Disney Princess Half Marathon 2011
Me, the anti-princess mom got swallowed by the Disney marketing magic (it was the promise of a Tiara medal that did it for me). The kidlet’s 5th birthday was the same week and I convinced the husband to celebrate it in Disney and I was waiting for this day like a giddy schoolgirl.
It started the day before as went to the Wide World of Sports for the Expo.
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The expo was a madhouse. Spent 2 hrs just to pick up my stuff, and left without buying anything. |
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Feb 27th
2:15am – my alarm went off and I woke up from a restless sleep of about 4 hrs. Armed with a bagel and chocolate milk (thanks to the husband who woke up to see me off, even though he was going to sleep in with the kids until I finished and came back), I took the shuttle bus from my hotel to the starting area(zero waiting time) and joined 16,000 Princesses and 500 Princes. The walk to the corrals (Corral C) took all of the promised 20 minutes.
My Princess Jasmine costume was simple – a tech T in the same color as homemade harem pants (which were great to run in even when the temp went up to 78 at the end!). Hoop earring and some harem pant fabric wrapped around my sweaty band.
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| That was one sassy fairy godmother 🙂
I knew I was running to enjoy myself, but that flat course beckoned this Atlanta girl and I had my mind on a good course time. That is – until I saw Capt. Jack Sparrow and his scurvy band of pirates. How could I resist
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Beast gave me a hug as I was running out. The 15minutes wait was worth that hug. Met two other girls from corral C here, who were as hopelessly taking pics as I was.
Prince Philip and Sleeping Beauty. What can I say? He made me feel like a real Princess.
Before anyone asks – yes, I waited to get pictures with all characters I saw except for Lilo (dressed as Elvis) and Stitch; and Jessie from ToyStory. The pirates, the hunks heros, Prince Charming, Beauty and the Beast all were 10-15minutes of wait time. But the rest were a couple minutes max.
This was also my first race with no music. Disney entertainment along the way was great (too late tonight to upload the pics). A 101 on how not to race. My disciplined run/walk turned out to be sprint to next character/stop.
Some highlights:
- My favorite part of the race – The royal way each and every Prince greeted me. Towards the end of 13.1 miles, I had myself believing that I WAS a real Princess.
- Worst part of the race – My time. It was a dismal pathetic 3hrs 39min at 16:43. A full HOUR slower than my target time.
- Favorite Character Picture – A tie between the the Mickey/Minne one Vs. The one with the 5 heros.
