Princess Half Marathon Part 1-Getting Ready & Start Line

It was the morning, race morning on February 22, 2015! My alarm went off at 3:00am and I was up out of bed full of excitement! I couldn't believe it was the day I had been waiting for. It felt like I was getting married that day but instead I was following one of my dreams...to become a half marathoner! I was to run the race I had dreamed about running for years and after so many people told me I couldn't or it wasn't a good idea.

I soon got dressed, did my hair, decided to put a few extra clifshot gels in my pockets and eat my breakfast before leaving to catch the bus at Port Orleans Riverside. I thought I was running late so I jogged a bit to head to the bus. Now that I think about it, it may have not been the best decision but it was alright! I would be fine for the race. We watched as the first bus became full and we watched that bus move on along. Soon it was time to load up the next bus and I grabbed a window seat. Another nice runner sat next to me and we talked for the 40 minutes it took to get to the parking lot of Epcot. So glad I met her and hope she did good during the race. Once unloaded at Epcot, we walked on over to baggage check and the only thing they had to check was my SPIBelt that was holding my Epi-Pen in it. I got the OK to go through with no issues. I am so glad I had that with me and I had a bottle of benadryl with me as well. I then decided to head on over to the Port-a-potties and I swear it took forever just to go! Holy smoke! I thought I would never get through that line! The race had already started when I got on over to Corral L. Thankfully they had just let some of the corrals go and mine was still not up yet.

Corral L was a good place to start at but I am hoping that I will be able to get to a different corral for my next race!

 

I was so excited to be starting my journey into my runDisney running fun and I was going to have fun while at it. I never knew that it was going to be a good journey for me. We could hear the excitement of each corral that was setting off on their journey for the half marathon and soon it was our turn up at the start line. Eekkk! Was this really going to happen? Was I really going to do this? I was beyond nervous and excited all at the same time. I was even getting a little teary eyed because it was overwhelming to me as well.

And I even took a selfie showing my excitement before getting ready to start the race.

But not only did I get that but I even got a small video of the start for us! It was happening! We were starting!!! OMG! Really?

 

And we were off! Our time for the official clock starting for us was at 6:16am. I started off with a small slow run and was having the time of my life! Let's do this race!

Goals & Dreams

One of my goals that I have made for myself is to run more for 2015! So far I have only run 1 race and I just got cleared on Friday to start running again by the doctor. Such good news there. But I have also made other goals for myself as well. I have set goals like signing up and running the Wine & Dine at Disney World in November which I will complete this year. But my main goal is to do the Dopey Challenge in January of 2016.

The Dopey Challenge is where you will run 4 races in 4 days. These races will include the 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon. I actually told Jason that I wanted to run the Goofy Challenge which was just the Half and Marathon but after talking more about it I thought to myself, I am going to do that then why not go the whole way! I mean it's just adding two more races to the mix of things! I know I can do it. I have to start training now for it and I know that I can do it! If you can put your mind to something then you can do it! I believe it will be just before classes start too for me so that will be an added bonus for me as well! I won't take Olivia out of school for this race of course and this will be most likely me going down by myself for these races. I may just while at Disney in September upgrade my tickets to an Annual Pass since I will be going to Disney a lot for these races. I am excited about my goals and dreams that I have.

2014 was a great year for me but I can tell that 2015 will be a even better year. I have already started it by just completed the Princess Half Marathon and I want to complete the Wine & Dine in under 3 hours! That is another big goal I have for myself. I will begin my training again on Tuesday which I am very excited about doing.

Dinner before the Half Marathon!

For dinner the night before the half marathon, I decided to head to the resort and check out what they had. I decided on doing the Create Your Own Pasta and so glad I did too.

