs a bit and reflect on the whole experience. I saw online that my time was 2:31:54 which I am completely thrilled with! So what next??? I'm really not sure. I'm pretty sure that I don't ever think I could take on a Full but I'm also pretty sure that I would do a Half again. For now, I'm going to celebrate for a while and wait and see how I feel later on :)...
