Princess Weekend 2020 Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge

How do you celebrate your second Fairy Tale Challenge? By going to the Magic Kingdom of course! So after a long nap and some breakfast, we headed out to ride some rides and get some castle pictures. Going into this weekend, I knew it was going to be busy. Princess weekend seems to have the most impact on Magic Kingdom crowds of any race weekend plus it always falls during some schools' winter break. With that in mind, we booked some fastpasses and planned on just hanging out in the park if the lines were too long.

I love getting my medals signed by the theme character so one of our fastpasses was to meet Cinderella and Elena. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the meet and greet line didn't seem too crazy since Cindy was the half marathon princess this year.

Medal autograph accomplished!

 Elena is always a bunch of fun! I don't really know anything about her but she's always super spunky and talkative. I really need to check and see if any of her movies are on Disney+ so I can find out her story. So many of the Disney princesses are sweet and reserved that it's fun to interact with someone who is so different! (That's also why I love meeting Cindy's stepsisters! They're a hoot!)

After the meet and greet, the day started to go a bit off plan. We had another two fastpasses plus a few bonus multiple experience passes given to me by a cast member because our room took so long to get ready but even the fastpass lines were crazy! After a PR race, I was just too tired to deal with the crowds so we took some more medal photos and headed over to the Polynesian to find a shorter Dole Whip line.

Except that the Poly had a new special Dole Whip snack that everyone was trying to get so its line was even longer than the one in Adventure land. Ok, on to plan C. We took a bus from the Polynesian over to Disney Springs to escape the crowds and find some dinner. We ended up getting the allergy fish and chips from Cookes of Dublin. It was so good!

We ended up spending the rest of the evening chilling in our hotel room. It ended up being a very low park time weekend but I was really ok with that. Will and I both needed some extra recovery time physically and mentally and I was so glad that we took that space to just relax. We did manage to have an amazing park day on Monday so stay tuned for that recap!

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Part 1: Expo
Part 2: 10k
Part 3: Half Marathon
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-You are here.
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 3: Half Marathon Race Recap

For the Princess half marathon, my husband Will decided to join me. He had promised to run Princess weekend with me in a tutu if I ran a Spartan race. Which I did.... So he got to dress up as Cinderfella while I went as Lady Tremaine. We opted for a Sparkle Athletic skirt instead of a tutu as tutus can be very itchy!! But he was a great sport about it and even wore a running tiara.

The corrals for the half are actually quite a walk from the prerace area so we walked over with some of our running friends. I had a really nice chat with Jen from the Go Find Your Awesome Podcast. We talked about my goals for this race (a sub 2:30 and new half PR). She told me that no matter what happened today, I was awesome! Those words of wisdom would come in handy later.

Since the weather was really great for running, I had decided to go for another PR attempt and see if I could hit the 2:30 mark. Just like for Wine and Dine, the 2:30 pace group was in my corral and they used the 60:30 interval that I train with. One of the reasons I do PR attempts at runDisney races is that they offer Galloway pace groups! Will joined me back in corral E and we found the pace group. It was not as cold as the 10k the day before but I did bring a throw away shirt and mylar blanket to wear in the corral. I'm such a pansy about being cold!

Then we were off! I love running with a pace group at the beginning of a race. It's super easy to go out too fast or to get bogged down by the initial crowding on the course and go too slowly. We maintained a great pace through the beginning of the course. The beginning of the Princess half marathon course is pretty boring. It's dark. It's on the high way and there's not much to see in the first few miles except a few character stops. I do remember seeing character stops but there's no stopping during a PR attempt!

I felt ok during the first three miles or so but not amazing. I definitely could tell that I ran the 10k the day before a bit faster than I probably should have. But the conditions were so great that it was hard to hold back even as much as I did! The two pacers were really fun and up beat so that definitely helped. And I had Will to chat with. We also ran into Jar Oxandspoon going under the bridge between the Magic Kingdom parking lot and the Contemporary. Will ran up and hung with him for a bit before rejoining me in the pace group.

