Princess Half Marathon 2014

The weekend that I had been training for since October was finally here! All my sweat, emotional struggles, and physical struggles were all going to pay off. I couldn't believe it was finally time! I remember in November thinking it felt like the race would never be here. I never thought I would be doing half marathon... and anyone that knows me before my half marathon would say the same thing.. People were shocked but I did it! And i'm here to tell about it.

I got the pleasure to go to the expo twice. The expo was held at Disney's Wide World of Sports. It was like nothing I have ever seen before! It was huge! So many vendors I didn't even know what to do with myself! The fact that I was going to be running a half marathon did not hit me until I walked in to pick up my bib. Then all these feelings started rushing to me! I got to take my picture with Minnie Mouse, Aurora, and Snow White. I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Galloway, who is very inspiring! He even talked privately to me and Jessica about how to over come out mental struggle of finishing the race. It was such a sweet moment I will forever remember! I bought two bumper stickers for my car that showed I ran a half marathon. That was one of the things I was most excited about! Over all I thought the expo was great!

Onto race day! I only got a couple of hours of sleep that night... I expecterd to be so nervous that I couldn't sleep but it was pretty much the opposite.. I was too excited I couldn't sleep. Our alarm goes off around 3:20 am.. yes you read the correct! I laid out my clothes the night before so all I had to do was slip into my clothes and I am now Minnie Mouse! I went to Disney as Belle.. But then ended up matching my mom and going as Minnie Mouse! I didn't feel like my Belle costume was perfect so I am postponing it until next year's princess so it will be perfect! I grab my breakfast box my mom surprised me with and we headed down to the food court and headed to the bus! The line was SO long.. I mean SO SO long! But it went by pretty fast.. and the temp that day was just right!

We hop on the bus and my nerves really start kicking in! The longest run I have done is 10 miles and i'm about to be doing 13!! I was thinking what the heck am I doing here? I am not ready for this! Why would my mom ever sign me up for this? But... it was too late to turn back now.. I just had to put my game face on and enjoy it.. Although I was very nervous about the balloon ladies! We meet up with Jessica for a few minutes prerace, snapped a few pictures and headed to our corrals. We all had different ones.. Mom was in "J" I was in "M" and Jessica was in "P". I made a few friends in my time group since you have a while until you actually start running... The fireworks go off and we were on our way!!

I do have pictures off all the mile markers.. But I won't bore you with that! I did not stop at any of the character stops. My goal was to just finish in one piece! Plus the lines for the characters were SO long! Along with the potty lines! It was ridiculous!! I tried to stop at two different potty's but the lines were terrible! And I remembered a few blogs I read said there was a short bathroom line inside Tomorrowland.. So I booked it and went to the bathroom there.. and boy were they right! That line moves fast! And it's a real bathroom! The first few miles were good. I had my music in so I was kind of zoned out. I did make it a point to take my headphones out to take in the music in the parts of the race they played it. I wanted to take in the whole experience! Between mile 2 and 3 we go under the Magic Kingdom vehicle entrance... which was actually one of my favorite parts! We go by the ticket center down the "big hill" and back up.. I can finally see the castle!! And it was just as amazing if not more then I had imagined! We go down Main Street USA, through Tomorrowland, then around Fantasy land.. and FINALLY through the castle! It was such an amazing experience! We entered through the back of the castle and the trumpet players from Cinderlla were playing the trumpet as we ran through. like I said.. very magical! And that is the highlight of the whole race lol...everything else is a little dull until you see the big Epcot ball again!

 I'm almost at mile 6 at this point and I was feeling pretty great! During the race I ate a small bag of energy jelly beans, a small Luna protein bar, and the Cliff Bar shot they gave us on the course ( just like GU)... I didn't think I wanted to take it but i'm so glad I did! It gave me the carbs and energy I needed to finish this race! People weren't kidding when they said the bypass is boring... It seriously is so boring! I listen to Pandora and it was on Niki Minaj radio. It kept me going when the going got tough. For me Mile 11 was the most difficult mile I ran. Maybe because it was the most boring? Or maybe because it was the furthest I have ran yet.. But seriously I thought they had forgot to put the #12 mile marker...That's how long it felt! and by mile 12 I was getting pretty stinkin tired.. I can't even deny that. But When I saw that sign that said Epcot straight ahead I was pretty stoked! So just kept on chuggin along!

 And that's it folks! I made it! Once I saw that big beautiful ball I knew nothing would stop me! it was a long mile but I finished it.. and I will not sit here and lie to you... it was freakin hard! I was tired. But I got enough energy to go out strong! And Princess 2015 here I come!!