Half Marathon #2 of 2012

After running my first half at WDW, I decided it would be a great idea to run another one that was close to home. It would be good for me to get a time where I didn't stop for pictures along the way. I am not sure what I was thinking - maybe I was still under a runner's high?? This race was only a few weeks after my first! 

By around mile 8 (I can't really remember), my hip said "all done" so I had to slow down considerably which was a bummer since I wanted to get a more accurate time. I ran when I could and walked a lot. 

My brother lived on the race course at the time and came out to cheer me on! I got a second wind at that point and ran pain free! :) Then I got a little bit emotional that he came out to cheer me on and had to stop and walk again because I was having trouble breathing. 

Sprinting to the finish line! I try to save a tiny amount of energy to run as fast as I can at the end to finish strong. This race was a definite struggle to finish strong but I learned a lot from this experience! 

Princess Half Marathon Trip Part 6

*Update* Posted the wrong video on this post. It has now been corrected. 

This is the last of the Princess Half Trip Report! Hooray!!

Our last day just so happened to be Leap Day which also happened to be One More Disney Day - 24 hours of the Magic Kingdom!!! It was so hard for me not to book an extra night or not sleep and change my flight to the next day when I found out about this, but that would have made for a very difficult day of travel without any friends to keep me awake. We did take advantage of the early opening at MK though! 

We checked our bags for our flight well before 6am at our resort. We did not arrive right at 6am but shortly there after. This was what was going on when we arrived. They were also handing out cute buttons for the day and somehow I missed it but did go back to get one! :) 

The plan for this day was to ride anything we wanted to do one more time and to get as many character pictures as possible. We decided it would be fun to wear the race shirt and our medals one more day, too. 

We started at the Princesses and had very little wait. We saw Sleeping Beauty and Belle, too, but I really don't like those pictures, so I didn't post them. 

Cinderella!! The friends picked her as their favorite princess for the half...

We all already know who I picked. :)

I was so disappointed that she wasn't along the race for pictures, so I was so excited to find her this day. 

We had one more counter service meal that had to be used for breakfast or we would waste it, so we took the monorail over to the contemporary for a quick breakfast and then walked back to the Magic Kingdom.

We did a little bit of shopping but not much. We rode Buzz 2x since there was no wait and rode Snow White one last time before it is closed for good. I have said that so many times in the last 2 years, but I think it is for real this time. :( We also went to see Mickey's Philharmagic one more time - love that little show. After that I couldn't get any takers on riding something else again before we left. I mean there were NO LONG LINES!! So we sat on benches watching people (which is entertaining) while we waited for more characters. :) 

Oh. My. Goodness! These 3 are awesome. I wish I could remember everything they said because it was great. I talked to Drizella - seriously funny. She asked if we saw them during the race - I told her no. (Looking at the video, I did video them but wasn't paying attention, so I did not remember them) She looked at the 3 of them and motioned while asking, "How could you miss this?" Then said in an annoyed tone, "Mile 3, parking lot, there for the first runner to the last." Hilarious moment - definitely had to be there but great. When I did go back to watching my video/putting together a slide show, I found that she was right about the mile 3 and parking lot info! ha! I also have professional pictures from the race, and she is in fact the one who was there all morning from the first runner to the last. I have no idea what the other 2 characters were saying but heard they were funny, too. Drizella also randomly yelled hi to some guy working around the water of the castle and told him to be careful not to fall in and then told the people standing in line to watch him to make sure he didn't cause any trouble. :) One of my favorite moments (other than the race) of the trip. 

Here they are during the race running with the fast runners at the beginning - before the other runners made them start taking pictures. :) 

She was so nice and asked what other characters we wanted to see - I immediately said Peter Pan! 

Peter Pan is one of my favorite childhood movies, and I have been trying so hard to get a picture the last few times I have been to WDW - this trip was a great success! 

After this no one wanted to stop for anymore pictures, so that is the last of the group pictures for the trip. 

We were able to catch Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it! :)

Love this video with the reactions of Mr. Incredible and Woody. They are referring to our medals/running the half. I also love the song! :) 

After this we headed to my favorite - Liberty Tree Tavern. 

4 words - Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake

So good! 

After lunch we sadly made our way to the front to our bus stop. This time we had plenty of time to get back to our resort unlike the last time Crissy and I were there together after the occupational therapy conference. 

Our flight was a little bumpy, and we did go through a bit of a storm, but we made it home safely late that night - I don't know about the others, but I finally crashed after a long but very fun trip. Looking forward to next year when I plan on running it again to celebrate my 30th! 

We did have to go back to work the next day but loved the welcome we had from our coworkers.

A few of our coworkers asked for pictures during our trip - now we know why! 

There was a hidden mickey made with donut holes and a donut but someone - probably one who knows nothing about hidden mickey - ate one of the donut holes, so I sadly missed that hidden Mickey. There was also another hidden mickey by the time clock. :) 

Definitely a fun way to enter back into the real world. 

