Princess Half Marathon 2020 Recap

After months of training, my mom and I ran the Princess Half Marathon on Sunday at Walt Disney World!

What a rush! Last year my mom and I ran the 10k, but this year we pushed for the half marathon. I am glad we did. We crossed it off the bucket list, we had a lot of fun training together, and we mentally and physically challenged ourselves.

Our training began back in October, and we used the Run Disney Training Programs available on rundisney.com. Three times a week, we got ourselves outside (in the winter) and got moving! I genuinely believe this helped with my SAD and made winter 1000x better.

The half marathon weekend was so much fun and as always,  it went by too fast. We flew into MCO on Saturday morning and went right to ESPN Wide World of Sports to check in and receive our race bibs. We walked around the expo center and reviewed merchandise from different vendors. Following the expo, we checked into our hotel- Disney’s Pop Century Resort. I highly recommend staying on Disney property as they provide shuttle services to the airport and parks. The convenience of getting on the Disney shuttle bus at 3:00 AM on race day without worrying about finding rides definitely made the cost worth it. We got settled in our room and headed to Disney Springs for dinner.

My mom and I enjoyed dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. We both got different sandwiches and shared them. The house chips and sweet potato fries were sooo delicious!

We snagged some margaritas and walked around Disney Springs. It was a nice, simple night. We watched some tv and tried to fall asleep; however, that did not really happen.

2:45 am came FAST and we were up and ready for race day. We had some protein bars and coffee and headed to the bus stop. The busses took us to EPCOT parking lot for the starting line.

My mom and I were in corral G. We did not submit our times ahead of the race, and we wanted to have fun without the stress of being in a front corral. It was COLD- I had to purchase a Run Disney sweatshirt.

The fireworks went off, and it was time to run! “You can do this, keep going” I told myself over and over again… especially as the hot Florida sunshine beat on the pavement.  At around mile 8, my body got especially tired.. but I did not stop. I knew I could not stop, I would be so upset with myself if I did.

We ran through Cinderella’s castle and around EPCOT. It was a dream, an indescribable dream that lead me to believing that anything is possible and that I can do whatever I set my mind to. 

and so can you!

When I crossed the finish line, I was exhausted and relieved and excited at the same time. I received a goodie box full of snacks to enjoy and a BEAUTIFUL, huge Cinderella medal.

I waited for my little momma to cross and we headed to the Port Orleans Resort to treat ourselves to some beignets! We had breakfast and beignets and COFFEE before heading back to Pop Century Resort. We were exhausted.

We spent some time relaxing by the pool before our 4 PM dinner reservation at Hoop De Doo Musical Revue. This venue provides a fun musical sing along experience with some delicious BBQ and drinks.

We headed back to the hotel and called it a night early.

On Monday, my mom and I woke up refreshed and went to our favorite Disney park-EPCOT! It was the last day of the Festival of the Arts, which meant delicious food and beautiful art to see! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed trying food and drinks from the world showcase. It was a sunny warm Florida day. We needed this day to celebrate our run and to take our mind off of daily stressors. Just writing about it makes me miss it already.

The moral of this blog post is not just to recap the event, but rather to show you that you too can do whatever you set your mind to. 

I never was a runner. In fact, I avoided run day in high school gym class. I suffered from exercise induced asthma. I hated running. I suffered from seasonal depression. I hated the cold winter months when the sun set at 5 PM.

My mom stopped running for years, and picked it up again to do these races with me.

Whatever you thought about doing, now is the time to do it. Whether it is running in a race, starting a business, getting a dog, treating yourself to a new phone, or reading a new book.

We did it, and you can do it too. Until next year!