Last weekend I traveled to Orlando, Fl to participate in runDisney’s Princess 1/2 marathon weekend. It was great fun!
I arrived Thursday, mid-day, and met-up with a friend at the expo. I picked up my packet and browsed, ever so briefly. I was quite hungry so I headed over to Downtown Disney for a bite to eat. By the time I was done there I could get into the condo so I got a cab and made my way. I was staying with some other ladies and the majority of them were due to arrive that night.
We relaxed and slept in Friday morning as one more lady was due to arrive. Once she arrived we headed out to breakfast then over to the expo so they could get their packets. We stayed in the expo about an hour and I must say I wasn’t that impressed with the expo. I thought, since it was a Disney race, it would really be grand, but it wasn’t. I purchased one shirt and a car magnet, that’s it.
We headed back to the condo to chill. Some wanted to check out the outlets so we went there and later to this fabulous Italian restaurant. I had eggplant parmigiana. I really have to learn to make that dish!
During Princess weekend there’s an event called the Glass Slipper Challenge that I participated in. Among the group that stayed at the condo I was the only doing the challenge. It called for running the 10K on Saturday and the 1/2 marathon on Sunday so I was off to bed early!
Race morning came pretty quickly as the race began at 5:30 am. Jennifer wasn’t running, but she came out to support me. It was unusually cold for Florida so I wore a long sleeve shirt and a jacket. I had on a skort since my legs don’t really get that cold. We made our way to the designated area with little to no traffic so we sat in the car for a little while (it was warm in there!).
We finally emerged and headed over to the corrals. I must say, Disney races are extremely organized! I mean they went over all of the details in the book, they had tons of volunteers out there to answer questions and get you in the right right location, and along the race route.
For the 10K there were 5 corrals and I was in the 5th one, Corral D. The book stated they were going to take about 2 minutes between corrals and this was the one time they didn’t follow directions. There was at least 10 minutes between corrals which would’ve been okay if it wasn’t so cold! 
I finally got started about 6:10 and I quickly figured out why they took so long. The route started along one of the streets on Disney property. We made our way down to a hairpin turn onto a narrow roadway. It was so narrow and crowded running wasn’t an option. There were so many people walking that it was quicker to walk than run (unless you went into the grass and I wasn’t doing that). So for much of miles 1 and 2 I walked.
We entered Epcot through a service entrance, wound our way through and finally entered the park. There were characters throughout the park, people cheering along the way, and plenty of photo opportunities. I took full advantage and captured some images with my iPhone. I ran into my soror Latikka long the way.
We made our way around the boardwalk, through another service area, and finally around Spaceship Earth.
Once we exited the finish line was just yards away! The Enchanted 10K was a wrap! I finished in 1 hour 29 minutes. Definitely longer than I normally do for a 10K, but I was in Disney!
