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A collection of race reports from the Walt Disney World Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2009 races and encounters |
Time to give Disney another $9.95 for Internet access... Well it's been a great day for running! We had four tables' worth of DD's at the Princess dinner yesterday, giving the Ugly Stepsisters a hard time and generally being our noisy selves. This was my first time at the 1900 Park Fare, where the food was really quite good, especially those two servings of bread pudding with sauce. Thank you Tom for arranging this encounter! Then of course there was the 4 AM alarm - I just couldn't face a cheery voice at that time saying "Have a Magical Day!". My roomie Louise Avidon and I made it to the buses at around 4:40 AM for the long ride from All Star to Epcot. It was humid enough that you could see your breathe, with the temp around 58 per Accuweather. We saw Vicki at the A-G tent before she went to the Runners' Retreat tent, and later the Laux contingent appeared. Then we were herded off into the corrals. Somehow I had gotten an "A" corral placement, which I think was because I had sent in a documented 10K time to avoid going into the "C" (last) corral. I suspect that it was mis-read as being a half-marathon time. Louise had (and deserved) an "A" placement. The "C" and "B" corrals seemed to operate on an honor system, but our bibs were checked before we were allowed into the "A" corral, where skinny young ladies were doing strides to warm up. I had visions of footprints on my backside. However we met up with Vicki and Nancy Toby there, which was reassuring (that there were normal people in the "A" corral too). So it took us less than 2 minutes to cross the Start line. My first 3 or 4 miles went very well, since it was relatively cool and the sun had not yet come up. The "A" placement allowed me to hit the 5 mile resttooms ("permapotties") at the Transportation Center just before the crowd (empty stalls when I went in, waiting line when I left). Suddenly at mile 7 I realized that I was exceeding my longest recent training run. This was something of a psychological barrier, plus we were in full sun on that long stretch down Floridian Way. I looked for but didn't see Tom and the guys at the Grand Floridian. I did need more walk breaks after that. In a couple more miles, though, I reached the safety of what I call the walk point, the time and distance that would allow me to walk the rest of the way and still make the time limit. And then at around 11 miles, I realized that I could walk it in and still beat my January finish time! Colleen and Mo passed me at around mile 12, cruising by looking really strong. The last couple of miles had a lot of walking, and then that annoying little "out and back" in Epcot, but finally the finish line appeared, and I now have my shiny new Princess medal, and a finish time that is 8 minutes faster than in January! In the heat! Just think of what I could do if I trained! My friend Louise had a tougher time. She's had some knee issues but was doing better, and had felt fine when we did a 3.5 mile run on Wednesday after she arrived. However she developed more pain over the last couple of days, and today her leg simply gave out at around 4 miles. She took the Monorail back to the Start/Finish area and got help at the Medical Tent, and we're icing and resting the knee now, but she's understandably very disappointed. It was wonderful to see a large group of the DD's here, including the very supportive male contingent (but I think Tom would have been quite fetching in a form-fitting pink race shirt!). I look forward to seeing DD's in NYC when Bart comes to run the NYCM in November. Harriet |
A quick report as I get back to work after our whirlwind tour to sunny Orlando for Colleen and her sister Mo to run the Princess Half Marathon. We had a great trip in spite of the fact that it was so short. Arrived very late Friday night meeting Julie and Naomi at the airport as they arrived the same time from AZ. Didn't hardly recognize Julie with all the weight loss since seeing her last Sept! Then on to Wilderness Lodge for a few hours of sleep before the 5K in the AM that I was running. Just before the race I met up with the Druckenmiller gang and Don Gworek who was running with video camera in hand. Ran a pretty good 5k in about 20 and a half mins, about 30 secs off where I'd hoped to run. Colleen told me that was good the 14th runner crossing the finish line. Jumped into the stands to see all the D's finish, plus Wendy and Vicki come across the line. Saturday was spend taking the girls to the expo where we laughed at all the guys who signed up, watching them trying to squeeze into their very small and very pink ladies tech shirts J Took in the warm sun at the pool all afternoon before heading to GF for a great Deads dinner encounter. We had about 20 show up for