Coast to Coast Challenge | A Girl Travels

I ran my very first half marathon in Orlando last month at Disney World – The Disney Princess Half Marathon – 13.1 miles…21,235 princesses…1,499 princes….and one AMAZING time!

Photo Credit: Run Disney

We touched down in sunny Orlando the day before the race and took the Disney Magic Express Bus to our hotel, the Disney Cornado Springs Resort. We opted against renting a car since we were only staying 2 nights and Disney Transportation would take us everywhere we needed to go.

This my second time staying on Disney Property and the Disney Cornado Springs is my absolute favorite so far. So peaceful and relaxing, it was a good place to unwind before and after the race.

After check -in, we headed over to the expo to pick up my race packet and I also picked up some race gear – a sparkly running skirt from Sparkle Skirts, a princess headband from Lady Foot Locker, compression calf sleeves from Sigvaris, a spibelt, and some gel shots to keep me going during the race. Most of the lines weren’t too bad probably since this was day 2 of the expo, but the line to get into the official Run Disney section was too long for me to even consider waiting in line. After flying in from NYC, I was excited to check out the expo then relax and lounge by the pool.

After lounging poolside we had spaghetti, salad, and chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the room for dinner before turning in for the night. I was so anxious I don’t think I fell asleep until around 10 or 11pm.

At 3:00am the alarm went off, and I hit the snooze button once…maybe twice before getting up to get ready. I had a cup of tea and a muffin then headed to the bus to get dropped off near the starting lines. All was calm at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot before the race began.

The walk to the corrals was long, about a 15-20min walk, but DJ’s kept the morale up and porta-potties were in place for any last minute stops before the race. I saw so many great costumes – princess leia, the little mermaid, tinkerbell, and others as I made my way to my corral.

When they annouced corral F we made our way to the starting line – the engery was flowing, the crowd was hype, and the DJ was jammin as Fairy God mother and fireworks sent us on our way. Next stop – Magic Kingdom :)

Charaters and DJ’s were all along the course to keep us entertained like; Lilo and Stitch, Toy Soldiers, Meeko from Pocahantas, the Genie from Aladdin, and Prince Charming. The excitement of nearing the end began to sink in once I reached mile 12. I made one last stop at the medical table to get some tylenol and bio freeze then made my way to the finish line. It felt so good to run across the finish line, and as each runner crossed we were dusted with fairy dust, then sent to pick up our race bling and post-run snacks.