I went over and stood in a line that I felt was neverending. It didn't take long to get up to the counter but man it felt like it at the time. I soon ordered Fettichine noodles, with marinara sauce. And choose chicken, garlic (the lady was going to give me a huge scoop and I told I wanted only a little bit), mushrooms and tomatoes to put in my sauce. They soon had it cooking up for me and soon it was ready for me to go pick up my drink and my dessert. I soon paid for my meal using a meal credit and then found an area for me to sit. The food court was pretty empty and I had no trouble finding a place to sit. I found a seat near a window looking out at the water.

My pasta dinner

Jason's Dinner

Soon Jason decided to get the same thing for dinner and he chose chicken alfredo and picked up a cheesecake and a drink. I am so glad that we had saved one of our meals from Friday so that we could use it for lunch and still have a credit for dinner. I can't believe that after starting on my pasta meal I have to say I ate just about all of it. It was so good and this is something that I would definitely get again from Port Orleans Riverside. I soon headed to the room to take a shower and to get some of my things put together. I also before leaving the food court decided to get a "Runners Breakfast" and paid $7.49 for it. I am so happy that I got it. Made life a little easier the next morning!

I also laid out Flat Charlotte before heading to bed. That way it would make life a lot easier the next morning too! I'm so glad I did as well. Felt like I was actually prepared for the race for once! Yay!

Dinner at The Plaza Restaurant at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

We had dinner reservations over at The Plaza Restaurant on Friday, February 20th and here is the review on the food and service.

Around 6:15-ish so we headed on over to The Plaza Restaurant to see if we could get seats before our ADR at 6:35pm. Before we got there I had to snap a quick shot of the Castle at Dusk!!! So pretty!!!

We then headed on over to The Plaza Restaurant and checked in. They made it known that we were early and there was no guarantee that they could get us in beforehand. By this time we were around 15 minutes early. We were handed a pager and told to go have a seat outside and we would be ready when the pager came started to buzz. I really wanted to come back with a smart butted answer to the girl but I bit my tongue and walked off with the pager. We got to people watch for a few minutes before not too much time had gone by of when the pager went off. I want to say about 5-10 minutes. People watching is always fun at Disney World! It's so funny to see what people are wearing or what they are saying. I do happen to do this while at Walmart too...I may add to the fun too at times!!!

We handed over our pager and made our way inside. We were seated towards the back where all the windows are and the emergency door is. Great seat to watch the sun setting and to take random pictures of the castle..like this one. ​

So we got the menu and ordered our drinks. I ordered a Coke & Water (bad idea with the water..it tasted horrible!) & Jason had a Coke!​

Menu shots!

When our waitress came back to take our order I ordered the Grilled Ruben and Jason ordered the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger. We patiently waited for our food and soon it had come up. The issue we had with our waitress is she would disappear for a good long while before ever bringing back our refills on our soft drinks. Ugh. I hate when this happens too! Irritates me and sometimes they will know because I will tell them.

My Ruben was amazing and when we come back in September with the family and our best friends we WILL be eating here again! Jason said that his burger was amazing too and he would definitely order it again! He said that my sandwich looked better though...I'm guessing it was the 'kraut! Next up we had dessert and we ordered something different so we could sample each others! I ordered the Banana Split and Jason ordered the Brownie Sundae. They both were huge and neither of us could finish either one! I felt kind of bad for wasting food but honestly I ate my entire sandwich and fries and I was stuffed by the time I took my 5th bite of the dessert. We asked for our check and left a tip. I really wanted to leave her a tip on how to not disappear and to bring back refills when you said you would bring them back. Instead I had to ask the manager for a refill because she never brought one to be and it had been a good 20 minutes. I was thirsting to death people! ​

Total cost for the meal was $52.66 and we left her a $6 tip. I would have left her more if she was more efficient in bringing me my refills in a timely manner! We thankfully didn't have to pay the $52.66 because we had the dining plan so we just left the tip for her on the magic bands instead. ​

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Birthday Weekend

Yesterday was my birthday and so what a better way than to spend it with my best friend and her family! We have known each other for almost 10 years now and it's like we are practically family so going to the beach for the weekend was nothing for us. It's just a hop, skip and jump for us to go there too!

