The Rosy Wanderer

When the alarm went off at 2 am, I was tired, but I was excited. I feel good about half marathons, and I was going to get to hang out with my friend, Dan Mott. It was also going to be a low-key day since I wasn’t going into the parks. All I had to worry about what the half marathon and going to the Rise and Run meet up at Disney Springs. Pretty easy day, right?

Getting Ready

Like the other days, I laid out all of my clothes the night before to make the day easier. For this race, I was dressed like Daisy Duck. It was cold out, so I’m happy I decided to buy the runDisney spirit jersey at the expo. Since it was a long-sleeve white shirt, I decided to wear that under my purple top. Even though I don’t like cold weather, I would rather it be on the colder side for this race.

The Course

The course is the standard half marathon course from Epcot to Magic Kingdom and back, so there is A LOT of highway running. This is a lot of people’s favorite course, and it is fun to run through the castle, but I’m not a fan of the course. My first runDisney event was supposed to be the 2017 half marathon, and I wonder if I would have come back the next year if it wasn’t canceled. The first time I actually ran at Disney World was the marathon in 2018. That was so exciting and fun. The half course can be a bit dull depending on the number of characters, but I was excited. My goal was to go slow and have fun!

Pre-Race Party

I was on one of the first buses because I wanted to get a picture with a character, and I liked not being stressed about getting to the event. The last two days worked out well, so I as going to do the same thing today. My friend would get there later, so I hoped I would be through the picture line by then.

Luckily, I was on one of the first buses to arrive, so I got a picture with Timon quickly and was able to wait in a short line for a picture with Flick – two before the race! This was going to be an awesome day!

Eventually, I met up with my friend and we hung out together before making the long walk to the corrals. He is a fast runner, so he is in A group. One day, I want to be in B or C – that would be quite cool!

The Race

This race was fantastic! Between the 90s music and all of the characters, I had a really hard time slowing down. I was able to get pictures with 7 characters on the course – that’s a PR in character stops! It was a cool day, but a good day for a run. It took me a little while I warm up, but I did eventually. I felt strong through the race and not like I was pushing too much. I felt like I trained well and was able to have fun while doing a half marathon.

Running through Magic Kingdom is the highlight of this course. There was a lot going on in MK with characters, but they also had the carousel going when I went by. I was too nervous to get on it, but that would have been really fun. Unfortunately, the worse part of this race was the castle. It should have been fun but there was a huge traffic jam and everyone had to take very small steps to get through. It was very stressful and people were annoyed. That has never happened to me before, so I’m not sure what happened this year. I think they let us go out faster than normal (I think my group went off 20 minutes after the start, when usually I’m 30-45 minutes later). It was terrible and could be avoided in the future.

The Finish

My final character stop was with Daisy at the finish line – she was wearing the opposite colors of what I was wearing, which made me really happy! It was such a fun day, and I couldn’t believe how good I felt.

After the race, I got my medal and took my Photo Booth picture, got my snack box, and decided not to get any more character pictures because I was hungry and needed to worry about fueling. Prep/recovery for the marathon was my biggest priority today – especially since I went out too hard during the half. I finished in 3:19:01, even with all of the lines I waited in. It was completely worth it, but I hope it wouldn’t cause problems the next day.

Post Race – Disney Springs

I had breakfast at Pop (which included hash browns and Mickey waffles!) before heading to my room to shower and take a quick nap. Eventually, I made my way to the bus and headed to Disney Springs to attend the Rise and Run podcast’s weekend meetup. I love this podcast and listen to it every week. The gang seems so nice, and I wanted to meet them. I had a great time meeting other listeners and talking about the races everyone was doing this weekend.

Unfortunately, I stood a lot at this event and decided I need to get back for dinner and more rest. That would have been fine, but then I waited over an hour for the bus to take me back to Pop. I don’t know how that happened, but it was terrible. I really felt it in my legs, and I knew I over did it.

Once I got back to the hotel, I had dinner with my friend Anna and one of her friends. They were doing Dopey, too, so we all talked about how nervous we were for the marathon in the morning…