2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report – Part 2

Once we crossed the starting line, Mel, her sister-in-law and I jogged for a bit.  Maybe as much as a quarter mile just to get out of the crowds.  Once Mel and I started walking, her sister-in-law joined us for a few minutes before deciding that she wanted to run more.

Mel and I quickly settled into our intervals.  I snapped pictures along the way.  I swear that one of these days I will be a fast enough runner to stop and take lots of pictures during this race.  Before I knew it, we were at the Magic Kingdom gates.  We were noticing that there were some changes in the placement of the “attractions” along the way.  Not major changes, just simple things like the race car at the Speedway being in a different spot.

I told Mel how I hoped that the drummers from Japan would be out since they were not out for the marathon.  Once we got into the Magic Kingdom parking lot, I thought I heard the drums, but then I started doubting myself thinking that I must be hearing the drums from a high school band.  I was quickly distracted from my thoughts when we approached mile four and found Elvis Stitch! 

I wish I got a picture of Stitch, but there was no time to be wasted.  Once we rounded the corner, we found what I had been looking for… The Japanese drummers!  That made me smile.  We even saw that they had some of the younger children taking part in the performance.  So cute!

During Mel’s training, she was fortunate to be able to come over to the Contemporary and run the hill under the water bridge.  I guess that is how she can compensate for the hill that I train on in Valley Forge.  I honestly don’t get intimidated by this hill anymore.  It might be a little bit steep, but it is short and there is a huge reward on the other side!

We kept following the timer on my watch until we got up the hill.  The course gets really narrow making the turn backstage though and even though it was time to run, we decided to walk.  We had already agreed that we wanted to run, actually run, down Main Street.  And that’s what we did!!! 

As soon as we came around the corner and we could see the Castle, we started running.  I stayed towards the side of the course that the spectators were on, watching for Alyssa to make sure that she saw me.  We ran all the way to the Hub and that’s when we finally saw Alyssa and she started cheering and snapping away.  We gave big smiles and waved hello before turning into Tomorrowland. 

When we made it to Fantasyland, Mel saw a Cast Member that she knew and she ran over to give him a big hug.  I jogged to catch up with her so that we could head through the Castle together.  We had been hoping to be able to run through the castle together, but there was way too much congestion and people were stopping in the middle of the ramp to get pictures.  Sheesh!  I can understand the excitement of getting your picture in front of the Castle, but there is just common courtesy to not block the course.

Well, it’s getting late, so I will continue this later…  I hope everyone had a great weekend!