dinner (Us, D's, Harriet and Louise, Wendy, Kathy & Sean plus Sean's 8 year old daughter who was having a grand time with the characters, Vicki and friends and Julie and Naomi. - I think that was everyone!) Very good food and as always the company was even better. Then back for an early turn in and a way too soon wake up call. Sunday AM we drove to Epcot and met up again with many of the deads before the race, including Scott and little JP who came run around the course with us cheer supporters (Mark, Mr. and Mrs. D, Scott, JP and myself). As soon as the girls when to the start we all hopped on the monorail and headed to the Polynesian for an excellent breakfast of Tonga Toast (proof that you can make anything better by deep frying it :-) before staking out a cheerleader spot at the Transportation and Ticket Center. First through that we saw were Julie and Naomi (although I think we may have missed Kathy zooming by before them). Out came the red cups courtesy of Mark and smiles were had all around. We stayed there cheering and handing out drinks until all the Dead girls went by and then hopped the monorail over to the GF to cheer there. After seeing everyone again it was on to the mile 12 spot outside of Epcot and then finally to the finish line. Lots of fun seeing the race from this perspective (and a lot less work too!). I had to then quickly get the girls back to WL as they wouldn't give a late checkout and we had about 45 mins from the time they finished the race to when we had to vacate the room. After cleaning up we headed back to the Polynesian for an excellent lunch and then spent the afternoon there sitting on the beach taking in the sun before having to head home at 6:30, back to reality. We certainly didn't expect to be back in Orlando so soon after the marathon but it was a real treat getting to see a lot of our friends once again. Colleen's already talking about being a "perfect princess" now that she's done the inaugural race so who knows, we might just be back next year! Tom Laux Cincinnati, OH |
I think last night's Happily Ever After Party was a first, a post-race event in a park. Aside from the Tower of Terror 13K, where the park party is part of the event. It was fun. It was a mix-in, where you got a wristband after walking on a red carpet and passing through the turnstiles. For a period of time you could enjoy all open attractions, then after park close enjoy only the attractions operating for the party. It was clear who most of the guests were in the mix in. Ladies and a few guys wearing their medals everywhere, plus tiaras and several princess dresses. What was the most interesting aspect to me was the final show of the American Idol attraction. I haven't been interested in this show for a long time, I found it interesting that the theater was packed, and a large crowd sat on the crowd outside the attraction to watch the big screen broadcast of the park's finale with the best park contestants of the day. Once this finale American Idol concluded, a park sweep concluded and only party guests remained after approximately 8pm. The crowd was good size, but way less than normal. Kind of like a slow week day at the park, and roughly half the park was closed for the night. Barrels of loot (beads, candy, baubles) were set up in a few locations. You lined up and either got a standard scoop of stuff, or could ask for specific things (which slowed the line down, of course). The items were placed in a black satchel, logo of the Pirates and Princesses party. The dance floor in front of the giant hat was funny. I've been to events in this same location where it's packed with adults bouncing to the beat. Last night it was kids with hula hoops. Quite a contrast. I wasa really tempted to stay for the special performance of Fantasmic. How often can you see that show with such a light crowd, especially now with the reduced schedule? But by 9pm it was time to go home, long day, I was sleepy. On the way out there was a bonus gift. A set of lithographs, drawings of Magic Kingdom attractions graphically arranged in the tri-circle Mickey. Several different ones, very nice. Don Gworek |
A friend from Charlotte also ran Sunday. He posted this to a running group in NC, I have permission to pass it along. Don Gworek --- How I became a Male Princess (and lived to talk about it) By Tom Torkildsen Being a Disney enthusiast and a runner can have its drawbacks. Having run all (16) Disney marathons, all (4) Goofy Challenges as well as all (3) Disneyland Half Marathons, I was excited to see that the Famous Mouse was putting on another half Marathon race to be held in March in Orlando. It was called the ‘Princess Half’, and on the web page, it was touted as ‘For Woman of all ages’. I read through all the fine print, nowhere was it mentioned that men were not allowed. So, I decided to do the race, Lana my wife, signed up too. In sympathy, I suspected. On the on-line form, there