Disney Princess Half-Marathon - Part 2 (The RACE!)

Yesterday I shared Part 1 (traveling to Florida and race expo fun).

Today we'll talk about the actual race.

We had to be on the bus to head to the race by 4am and we figured it would be really crowded, so we planned to get there around 3am.

Erica and I were so excited we had no trouble getting up to get ready, even though our alarms were going off at 2:20am. We even did our hair the night before so only touch ups were needed that morning.

The bus was fairly empty when we got on and as we picked up others from around our hotel, we checked out their outfits. Not to brag, but I think we were some of the best dressed runners there. While Erica and I ate our nutella sandwiches for breakfast, we discussed all the fashions. At one point she leaned over and whispered to me "We have the best oufits here." Then there was a long pause before she said "And I don't even have my gloves on yet!" God I love that girl.

After unloading from the bus.

We probably had to walk around 2-3 miles to get to the starting line, but everything was so well marked and so many friendly people were around helping us get from one place to another. It was just so exciting!

Disney people are sooooo nice!

  We were in line at 4am, but our corral didn't take off until 6:15. Needless to say we didn't have a lot to do. I didn't want to run the battery down in my phone, so we just sat and people watched. There were some awesome costumes. And some not so awesome costumes.

Resting and people watching.

Once the runners ahead of us started taking off, we moved as well. I'd read this strategy of starting at the back of the corral so you had lots of room to take your time, so we hung out at the back. We were the last ones to cross the starting line for our corral. The Fairy Godmother even started us off!

The bad thing about starting at the back of the corral was that we were slightly faster than 99% of the poeple in our group. I had given myself a modest time and we got placed in the next to last corral. Also know as the corral where most people walk. Grrr.

At mile one. We didn't take any more 'mile marker' pictures after this one.

It was still dark when we started and around mile 2 the leading runner was crossing the finish line! Really? Way to make me feel slow. :)

The entire race was so much fun. At ever mile there was a board that had characters on it along with the time since the race first started. There were also characters that you could stop and get your picture taken with, but those lines were so long that we usually just took pictures of them from the road or took turns taking pictures of each other with the characters in the background.

Snow White and some of her dwarfs.

Along the route there were also groups that were cheering for us, holding signs, passing out water. The entire race was just so empowering.

It was very hot! And humid. I was not prepared for that, especially coming from Ohio in February. I was used to bitter cold, so around mile three I was covered in sweat. Erica made sure I drank lots of water and gatorade along the route so I didn't dehydrate. At one point she asked if I had to pee, because I'd drank so much that I should have to. I didn't have to, so she made me drink more. TMI maybe, but it was hours after the race before I felt the need to pee. Not good when you have at least 2 bottles of gatorade, a bottle of water and 16+ mini cups of water and gatorade in your system. Later that day I visited every potty in Magic Kingdom. ha.

My favorite part of the race was running through Magic Kingdom. You got to see a little of the behind the scenes areas where they store floats and miscellaneous things like that. Running down Main Street USA was fun and through the castle was neat as well. It was very crowded, so instead of running it felt more like swimming in a school of fish. hehe.

Coming up on Magic Kingdom.

Main Street USA!

Castle!

Cinderellas Castle in the background.

While in Magic Kingdom we saw Mickey and Minnie, Belle, Cinderella and Prince Charming, all from a distance of course.


Shortly after leaving MK we hit the half way point. The Alicia Keyes song "This girl is on fire" was blasting and they had these flags up along the route that looked like flames. Also, a lot of villans were in this area too - Jiffar in particular. That song was a deffinate 'pick me up' and helped us pick up speed a little.

Some time around mile 8 we decided to stop for a potty break. The lines were long. We also got these energy shots. They weren't extremely tasty, but the did the job. I actually wish I knew what kind they were so I could go get some for my runs now.

The last few miles of the race were probably the longest. Most of the characters we'd already seen and we were running on the road through areas we'd already been, so it wasn't as exciting. Still exciting, but not as exciting.