We hit Magic Kingdom after mile 4 and that really gave me a boost of energy. Because we hadn't stopped for characters, there wasn't much crowding at the course despite having started in a later corral. There was plenty of space to get action shots from the photopass photographers and still stay with the pace group. Even the pacers were really getting into the action shots so it was a lot of fun!

Running through the castle is my favorite part of this course and we both ended up getting a castle action shot! Woohoo! Knowing that I was going to have at least some photos from this race made me really happy and was definitely an energy booster which I knew I would need for the long highway stretch back to Epcot.

But during Magic Kingdom, something started to rub on my rib cage under my left arm. I'm not sure what it was as I had worn all of the pieces of my running costume before and never had any issues. Thankfully, I knew from previous races on this course that a med tent was just past Frontierland in the back stage area before we hit cone alley. I had Will run ahead of me and grab some vaseline for me. I was able to apply on the go and not risk losing the pace group because I had to stop. Thankfully, that completely took care of the rubbing so I was fine the rest of the race. Will was also great with running ahead to the water stops so I could drink water during a walk interval even if we ran through the water stops.

I had probably my very best cone alley experience this race. This stretch between Magic Kingdom and the highway is a huge choke point and can be really hard to navigate. I'm not sure if it's just because I was going faster or if my pace group was just really good at staying together but it was really not bad. It's good to remember that each and every race experience is different and just because one section of the course was bad for someone else, that doesn't mean it's also going to be bad for you.

Then it was back on the wide highway towards Epcot. I actually like the highway stretches of the course because there is so much room to navigate between other runners but it can be brutal if the weather starts to get warm and the sun is beating down on you. This race started in the 50s so it was really nice for the beginning half or so of the race. On the way back to Epcot, I started over heating and struggling to stay with the pace group.

I had a hard time deciding what to wear for this race. For the 10k, I definitely needed pants and a long sleeved shirt for the whole thing but it was going to be about 10 degrees warmer for the half. I decided to wear pants but a throw away long sleeved shirt so I could run in a sleeveless top. I ended up choosing which pants to wear with which outfit based on which colors went best together but that was a mistake. The blue pants I wore for the 10k are actually nice cooling pants from Under Armor that are meant to be worn in the heat. The black pants are cheap running leggings from Walmart with no cooling properties. I really could have used the cooling properties during the half marathon!

Around mile 9, I decided to stop to roll my pant legs up to see if that would help with the over heating. I also switched to a 45:45 interval to give my legs more of a break. Running without the pace group meant that I could walk the water stops and hydrate better. I've definitely noticed that running through the water stops really makes it harder for me to maintain pace. For the rest of the race, I drank two glasses of water, a swig of my pickle juice for electrolytes and dumped a cup of water over my head at each water stop.

I still wanted to try and PR and possibly catch up to the pace group so I decided to keep a good pace for the next stretch and see how I was doing. If I got to a point where I 100% knew I couldn't PR, then I could always stop for a bunch of short character lines in Epcot. We were actually a bit ahead of pace so I knew a PR was still possible if I could continue to push for the rest of the race. I turned on my inspirational Disney running playlist and kept going. The changes I had made definitely made me feel a lot better even if I hadn't been able to keep pace with the group so I think breaking off from them was the right decision.

They were playing Into the Unknown during one section of the Epcot backstage area which was one of my inspirational songs. That was a big motivator for me and I had some really great paces for the intervals during that section. I still hadn't caught up with the pace group but I was still in range of possibly PR'ing so I kept going. Things were getting really rough as we exited Epcot to head towards the finisher's shoot. I had to keep taking my intervals the whole way through, even if there were photographers so I got some pretty awkward face photos.

I really wanted to just stop and walk the rest of the race since I was so tired but instead, I dug deep and found just a bit more for one final (and actually pretty pathetic) push towards the finish line. I stopped my running app and checked the time. It was definitely over my previous PR from Wine and Dine weekend. My app time is usually a bit longer than my actual time as it starts before I start and I stop it after crossing the finish line but it definitely looked like it was too much longer than my PR for the difference to get me an official PR.

