Official 2016 Princess Half Marathon Thread

[MaMa3Princess]

Oh - and they did away with the "Princess" on the bibs this year.

GET OUT FOR REAL!!!!!!

 

[preciouspups]

I see both sides of this and I agree that for the people who seriously train and get swept for whatever reason do deserve something. But it bothers me that there are people out there who train seriously and they can't even get in because someone who just wants the medal has taken up a spot. They should require you finish a race, not a half but maybe a 10k, before signing up for the half. I know that will probably be unpopular too.

I agree with you. I saw a post where a mom and her young daughter were doing the 10k and mom went out with an injury before mile 1. The daughter still deserves a medal (and mom too really) because her not finishing was out of her control. There is a huge difference between being swept due to injury or illness than just not being prepared. BTW, who on earth signs up for anything more than a 5k without training!!!

 

[Ariel484]

Hmmm. Solid guess!

Also - looks like about 20 percent of the half field was swept today. YIKES.

So I'm reading around on Facebook and seeing a radically different figure for the completion rate for this race...someone is claiming that only 394 people were swept during the half...there were a little over 20,000 finishers, so that's a 98% completion rate.

I came up with the 20% swept number (the caveat being that it's sort of a flawed number)...this is what I looked at:
- 8,129 GSC bibs listed in the corral documents + 17160 half marathon bibs listed in the corral documents = 25,289 runners registered for the half marathon
- Per the race results page, 18,090 female finishers and 2,036 male finishers = 20,129 finishers...so 5,160 people didn't finish
- 5,160/25289 = 20.4%

The issue is that while we know how many people were registered for the race (from the corral documents), we don't know how many people actually STARTED the race.

Makes me wonder if either one is actually correct? 98% finishing seems crazy high (and if that's the real number, then great!) but 20% being swept also seems crazy high. And ~5,000 not starting also seems crazy high - I know deferrals account for some of that but I thought that some of the deferral bibs were released to travel agents to sell at the last minute? HMM...

 

[IrishMel21]

Hello ladies & gents....I'm finally caught up on all the posts. It seems some folks had wonderful weekends, experiences and others, unfortunately, saw the crap side of humans. @Keels, thank you for sticking up for that woman.

Here's my quick recap of the weekend (I can't believe it was a week ago today that I was on my way to Disney). However, because this could be long, I'll break them up into different posts.

• Wednesday - my BF & I arrived 30 mins apart at MCO and were able to take DME to POP Century. We were staying there for the first night and then transferring to CBR for the rest of our trip. The bus was pretty full and while there were open seats, a few rude people didn't want to move their bags so that my BF & I could sit down together. One woman just looked at me and said "but those are my bags" as if her bags needed to be in a seat. She was a "peach" and also on my flight so I saw her attitude earlier. A nice man offered to move to an empty seat so we could sit together.
• Check in at POP was fine & quick. We went to our room and then grabbed some food while we waited for our luggage. It came relative to what I would expect. I also ordered a small gift bag (wine/glasses/snacks) to be delivered to the room as we were both Celebrating different big things in our lives. That wasn't there at first but did come soon after we got there.
• The plan was to get up early and be at the Expo for 10a as I was super nervous about trying to get an "I Did It" shirt & 13.1 magnet.
  
• We got to bed later than we wanted because of the excitement of finally being at Disney
• Thursday - we woke up, got ready, checked out and brought our bags to Luggage Assistance for them to transfer them to CBR (I love that they do this). This was super easy.
• We took the bus to the Expo and was there around 9:45am The line to get into the Expo to pick up bibs was down the hill to the World of Sports globe. It was insane. There was no line to get into the merchandise/vendor bldg, so we went there first as our bibs would be there. We went in and it was crazy busy/crowded. People didn't care that others were around them. We got to the back where the Official Merchandise was (CRAZY). You had to find your way into the square, find your items, then go out and get in a crazy line to wait to pay. My BF got in line to pay while I went in for my items. Racks were empty, I had a woman reach in front of me and grab a hat right from my face and when I called her on it for being rude and pushy she said "well I need it and I thought you were going to take it". I told her it was just a hat and no need to be rude. She just ran off, probably to get more stuff.
• I was getting worried because I couldn't find the I Did It shirts and things were super empty. But finally I found them, grabbed the two shirts I wanted, a long sleeve, and a 13.1 magnet. We finished waiting in line, paid.
  
