Originally posted at laurabowers.net on January 25, 2016. I’m updating my author website by moving all older runDisney and running content here!
Seeing as how there’s only, yikes, 23 days until 2016’s Princess Half Marathon, I’m keeping this short and sweet with mostly photos.
Okay, so where was I? I’ve already chatted about the Fit for a Princess Expo. And the frozen Frozen 5k and Enchanted 10k here. Now on to the second half of the Glass Slipper Challenge and my third Princess Half!
As mentioned before, I got no sleep on Thursday night and only an hour on Friday, but Saturday night, I slept for about seven glorious hours. Ah. By 3:00am, I was on the first bus with a mission: Buy a commemorative jacket at the Disney merchandise tent before they sold out. (Preorder, people, preorder.) A couple of my running pals wanted jackets as well, so seeing the nearly-empty parking lot was a relief!
After scoring my lovely jacket, I met up with some of my lovely running pals and hung out for a short while before heading to the corrals. I can’t remember if there were characters out … my memory ain’t what it used to be, but the DJ was cranking and the energy was high! And the weather! A perfect 54-ish degrees, such a big difference from the 5k’s 28, so I felt perfectly comfortable in a tank top with just an emergency blanket to keep off the pre-race chill.
We were soon off and running with fireworks and a bippidy-bobbidy-boo from the Fairy Godmother! I was a little concerned about my ankle after spraining it in January and whether or not I had trained enough, but so far so good. I settled into a brisk 8-ish pace without any ear buds or music. It’s more fun listening to pounding feet and distant fireworks from the other corrals!
My plan was to skip Captain Jack and the princes since the lines are usually long and I could hit them on the way back, but eh, the line was short so why not? I have a better picture, but the way it looks like Captain Jack is picking bugs from my hair just had to be shared.
Afterwards, I made the decision to hit each and every character stop, so I kicked it in high gear. And the weather!Perfection! So much better than the 5 and 10k!!
Whoa. This picture got a little psychedelic with the lights! But I was so excited about getting a picture with Ralph and Vanellope. If memory serves me correctly, the line was on the longish side, but well worth the wait!
Cruella: What are you doing, trying to pee???
Seeing as how I’ve yet to get a picture with Buzz, out of all the races I’ve done, I was happy to see his line was short! Unfortunately, the concrete was still damp, so I slid right into him. Yikes. Buzz almost bit it.
And by this time, I realized that I had once again made the same mistake as with the marathon: Failure to eat enough! I was STARVING and the Gu’s weren’t getting it. Catching the occasional whiff of something yummy smelling didn’t help matters much.
Note to self: ALWAYS EAT!
Seeing the tux guys near Grand Floridian made me miss Ginny, seeing as how we ran back to get a picture with them during the full marathon! My feet must have been stinking, though, judging by the look on the one guy’s face…
Before I knew it, my Princess Half Marathon run had come to an end and my second Glass Slipper Challenge was completed! Wow, did I have a blast. I mean, I always have a blast. But this one was extra blasty for some reason. I ended up getting a photo with every character, and then some.
And the bling! Gorgeous as usual!!
I also had to get this picture in memory of Jackey and me accidentally taking a bus to Pop instead of Boardwalk after the full marathon. Duh. Still can’t believe we did that.
For the rest of my day and vacation, many more blasty times were had with friends, the Dapper Dans, Coke Man, Mary, and of course, my awesome husband.
All in all, I had an absolute amazing time at the 2015 Princess Half Marathon … it was most certainly my most favorite yet! I did have some ankle swelling the next day but eh, nothing a couple more weeks of rest couldn’t cure.
Thanks for following along on my PHM journey and I hope to see you at 2016’s race!