And I was surprisingly ok with that. I gave it my best effort and I pushed myself all the way to the very last seconds of the race. It was still an amazing time and I had a blast doing it. And either way, I was awesome and not PR'ing at an incredibly crowded race that I dressed too warmly for was not going to change that. We were both really tired so we decided to head back to the hotel immediately instead of hanging out in the finish area to wait for everyone else to finish. We had breakfast and then napped. I woke up from my nap to a lovely text from my running friend Audrey who had been tracking my race bib and wanted to congratulate me on an awesome time and ask if I had PR'd.

This was the first I had seen my unofficial time from runDisney and it was lower than I thought it was. I almost texted back that it was not a PR but I decided to hop onto the runDisney website to double check my past PR since I was going purely on memory. And I had misremembered the seconds from my last PR which mean that my unofficial time was two seconds faster than my PR. I was pretty stunned but decided to wait until my official time was posted before calling it an official PR. But the official time matched the unofficial time and I had myself a PR. While celebrating, I realized something.

Every second of that race counted. Each extra interval I had pushed to stay with the pace group before breaking off counted. Every time I wanted to stop my run interval early but didn't had mattered. That last tiny little bit I found in myself to push in those last yards towards the finish line made a difference. If I had chosen to give up on any one of those micro decisions along the course, I would not have had a PR. In the end, I'm so glad I decided to keep pushing myself to see what I could find because I found awesomeness.

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Part 1: Expo
Part 2: 10k
Part 3: Half Marathon-Your are here.
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-Coming soon!
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 2: 10k Race Recap

Saturday morning for the 10k came dark and early and chilly! Last year, we had a heat wave for princess weekend but this year we had a cold spell. It was about 45F at race start! As a Floridian, I was not mentally prepared for standing in the corrals in that kind of weather. My original costume idea was to be Jasmine but in the week leading up to the race, I was scrambling to find a way to make my costume more weather appropriate. I had a pair of teal leggings to wear and I grabbed my 2020 Marathon Weekend shirt since the colors coordinated with everything else I was wearing. No one knew who I was but it still looked cute in photos.

I also bought some throw away gloves to wear. I wanted to grab a mylar blanket but I couldn't find any. A trash bag with a hole in the top also works in a pinch so I had a super glamorous look prerace. The character lines were super long by the time I arrived at the race site so I skipped character photos and instead met up with some friends I'd met on Instagram. The runDisney community is so awesome and it was awesome to get to meet more people in real life!

The 10k corrals are really close to the character area so I popped into my corral pretty early. It definitely felt odd being in corral A. I definitely don't run at a corral A speed but I decided to just enjoy the corral A experience incase it's my one time to be at the front of the pack. It was really chilly in the corral but the trash bag definitely helped. Pretty soon we were moving forward to get in position for race start. Unfortunately, I tossed my trash bag while we were getting into position. Usually, once I'm in the shoot, race start is imminent but in corral A, you are in the shoot before the preshow even starts. Oops! I still had enough layers that it was bearable but I was still colder than I would have liked.

Then it was time for race start! I've seen video from runners who start in corral A and actually run corral A pace but I was still amazed at how much space there was!! I opted to run the first mile before starting my intervals as it was cold and I really wanted to warm up. The first character we passed was Pocahontas. She was up on the overpass so she wasn't available for photos. I was kind of disappointed that she didn't have any photo opportunities the entire weekend but there were plenty of Pocahontas characters during the race which I really appreciated. There was John Smith, Meeko and Governor Ratcliffe. I stopped for a photo with John but I wanted to keep moving. Brr!

There was one section of the highway part of the course I really did not like. We ran back through part of the Epcot parking lot which was nice because it was a convenient place for spectators to go after the race start. Unfortunately, all of the buses that shuttle people back to their resorts were lined up along the course. They were all running so there was a really bad exhaust smell in the air. Nasty! It was bad for the runners but I felt really bad for the spectators who just had to stand there and breathe that gross air.