• We only had 2 people cut us in line (rolls eyes) and there was a man in front of us who was pushing 3 big boxes of wine glasses in the purchase line. I know I'm assuming here - but he didn't look like a runner and I don't know why he would want that many wine glasses, unless of course he's going to resell them. GRRRR.
  
• We then went to get our bibs. However the line was even longer now! My BF had the wonderful idea of leaving and coming back later. So we went to CBR, grabbed some lunch, then took a bus to Disney Springs for some Starbucks, and around 2:30 walked over to Saratoga Springs to grab a shuttle to the Expo. We got to see more than we expected and we weren't with the crazy Expo lines. It worked out perfectly. We got back to the Expo and it was pretty empty. No lines, no stress, no waiting.
  
• We picked up our bibs and then I picked up my pre-order jacket. I'm glad I tried it on because I ordered a Small but they gave me an XL. I was able to exchange it.
• We also checked the Official Merchandise and everything was completely well stocked. We woke up early and I freaked out over nothing. Lesson learned for next year!!
  
• We went back to CBR as we had dinner reservations at Shutters that night. And because I was wearing my Birthday pin, they gave us the most amazing dessert to help celebrate. It was SOOOO good.

Next update our 5k!

 

[sperkins921]

So I'm reading around on Facebook and seeing a radically different figure for the completion rate for this race...someone is claiming that only 394 people were swept during the half...there were a little over 20,000 finishers, so that's a 98% completion rate.

I came up with the 20% swept number (the caveat being that it's sort of a flawed number)...this is what I looked at:
- 8,129 GSC bibs listed in the corral documents + 17160 half marathon bibs listed in the corral documents = 25,289 runners registered for the half marathon
- Per the race results page, 18,090 female finishers and 2,036 male finishers = 20,129 finishers...so 5,160 people didn't finish
- 5,160/25289 = 20.4%

The issue is that while we know how many people were registered for the race (from the corral documents), we don't know how many people actually STARTED the race.

Makes me wonder if either one is actually correct? 98% finishing seems crazy high (and if that's the real number, then great!) but 20% being swept also seems crazy high. And ~5,000 not starting also seems crazy high - I know deferrals account for some of that but I thought that some of the deferral bibs were released to travel agents to sell at the last minute? HMM...

@Ariel484 I wonder if the 5,000 not starting is actually possible though? I know someone who was supposed to run (would have been her, her DH, and her DBestF) and they decided to cruise instead. They weren't able to defer, though I never asked if it was full or they just didn't bother, so that's 3 people who didn't run. They did pick up bibs, shirts, etc- but didn't run. I also wonder how many of the eBay crowd may do the same thing? Their return of interest on the merchandise could potentially offset the cost of registering for a race they have no intentions to run. I think it's plausible that that many people didn't actually start at all; but how true it turned out to be is what I don't think any of us will ever know.

What also seems crazy high is how many people started and didn't finish. After being on the course in a solid middle of the pack corral, I can't even imagine how congested it was at the back of the pack. I'm not envisioning that the average runner starting back there had much wiggle room in terms of a sweep. God forbid you have an injury crop up on the course....

Another thing you have me wondering- is this number while being high in our eyes average for DNF rates at rD?

 

[Ariel484]

@IrishMel21 glad you said something to the hat woman!! Awful!

I actually saw a picture of the guy with the boxes of wine glasses that you are talking about on Facebook...no great mystery as to what he was doing with those.

 

[Ariel484]

@Ariel484 I wonder if the 5,000 not starting is actually possible though? I know someone who was supposed to run (would have been her, her DH, and her DBestF) and they decided to cruise instead. They weren't able to defer, though I never asked if it was full or they just didn't bother, so that's 3 people who didn't run. They did pick up bibs, shirts, etc- but didn't run. I also wonder how many of the eBay crowd may do the same thing? Their return of interest on the merchandise could potentially offset the cost of registering for a race they have no intentions to run. I think it's plausible that that many people didn't actually start at all; but how true it turned out to be is what I don't think any of us will ever know.

