RunDisney - Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2020

“THE BALLOON LADIES ARE COMING! IF THEY PASS YOU, YOU WILL BE PUT ON THE BUS AND TAKEN BACK TO THE START.”

No clue what I’m talking about? Awesome. I have my attention grabber then!

In the summer of 2019, Brian surprised me for my birthday with a trip he had planned to Disney World. The contingency being that the trip was being planned around the idea that he’d be running the Princess Half Marathon weekend in February 2020. He had assumed that I would just want to be a spectator and cheer him on. Up until that point, that would have been a solid bet! But there was something inside of me that wanted a challenge and I said, “Ya know what? To heck with doubting myself and telling myself I’m not a runner! I’m going to do it with you!” I figured it was something we could do as a couple and work towards together. We started training and getting antsy about our first Disney race (and my first half marathon…yikes. I did not and still do not consider myself a runner haha).

Little did I know that I would be running my first half marathon with our son in tow at 24 weeks pregnant.

Now, we knew going into this plan that I could very well be pregnant for the race. We had been having conversations about starting to try for a baby towards the end of the summer of 2019 but figured we’d cross that bridge when we got to it. Who knows how long it would actually take to get pregnant? Welp! Turns out about 2 months for us! In early October we found out we were pregnant! After the excitement died down of Jude’s impending arrival, I had to figure out if I was going to run this race or not.

Spoiler alert: I decided to go for it (after getting permission from my doctor of course…shout out to my worried mother-in-law!🙋🏼‍♀️)

Fast forward ahead to February of 2020. We are on our way to Disney World for the race! I was excited, nervous and just started to show with my little bump making it’s debut. The kicker was (and I’m not talking about my unborn fetus at this time) that we weren’t just signed up for the half, we were also signed up for the 10k the day before so that we could (God willing) complete the Fairy Tale Challenge when all was said and done and get an extra nice big ole’ shiny medal.

We hit the parks for a couple of days to blow off some steam before the big race (I’ll cover those days in another blog post 😊).

Both races started in Epcot, the 10k went through the loop of resorts next to Epcot (Beach Club, Yacht Club, down the Boardwalk) and then back into Epcot through World Showcase. The half started in the Epcot parking lot, straight down the highway to the entrance of Magic Kingdom, through the gates, right down Main Street, loop around the back of the castle and through it, through Tomorrowland, leave MK, another LOOOOOOONG stretch of highway back to Epcot and back through Future World West to finally cross the finish line.

10K Day

The morning of the race we woke up at the ungodly hour of 2am to get ready to head to Epcot. In case you don’t know this about me already, Disney is the ONLY place that I willingly drag myself up before dawn and have some minuscule amount of energy to muster up. We had to be there by at least 4am in order to race but if you want to be at the front of your group, you have to get there pretty early to line up. Being a newbie to races period, we wanted to be the closest to the front we could possibly be in order to give ourselves the MOST time possible to finish the race. Me being my pregnant self, I especially needed all of the extra time I could get…lest the balloon ladies GET ME. More on that later 😬

So we roll up to the Epcot parking lot, still pitch dark outside, and I was not ready for the absolute PARTY that was waiting for us at 3am. I’m talking DJ, lasers, snacks and food, a VIP lounge and most importantly CHARACTER MEET & GREETS WITH RELATIVELY SHORT LINES. My utopia!!!! We didn’t have time for all of them but decided to go for the more obscure characters that we don’t normally get access to, Mulan and Aurora.

If you didn’t take note of our cold weather attire in ORLANDO, it happened to be abnormally cold the week that we were there. It was in the 40’s both mornings when we arrived to line up and it was pretty miserable having to wait for hours outside standing still for the race to begin. I wasn’t versed at that time in race etiquette and hacks but quickly discovered that most people either: tough it out, wear less layers and wrap up with a space/thermal blanket until race time or wear old clothes they don’t care about so that when you get hot while running you can strip them off and just throw them on the side of the road. In case you’re worried about littering the highway with your old clothes, Disney literally hires people to walk/drive the entire race route to pick up and then donate all of this jettisoned clothing.

After meeting the characters we got all corralled into our groups and then began the long wait of standing in the brisk, chilly weather, pressed body to body (clearly pre-covid times) waiting for the fireworks to signal that the race had begun.

After the waiting was over, in true magical Disney fashion, countdowns and fireworks signaled the start of each group to begin the race with a different Pochohontas/strong-willed Princess song to accompany each one. Going along with the Pochahontas theme, we were immediately greeted by her gorgeous self watching over us on an overpass we ran underneath.

There are character meet and greets along almost the entire route which many stop to take advantage of. We saw John Smith, Meeko, Governor Ratcliffe, among many other Pocahontas and nature themed characters. We would have probably stopped to see more characters, but #1, there were some pretty long lines and #2 is the thing I was foreshadowing about at the beginning of this post. We had found out through some research before the race that there are a line of pacers at the back that run behind everyone holding Mickey balloons aptly and cutely referred to as the, “Balloon Ladies”. In order to keep everything timely and to make sure that all racers can finish up in plenty of time to open the roads and parks back up, if the “Balloon Ladies” pass you at any point during the race, you are loaded up onto a bus and taken back to the start, not being allowed to finish. Okay, let me lay it out for you where my head was at: I busted my butt training for these races and I had set a goal for myself. I had something to prove to myself and I was gonna be damned if some lady with a balloon was gonna load ME up and NOT let me finish!! That being said, I also knew that preggers and never having ran a race before I was most likely going to be walking a lot of it and moving slower. So the possibility of those ladies sneaking up and getting me was really real ya’ll 🤣 Hence, why we wanted to get as close to the front as possible to max our time to finish. This was a bigger deal during the half and less so for the 10k since the 10k obviously requires less endurance.

