Princess Half Marathon 2013- Getting Ready to Run

Just a few recaps since Princess was interrupted with the excitement of Dopey and my Rock n Roll Dallas experience.
 
1- Met Julie and Amy and had a blast.
2. Hung out with Sarah and April and had a blast.
3. Went to Princess Half Meet Up… and had a blast.

Clearly this whole Princess Half Marathon weekend was AWESOME and I was having a wonderful time!  But we need to move to the real purpose of this weekend.  The running!  I promise this will be wrapped up this week.

Confession time:  about 5 minutes into the meet up I had called the ball.  I was NOT going to run the 5K scheduled (and paid for!) on Saturday morning.  It was a chicken, weenie move and I should have sucked it up.  But I didn’t.  I stayed in bed Saturday morning and truth be told- it was glorious.  April and I were at the Coronado Springs resort in one of the Business Class rooms (new “club lite” level- totally worth the extra money).  I had talked April into running it in my place- but she wisely said “No” when I asked her about getting up with the alarm.  We rolled over and went back to sleep and I know this was the right answer.  Apparently these two mamas were tired!  But in a room as gorgeous as this, who could blame us?

Friday MR Summer showed up as well as my sister.  The only MR I was waiting on was Alicia, who would be landing in Orlando with her family later on that day.  We took Saturday pretty easy.  I had to hit the expo to get taped and to buy some official gear since Friday was simply IN.SANE. The levels of insanity just cannot be accurately explained y’all.  I like crowds- I mean, I LOVE Disney and it’s always got some peeps in it!  But this was even too much for me.  I got in, I found April, and I got out.  I didn’t buy anything, didn’t touch anything, couldn’t even tell you my name after 5 minutes in that mad house.  Holy cow.  Lines upon lines upon lines- and I couldn’t make heads or tails over where they went or what they were for.  The space this expo was held in was simply too small.  I know this was NOT the normal expo site and am sure the runDisney folks didn’t want to be there either- but it was really a rough couple of days.  I felt bad for the volunteers, workers, and vendors who needed to be in the madness!

So our game plan Saturday was to be there at opening, get some gear, get my legs taped, and move on.  It happened pretty smoothly for the most part.  The KT Tape line was pretty long when I got there- and I was there within 20 min of hitting the doors!  I did have a bit of a wait there.  But it was a great time to chat up my fellow line holders and I discovered one was another PbRC member!  Hi Diane!

You might be wondering what KT Tape is?  And why does Shenanigans need it all over her body?  My simple answer to anyone that asks is that it’s MAGICAL.  It makes the pain go away.  I don’t run anything over 6 miles without taping up and I it’s made a huge difference in my recovery and running performance.  What it actually does is a bit more complicated.  Here’s my blog posting about the time I WON some tape (yay me! and yay Heather for holding the Twitter party!)

Finally headed out to the parks to enjoy the day.  We planned to meet up with Sarah for dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern for some pre-race carb and protein loading.  April and I had to see the New Fantasyland first- and check out Gaston, of course!  Really- if you stop for ONE picture only in the Magic Kingdom (besides the castle of course) it HAS to be Gaston.  Best. Addition. EVER. He was incredibly funny and really cute with the little girls who came up for his picture.  And of course amused April and I as well.

After the quick tour through New Fantasyland,  I met up with the Mickey Moms Super Group.  This is a group of ladies and gents who have been huge fans of the Mouse for years.  Most of us have also applied (with varying levels of success) to the Disney Parks Moms Panel over the years.   This group basically dreams in pink, and shares the dream that all 500+ of us make the Moms Panel.  Hey!  It could happen. 
I was so happy to finally meet my Pink Ladies- holla Ami, Sherry and Faith!
 

Thanks so much to Janice with the Adult Side of Disney for putting this event together!  We had a special guest drop by from the Moms Panel- the Pink Princess herself, Laura Spencer! She was so funny & sweet and I was thrilled to meet her.  There were tons of giveaways and a load of laughs with this wild group of ladies- so happy to spend time in real life with my online friends!
Marci @DisneyWishRun, Erin @LoveDisneyRun and Tania @LolaLambchops friends made on Twitter! If you aren’t following them, you should!

After my socializing April was ready to eat.  We headed to the Liberty Tree Tavern where we met Sarah.  This was a first for me- but will not be a last!  I loved the meal we had here and the CM was really great too.  Turns out he actually knew where Georgetown, Texas, was- so he got a bonus point from me.   Not too many people know my small town north of Austin but I love it when they do!  But the food- yum.  If you want a little Thanksgiving dinner in February, look no further than this spot! I felt fueled and ready for the big day tomorrow!

We made it an early night- much as it pained me to leave the parks behind before closing, I knew it was for the best.  It was hot and I still needed to rest a bit before the 2:45am wake up call.  Back to the Coronado Springs, stopped for some beverages in the “free” business class lounge, and to the room we went.  Pretty sure I said hi to my sister at some point this day- but she was keeping things really low key after a late flight.  She spent the day at the pool soaking up the sun and enjoying NOT being in Nebraska in February.  This- this I totally understood.  I might whine a bit about the heat but y’all really don’t want to see this Texas girl in the cold.  It’s not pretty!

Flat April and Flat Patty were laid out and prepped for the morning. Quick note on gear:  for a half distance I need a lot of “stuff.”  Some runners can go longer and leaner (insert Michael Scott joke here) than I can but this is what works for me.  For cooler races I would not bring my own hydration.  At Disney, I know the course and know it’s well stocked for water and Power Aide.  But this day I knew I wanted to have my own hydration just in case.

For this race I wore a Fiona Moving Comfort Bra, CW-X compression shorts, Sparkle Skirts techskirt (awesome pockets y’all! and super cute too!), Under Armour tech shirt, PRO Compression calf sleeves, Feetures! socks, Asics Kayano 18 shoes, my Garmin 110 with heart monitor, and my iFitness hydration belt.  Packed in pockets I carry some Tylenol, blister Band-Aids, moleskin, small Body Glide, and 2 bricks of Clif Blocks.  I recommend Biofreeze as well, but knew Disney had plenty of aide stations with bottles of the stuff if I needed it.

We had done all we could do to prepare – time to hit the rack and get ready for the morning!

Part IV