What also seems crazy high is how many people started and didn't finish. After being on the course in a solid middle of the pack corral, I can't even imagine how congested it was at the back of the pack. I'm not envisioning that the average runner starting back there had much wiggle room in terms of a sweep. God forbid you have an injury crop up on the course....

Another thing you have me wondering- is this number while being high in our eyes average for DNF rates at rD?

Maybe?? A 20% DNS rate seems really high! I never thought about the eBay people buying bibs - I guess that's possible but since the expo is open to the public I don't see why they would?

Like I said, it was a flawed calculation (and I can say that since I'm the one that fed that number to @Keels).

 

[IrishMel21]

@IrishMel21 glad you said something to the hat woman!! Awful!

I actually saw a picture of the guy with the boxes of wine glasses that you are talking about on Facebook...no great mystery as to what he was doing with those.

No mystery at all!! Where was the picture of wine glass box guy? I'm curious!

 

[Ariel484]

No mystery at all!! Where was the picture of wine glass box guy? I'm curious!

I don't remember, just did a search on Facebook and he didn't come up

 

[CampbellScot]

So ... I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm not really against giving medals to people who are swept.
Yes, there are some people who don't train and just want the medal. And that sucks. But there are also people who do train but for some reason (either they're really slow and couldn't get their pace to be faster even with training, or they're sick or injured, or they can't adjust to Florida humidity well, or one of a million other reasons), they just can't stay ahead of the sweepers. And for those people to be lumped in with the people who signed up in July and then basically forgot about the race until the week before ... that's not fair. Yes, some of the people who are swept don't deserve a medal. But some of them worked really hard and are probably pretty disappointed that they couldn't finish, and I think those people do deserve a medal. And since there's no way to differentiate between the first group and the second group ... I'm okay with giving everyone medals.

Okay, feel free to flame me now.

I agree with you. Not to mention the whole concept of who deserves or doesn't deserve is a very slippery slope. We are all out there for our own reasons and who gets a medal or not shouldn't factor in to that. Disney would never do a "participant" medal. What would be the point of that? To shame the people who couldn't finish? That's not very Disney. RunDisney wants to sell out their races. Period. People pay high entrance fees and most of them pay to stay on Disney property and eat Disney food and buy Disney merchandise while in town to run that Disney Race. They pay for that medal and Disney will give it them. That's the way it works. Would that make a medal for those who do finish feel better about themselves? To see "I tried" tees and participant medals? If so, that's an issue that needs to be dealt with in a therapy office. Seriously. This is a business built around a place that people love. A place that people go to have fun and try something new and perhaps challenge themselves. Who cares if someone has a medal who wasn't able to finish? Be happy that your bodies are strong and you are able to run a full 13.1. These aren't the races most people go to for serious competition. It's about Disney and having fun. Not about deciding who is worthy of a Disney Princess medal. I saw all kinds of people out there and everyone was incredibly kind and encouraging to everyone around them. It was great and a lot of fun. That's why I keep going back.

 

[sidrich]

I hate to say this, but ...
I was thinking about doing Princess at some point in the future, and you guys are kinda scaring me off.
I did the 5K last year and loved it, and most of the runners I met in the parks were really sweet and encouraging, which is part of why I figured it would be a good race for me (the other part is the princess thing). But from some of the things I've seen here, it sounds like those sweet and encouraging runners are in the minority.

I know this is a decision that I have to make for myself, but ... am I misreading, or do you guys really feel like the Princess Half is not a good experience?

From what I'm reading, I feel like some of the people who are feeling disappointed with the DPHM are people who do a lot of runDisney races. Like, maybe all of them. At least one per year for several years.
And I can understand that if you frequently run races that send off runners with fireworks and feature marching bands and drum lines and Disney characters along the route- then variations in the number or frequency of those things are going to matter more to you than they will to someone who is not accustomed to those things. Or if you have run the course with fewer participants, you will be more sensitive to the impact of changes in runner density.
This was my second trip to Disney World, and I went with a family, half of whom go to Disney at least once a year, a few people more frequently (they are Disney travel agents) and the other half for whom Disney is not a regular vacation. And I could see there were marked differences in the expectations and excitement over a lot of things throughout the weekend. And it seems similar to the experiences I read about here with regards to the PHM experience.