Princess Half Marathon Trip Part 5

Tuesday morning we slept in a little bit longer than most mornings since we had a later breakfast reservation. I ended up leaving before my group to upgrade my tickets to an annual pass. When they got there, we headed to Expedition Everest for fast passes to be used after breakfast.

We had breakfast at Tusker House which was a first for all of us. It may now be one of my most favorites. Not as wild as Chef Mickey's and the food was fabulous!!! The Mickey waffles are always so good!! 

Donald was very fun! 

Goofy was beyond goofy!! He was a total character! 

Character interaction was pretty much the best I have ever had. :)

Once we were able to get another set of fast passes, we got some for the Safari. Yes, my pictures are out of order but it is too late to change that. 

We went and rode Expedition Everest and then headed to the Safari. 

Love this attraction on beautiful days! 

I could watch the elephants all day long! 

These guys were a little too close to us when we drove around. 

After the Safari we headed to catch a showing of Finding Nemo - love it! I have seen it at least 3 times, and it is always good. Sadly I had reached the tired state at that point and had trouble staying awake. 

After Nemo we went to see The Lion King. Also love this show!! Did not have trouble staying awake for this. 

After our ride on Expedition Everest earlier in the day. Such a fun ride! 

Hoot! Every good XO loves seeing an owl!! 

After The Lion King, we called it a day at the Animal Kingdom and headed back to the room for a quick nap. 

The Magic Kingdom Dessert Party was on the schedule for our last night, and was a great treat! 

Plate full of yumminess! 

Getting ready for Wishes! 

But first let's do the stage show one more time tonight - we had already seen it before going to the party/waiting for our time. 

I really want to take my tripod to get better firework pictures, but these will work for now. 

So tired after a wonderful trip...but wait there is one more day!! One More Disney Day to be exact!! 

Princess Half Marathon Trip Part 4

Monday morning was Hollywood Studios. Everyone was still moving slowly and pretty sore, so we missed rope drop by about 30 minutes or more and the lines to get into the park were a bit long. Once we got in, I took one for the team and walked with purpose to get fastpasses for Toy Story. Once they made it to me, we got in line to ride it, so we could do it 2x. 

The line moved fairly quickly, so we didn't get to stop and talk to Mr. Potato Head but did stop for a quick picture. 

Glasses on and ready to play! 

Crissy won this round. :( I beat her most times the last trip. 

Maybe it was because my glasses were not even on straight or maybe they weren't on straight because I was really into the game. 

Next stop was Rockin' Roller Coaster - wait was not too bad so we went ahead and got in line. Love that ride and could have gone again and again but the friends didn't want to. 

Tower of Terror - for the first time, I thought I was going to get sick on this ride (and a few other rides this trip). I guess it was from having a cold and being congested. We all agreed that one time was plenty for that ride. 

We ate at Toy Story Pizza planet for a quick lunch - yum. :)

Beauty and the Beast was good! I had not seen it since 2008. 

Also went to see the Muppets 3D - we were all exhausted at that point, and I think a few friends might have fallen asleep. 

We used our fast passes to ride Toy Story one more time before taking an afternoon break. 

I finally won a round this trip but really out of group, I came in 2nd that round. 

Before leaving we stopped to get a snack. I had heard great things about the butterfinger cupcake and it did not disappoint. While it was too sweet, it was very good. Since returning, I have heard more complaints about this one - as a cupcake fan, I thought it was a good one. I mean it had chocolate sauce in the middle - who doesn't love that?!?!

After a nap, we headed to the MK to get on the monorail to go to dinner at the Polynesian. Yum Yum and Yum. Can't wait to go back again for this one. Probably hands down the best meal I have had at WDW and best of the trip. The meat was so good and a very large variety - they brought it around to each table on skewers. My favorite was the shrimp but really it was all good. Also had a salad, bread, noodles, and broccoli. We ate the dessert too fast for me to get a picture but it was wonderful. :) 

I booked the meal close to the time for the fireworks so we could watch while we ate but for some reason it was slightly delayed and we finished faster than I had anticipated, so we went outside to the beach to watch the fireworks. It was great seeing them there, but I do like seeing them inside the park better. They did pipe the music into the speakers, so it was like we were there. Also watched a proposal on the beach. :) 

We decided to take the boat back to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours. 

Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower 

So pretty! 

We just happened upon the fairies and the line was not long at all. I have some pretty interesting pictures of us laughing at them that will not be posted. They were seriously hilarious. The cast member in line taught us about the fairies before going in because we didn't know anything about them. 

After this we rode every ride we wanted to. We literally walked onto some. The Haunted Mansion cast member was probably the creepiest I have ever seen - they need to move him up to acting because he was that good. Creepy but good. I screamed like a little girl a few times because of him and then again on Pirates- no idea why because the drop is not that bad. We seemed to get a second wind after dinner and had more energy at that point. Once we did everything we wanted and a little bit of shopping, we called it a night. 

Tuesday would take us to the Animal Kingdom for breakfast with Donald.