2020 Princess Half Marathon

The Disney Princess Half Marathon was held over the weekend of February 21-23, 2020. This was a race that blew my expectations out of the water and I loved every second of it!

To begin, I expected to run this race solo, and I was 100% ok with that. Imagine my surprise when I ran into my friend Mindy who asked if I'd like to run together? Absolutely!!  What was set to be "another Princess Half" for me became a race full of memories and one that I'll always hold near to my heart!

I'm getting ahead of myself here...let's back up to 2:30 a.m. on the morning of the race...

When I tell you I had zero costume inspiration for this race, I literally mean it. Instead of trying to force something I just wasn't feeling, I dug in my closet and found a Raw Threads shirt I hadn't yet worn for a race yet. It was Belle themed, so I pulled out a yellow Sparkle Skirt (now Boulder Athletic) and topped it off with a Belle themed Sweaty Band! I was good to go! :)

I made it on an early bus which I liked because the time waiting in traffic wasn't very long. Once we made it to the drop off area, I wandered around for a few minutes until I heard the announcement that the corrals were open.

...and off I went!

Once I arrived at corral B, I realized just how early I was! The corral was almost empty which worked to my advantage. After standing for a few minutes playing on my phone, I saw that my friend Mindy was also in corral B. It had been a while since I'd seen her and I wanted to say hi, so I started scanning the small crowd. It wasn't long before I spotted her hat!

Yay! Hi friend!!

We spent the remainder of our time talking in our corral and then just as the race was about to begin, she asked if I wanted to run with her. I was so nervous about my hamstring and I knew she was a faster runner than I am, but I said yes and prayed for the best. I knew she liked to stop for all the characters too, so I hoped the occasional stop would be to my hamstring's advantage. (I'm happy to report that it was!)

Before long, we were off!

Our first stop was at mile 1 with the mice from Cinderella.

We found out later that this was one of the stops you would also pass on the way back and both mice were out for pictures during our second pass. We missed it - oh well.

These ladies were HILARIOUS! Because this race held a Cinderella theme, there were so many runners themed as Cinderella - Mindy included. I took my picture after Mindy and as I ran up to the Evil Stepmother, she said "Oh thank God it's BELLE! I couldn't handle another Cinderella! They're everywhere!" I died, y'all. So funny!

One thing I appreciate about runDisney is the changes they now frequently make with the character stops for each race weekend. For so long, Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirate ship included) and group of Princes were always two of the stops in this area. Although I love both experiences, I've seen them several years in a row, so it was nice to have this change!

As we approached this sign, I told Mindy that I was excited because I'd never made it to the Magic Kingdom while it was still fairly dark out and I always wanted to. She said we were going to remedy that during this race and she was right!

Along the way, there were several princess themed carriages out for photos. This one happened to belong to Rapunzel!

The drummers were out again at the TTC. I always love hearing them play!

The bridge by the Contemporary is a beast, but we managed it!

Goal met! Yay!

I love the crowd on Main Street! It's always so magical (and I truly mean that)!

In Tomorrowland, we spotted Lewis from Meet the Robinsons! I was so excited to see him as this is one of my favorite Disney movies!

It was here that Mindy and I ran into one of our fellow southern running friends, Joe. He happened to be the one who paced me for the Louisiana Half the year I ran a sub 2 and it was so great to see him again! What I didn't know was that running into him (literally) would be a recurrent theme for the next several miles!

Dopey was hanging out in New Fantasyland!

While waiting for Rapunzel at the castle, we ran into Joe yet again. I knew we had to snag a quick photo because I wasn't sure if we'd see him again during the race. (We did...several times! Hah!)

How fun is this castle photo of all three of us? I love it!

What's a Princess Half without a jumping castle photo? :)

Chip and Dale were out for photos in Frontierland and I'm still trying to figure out why Dale is standing so far away from me! During these character photos, everything is so fast paced, it's hard to get a perfect placement. (This photo still makes me laugh, though.)

After leaving the Magic Kingdom, I was surprised to see zero line where there's usually a huge one. We quickly realized it's because this area was a parade float only without any characters out front.