Around the time we got to Epcot, the park was starting to open, so there were guests cheering us along and high fiving us as we ran by, that was really cool. Just before mile 13 we stopped so David could take our picture. It was great having a face in the crowd that we knew to take our picture and cheer us on. Erica is a lucky girl.

David got a picture of us!

Right before we finished there was a girl who was crying so hard. I thought she was crying because she was so happy for finishing the race, so I started to get a little emotional myself. I mean, I had just almost finished my first half-marathon. That is huge! But I think she was crying because she wanted to stop and her friend wouldn't let her. I mean, you've ran 13 miles girl, suck it up and finish the last .1!

I don't remember anything about crossing the finish line. They announced my name at some point as I was getting close and I was so shocked they did that and the next thing I knew we were getting medals on the other side of the parking lot.

Our official time was 3:15. That is kind of a long time, but I was so proud of it because I know I ran the entire 13.1 miles. I only stopped for water or potty breaks. Or to grab a picture of a character. I ran hard, but not to hard that my side would hurt or I would want to stop. So I think I did a good job at pacing myself. I think. ha.

Finish line with our medals! We did it!!!

I still can't believe I ran an entire half-marathon. I can't wait to do another one. If 14-year-old Emily that did everything she could to get out of running 800 meters at track practice could only see herself now. I've never been so proud of myself for doing something I never thought I would ever do. :)

I highly suggest the Disney Princess Half-Marathon to anyone who wants to do one. It's so much fun!! And magical!!

Disney Princess Half-Marathon - Part 1

I realize now that I never wrote about my half marathon experience other than just mentioning it in my post about what I did during lent.

I ran a half-marathon. Like legit ran it. No walking (other than water and potty breaks of course). No stopping. I ran it. I didn't run it fast, but I did run it and I am so proud of myself for it! I want to do another one, I just need to figure it out.

Recap of the whole amazing weekend in February when I went to Florida. It's a long one, so today is just everything leading up to the race. :)



I left for the airport on Friday afternoon. Molly dropped me off and I checked in. I'd never flown by myself before, but I was so excited that I wasn't the least bit nervous at all. My flight from Columbus to Cleveland ended up being delayed several different times (we had lots of ice that morning) and about two hours after we were originally supposed to depart, we actually did. In the meantime, I had made friends with this cute old lady in the waiting area who was also going to Florida to visit her 'snowbirds' (her daughter and SIL).

Our plane actually ended up boarding at another gate and we got on the plane from the runway/outside area. Basically it was like I was boarding Air Force One. I pretended to be Jackie Kennedy, not going to lie. The plane was super small - one seat on one side, two on the other - but I was really excited. The flight was georgous and by the time we got in the air it was time to land again.

Just a little smaller than Air Force One!

By the time we landed and exited, I was informed that I'd missed my flight to Tampa. Fantastic. So I rushed to the United counter to get a new flight. While waiting in line for what seemed like FOREVER (it really wasn't) I realized that I'd never grabbed my suitcase from the plane since we had to check them plane side. Luckily, a nice man brought it to the gate area. Good thing cause I had NOTHING on me. That would have sucked to get to Florida to realize I had no suitcase. So the other nice man (sarcasm) at the counter tells me that the next flight to Tampa is at 8am the next morning. It's currently 3pm on a Friday. I was not staying in Cleveland overnight, especially since my house was only two hours away. I get a new flight to via Chicago, then to Tampa but instead of arriving in Tampa at 6pm, it's now going to be 11:30pm.

The weather was crappy on Earth, but in the air it was beautiful!

A young girl with a baby is also heading to Tampa, so we become friends and hang out in the Cleveland airport during the layover. Once in Chicago - after I talked to this cute boy on the flight there - I explore O'Hare, grab a slice of pizza and people watch. That airport is huge and amazing.