Eventually, someone in our party pointed out to the veteran "Look, we don't get to come here every year. We're going to want to do different things. This is what is important for us and it is just as valid as what is important for you." And I felt a lot better. It was my vacation just as much as it was theirs, and I was happy someone else was gently reminding our more seasoned friends that we were really excited to be there and do things that maybe were not considered special anymore by the frequent fliers.

This was my first half marathon. I did not run at all before we decided to do the PHM, it was the reason I started to run. I trained diligently, I got a POT that put me in corral F. My friends and I were really excited to be running, we were in F, G, and J corrals and we all had a great time on Sunday. We expected it to be crowded- especially the girl in J- circumstances had prevented her from making the race she had planned to run for POT so she didn't submit one, and she was sort of expecting to walk through the castle in a horde- but we all were able to run freely the whole time. I ended up running nearly every split much faster than my training pace (I had negative splits all the way to mile 7)- although I didn't even think about the fact that moving around runners added distance, I think I added a 0.6 of a mile total- and my GPS would announce miles well before I could see the markers. There were times when there was absolutely no one to my right or left, and I never had to walk. So I had a lot more room than I was expecting. My finish time was a PR. I didn't stop for characters, but I hadn't planned to. For the three of us, this race at least, we really wanted to just run around Disney World. And I got exactly what I wanted. The moon was HUGE and just setting above the trees as we ran down the highway in the first 2 miles. Through the Magic Kingdom sign- I passed a man there running in jeans and a t-**** trying to turn his jeans into cutoffs- not sure what he was thinking. Our friends found the perfect spot at Ticket and Transportation Center to wait for us (much better than trying to get a spectator spot at Magic Kingdom- especially since the 3 of us were so spread out in pace- she waited for all of us to pass, then hopped back on the monorail to Epcot to get a great spot at the finish line) I was so excited to see them I feel like I blinked and all of sudden it was mile 5 - somewhere in there I ran under an overpass that had Kristoff, Anna and Elsa above it making it snow- and I was running through the Magic Kingdom. It had just become light outside and I ran through the castle without having to slow down, got a jump shot in front, back through Frontierland. The only other princess I saw besides Anna and Elsa on the route was Belle with Beast on the way out. (Alice in Wonderland was in the MK too, but not technically a princess) But I was actually more excited to see the family from the news- the father who was pushing his daughter in the wheelchair the whole race- just getting their picture. Down the back stretch the sun was rising behind the palm trees at the Polynesian, which was so pretty. Lots of funny spectator signs from guests at the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Shades of Green. When we came back to the hairpin where you could see the beginning part of the course on the left ~mile 10- we passed the balloon ladies and waved. They were followed by like 10 black vans, which kind of looked like a funeral procession. Then we got to the hills- I thought there was only 1- there were 3! But the Army guys were great- one was running backwards saying "You've got to work for this picture, come on!" Then after the photo was snapped he yelled "Now, go get those five seconds back!". Passed another marching band and some kids handing out twizzlers on the way into Epcot, got a picture in front of Spaceship Earth. Waved to my family at the finish line and doing so made my headphones fly out of my hand, so I had to run back and get them and Goofy was helping me along. Not a graceful finish but a memorable one.

And maybe if I'd done a dozen runDisney races this wouldn't seem so cool. But I haven't and it was awesome. And we met a lot of great people walking around the parks afterwards- they'd see the medal and say "Congratulations". Best reaction was on Monday- I hadn't worn my medal that day but my friend had, to Hollywood Studios, and she showed it to the Green Army men- who went nuts over it- "called" over other Green Army men to look at it- pantomimed that if he'd tried to run that distance he'd puke. She got a great picture. I was jealous. Definitely take your medal to Studies in future. Plus the Stars Wars fireworks- oh my God, they are awesome!