was an unusual question; we had to pick a ‘Favorite Princess’. I picked Cinderella (One of my favorite Big-Hair bands), Lana picked Snow White. I also checked the box for an XXL t-shirt, women’s sizes it said. They listed awards categories for women, but none for men. Oh well. Once the on-line pick-up-cards were available, I noticed Lana received a low bib #108, but mine was a high number, #2522, even though our qualifying times were pretty close (Lana’s slightly faster). I later found out through the grape vines, that all men were put in Corral B or C. Corral A was reserved for woman. I guess they did not want a bunch of smelly men up front. Race weekend, we arrived in Orlando just as the expo opened up Friday at noon. Got our packages, all the runners had their names printed on the bib, and the women had ‘Princess’ printed before their names, but the men had just their names. Each bib had the name of their princess of choice printed at the bottom, and each of the four princesses had a different colored bib. My XXL t-shirt fit a little snug, but was fine. Probably would get limited use of a pink T-shirt anyway.. At the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique, glittering dust was applied to athlete’s hair. But I passed on this freebee (Surprise!) Race morning, my legs were still a little tired from a day of wandering through EPCOT, but otherwise it was a nice cool, although humid morning. The race started at 7:00 am, but due to the daylight savings change the same night, it still felt like 6:00 am. I found my spot in corral B, as Lana moved up to the first Corral. I met up with a few other brave guys. They told me that there were 219 men registered, and about 6,500 confirmed females. As I watched thousands of women waddle up in front of me into Corral A, I noticed that about one out of every four runners had dressed up as a Disney Character. Many had matching outfits, and some were more elaborate than others. (Even some guys dressed up as female characters). As the race started, it took me more than 2 minutes to reach the start line. Soon, I found myself surrounded by slow moving Princesses, some quite sizeable. After a slow first 2-3 miles, I was finally past the slower Princesses, and I could run my own pace. The course was littered with Disney characters, mostly from the fairy tale stories. The villains were also out, and being true villains, they stayed in-character. The evil witch (from Snow White) yelled out ‘I am not impressed!!’ as I came by. I heard a gasp from some of the surrounding runners, who expected more encouraging cheers. I thought it was a blast, though! Some of these Disney characters had so much make-up on, they could easily keep a Mary Kay consultant in business for months at end. There was also music at every quarter mile or so, mostly recorded, but some was live. Thankfully, the course was flatter than Yoko Ono’s Christmas album, with the exception of two easy overpasses. As we passes through the Magic Kingdom, I saw a familiar face, Ken Wong, who cheered us on. He was manning the chip mat for one of the splits. I held a steady pace, but as I started on the last 3-4 miles, I picked up the pace a little. I really wanted to pass some of the other men, and on several occasions, I spotted a male runner ahead of me. But each time, once I came up close, I discovered that it was actually a female runner who was looking somewhat manly from behind. I passed them anyway, looking for my next ‘victim’. The last mile took us through EPCOT, and we finished to confetti and live announcements. I received my finisher medal, a tiara shaped heavy medal, incorporating lots of gemstones. (I am not sure if they are real, though). After the race, I hooked up with Lana, who had finished well ahead of me, in the designated reunion area. Once we had located the car (which was not as easy as it sounds, the parking lot looks very different in the dark), we headed back to the hotel for a shower and flight back to Charlotte. And the so, as the story goes, the two newly crowned Princesses waved to the cheering crowds as they arrived back in the Queen City, and lived happily ever after.. |
Executive summary: Royal Family 5K, March 7, 2009 Watch time: 33:17 Photo full stops: 4 Princess Half Marathon, March 8, 2009 Chip time: 2:56:04 Overall: 4337/6150 (70.5%) Women: 4187/5956 (70.2%) Age group: 235/417 (56.3%) Bathroom extended stops: 2 Photo full stops: 10+ Fun quotient: Immeasurable! Long version: I. HAD. A. BLAST! I've posted tons of photos on Facebook and some on Flickr, q.v. Lots of fun spending time with my good friends Holly Gannoe, Linae Boehme-Terrana, and Shawn Newton! I've done several of the races in years past at Walt Disney World (half plus triathlon plus Dopey) and this is the FIRST time I felt like the race management really got it right. I finally felt like they got it right - I felt like a valued participant instead of a money