I made it into Epcot in the dark which was amazing! I wasn't going very fast as I wanted to save my legs for the half but starting right at 5:30 allowed me to get to the park in the dark. So beautiful! I absolutely love running through the parks in the dark. It's one of my favorite parts of a race weekend. The lights were all on and it was an amazing sight. I stopped for a few photos but didn't stop for a character until France. Esmeralda and Quasimodo were out! Esmeralda was out for the Marathon Weekend half but her line was super long so I didn't stop that weekend. The line was so short when I got there so I had to stop.

The course then headed out around the Boardwalk area. I do enjoy running the Boardwalk and for once it was dry! I ran into Kristen from Running in Makeup and Theresa from Running with Shinsplints who were cheering on the Boardwalk. Thanks for the support ladies! My next character photo was Clarice. She's a chipmunkette who appeared in some Chip and Dale cartoons. I've seen her with Chip and Dale during several races but the trio always has a super long line. She was kind of tucked away in a corner at the bottom of a hill right by the Swan and Dolphin hotel so I think a lot of people didn't see her. There were only 4 or 5 people in line for her so I had to stop!

Then I ran passed the Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts before heading back into Epcot. At the very center of the lagoon, Flora, Fauna and Merriweather were available for photos! Since they were the challenge characters, I was really excited to see them on the course. The line wasn't too long when I stopped but by the time I got my picture and left, it had really picked up. (The ended up also being on the half marathon course too so hopefully lots of people got the opportunity for photos.) 

After that, the course was almost over and headed out of Epcot and to the finish line. We got to run through some of the Guardians of the Galaxy construction area which was cool. I'm so pumped for that ride. I did start to get cold again during the last mile or so of the race. I had tossed my gloves around mile 3 and my hands started getting really cold at this point! I did check the weather later in the day and the temperature did actually dip a few degrees towards the end of my race. I took my time crossing the finish line and made sure to get a great finish line photo. They did have mylar blankets at the end of the race which I needed!

The character lines were pretty short so I grabbed a photo with Aurora and Princess Minnie. I got in line to see Anna and Elsa too but I only stayed a few minutes. For whatever reason, their line was moving really slowly and I was just too cold to stand outside anymore. I headed back to my resort for a hot shower and a nap. Since I got done with my race so early, I was able to nap and still make it in time for breakfast at my resort. Mickey waffles for the win!

After breakfast, I headed over to Disney Springs for some window shopping. I stopped by Erin McKenna's for some allergy friendly treats. Some Disney resorts carry mini cupcakes from this bakery in their cafeteria but no such luck this trip. I got my favorite-a mint brownie cupcake. Then I attended another meet up! Yay for friend time! It was a bit smaller than the Marathon Weekend meet up which was nice because I felt like I actually could catch up with everyone and not miss people. After the meetup, it was back to the resort for me. Since the weather was so great for running, I planned on going for a PR attempt at the half marathon so I needed to rest my legs. I got in an epsom salt bath and spent the evening watching HGTV in bed. A lot of people enjoy getting in tons of park time during race weekends but I really enjoy having some quiet resort time.

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Part 1: Expo
Part 2: 10k-You are here.
Part 3: Half Marathon
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-Coming soon!
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Princess Weekend 2020 Part 1: Expo

The first stop of every runDisney weekend is the expo! The first day of the expo is always the busiest so I like to go on Friday when things are a bit more chill. Since Wine and Dine and Marathon weekends sold out of a lot of merchandise on the first day, our first stop was the official runDisney merchandise area. Thankfully, there was still plenty of merchandise and sizes available when we arrived.

I got two mini medal replica pins (the challenge one was sold out), the weekend coffee mug as well as a Fairy Tale Challenge tank. I don't usually buy shirts as they rarely have XS but this one was so cute and they actually had it in my size! And it wasn't pastel! Win! Then we popped over to pick up my preorder of the passholder Tervis to go mug and pin. So cute!