I finally get on the flight to Tampa. We watch the movie Maverick and I fall asleep between two strangers on the way there. I wake up to the show "Subergatory" and get really confused thinking that the guy from the movie and the guy from that sitcom are the same person for a while. Nope, I was just asleep that long.

Erica picks me up and it's one of those meetings from the movies where we run into each others arms at the airport gate. Yeah, we are those friends. :)

Friday night consisted of heading back to her place and going to bed. I was pretty exhausted.

Saturday morning, David made us pancakes for breakfast. We were originally going to leave super early to get to Orlando, but with my late arrival Friday night, we decided to take our time. Around noon we left and got to the expo to get our race numbers and goodie bags. There was no wait at all, which was astonishing. At the expo we got to make encouraging signs for each other, where we both included "3 steps to fly" without planning it. That was our motto from our high school hurdling days. We also met Ali from The Biggest Loser, became a fairy, met Cinderella and Erica bought a cute Belle shirt.

My name on the list of everyone that was running!

Ali Vincent from The Biggest Loser.

We were so happy to meet Cinderella!

After the expo we went to Downtown Disney, ate at an awesome sandwich shop, walked around the stores and got a milkshake before heading to our hotel. We had to get to bed pretty early since we were supposed to be on our bus at 3am the next morning! 3AM!!

We laid all of our clothes out and snuggled under our princess blankets that Erica had made us. :) Love that girl.

All laid out and ready to go in the morning!

I'll share more about the race tomorrow. This post is already long....

What time we were ready to go! That's 2:50AM!

1 Year

Last year on the Thursday after Memorial Day, I picked up a little ball of fur from the Winking Lizard (our meeting place) and became a fur mom, aka a crazy cat lady.

How I ever came home to an empty house, I will never know. She has greeted me at the door every single day and I don't think I've slept a full night in the past year, but that's ok because she's the cutest thing I ever did see.

(I could do without the cat hair though. I seriously wish I could not have to use a lint roller every morning. Everything has a little negative to it, right?)

Mom's had me for 1 hour and takes me to a bar.

I have worms. :(

I have a whole queen size bed to sleep in now.

I want to be a model.

She's taking me to get fixed.

She gave me a bath and I am NOT happy.

I hate when she takes pictures of me.

I'm so cute!

Wake up mom!!! It's time for breakfast.

I love to snuggle. When I want to snuggle, of course.

And now I'm done with the cat pictures, because I realize I'm obsessed and this is probably why I'm single.

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday morning I got up extra early to make it home to the vet by 9. Bowie's little stomach had been kind of swollen and I was a little worried that maybe she was sick. I thought she'd been cured of the worms, but I wasn't so sure. So I researched online and basically diagnosed her myself with a cancerous tumor and figured they'd have to put her to sleep on the spot. No joke, that all went through my head. 

I get to the vet and am all worried I'd leave without her. Nope. She's fine. She's just a little chunky. So they put her on a diet and the nice vet wrote out a plan for her so she doesn't eat more than 201 calories a day (she currently eats 512 calories a day). Needless to say all weekend she was whiny because she was starving. Her food was cut in half, I'd be hungry too.

lounging with my chunky monkey.

Speaking of other chunks.....Posey needs a diet too, but supposedly the vet says she's "perfect."

Posephious.

Sunday morning we got up early (again) and Molly, Tyler and I went to the cemetery with Dad. We've done this every Memorial Day for the past 4 or 5 years.

First we went to Rushtown to visit the grave of my grandparents and my extended Wickham family. My grandpa is a veteran of three wars as well as our fire department, so he has a very decorated grave. His parents are right next to his grave and his twin brother is on the other end of the cemetery. It's always so emotional to visit this grave because my dad is an emotional person to begin with and I just get sad because I didn't get to know them and have just a few memories of them.

We also went to Mt. Latham Cemetery to visit my Grandma Primer and Aunt Annie, along with all of my Mam's family. It sits on top of this hill and his just gorgeous if you look one way over the hills. If you look the other way it is not so pretty.