dispenser shoehorned in around their visitor schedule! They always have VERY early shuttle pickups and a lot of dead time at the staging area, so sleep deprivation becomes part of the experience, but I've gotten accustomed to that. Expo: Best race expo I've been to in dozens of big races. Lots of vendors with attractive products, princess makeovers on site, elaborate princess costumes on display, character greetings and photo-ops, t-shirt size exchange. I would have stayed and shopped longer if I hadn't been in a hurry to visit the parks. For the first time in my experience they had prompt shuttle transportation from the hotel directly to the expo and back. Royal Family 5k: Belle and Beast at the start, and Snow White, Aurora, Minnie and Mickey, and Cinderella on the course. Probably 1/3 or more of the runners were wearing some type of costume, some quite elaborate (I just ran in a tiara). They had semi-effective pace seeding and after the first few hundred yards it was relatively uncrowded running. I stopped and sometimes stood in line at all the characters, then sprinted to regain my former place with the flow of runners. Nice rubber medals which included WEAPONS in the design, I assume as a token gesture to make the boys feel included! Afterwards we watched the kids' races, which are very fun and well-managed, and attended the Princess Breakfast where we had some more character encounters and plenty of photo ops. It was a nice add-on and very fun way to start the day of park-going. Princess half marathon: Took the familiar course that they use for the half marathon in January - 6 miles to the Magic Kingdom on highways, less than a mile of really fun stuff through the Magic Kingdom, then highways back for a quick loop through Epcot to finish. I dressed as Snow White, and lots of people were in costume too but a much smaller percentage than in the 5k the previous day. About 3% of the ~6000 runners were men, many in great costumes such as Fiona, Belle, and Minnie. The time change had taken effect the previous night, so the first half-hour of the race was in darkness. The mile markers were elaborate princess designs, but no characters on the course until entering the Magic Kingdom about Mile 6. The characters were in abundance at the castle and beyond, however, with fast and furious opportunities for photos and not terribly long lines at any of the characters. I stopped at least 10 times on course to take photos, and since I'm not acclimatized to Florida temperatures I got a bit overheated in my Snow White costume, but I expected that and adjusted my pace accordingly. The medals were gorgeous! Unfortunately the hotel checkout time is still 11:00 AM so I had a sprint back to the hotel and quick shower before I had to dash for the plane. Yes, I'm already working on a plan to perhaps return with one of my daughters next year for the 5k. I'm sure she will enjoy it even more than I did! N ~~~~~~~ * Nancy Toby, St. Michaels, Maryland |
Wow, another great weekend at Disney! As Tom already say we had a quick trip to Disney, flying down after work on Friday and coming home Sunday evening. The only time we got in the parks was during our respective races. We got in late on Friday, and after dropping a skinny Julie and Naomi off at the All-Stars we arrived at Wilderness Lodge, got to the room, said hello to Mo (who arrived that morning) then off to bed. Up early on Saturday to watch Tom run the Royal Family 5K. Watch Tom, the D family, and Wendy cross the 5k finish line. After chatting/catching up with the Ds we headed back to room, showered, had breakfast, then off to the Expo. After the Expo we relaxed at the pool (where Mo and I managed to get burnt!) before heading to our character dinner at 1900 Park Fare with our Dead friends. As in the past, these character meals have become a highlight of the weekend- especially the one with "talking" characters. After dinner, it was back to the room where Mo and I got our stuff together for the half in the morning. Up early again on Sunday to head to the race start where we met up with several other Dead Princesses in the D tent. Then Mo and headed to the start with the Ellen and Eileen in the B corral. The race itself was alot of fun. My only real complaint was that there were NO characters in MK- yes there were a few generic ladies-in-waiting and footmen on the backside of the castle, but nothing else. Quite disappointing. It was great to have our special race support- Tom, Maark, Mr & Mrs, D, Scott and JP- at T&T, GF, and the 12mile mark. These stops were a great energy boost. We even saw Lou (Adam's father-in-law) which was a surprise because I didn't know he had anyone running in the race. Finished the race in 3:04, which was 5 minutes faster than January. After the race we had to rush back to hotel to shower, pack and get out of the room. The we headed over to the Polynesian for lunch and hung out on their beach until we had to head for the airport. Even the flight home turned into an "encounter" when flying through the Atlanta airport, we ran into my brother who was also flying home from a weekend conference in Atlanta! He lives about 10 minutes from us, but we haven't seen him in quite awhile, but we run into him in the Atlanta airport- go figure. As Tom mention, I threatened to become Perfect Princess, but since the real goodies don't seem to come along until 10 years (when I'll be 57) it does make me think twice! I guess I'll just see how it goes from year to year. Overall a great weekend- short, but fun! ORN- after taking yesterday off, I headed up to the Rec Center where I walked a slooooowww 3 miles on the indoor track. Colleen Laux |