So, as someone who experienced the race in it's current incarnation for the first time, for whom this is my only runDisney experience, it was totally worth my time and money. We had a fantastic weekend (1 kids race, 2 people in 10K, 4 in the Half (one was a GSC)). If you are contemplating running it for the first time, I would bear in mind while reading about other's reactions that expectations and opinions about the same experience can vary widely depending on what you have to compare it to.

PS:
Also, for me, shopping at the Expo was not really on the agenda (the t-shirt I got with registration and my medal were plenty of souvenirs for me)- I would have happily grabbed my bib and left. But it was of interest for some of my companions. Due to flight times, we didn't arrive at the Expo until 1:30 on Thursday. I was expecting bedlam, from what I'd read here. Nope. There was NO ONE in the bib pickup, we walked right up to the desks. Same with picking up shirts and bags. The Official Merch had all the "I Did It" shirts- with the map on the back. Magnets. Long sleeved shirts. Only thing we couldn't find were 1XL and 2XL sizes. If you wear a small or medium, they had everything. We didn't even have to wait in line to try on the shoes. All the Raw Threads merch was there- it had a long line at first, but that disappeared when we made a second lap and my friend bought the Mama Bear shirt. I would have had a far less pleasant experience if I'd tried to get there early.

 

[sperkins921]

Maybe?? A 20% DNS rate seems really high! I never thought about the eBay people buying bibs - I guess that's possible but since the expo is open to the public I don't see why they would?

Like I said, it was a flawed calculation (and I can say that since I'm the one that fed that number to @Keels).

Maybe for shoes? I mean the expo is open to the public, but the first day of shoe sales is not. I don't know how hard it was to get shoes; actually I take that back- I do know because I kept forgetting to register and by 10-20 minutes after 7 the queue was closed. When I finally got to the NB booth on the last day, I think all the Minnie's were sold out, half of the Dumbo's or Mickey's. So I guess if a person was into reselling the shoes, maybe they would?

I saw PLENTY of people who clearly were buying to resell. I mean, literally groups of people carrying cases, or like 3-4 bags per hand of stuff. One family even had grampa and the kindergartner in on the act. And the poor kid was carrying a bag nearly as tall as him on each hand with cases of NB's. As was grampa.

 

[DVCFan1994]

Back from my GSC weekend. I have very mixed feeling about this trip. Had a great time with the vacation aspect of it. I was there Wednesday through Monday, enjoyed our park time and had some fantastic meals. Race experience was so-so.

I had no real issues with the Expo thankfully. There is no must have merchandise for me, so I don't go until the afternoon. It seemed more crowded to me than previous 2 years, but not awful.

I had a blast at the 5k with my daughter. We got some great pictures, my favorite was surfer goofy.

The 10k started my troubles, my IT band issues started around mile 4, and forced me to slow down. I still finished within 10 minutes of my PR though, so I was ok with it for a Disney race. Lesson learned that day, corral A is the way to go. It honestly felt like a different course to me than the previous two years (one Corral B, one C) because it was so uncrowded. Leaving Epcot heading toward Boardwalk, there was no one around me.

The half was just a frustrating day. My IT band issues returned, and I ended up with stomach issues, forcing me to spend a lot of time in the bathroom, a first for me either in training runs or races. I talked myself into taking it easy and turning it into a fun run, stopping for lots of pictures. But, despite thinking it through and making that decision, I was very disappointed at the finish. I didn't even take any finish photos with my family.

I was in corral D for the half, and I have to say for the most part I saw decent etiquette. The crowds past me by as I was forced to walk at times, and I never saw anything horrible. But, in general, I think I am done with this weekend for a while. Being a New Englander, it forces long runs at the worst time of the year for me (Late January/February), my family loves to ski, and we could use this school break week for that instead of Florida. Thinking April break (which currently lines up with SW dark side weekend) might be the way to go in the future. I am also a Star Wars geek, too

I feel angry reading these posts about people being so horrible to one another. There is just no reason or justification for that, other than people trying to make themselves feel better about their own insecurities.