The line for Princess Atta was fairly short, so we jumped in it.

Then, just as we approached the Grand Floridian, I spotted them...the Fairy Godmothers!!

If you read my recap from the Enchanted 10K the day before, it was while waiting in line for these ladies that I almost got swept from the course. I was so nervous while standing in this line during the half but we got the picture and didn't see any balloon ladies in the process! YAY!

I was also surprised (and grateful) to see that they were back on the half marathon course because runDisney doesn't always duplicate characters. They do sometimes, but not always. In this instance it made sense, because the theme for the Fairy Tale Challenge was the Fairy Godmothers. Regardless of all of that, I was very grateful to see them out on the half course, too!

Cinderella and Prince Charming were also out for photos, just outside of the Grand Floridian.

I was surprised to see a few villains out for this race! Jafar from Aladdin was there as well as Shan Yu from Mulan.

This guy cracked me up. He very firmly pointed at me, then pointed at the ground next to him as if to say "YOU! Stand here!" Yes sir, I didn't argue! :)

The next few miles were pretty sparse, but that's where having a running buddy came in handy. It was so nice to have Mindy to talk to while we ran our way to Epcot!

 These fairies were just around the bend into Epcot. We were almost there!

Of course I couldn't pass up my traditional Mile 12 sign!

Bolt was in Future World and it was so neat to see him! (Yet another rare character!)

Speaking of rare? Well, we managed to also snag a photo with Panchito in Mexico!

As we neared the finish line, a feeling of gratitude overtook me. I was grateful to have a friend to run this race with, grateful for my family that I knew was waiting just beyond the finish line, grateful to have finished yet another Disney race, and most of all, I was grateful that we did not encounter any balloon ladies along the way! 

 Done!

It was so nice to have Mindy to run with! After our hugs goodbye, we made plans to run together again in the future...whenever that may be!

I loved how this race blew my expectations out of the water. After a disappointing race the previous day (see 10K recap), I had no idea what to expect for the half. It seriously turned out to be one of my favorite runDisney memories to date! 

Seeing these guys at the finish line made for a pretty special finish, too! Peep Brayden's shirt! :)

We didn't hang out at the finishers area for long. Instead, we boarded a bus and made a bee line for breakfast back at our resort.

Mickey waffles did the trick! Oh yes, and it was nice to see the "fake cheese" back in the post-race food box! :)

Has a race ever turned out different than you initially expected? Tell me how in the comments below!  :)

If you'd like to see a video recap of the Princess Half, check out this video below!

2020 Enchanted 10K

The weather on the morning of the 2020 Enchanted 10K was COLD. Prior to leaving for our trip, I'd checked the weather forecast so I had an idea of what to expect. The only item I wish I had that I couldn't find in stores were hot hands. Other than that, I felt pretty prepared for race weekend.

That shirt I mentioned in my Expo recap that I purchased from Raw Threads? There it is! Oddly enough, no one had a chance to see it because it stayed covered by a pink sweatshirt the entire race!

One plus to this race weekend is that the buses were in abundant supply. I was very grateful for that!

Race morning tip: because the bus boarding time is so early and there's a lot of downtime prior to running the race, bring your breakfast with you! Mine is usually a clif bar of some sort that I eat on either the bus ride over or while I'm waiting in my corral!

After meandering around the race starting area for a few minutes, I decided to walk over to my corral. My goal was to get as close to the beginning of the corral as I possibly could.

I don't understand runDisney's reasoning on some things and wasn't sure why I was placed in corral C for the 10K and corral B for the half? Looking back I wish I'd waited in the runner relations line at the expo to talk to someone about it but honestly, I was OVER waiting in lines at that point. I'm still scratching my head over this one, though.

For about an hour, this was my view. I found that it was warmer to sit down on the concrete and wait vs standing.

Although it seemed to take a while because it really was chilly out there, we finally made it to the start line!

With a fireworks start and a 3-2-1 gooooo from Carissa, we were off!

Since the 10K was Pocahontas themed, she was at the overpass just at a half mile into the start.

I really enjoy this 10K route. Running in Epcot early in the morning is just beautiful!