We were a bit too early to catch any of the meet and greet characters but Cinderella's coach men were available for photos. They are usually outside with Cinderella's coach that they use for weddings but it was quite cold so they moved inside.

Next we headed over to bib pickup. I knew I was going to be in corral E for the half but challenge participants don't find out their 10k corral until bib pick up. For Princess and Star Wars weekend 2019, I was in corral C for the 10k but for Wine and Dine, I was in corral E so I was anxious to find out my corral. Somehow, I ended up in corral A! I tried to pay attention to challenge bibs over the weekend and it seemed like the 10k corrals were a bit random. I think I saw just about every possible corral pairing except for ones where the half corral was a lower letter than the 10k corral. So who knows how they are assigning 10k corrals for the challenges.

Our last stop was shirt pickup in the vendor merchandise area. I really liked the shirt colors for this year. I love a bright bold color and I'm not really a pastels person so I always love when the princess shirts aren't pastels. I'm not 100% in love with the Cinderella design on a yellow background but I do really like the other two. I didn't end up getting anything from any of the vendors this go around but I'll be back in a few weeks for Star Wars weekend incase there's anything I can't live without.

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Part 1: Expo-You are here.
Part 2: 10k
Part 3: Half Marathon
Part 4: Fairy Tale Challenge-Coming soon!
Part 5: Disney Magic at Animal Kingdom-coming soon!

Marathon Weekend 2020 Part 4: Enjoying Some Disney Magic

One of the best parts of a runDisney weekend is getting to enjoy some Disney magic. Post-marathon we always try to plan a chill day with lots of photo taking and not too much running around. We always plan a few fast passes but rest and recovery is priority #1. We ended up at the Magic Kingdom Sunday after the marathon so we had to get some castle shots with our metals. So fabulous! Bonus points if your outfit coordinates with the colors of your medals.

We love character met and greets for a post-race Disney fun. We always try to visit the theme character for each race if they are around in the parks. Mickey was our first stop. The marathon medal was a big spinner so there wasn't space on the back for a signature so Will had him sign his marathon Mickey ears! (Other runners had Mickey sign the medal ribbon).

The characters get so excited when they see your medals. I don't normally love character meet and greets but the more runDisney weekends I do, the more I enjoy them!

Goofy also does meet and greets in Magic Kingdom so we visited him. Goofy is a hilarious character to interact with! I think the characters who can be quirky are the most fun to meet. (The evil stepsisters are another favorite of mine.)

And I needed to meet Donald for my half marathon medal. My mom loved Donald as a kid and she had a huge collection of Donald stuffed animals when I was little so Donald always has a special place in my heart. And now that the WDW Half Marathon in 2019 was my first half, I love Donald things!

I adore that his signature always includes #1. Move over Mickey! I'm a bird kind of a girl!

On Monday, we headed over to Epcot. Epcot is my favorite park to just walk around and chill at. There's always so much cool stuff in the World Showcase plus the festivals are all amazing. Marathon Weekend usually falls between festivals but there's still loads to see. We joined up with some fellow Joyful Milers to hang out and enjoy the day.

We did a lot of hanging out and chatting. Our group decided to ride Frozen and we had a blast discussing our favorite Disney movies in line. Jackey had a whole list of favorites type questions and I thought that was a great idea! I never felt like I needed to be on my phone and I could just focus on hanging out with my friends. We did one character stop since Snow White happened to be out with a short line. Plus she's the perfect character for all of the Doopey challengers.

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Marathon Weekend 2020
Part 1: The Expo and YouTube Meet Up
Part 2: The Half Marathon
Part 3: Cheering for the Marathon
Part 4: Enjoying some Disney Magic-You are here!