As to the medal controversy, I have to say, I think rD will continue to give out finisher medals to everyone for the foreseeable future. But, I wish they would reconsider. I agree with others that a rD generic participant medal for those that were unable to finish would be more appropriate. As some one who has done 4 rD Challenge weekends, and had trouble finishing the half at 2 of the four, I would be okay with not getting the finishers medal. The t-shirts are for everyone, I believe finisher medals (which is how rD refers to them on their website) should be for finishers. I know there are a lot of reasons for not finishing, and not all of them are people who admit they never should have started and even joke about it. But there are a lot of people who do not get in who would take the experience seriously, train properly, and contribute positively to the experience. The people already waiting for sweep buses early on in the course when there was plenty of time left to improve shows there are some that never intend to finish. I disagree with giving a medal to those who quit with a lot of room left to try. But, since it would be hard to decide a point at which a medal is earned, the obvious choice is the finish line.

 

[sperkins921]

I agree with you. Not to mention the whole concept of who deserves or doesn't deserve is a very slippery slope. We are all out there for our own reasons and who gets a medal or not shouldn't factor in to that. Disney would never do a "participant" medal. What would be the point of that? To shame the people who couldn't finish? That's not very Disney. RunDisney wants to sell out their races. Period. People pay high entrance fees and most of them pay to stay on Disney property and eat Disney food and buy Disney merchandise while in town to run that Disney Race. They pay for that medal and Disney will give it them. That's the way it works. Would that make a medal for those who do finish feel better about themselves? To see "I tried" tees and participant medals? If so, that's an issue that needs to be dealt with in a therapy office. Seriously. This is a business built around a place that people love. A place that people go to have fun and try something new and perhaps challenge themselves. Who cares if someone has a medal who wasn't able to finish? Be happy that your bodies are strong and you are able to run a full 13.1. These aren't the races most people go to for serious competition. It's about Disney and having fun. Not about deciding who is worthy of a Disney Princess medal. I saw all kinds of people out there and everyone was incredibly kind and encouraging to everyone around them. It was great and a lot of fun. That's why I keep going back.

I respectfully disagree. When you sign up to do a race, be it Disney, Rock N Roll, Gasparilla, whatever- you are paying for just that. The ability to participate. It's called a finisher's medal for that reason- you finished the race. Rock N Roll series was built SOLELY on the idea of selling out races and challenges. And sorry to say, you don't see them handing out a medal if you don't finish. I think it speaks volumes on the trend going on within society itself that we are worried about how the person who didn't finish is going to feel if there are "I tried" tees and participant medals. Sometimes, people don't finish. Be that due to illness, injury, under training, over training, or whatever- it happens. And I say that not as a meanie, but as someone who had an injury crop up during mile 8 of this run where every step was pure and sheer torture (and I have the pain tolerance of a rouge bull- I'm no wuss when it comes to pain) who at times did not know if they were going to be able to finish. I am proud to say that I did. I can not speak for everyone, but when you put yourself through that, when you made the accomplishment of finishing? It cheapens the experience if everyone else gets one too just for showing up. What was the point in trying then?

 

[FFigawi]

Maybe?? A 20% DNS rate seems really high! I never thought about the eBay people buying bibs - I guess that's possible but since the expo is open to the public I don't see why they would?

Like I said, it was a flawed calculation (and I can say that since I'm the one that fed that number to @Keels).

Didn't @Keels say no math?

 

[Ariel484]

Didn't @Keels say no math?

That sounds like something she would say, yes.

 

[bananabean]

Allow a more interesting, WIDER course. The park miles, while brief, offered an actual opportunity to move, but they were short lived! They had plenty of signs directing traffic, what about a few signs every few miles reminding participants to walk on the right? A few volunteers with bullhorns every so often? It wouldn't be difficult! I don't want to feel "rude" for having the audacity to actually RUN a half marathon! And I know it's not always the fault of the other runners, many many people were forced to walk just due to congestion.