Hi everyone! WARNING: Loooong and rambling, possibly boring report follows! I am always envious of people like Vicki and Wendy, who can distill a whole bunch of info into an exciting and concise race report, while still actually remembering the details of every mile. Sorry, with me you’ll get a bunch of run-on sentences and jumbled thoughts! J Well, what a great, fun weekend trip! The Princess Weekend was NOT on my radar screen for this spring. However, after several others jumped off the cliff, it was hard not to be swept along, too. Go with the flow – words to live by!! It was great seeing everyone. I actually met Vicki Merry and Don Gworek on this trip, finally (although I have seen Vicki before—usually in front of me on the course, or I’m told, passing me as I make a bet with Wendy. Wendy, those Disney Dollars are going to be in the mail as soon as I find them, LOL!) Started out on Thursday, as we balked at paying higher airfare on Friday. Spent about the same amount of money, but got an extra day of Disney! Roamed around the Contemporary and got an up close view of Bay Lake Tower, had drinks at the Outer Rim, then dinner at the Wave before heading over to the Magic Kingdom to catch Spectromagic and Wishes. Friday, began with breakfast at the Poly. Everyone make note, in addition to Ice Cream Sundaes, Maak LOVES Tonga Toast, as he had it for breakfast 3 times on a 4 day trip!!! Yuk, much too sweet for me! Headed over to the Wide World of Sports right before the expo opened. You could tell this race was a little bit different, as you made your way through a sea of princess crowns. And Fairy Godmothers-In-Training were on the upper level to greet us and sprinkle us with Pixie Dust. Boy, those electric-pink hair extensions were sure tempting, too! Ran in to Wendy, who had awesome princess-crown blinky lights to distribute – I think I’ve created a blinky-light monster! Thanks, Wendy! You could pick out WISHers and Deads all weekend by their blinky lights! While the expo wasn’ t huge, it was pretty decent. It must have been, as Wendy told me she kept finding things to buy! Really neat goody bags, too. Black draw-string swing bags with the princess logo on them, instead of the clear Disney Endurance plastic drawstrings. Maybe a smaller race makes this a bit more do-able, but I hope they start giving out a cool bag like this for marathon weekend! Spent the afternoon with Mo at Hollywood Studios, where we tortured her by taking the Animation Gallery drawing class – Mo, your drawing really was not that bad! Then we parted, as she was a woman on a mission, 4 parks in one day!! Saturday started with an early wake-up call for the Royal Family 5K. Now, the D-ladies NEVER wear pink, any of us. But as the title of the e-mail says, PINK is my new favorite color, and for this weekend, I was perfectly happy being a pink princess. Don’t know why, because Cindy is my favorite, and I’d sooner be wearing blue, or Ariel green or Jasmine Turquoise than pink. As soon as we signed up for the race, I knew I had to start working on a new version of tie-dye Mickey Head shirts in PINK. We had a blast the few weeks before the race shopping for crowns and boas to complement our shirts. And I spent a frenzied few days before the trip making beaded heart necklaces and earrings, too!! Because we were going to be Princesses, and we NEEDED them! Got lots of compliments on our ensembles, but there were many, many other cool princess costumes, too, both today for the Fun Run and Sunday for the Half. Ran into Don and Tom before the start and grabbed a few pictures. Tom was one of the few people up in the first corral actually doing some warm-up strides! We were too busy practicing our princess waves! I hope Disney Race Management is reading this, because one of the things I miss the most during marathon weekend is doing the fun run at Epcot, and walking around the World Showcase lagoon as the sun rises! This just cannot be beat, and the Fun Run at Animal Kingdom is a pale imitation, IMHO. The D-ladies crossed the Finish Line all together, but of course the photographers cut off the photo. L Met up with the Laux cheering section afterwards. Spent the afternoon at Epcot. Had a