Saturday, March 8, 2014

Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2014--Part 1 (Arrival and the 5K)

This trip, my runniversary of my first half marathon, was going to be very different than the first year that was for sure. We were making it a whole family trip this time! After we had made reservations but before we had our flights A decided she wanted to run the 5K really bad, we with some work on things, we were able to make it happen. The only issue was we could not get all the nights we needed at Bay Lake Tower (because of lack of points and available 2 bedroom units) so we decided to try another split stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge/Bay Lake.

Our flight down was interesting. It was supposed to be warmer that day but some how it wasn't and it snowed, sleeted and was NASTY that afternoon. We even had ThunderSnow (a thunderstorm but with snow). The drive to the airport was horrible and I was so stressed until we got to the gate only to discover the flight was delayed. Then we found out we had to move to the other end of the airport because our original plane had been hit by lightening and they needed to check it out! After deicing we were on our way.

Of course we were the last drop off from the Magical Express and we were all so hungry. Check in was quick and we got to the room. While I got the kids settled, my mom and Jeff went to get food in the other building (we were at Kidani and the food was at Jambo). A wonderful friend had picked up all our race stuff and dropped it off and while we were downstairs for that, my secret Princess showed up with an amazing bag of stuff for the weekend! Things were off to a great start!

Our room was amazing! We were at the end of the Savannah and the first night we saw a zebra off the balcony and then other animals throughout the weekend. Also, a dedicated two bedroom is so nice, even nicer that a 2 bedroom lock off!!!

We ate fast since we had an early morning and it was off to bed for us.

I was up by about 3am because I was excited and I slowly got up and ready. I got A up at 4am and rushed her through so we could be on the bus at 4:30am, she did awesome and was in a great mood. We made the quick bus ride to Epcot and met up with some friends for fun and pictures. We danced and had a blast before heading to the corrals.

When we were deciding on costumes, we let A pick and she wanted to do Minnie Mouse. With some help from an amazing friend (who made the skirts) we were coordinated and ready to run!

We were in Corral B and we started off good. On the bus over, A had said she wanted to stop for every picture. Well the first stop was the Bugs from Bugs Life and she had NO INTERESTED! We joined up with a running friend at this point who stayed with us for the rest of the race. She has little ones too so she knew what it is like to run with littles. We sprinted, we walked, we ran, we sprinted again. It was just fun.

As we got into the World Showcase, Dopey was in Germany and we had to stop!!! Dopey is never out. A was complaining she wanted to run but she smiled and had fun.

Not a lot further and we were in Morocco and Jasmine was out with the Genie, another must do even though at this point A was ready to go!! We skipped the rest of the stops (I think there were 6 total on the course) but she was OK with posing in front of the ball with me!
It was not a fast race and I did not even wear my watch but it was one of the most fun races I have ever done. To be able to do it with my mom and my amazing daughter made it great. Seeing her get her medal at the end and how happy she was made the extra early morning completely worth it. I hope she continues to love these kind of experiences.



After the race, we went back and got the boys and headed to the Magic Kingdom (where else would we go) for some fun. We had a great time as usual. We kind of missed the old Fastpass system but I will admit the new system was not bad for us and worked out well. By the time we left, A was exhausted and I was glad we had the stroller with us!

After lunch my dad arrived and we met back at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, swam and then had dinner at Cape May. Then we took a trip through Epcot before calling it a night. Tomorrow was the 10K and day one of the Glass Slipper Challenge. Let the fun begin, again!









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