Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A runDisney Princess In The Making - Part 3

3am Sunday morning came quickly!
I was asleep by 830 on Saturday night and didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 3am! I thought it would be tough to get up and find the motivation to get moving but it wasn't, I was up and dressed and ready to get on the bus in about 20 minutes!
I don't remember much of the bus ride to EPCOT, I think I took a quick nap! Once we got to EPCOT and started the walk to the pre race retreat area my nerves started to kick in. I wasn't sure what to expect as I had never run a half marathon and I had heard about the balloon ladies!

For those of you that haven't run a Disney race the balloon ladies are the last people to cross the starting line and keep a constant 16min mile pace. If they pass you, you are at risk of being swept- basically out on a bus and driven to the finish line. In reality I didn't have to worry about them because is started about an hour and 15min before them as I was in corral I and they were in corral P.

The walk over the starting line was about a 20min walk, before the race had even started I had already done 2.1miles. 

Once it was time for my corral I took a deep breathe watched the fire works and started my journey! 

Let's be honest the first 5 miles sucked. It was all on the highway with nothing to look at it. They had a few spots to stop for a picture with characters - the heros (Hercules, Aladdin, Flynn Ryder and someone else(?)), followed by the pirates.

The magic kingdom sign was a tease. It was still a little over a mile before you entered the actual park and not just the parking lots. 
 Once we founded the corner to Main Street I suddenly was hit with a wave of emotion. I knew I would be seeing Chris somewhere along Main Street and I knew there would be so many people cheering. It just gave me so much motivation to push through even though I was in so much pain from a blister on my little toe. 

When I saw Chris I ran over quickly threw my water bottle at him and kept going. We ran through Tomorrow Land, past the people mover, past the new mine train ride and then there it was .. The castle!! Anna, Elsa and Kristoff where on the balcony waving to everyone .. Slightly disappointed because it's Cinderella's castle so why wasn't she there?

Running through the castle was such a neat feeling! The maids were in the doorway cheering everyone one. I was truly amazed by the support from all the cast members at Disney. They were cheering for everyone even at 630am they were so happy and it really helped me in some spots! 
After the castle it was back to the roads. We ran past the golf courses, a bunch of resorts and again.. It was boring. It was starting to get hot out and we were looking right into the sun. 

At mile 8 I couldn't take it anymore, I had to stop. My foot was hurting so bad I was almost in tears with every step. I had a blister on my little toe on my right foot. I stopped at the medic tent for what I thought would be a 5min quick fix turned out to be an almost 25 full minutes with a lot of band aids and gel pads and some freezing cream.  Not only did I have a blister on the bottom of my toe, I had on the side of my foot and I couldn't get my shoe back on. Once we finally got it on I was off to finish the half. I really struggled the last bit because of my foot. I don't know why I got such horrible blisters as I had trained in the shoes I wore!  Oh well another live and learn thing!

At mile 11 we hit the last over pass into EPCOT and at that point I'm pretty sure my foot wasn't connected to my body anymore. It hurt but I couldn't feel it. It was the craziest feeling. Once we entered EPCOT and I saw the 12mile sign I kicked it into high gear and booked it to the finish .. My body wouldn't let me stop, almost like it knew if I had stopped running I would collapse. 

I had read on the blogs and Facebook groups about the gospel choir that you pass before the finish line and that was pretty awesome! Through out the race they had some different bands - drumline, highschool bands etc. A huge thank you to everyone who was encouraging us to finish the race it was great motivation!!

When I saw the finish line I was overwhelmed with crazy amounts of emotion, I didn't know if I should cry, or laugh or jump for joy! I did a little bit of all of the above. 

I crossed the line and was fighting back tears while I tried smiling but also trying to stay on my feet. I could hear Chris yelling, saying how proud he was off me. He also called me as I was walking to get my medal to say how proud he was that I finished and completed my goal! Cue the tears again.

After I finished I stopped for my official half marathon finishers photo and headed to get Glass Slipper Challenge medal! I did it! I kicked ass and could knock this off my bucket list as well and I completed a goal set a little over a year before!

Running through Disney world as the sun was rising was surreal. Being again to say I did it is surreal! I completed a half marathon!! It blows my mind!

When I finally caught up to Chris we headed over to the Team Noah tent to see my team Captain Rachel! Running with Team Noah was amazing, I can't say enough good things about the charity and everything they do. If you haven't heard about Noah's Protocol I highly suggest you check it out because if you donated to my page then you helped make Noah's Protocol possible! 

The bus ride back to the hotel was hell! I was in so much pain, I just wanted to soak in the tub and sleep. We got back to the hotel, I soaked my feet, struggled getting my flip flops on because of the blister and then we packed up and headed back to the resort my parents were at with the girls.
Sunday was gorgeous and a perfect day to sit by the pool with my family and just relax.
It was also the day I said I won't be doing it again. I finished it once I don't need to run another half... Well come Monday I was singing a different tune and plans were already being made for 2016 princess Half Marathon weekend with my mom!!!

It's going to be a tough year of training but with the support of my family and the fact my mom is also training is going to help me get through it, and knowing that I get to experience the awesomeness that is runDisney all over again makes it totally worth it! 

I have learnt so much over the past year and from the weekend .. Can't wait to get to work :) 

*** my official 10k and half pictures will be coming soon I am waiting for all of them to be identified before I order them and miss some!

1 comment:

  1. Awesome job! I think most people have that "I'm never doing this again" moment after their first half marathon and marathon races. I remember my first half marathon - my body was so out of whack that I was convulsing, I said never again, and well, I've raced in 7 of them, and after baby #2 is born, it's marathon time :)

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