This was my biggest issue. I spent plenty of time waiting in lines for pics and then attempting to make up some of that time. I spent miles 7-13 basically weaving in and out of people or running 5 feet off the road. It was pretty difficult and I felt bad for trying to squeeze between people. I think reminding people to move over to the right to walk and not to walk 4 across would make a huge difference.

 

[kelly 1]

Just reading all these post!
I'm very happy with my experience I did the GSC. It was my first time to DW there was a screw up on my Park tickets through the travel agent that was the only downer. But it was a blessing in disguise I needed to stay off my foot due to my injury. So we didn't buy tickets , I figured this was a sign! Where I was in both runs the people were very curious, everyone signaled with their hand before walking. I guess I was in a lucky group of people. This was my slowest times for both runs, totally beat myself up after both , but to everyone around me I sported a Smile! The celebration is about finishing and being happy and everyone's accomplishments. I'm in agreement with the side of finishers receive a finisher medal. That aside it was a positive experience for me. My brain was disappointed with myself but the good thing, I was able to let my Ego go,and realize I just needed to finish.
I'm scared for my training for Tinkerbell PDC. Had an ultrasound done yesterday and clearly my Achilles has a tear and my calf has something going on too they think another tear but I have to go for a more in depth ultrasound for the calf. Now it's rest, ice, heat, evaluation and compression for 2 weeks. No cross training either! The Dr. fixed me up enough to get through both runs and he told me I would not be on my normal pace and not to push it.

 

[sperkins921]

So I debated posting my thoughts on the race and expo and weekend in general; but have decided I too will share.

From a vacation standpoint- it was a good trip. I will start with flights- they were great. For once, I left Hartford on time to Charlotte (that flight notoriously can run late because the plane actually is coming in sometimes from midwest, it's not always on a loop between the two airports) and actually left Charlotte on time to Orlando (same thing as previous flight- sometimes that plane is coming in from CA). I landed at MCO at about 12:30ish give or take 20 minutes in either direction.

First word of advice to people thinking of doing this next year: MAKE YOUR RENTAL CAR RESERVATIONS EARLY. MAKE YOUR RENTAL CAR RESERVATION FOR THE CLASS OF CAR YOU WANT- NOT THE CLASS OF CAR YOU HOPE YOU'LL GET. I saw many people who were out of luck when they landed at MCO because not only Princess but Gasparilla was this weekend too. They either had made reservations for the aisle hoping they'd get something else, or they hadn't made reservations at all. Alamo/National were down to SUV's, super premiums (think 7 series and Maseratti), and minivans. I have Emerald Aisle privileges, but the family coming out at the same time as me had Executive Aisle privileges. There was nothing for either of us. I think they ended up with a minivan (worked cause they were a family of 4) and the manager let me take a Durango. I begged not to take a minivan because again, I'm solo, and two- I lean towards sports cars. I drive a Lexus and just came out of a BMW, so I wasn't too comfortable with the minivan situation. I learned to drive on a big ol Suburban though, so I'm okay with the large SUV's.

Second word of advice to the people thinking of doing this next year: KEEP A PRINT OUT OF ALL RESERVATIONS. BRING THEM WITH YOU. The poor little old lady (no really! She was a sweet southern granny) at the Alamo booth bless her heart, she tried. She really did. My reservation was supposed to be $250 total after tax/fees for Thursday 1AM to Monday 9AM. 5 days. For some reason? The system thought $475 plus taxes and fees was more appropriate. So, if you flew in Thursday night and were leaving the B side garage around 1:30 AM and waited in a long line? That was my fault. I'm sorry. I wasn't willing to pay double my reservation, and the lady asked did I mind waiting until the manager was free. We had a lovely chat until the manager could come to where we were. The bedlam of having dozens of families and nothing but minivans had kept him pretty busy. But he worked it out (needed to see my reservation so he could over ride the computer- hence my advice) and then gave me a credit for waiting patiently.