pleasant surprise by running into Julie and Naomi (C’mon, Alvaro, I know it’s been a long time since she’s graced us with her presence, but, you remember, the girl with the great husband and two cute kids!!) Met up with Mary Poppins in England, who also liked our matching shirts, then popped into the Rose and Crown for a Guinness, none of which ended up being light. ;-) Toasted all of our other Disney Dead friends who couldn’t be with us on this trip, before heading on over to the Grand Floridian for an Encounter at the 1900 Park Faire Character Dinner. The food was really good, and I ate a lot of different things, even though we had a race the next day. Someone in our group STARTED dinner with a brownie!! And, I believe it was Kathy who decided to try the Maak ice-cream-sundae-the-night-before-a-race plan. Kathy, did it work?? The character interaction, especially Lady Tremaine, Drizella and Anastasia is hilarious. Cindy was sweet as always. Really cute when the music played and the Prince would dance with a little girl. Connie wanted to wave her napkin like at Chef Mickey’s!! It was especially great having Sean’s daughter there, she was so sweet, and really got into meeting the characters. My mom gave her a crown to wear, and Ellen kept putting a boa on her for pictures. Boy, did she jump when Lady Tremaine told her “Now, go away!” Some great pictures of Mo staring down the stepmother. Not really sure who won. Sunday morning, Daylight Savings AND an early wake-up call – I DID NOT want to get up. I never even laid my race stuff out the night before, either, so I scrambled around a bit getting everything together. Hey, it was only a Half, right?? WHAT a RELIEF! I could do a Half and not have to think about doing a Full the following day! I think Dave Lawrence is right…I’m going to have to re-think this Goofy thing and consider only doing half-marathons! Hmm, not a fan of that Donald Medal, though... Drove over to Epcot, and sat in the traffic jam for a while. Even though the race was capped at 7500, it looked like a lot of people! Met up at the D tent. No costumes for us today, just crowns. Everyone looked really nice in their princess skirts, but I just didn’t have enough time to plan and execute that. Julie, I may be calling on Dane if I need a costume sometime in the future! Scott and J.P. showed up. That Tracey King is one cool mom – letting Scott get J.P. up out of his crib at 5am to come and cheer for the Disney Deads. Thanks Tracey! J.P. was a real trooper, and apparently only cried when Tom looked at him! J What can I say, the race was great. No fireworks at the start, though. The starting line was the same as the Half Marathon in 2008, in front of the Epcot Parking lot. This corral placement and moving from the staging area to the start works alot better with only 7000 people versus 18,000 people. It was fun looking at everyone’s princess costumes. A very supportive race, and I’ve never had so many “excuse me’s” while being elbowed past as I had at this race. I enjoyed seeing the occasional male on the course, some of them got into the spirit of the race and dressed up, too. Very funny when the race leader (a young guy) ran past on World Drive and someone yelled out, Hey Princess! We had no plan for this race, as, like usual lately, we also had no training. We just wanted to finish under the 3:30 time limit and have fun. We actually walked a bit faster than January, but had more stops. LOVED the fairy tale-themed mile markers, took a picture of each one. Someone needs a lesson in time clock placement though!! My blisters from Friday and Saturday didn’t bother me, and I didn’t develop any new ones. Stopped for most character pictures and one leisurely bathroom break in Magic Kingdom. It was great having a support crew on the course at 3 different spots, and stopped for a few minutes each time. My red cup had coke in it! Thanks everyone for being out there! Running into Lou and Alice was a nice surprise, too. Didn’t pay attention to our time as we crossed the finish line, because, once again, we were too busy Princess-waving to the crowd. Didn’t find out what it was until I read Louise’s post. 3:22:06, or something close to that. Thanks Louise! Loved the princess crown medal! Chatted with Wendy and some WISHers as we celebrated by drinking our cokes and diet cokes. Waited in line for pictures. Sorry we couldn’t meet up with anyone after the race. Mark had tickets to the Phillies/Braves game at WWS, and we needed to rest a bit before going out for our recovery steak dinner. We all decided none of us needed to stay for Illuminations (too tired), and made it an early night. Back home on Monday, after a breakfast of, you guessed it, Tonga Toast! At least it was warmer and all of the White Death® had melted!! As always, it was great seeing everyone, even though it was a quick trip. Look forward to our next Disney Dead encounter, wherever it may be!! Eileen D. |