Marathon Weekend 2020 Part 3: Cheering for the Marathon

If you've never cheered for a race, it really is a magical experience-even more so if it's a marathon in the most magical place on earth! So I was 100% on board for cheering for the marathon again this year. The race started half an hour earlier than last year so I adjusted my am wake up call to 3 am. I don't like to get on the first bus when spectating so that the seats can go to runners but I don't want to be on the last bus either so I planned on getting on the bus at around 4 am. The marathon course had quite a few changes this year and magic kingdom was just past mile 10 rather than just past mile 6 like last year so I had plenty of time to get to the Magic Kingdom before the runners arrived.

This all ended up being a good idea because there was major traffic trying to get to Epcot for the race start! Craziness! I'm not sure exactly what went wrong this year but there were so many buses of runners stuck in traffic. It was so bad that some of the runners were getting out of their cars and walking to the parking lot rather than waiting in traffic. My bus driver was a bit more of a proactive driver and bypassed a lot of the traffic and cut back over to the right hand lane closer to where we needed to turn. Even with that, it took us over 40 mins to get from the resort to the Epcot parking lot. Once we got into the parking lot, the cast members where doing a great job of getting all of the buses unloaded quickly but a lot of the runners were feeling really stressed out as we got off the bus at 4:50 am with 10 minutes until race start.

I headed over to the front of Epcot to catch the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center. I heard some of the cast members reassuring runners that the race had been delayed which was a good call since many runners probably wouldn't have made it to the start on time. The race ended up starting about 20 mins late but I was already on the monorail. Two quick monorail trips and I was in the Magic Kingdom.

The Magic Kingdom opens at 5:30 am for spectators and not ticket is needed to spectate for the race before the park opens. I made it there a bit after 5:30 am so spectators were already lined up to cheer. I took a few minutes to enjoy Main Street at night. It's so beautiful with all of the Christmas lights and decor still up! It's a great opportunity to get some photos with the castle with a very light crowd.

The crowds on Main Street seemed a bit less crowded than last year. There were several stretches along the course where there was space right up by the rope. I suspect that this is due to more cheering opportunities available in Epcot at the beginning of the race and due to people getting stuck in traffic and not making it to Magic Kingdom. I had plenty of time to add bib numbers into runner tracking for all of my friends. Alas, I learned that you can only track up to 8 bibs! Runner tracking will send you start, 5 mile, 10 mile, half marathon, 20 mile and finish alerts. You can also do live tracking on your phone but that just guesses at your runner's progress based on the previous average pace and doesn't take into account if they stop or change speed between alerts.

First up are the hand cycle athletes. Some of them really move! And quite a few light up their chairs with lights so they look so cool cycling down Main Street. Pretty soon the elite men and women started to trickle in. If you have never seen elite athletes running, it's an amazing sight. They really do make it look effortless! Since the spectating area was further into the marathon course this year, the runners were even more spread out which is great for spectating. I got to see so many of my friends run down towards the castle. I wasn't sure how much delay there would be in the runner tracking texts but I was able to get the 10 mile update and then get ready to start looking for my runners with plenty of time.

As I was waiting for my slower runners, I noticed that the crowds were starting to thin out. Lots of people who are only cheering for one runner plan on catching their runner at several stops on the course but I decided to cheer for everyone at on spot rather than bouncing around and missing people. I was still feeling really good once my last runner passed so I decided to stay and continue cheering. The back of the pack runners need encouragement too! In the end, I stayed and cheered on the ballon ladies as they passed.

My next stop was the Polynesian resort for breakfast. They have two sit down restaurants but I opted for the quick service Captain Cook's just like last year. It was pretty crowded so I shared a table with two other ladies who were cheering on runners that morning. I always meet the nicest people on race weekends. The runDisney community is absolutely wonderful! After breakfast, I took my tea to go and hung out around the resort for a bit. After a very crowded half marathon course, it was great to get some introvert time.

To get back to Epcot, I reversed my monorail journey and headed over to the finish line area in the Epcot parking lot. The finish line was very crowded and because I cheered for longer in Magic Kingdom that morning, I didn't have as much time to stake out a finish line viewing spot. There are many viewing areas before and after the finish line so it's always a good idea to walk around to find the least crowded section. I ended up near the volunteers handing out medals and got to see Will get his medal.