Fast Forward to the Expo. Dude. ***? That's all I can say about that. I saw the guy with the box- which I now understand was wine glasses- and I saw people just literally with tons and tons of stuff in their hands. I was there early, around 945 or so, and it seemed like all of WDW was shoved in that one small area. Through persistence, and trying to tune the crowds out, I was able to get everything I wanted. But I kind of lost my faith in humanity while it was happening. I saw one woman pull something right out of the hands of someone else. As much as I tried to say please, excuses me, etc- it was pointless. Most people were reduced to their inner beasts it seemed. Pretty much everything got refilled during the weekend other than the wine glasses, I think the black mugs and Tervis mugs, the powder blue jackets, and the run princess run stuff. I ended up with the wrong size of that tank- way too big for me so I'll only wear it for working out in the house I think. In the future, I'm either not going to spend money on merchandise, or just accept that I may not get what I want; but I don't think I can go that early and deal with things being so out of control. They got better later, and on other days. But that first day, first few hours? Craziness.

As for the half itself? It started out okay. I didn't really begin to feel crowded until after the TTC on the way down to the Contemporary and MK. It got a bit closer together through there. By the time we got backstage, I was like "where did all these people come from?". Moving down main street was just comical. Moving down Floridian way afterward was also comical. I could only run in a short shuffling kind of step- and my natural gait is a bit wider than that. I think that was part of where things went downhill. Though, I was surprised at myself- I was to mile 8 before I really realized it. I was like "wow, 8 miles already?". Then I looked down at my Garmin and realized I was moving slower than my typical pace. By then, I was on pace to finish at around 2:45. So not glamorous, but I was happy with that for a first time.

Then mile 8.5-9 happened. We were finally back out on World Drive. And for some reason, my thighs were cramping. I'd stop and stretch and try to run, but I just felt like my thighs were tight high tension cables wrapped around my femurs. I just couldn't get into my rhythm anymore. So I had started staying to the far right, because I was increasing my walk intervals and moving a bit slower. Which I think, was absolutely the right thing to do from an etiquette standpoint. But, from a standpoint of what was good for my body? Bad, bad move. I run on rail trails that are flat at home. The roads leading up to Sarge's Hill, up the overpass itself, and leading to EPCOT all have varying degrees of camber to them. Not to mention Sarge's Hill itself being a steep bank. By the time I was past Sarge's Hill, my IT band/hip was hurting. By the time I made it to the hairpin turn into EPCOT, every step was murder. By the time I was within EPCOT, I was nearly in tears. I literally would take a step and it would send searing pain through my body. At one point, I sat down on the stone benches, and a woman passed me turned around and mouthed "are you okay? Do you need help?" (proof that not everyone on the course that day was an @$$) and I gave her the thumbs up. I jumped up because I hadn't even realized I sat down. I crossed at 3:09. I'm not happy about the time. But for 4 miles I was in pretty excruciating pain; I guess I should pat myself on the back that I managed to finish at all. Still walking with a limp- but the pain gets better every day.

So, all in all, would I do it again? Next year, yes, because I plan to do the challenge as part of a repeat of the coast to coast. I plan to do Dopey, GSC, PD, and Dumbo DD next year. I have NOT done those races before. This is only my second ever run Disney event- the first being the half of a half otherwise known as Wine and Dine. Overall, as a front of the corral I runner- I thought the race was good up until about mile 4. From there on out, it was crowded. It got worse for me from mile 9ish on because I was moving so slow. I remember looking out over the on ramp leading down into EPCOT parking lot and seeing a horde of people still coming down World Drive and it just looked like a sea or mass of people. While many have said they were able to run their own race, I never really felt I could do that once we made it to MK and out the other side. I don't remember much about characters other than Bert and Mary and Jack and Sally. Oh and Sarge. Oh, and Buzz- who is my fave but his line was too long. The send off was nice, the on course race was just okay, and after I do my uber challenge next year, I'm done. Whether that means done with rD on a whole or just Princess remains to be seen. I just wasn't blown away by the experience. Maybe if I wasn't solo. Maybe if I was a faster or better runner (and yes, I trained) or in a different corral. Maybe if I'd gone into it not hoping for a great time or PR and instead just aimed to finish. I don't know. It just didn't wow me.

 

[Keels]

Didn't @Keels say no math?

That sounds like something she would say, yes.

I was told there would be no math, so that's why I had @Ariel484 do it!