Mile 1! The first character I skipped was John Smith, but I couldn't pass up the Governor and Percy!!

I mean, look how cute!

Just after mile 3, we officially entered Epcot from the Cast Member parking lot.

Another fun thing about this route is all of the behind the scenes things you get to see!

They also keep you entertained along the way which is always fun!

On to World Showcase

At China, Mushu was hanging out and I skipped waiting in his line. Another character line I also skipped earlier in the race was Meeko.

As I was attempting to take a selfie in Germany (it's a "thing" I do), a super nice guy asked if I wanted him to take the picture for me!

The empty countries are fun to see. I couldn't wait to try the brand new Regal Eagle Smokehouse later in our trip.

The Festival of the Arts was taking place during this race weekend, too!

Just after mile 4, I saw a huge line and couldn't figure out who it was for. Imagine my surprise when I saw Esmeralda and Quasimodo!! What?!

These were definitely unique and I HAD to stop!

It was also in this line that I spent a good bit of time attempting to figure out what was wrong with my GoPro gimbal. It decided to act crazy that morning and would spin uncontrollably. While doing my research in line, I found out that it was likely a lose wire that I couldn't fix on my own. Whomp whomp. No worries though, we are going to have it replaced.

The sunset in World Showcase was beautiful!

The course also took us beneath the skyliner which was so much fun to run under!

After leaving World Showcase, we looped back to the Boardwalk/Yacht/Beach club resorts.

Another stop I just had to wait for was Mickey! I've never seen him dressed in his racing attire before!

How cute!!

Another unique opportunity was Clarice! I've never seen her before, either.

It was while standing in this line that I heard someone say something about the balloon ladies being a minute behind us. Out of all of my 40+ runDisney races, I've NEVER seen the balloon ladies so I had zero worries about what I overheard. This would come back to haunt me later....

Mile 5 and back into Epcot!

I have no idea why I didn't take a picture of the following fiasco, but it happened regardless.

So, as we followed the course to the front of World Showcase, I spotted the Fairy Godmothers. I'd seen a photo of a runner with them on instagram from earlier that morning and knew I would have to stop. Prior to this race weekend, I'd never seen these fairies (ever) and this was definitely a photo opp I wanted to have. I joined the rather long line and waited about 20 minutes. As I was about 15 runners from the fairies, I heard someone say "there goes the balloon ladies"...

HUH?

Looking back, I realize that I had spent a good bit of time in line for characters (especially the Hunchback ones) and the Germany potty line got me, too.

Nevertheless, I decided to wait it out because I was so close.

Not long after that, one of the bikers came up to our line and told us we were behind pace and likely wouldn't finish. I could still see a TON of walkers though, and still wasn't worried. We were literally 0.6 miles from the finish line. What were they going to do with all of us if we waited?

By the time I was about 5 runners from the fairies, the walker line had thinned out significantly and I could see a line of about 6 bikers riding along behind the final walkers.

The guy who was hanging out on his bike near told us that was it - we could either get the picture with the fairies or cross the finish line but not both.

That's when I freaked out! I wasn't ready to forfeit my challenge medal because of a character picture being that I was so close to the finish line. Instead, I jumped out of line and started sprinting. I bobbed and weaved between runners and didn't look back for a second. Within minutes, I was passing the balloon ladies and knew all would be ok.

To be honest though, that was traumatizing. Seriously traumatizing.

Done!

I didn't hang around the finish area for long. After snagging my food box and water, I headed for the bus to take me back to Saratoga.

 

The post race food box from this race included cheese which was nice to see again! :)

It took a few minutes for my racing heart to calm down after the course fiasco, but it finally did chill out. My mind couldn't wrap around what had happened, especially since I skipped so many character lines in the beginning of the race. Looking back though, I see that the lines I did wait in were rather long and that's what sucked up most of my time. Oh well - it was a lesson well learned for sure!

With that, we spent the rest of the day Disney Springs and Hollywood Studios with a low key dinner at the Turf Club at Saratoga Springs (delicious and highly recommended).

Now you tell me, have you ever had a "balloon ladies" experience like this one? Let me know in the comments below!

To see a video recap of this race, check it out here!