It was a wonderful experience cheering for the marathon but it was really warm for running and Will wasn't feeling that great after the race so we headed straight back to the hotel for showers and naps. Post marathon naps are the best!

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Marathon Weekend 2020
Part 1: The Expo and YouTube Meet Up
Part 2: The Half Marathon
Part 3: Cheering for the Marathon-You are here.
Part 4: Enjoying some Disney Magic

Marathon Weekend 2020 Part 2: The Half Marathon

Marathon Weekend has historically has some varied and unpredictable weather. Coming into the weekend, it was looking like a very warm and humid race. Since I had planned my costume with layering in mind, it was easy to strip down to the most minimal version which included shorts, a tank top, a running skirt and a visor. (Last year, it was much chillier so I wore pants and had a throw away jacket to wear in the corrals.) I also had plenty of time to mentally prepare myself for warm weather. Living in Florida, I have an advantage over those traveling from colder climates so always keep your summer running needs in mind when preparing for a runDisney race.

The wake up call was at 2 am. I was much more prepared for the early mornings than I was last year so I stuck with my routine. Nothing new on race day! I had tea and a banana and then got myself looking cute for the race. I did pack five magic bands but forgot to pack the one that matched my running costume! Dope! Oh, well. We headed out to get a seat on the first bus which left at 3:00 am. I always like to catch the first bus so I can not feel stressed if there's traffic and so I can get character photos.

The prerace characters were Dopey, Goofy, Mickey and Donald. I opted for photos with just Mickey and Donald. I feel weird getting photos with Dopey and Goofy if I'm not running those races. Since we only go the two photos, that left us plenty of time to hang with friends by the dj. It's great to get excited with everyone and to check out everyone's costumes! A bunch of our friends did Donald and another group did the Mighty Ducks.

I found out that two of my friends, Leslie and Kimberly were in my corral (E) and I decided to run with them. Since the race was going to be a warm race, I wanted to go a bit slower and just enjoy the experience rather than suffering through trying to get a time goal. They were both doing Goofy and wanted to take it easy before the marathon on Sunday so it was a good fit.

Due to the massive amount of construction going on at Disney currently, they did have to make some tweaks to the course. But the corral set up was very similar to last year including the really long walk! So we headed over to the corrals pretty early to give ourselves enough time to get over there and situated. We also ran into a few more friends in the corral so we had some nice chats while we waited for the race start. The corrals are probably my least favorite part of race weekend. It's a lot of standing and waiting with people all right up next to you. It's really nice to have a friend to chat with (even if you don't plan on running together) to make the time go by faster.  I didn't bother watching much of the preshow as I'm short and the screen was far away.


Then we were off! We opted to run the first two miles or so and then start intervals which is something I've never done before but can be a good strategy to deal with the crowding during the beginning of the course. In the theme of things I've never done before, we also stopped for selfies with each mile marker. Some of the ones we took before sun up aren't the greatest but it was fun! I totally get why so many people do that. It helped break up the highway stretches which can be really boring. There were also a couple of characters (Esmerelda, Captain Jack and Lilo) during the highway to Magic Kingdom but we opted not to stop for any of them.

I also had a new electrolyte strategy for this race. I carried a water bottle full of pickle juice to drink at water stops instead of Powerade. I had tried it on a few training runs so I knew it wouldn't bother my stomach but this was my first race with it. At each water station, I would drink a cup of water, take a swig of pickle juice and then have a second glass of water to wash away the pickle taste. It ended up working really well! I was worried that the pickle juice might start to taste really gross but it was fine. I do love pickles though!

Our next stop was the Magic Kingdom parking lot sign which was lit up really nicely and had It's a Small World music playing. It was so pretty! And it meant the castle was coming! There were two wintery characters in the parking lot-Rudolph with some toy soldiers and Duffy the bear in a santa suit. They also had the faux snow made of bubbles blowing at each stop which was really cool! Only snow of the season for me!

