Disney Princess Half Marathon Preparation

My family and I will be leaving for Disney World in exactly 5 weeks!  I have been talking about this trip for a year and a half, I can not believe it is almost here.  This particular vacation is serving two purposes, a family vacation for Ryan's first Disney experience AND for Megan and I to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  Since both of these are very different topics, I am going to write two separate posts about my excitement and preparation.  This one will be all about the marathon!

I am starting to get very nervous and anxious about running 13.1 miles.  Since I am a brand new runner and I have never competed in any race longer than a 5k, the idea of running for this distance is very daunting.  But I am also super excited!  I have been training really hard and I am really proud of the progress I have made so far. 

Training-
Megan wrote a training program up for me and the official training started back in September.  That gave me about 6 months to train.  It has been a very slow and steady process.  I did have a few minor set backs but have stayed on course for the most part.  The week of the hurricane I didn't run at all, I had a stomach issue in November and then the flu in December.  A few days of minor aches and pains... but I am hanging in there and running about 4 days a week.  Here are some of my stats (I am posting this not because I am proud of my super slow times, but as a way to track my progress)

- I can finally run a full 3-4 miles without walking at all
-Longer distances I eventually switch to a run 5 minutes and walk 1 minute routine
-My 3 mile time is 30 minutes.  I can't wait to run another 5K to see what my race time is.
-My goal is to run 4 times a week and I am currently at about 25 miles per week.
-My longest run so far is 8 miles and it took me 1 hour and 32 minutes.
-My average speed on medium distance runs is 10-11 minute miles
-One of my best runs so far was this week when I did just over 6 miles in 1 hour and 2 minutes!

Tomorrow I will be doing my first 9 mile run, I am nervous about it because I have been struggling with my 6 and 7 mile runs recently.  I feel like I have to step it up a notch and really focus the next 5 weeks.  No more excuses, even if its not til 10pm at night or at 5am in the morning, I can't miss a run... especially a long distance run. 

I am also doing some cross training by going to Brian's gym once or twice a week.  Its been rough on my body but I feel like I am in the best shape of my life.  Hopefully it all pays off on February 24!


The actual race-
I have been doing a lot of research on the actual race and I am sooo excited.  Apparently it is a typical Disney experience... meaning they do a great job putting on an awesome experience.  I have read (thank you fellow bloggers) that they have fireworks at the starting line, characters throughout the whole course, an awesome run through Magic Kingdom and the castle, and lots of music and entertainment throughout the course.

Unfortunately it also means getting up at like 3:00am to get to the race on time.  It starts at 5:50am because they need all of the runners to be finished before the parks open.  They do have a pretty strict time restriction, you have to keep a 16 minute mile pace.  The benefit to the early start is that you have the entire day to still enjoy the Disney vacation

Dress like a Princess-
Another fun thing about this marathon is that a lot of the runners dress in character.  Since it is the "Princess" half marathon... the idea is to dress like a Princess (or any of the female Disney characters).  So I am trying to pick a costume that would make me look like a princess but would also be comfortably to run 13 miles in.  The other hard part is that I can not predict the weather.  It could be 30 degrees that morning or 70 degrees.  Anyway, I need something girly, princess themed, comfortable, and flexible with the weather.  Any ideas or suggestions?

Normally my go to costume would be Cinderella, she is my favorite.  Then Tinker Bell would be a close second.  But I am leaning towards Minnie Mouse because I can wear black running pants under my red and white polka dot skirt.  Who knows...I found several websites that gave good suggestions so I really just need to figure it out and start shopping for all of the pieces. 


AHHHH I am so excited, and nervous, and anxious... I feel like it is all I can think about right now!  More updates to follow I'm sure.  Wish me luck!