Race recap: Enchanted 10K

Enchanted 10K
February 21, 2015

As is the norm for runDisney races, the day started very early!  We went to bed early, but man, that 3am alarm still comes quickly. 

I had set my outfit out the night before, so getting dressed half asleep was at least was easy!  Earlier in the month, Karen had hosted a giveaway for Princess themed running tops and I won!  Yay - I never win anything, so I was excited to start with and these were Princess running tops - so double yay!  I picked out an Elsa one with the sole purpose of wearing it this weekend! 

Luckily my sister-in-law is a good sport and agreed to be the Anna to my Elsa!

My original plan was to wear shorts under my Sparkle Athletic skirt, but when the real Queen Elsa dropped a cold freeze over Orlando, I changed it to capri's.  And added some gloves.  And they were both really needed - it was cold waiting around!

We headed to the bus around 4 and were able to get right on.  There little traffic on the way and we were quickly at Epcot.  Personally, given how cold it was, I would have killed for a little traffic and more time on the bus!

After arriving, we met up with Abby and all hung out until it was time to to the corrals (basically trying to stay warm).  Given the cold, they had actually brought out some stand up heaters for people to stand by and warm up.  Really smart decision and people definitely took advantage!  We weren't able to get near one until people started heading to the corrals.  At least we got a little time with them. 

Pretty soon it was time to head to the corrals!  I was in Corral A, but this was my sister-in-law's (Mary's) first race ever and I wanted to run it with her so I dropped back to Corral D.  I was happy to do it, but it was a little chilly waiting for the start.  I had brought a heatsheet from home so Mary and I huddled under it while we waited.  We had both also brought a throwaway shirt, which helped, but we were still popsicles by the time it started!

The corrals were starting about in 10 minute increments.  Even though it felt like forever, eventually it was our turn!  Off we went - with frozen fingers and toes!  It took me about 2 miles to feel all my toes again, but I did start to warm up as we ran.

I let Mary take the lead in if she wanted to take any pictures.  She elected to skip the pictures if they had a line (it was too cold to stand around!).  I also didn't take any pictures before or along the way as my fingers were frozen. 

Right after the started, they had Anna and Elsa on the overpass talking to everyone.  It was really cute and they were making it snow! 

We also saw the White Rabbit as well as Tinker Bell and Periwinkle.  I would have loved to have stopped for Tink because I haven't seen her in a race yet, but the line was crazy long and there was no way I was stopping in that cold!  Hopefully at Tink in May she'll be out again!

It was a little crowded on the course so we had to do a bit work passing people so we could have some running room.  By the time we hit mile 3, we had warmed up and had ditched the throwaway shirts (I ended up keeping the gloves on because they matched - and my fingers were still a little cold). 

Pretty soon we were heading into Epcot.  This part of the race is my favorite, I love going around World Showcase.  Mary and I stopped to take a selfie with Spaceship Earth in the background.  Gotta stop for a photo in Epcot!

My selfie skills need work - Spaceship Earth isn't even visible!

From there, we finished the loop of World Showcase and headed out to the Boardwalk portion.  Mary was doing great and feeling great!  We took a couple of walk breaks, but not too many.  Mary was a rock star!

Along this stretch, we saw Queen Minnie (with a crazy long line) and Baseball Donald.  Before we knew it, we were heading back into Epcot.  They changed the course slightly in Future World (the start line was in a different place as well) and along this stretch they had out astronaut Goofy. 

From there we headed past Spaceship Earth and headed towards the finish.  It was so great to finish with Mary - I was excited for her.  She had worked really hard training for this and it was awesome to be with her when she crossed that finish line! 

After we took some official finisher photos, I checked in for the Glass Slipper Challenge (which literally consisted of just walking through a tent - anyone else think it was weird?) and we picked up our snack boxes. 

After picking up our bags, Mary and I celebrated with some beer while we waited for my mom to finish.  She also had been training hard and she did it (she's a walker)!  So proud of her as well!

While waiting we also took a picture together in front of the adorable Princess background.  Anna and Elsa for the win!

Another great runDisney race in the books!  I had so much fun running with Mary and I love this course.  Wish it had been a little warmer, but what can you do?

Results
Official: 6.2 miles, 1:18:19, 12:37 pace
Garmin: 6.32 miles, 1:18:20, 12:24 pace