That afternoon we cooked out at Mam and Papaw's and Molly, Tyler and I went fishing.

Molly singing an Americana song on the back of the truck.

When we got home from the cookout, Dad and I visited more cemeteries. Is that creepy? I like to visit and reminesse about good times with people that are no longer here on Earth. Dad tells lots of good stories too. Teresa was on her way to Mound Cemetery at the same time, so I finally got to see where Erin's Grandma Millie is buried. I have looked and looked for years but never found it. Now I know.

One grave we pass that always makes me cry is one of my dad's friends. He tells the story every year about how these two friends were on their way to Hungtington, WV one night and crashed on the way there. He was supposed to be with them that night, but he didn't go because he didn't have any money to spend. I'm so happy that he wasn't with them that night.

We also went to Waverly to visit my great grandparents on my Papaw's side and Erin's Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. While there I saw the graves of a few other people, like the Waverly student who was killed in a car crash last fall at age 16, and parents of people that I went to school with. It was just a very sombering evening and I'm glad that I got to spend it with my papa.

Later that night Molly highlighted my hair. I don't really think you can tell that much of a difference since they are just brown highlights, but they are there.

Monday we went to the Reds game at Great American Ballpark. It's no Wrigley Field, but we did have fun even if we were in the last row of seats.

Tyler's eating beef jerky. How much more American can you get. :)

I had plans to work on my tan all day. Seats were in the shade.

When I got home my passport was in the mailbox, so it looks like I'm all ready to head to the Caribbean now! 60 days left.

What a great Memorial Day weekend.

10 years

Sunday was Piketon's high school graduation ceremony. I didn't attend this year because I didn't really know anyone graduating that well and we already had plans to cookout and visit with my grandparents.

This year marked 10 years since I graduated! 10 years! That's crazy. It seems so long ago, but yet almost like yesterday too. 

2003 :)

I'm right above the "S" in School.

Later in June our class is having a reunion but I'm unsure if I'm attending. The family is leaving for vacation that morning and I don't keep in touch with very many that I graduated with. We will see.

Saturday night was the Piketon All Class Reunion. I went to that and was one of two people there from the Class of 2003. Awesome turnout. ha.

2% of my graduating class at the reunion.

High Street Lunch #2 & #3

Weeks 2 and 3 were much more uneventful than the first week of our High Street Lunch Tour.

We've skipped over the 5 billion Asian restaurants between Lane Avenue and Woody Hayes and are trying to mix it up. Be diverse away from only eating Chinese.

We went to Crazy Corky's Cafe. It was just a quaint little place in the bottom of the bookstore plaza at Woodruff and High. I used to eat a Corky's Cafe when I worked downtown, so it was similar. Just crazier? :) I got a grilled cheese, which was yummy. I don't remember what Adam and Jill got. And Suzie joined us this week too. We sat outside on the patio and took zero pictures.

Week #3 actually got two stops because we went to Sicilia Fine Italian Specialties (aka the pizza place attached to Out R Inn) for Stacie's Surprise Congratulations Party. We wanted to do lunch there one day, but it doesn't open til 4pm so holding the party there was perfect.

I'm not in the picture, but it's at Sicilia's. I took the picture. Congrats Stacie!!!!

Then we went to Buckeye Donuts for lunch on Friday. I'd never been there, even as an undergrad. I did not get the full Ohio State college experience at all when I was a undergrad. Not even close. I'm so thankful that I get a second chance to redeem myself now.

Anywho, I had chicken strips at Buckeye Donuts. Jill got French toast and Adam had a gyro or something like that. We also got donuts for the road. I got a Buckeye donut, because I love chocolate and peanut butter. It was just ok - it was real peanut butter on there, not the yummy mixed kind that you find inside candy buckeyes. So that made the donut really rich and almost too much for me to eat!

yum. yum. yum.

My first Buckeye Donut.

Solid peanut butter right there in the middle. YUCK!