I wasn't planning on running while I was there but I did a little bit of jogging while there. We took the dogs for a walk on Saturday and took the girls up to the neighborhood park to play. We did a good mile and let's just say I was still wanting to go more but the kids looked like they were going to die!!! It was so funny! I have to say that I love the neighborhood that Tonya lives in because it's so big, yet so peaceful to be able to run in. I wouldn't mind getting up everyday to run in the neighborhood! Lot's of friendly people too! Now if I can only get my husband to agree on the move then we would be down there in a jiffy. But I guess now is not the right time!

I will be uploading my workouts from my Garmin onto the connect soon but until then, I might go for a 3 mile walk tomorrow if it doesn't rain! I'm praying it doesn't rain! I so need the walk and I might do some running while I'm at it. I feel lost since I haven't ran since the race. Who knew I'd get addicted to such a fun sport and intriguing sport! Bring it on!

Princess Half Marathon Expo

I think now that I've been home for a week, it's time to go ahead and write up a little something on the Princess Half Marathon Expo. With it being my first race, first half everything I wasn't quite sure as of what to do as far as the expo goes and what all I wanted but after seeing the Dooney & Bourke design this year, I actually wanted one. I'm not a hog for those things but let me say that some people are. That's a different story on that one and how I figured that out.

So we headed on over to the expo after checking into Port Orleans Riverside which is in the Epcot area and I was so excited to be heading to get my packet information and all that. I had already printed my race waiver but when we got there I realized I had left it in the room. Whoops. My bad. I kind of panicked a bit but was reassured that I could print one off there at the expo which was wonderful. I don't know of any other races that will allow you to do so before the race and while picking up your race information. I soon grabbed a picture of myself by the runDisney Princess 1/2 Marathon Banner and soon was making my way on into the building.

After going down the stairs to get to where you would go get your race packet, I had to stop off at the computers and print my waiver and sign it. Next time I'm putting it in my purse instead signed and all. :) Then I headed on into the room where I stood in line to get my race bib, information, commemorative pin and event guide. I was so excited. I then signed for it and showed my Photo ID. Thankfully I had just gotten that in the mail with my correct mailing address so that was perfect timing.

After that I headed over to the runDisney Official Merchandise Booth where I was hoping to score myself a D&B Wristlet, and a "I Did It" Race Shirt but I didn't grab either one. Nope...couldn't find either one. Apparently there were mugs too that were sold out as well. I was a little disappointed in not being able to grab what I wanted but I did grab a car magnet so that worked out well.

Then went on over to the Josten Building to pick up my race shirt and gear check bag and then to see what all the other vendors were. I knew that I wanted to check out Sparkleskirts and I wanted to get some more KT Tape and some more Margarita Clifshot Bloks. But that was it...or so I thought. I ended up checking out a few skirts but they unfortunately didn't have my size and so I just decided to wait to get them. It's no problem for me to wait right? Maybe or maybe not. Haha. Then I walked around a bit and got in line to get a free banana but then when it was my turn they decided to take a freaking picture with the chiquita lady. No thanks I wanted the free freaking banana!!! I got out of line and continued on my merry little way. Then I came across the Sweaty Bands Stand and had to check them out. I had heard of them before but had never tried them out before. I found one that would match my costume perfect for the race on Sunday and asked Jason if I could get. Of course he said he didn't care. I always ask even if I know what the answer will be because I'm not the one who is making the money. He is.

Soon we made our way around the building and we were able to purchase 2 of the clifshot bloks that I wanted and some more KT Tape that would stay on my legs more than a freaking day! Holla! That's exactly what I needed! I also tried some of the clifshot gel while there and fell in love with it. I had tried GU Gel before and honestly hated it so this was a refreshing way to find out that I loved Clifbar's better!

Soon we made our way out the door of the building and we headed on over to Magic Kingdom where we had Dinner Reservations at The Plaza Restaurant. Yum! A Favorite for us now!!!