The course ran through the Transportation and Ticket Center and then up past the Contemporary. There were quite a few spectators at the T&T Center and a few at the Contemporary. It's always nice to have people cheering you on! There was a slight change to the course going into Magic Kingdom as we didn't really run through the bus drop off section but we did still run straight through the front of the park.

Main Street is definitely the best part of the course! It was still fairly dark outside when we made it into the park and it looked so beautiful all light up! I love the castle in it's Christmas lights! Mile 5 was right before we headed into Tomorrowland. I also adore running through Tomorrowland! Disney is still working on the Tomorrowland rethemeing but it always looks great lit up in the dark. The it was into Fantasyland and through the castle! I did feel like there were fewer characters in this section of the park than last year but we did run through slightly less of Fantasyland this year so maybe that's why.

We definitely didn't make it through the front of the castle in the dark but it was pretty overcast so you could still tell the castle was lit up in the photos. I ended up with a great action shot by the castle again this year but it's always a good idea to stop for a posed photo just in case the action shot doesn't come out. Then it was onward to Liberty Square and Frontierland!

There are several in park bathrooms available to runners and I had a pit stop at the one between Frontierland and Adventureland. It's a bit off the course so lots of people miss it and there was no line! Woohoo! We also ran into the Mighty Ducks crew who were waiting for a character photo near by. I'm always amazed at how many people I run into on course! After Frontierland, we exited through where the parade floats come out into a backstage area. Some of the backstage areas are really cool and they had a few parade floats out with Pinocchio which was really cool. It's also where the backsides of Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain are. The train was not available for photos this year and won't be until they open the train back up when the Tron construction is done.

The next section of the course past the Grand Floridian is really narrow and we ended up walking a lot. There's usually a character stop or two during this section and we stopped for Daisy. She was in a really cute yellow dress that I've never seen before. I do appreciate that they try to have rare characters or more unique character outfits for us at some of the character stops. Thankfully, the course opens back up again after mile 7 when we it the main highway stretch back towards Epcot.

I know a lot of people hate the highways. They can be so brutal if it's hot and the sun is baking down on you. The clouds managed to stay out for most of it and we even had a nice breeze for part of it. I always appreciate the space the highways provide as some parts of the course are so crowded! We caught up with several more of the Donald crew at the Goofy photo stop and we ended up walking with them for a good bit. I had some really nice conversations during this race.

Once we hit the cloverleaf onramp around mile 10, the sun had come out again and we were all really drooping. This is the "hilly" section of the course so we did a lot of walking and drank a lot of water but it also means that we were almost back to Epcot! The Epcot section of the course also had some tweaks (so much construction going on here right now!) and part of that was more of the backstage area. Personally, I think this backstage area is less interesting than the Magic Kingdom section but there was a water stop and several character stops which was nice.

There was only a very small section in Epcot proper and the course was very crowded at this point. We had slowed down a lot and had fallen back in with some of the later, larger corrals. I was ok with that because at this point I was ready to be done with the race. It was hot and I was tired. We did not get to run out the front past Spaceship Earth due to the construction and the last section of the course was a weird hybrid between the course used for Wine and Dine 2019 and one from Marathon Weekend 2019. The finish line was incredibly crowded and even though I did my best to have a space so I could get a finish line shot, it didn't happen. People kept cutting right in front of me and there wasn't anywhere else to go.

In the end, I was just happy to be done. It was medal and snack box time! In the end, I spent almost four hours on course which is 45 mins longer than my previous personal worst. I actually had a lot of fun for most of that time but it was a long time to be on my feet running and walking and I wasn't really prepared for that. I would definitely do some things differently next time I do a race this hot. Four hours is just a bit much for me until I decide to commit to a marathon. That's one of the things I love about running. I'm always learning new things and tweaking what I do.

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Marathon Weekend 2020
Part 1: The Expo and YouTube Meet Up
Part 2: The Half Marathon-You are here!
Part 3: Cheering for the Marathon
Part 4: Enjoying some Disney Magic