We started out at a great pace and just took everything in that we could. Every mile marker had a cool photo op spot to document your race progress. I wanted Brian to take my picture in front of every one because I was so proud of myself 😆 It felt so awesome and exciting being a part of such a positive event. Everyone was so supportive and uplifting; especially of those that this was their first time. Getting the opportunity to be in the parks “after” hours and experience the entire lay of the land without all of the congestion and crowds was so special and memorable.

We finally made it into World Showcase and my goodness what a gorgeous site. Tears came to my eyes as we ran in and got to see every building in every country lit up in the dark with the sunrise peaking over the roofs, silhouetting them in the most spectacular way. The only character we met in showcase was Mushu (what an awesomely rare find!!). And what an appropriate representation of the fact that we were absolutely kicking butt and crushing our goals! #warriors

Also, in this photo you can alllllmost see the beginnings of the bump 😂

As you passed by each country they had cast members out in front of the pavilions representing each one. Since we weren’t as worried about our time/pacing during this race we were able to be a little more relaxed and just soak in every moment. I had Brian take my pic with as many countries as we could! They were so sweet and sent us off with some good energy and motivation.

They popped us out of World Showcase onto the Boardwalk for a little bit. The sunrise was so beautiful coming up behind the lighthouse.

We had so so much fun running this race and having ran a 10k before, it was so nice being able to pace myself enough to enjoy all of the sights and experience everything to the fullest, with the confidence in my abilities. Regardless of this race being the easier of the two that we ran this weekend, it still felt absolutely incredible to cross that finish line! That feeling never gets old!

After the race we headed back to our car and immediately snarfed down our snack. Those post-race Disney snack boxes are no joke. They’ve got all that you could possibly want or need: a banana, a bottle of water, a fruit snack, a protein bar and ummm….chips and nacho cheese?!?! Honestly can’t think of a better snack to eat in my car after running while pregnant at 8am! I know it’s hard to infer if there’s sarcasm laced into that statement when reading, but just so you know, absolutely no sarcasm whatsoever.

We headed back to our hotel to shower, change and rest up a little bit before heading over to the RunDisney Expo. Every race weekend there is an expo set up, usually at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. You have to stop by at least once before your race because this is where you pickup your bib and your shirt. There are a ton of super cool vendors set up inside the building selling everything from running gear to RunDisney merch and lots of cool products that help to document your race and preserve the memories. They also have some fun photo op spots to take pictures in front of with your medal. We headed over to Epcot later on this day to make up for some lost calories and check out Festival of the Arts, which I’ll eventually have a post about.

We found one vendor that takes your medals and your bibs and frames them inside of a floating castle frame and displays everything super nicely. We figured this might be the only time I would be running a half marathon so we decided to splurge and order the frame. It turned out so so cool and we absolutely love it! We joked at the time that it was risky purchasing the frame the day before the half since it was difficult to say if I would be able to finish and then there would be an empty space for my medal 😂 everything turned out fine though! Which leads me to my next segment…

Half Marathon Day

I woke up on this day as a complete bundle of nerves. I was super excited but also super anxious about my ability and endurance and if my will was strong enough to make it through the race. We had done a lot of physical training and mental preparation leading up to this day and I felt like I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to get it done. I had to keep reminding myself to be realistic and that running a half while pregnant was a feat that I should not take lightly. Slow and steady was definitely going to win this race!!

It was another early rise kind of morning, these pictures were taken at 3am:

We decided to take advantage of the characters and all of the pre-race fun the day before at the 10k so that we could arrive on this day and not waste any time heading straight to the corral for our group so that we could get as close to the front as possible. Everything we could do to ensure that those balloon ladies didn’t nab me!!! Like I said, the pictures above were taken as we were leaving our hotel room at 3am and we didn’t start running the race until about 6:30/6:45am just so you have an idea of how long you are standing around waiting, smushed up against everyone in the cold.

Well, the fireworks went off and our half marathon began! Ready or not! This pregnant lady was running 13.1 miles! The first 30-40 minutes was a lot of jogging on a dark highway. But then, the most magical of sights!

Those gorgeous Magic Kingdom welcome arches! Every time we visit the parks and drive under those now we remind ourselves, “Remember when we ran under these?” Hard to forget babe, hard to forget.

The 3 mile marker was in the MK parking lot before we entered, still feeling really good at this point!

Jogging into Town Square and rounding the corner onto Main Street with all of the spectators and families ringing bells and cheering us all on was one of the most emotional moments of my life. All of the training, the nerves, the goals I had set for myself were all coming to fruition. I was actually doing it! And while carrying our son in my belly to boot! And in my favorite place! I was just so damn proud of myself, the emotions were overwhelming. The feeling is hard to describe. And they were playing When You Wish Upon a Star overhead, I mean 😭 talk about a perfect moment!

I dressed in about 3 layers like I did the day before after freezing to my core waiting for the race to start, but this day ended up warming up to be a lot hotter than the previous morning, so I kept shedding layers and had no place to put them. Sweet Brian carried all of my layers for me throughout almost the entirety of the 13 miles!!! Ladies. Get you a man like this. Plus, look how cute he is? Running backwards on Main Street holding my things?

We turned right in the Hub and got to run through Tomorrowland!! My favorite land! I was beyond excited about this fun little unexpected surprise. I mean, just look at that sunrise over the Astro Orbiter and People Mover 😭 There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the “start” of every day people!!!

At this point in the race I was on cloud 9. Feeling strong, feeling accomplished, feeling proud and overwhelmingly happy. We came around from the back of Tomorrowland and proceeded to run through the castle from the back! (Also, check out that 2019 pre-pink castle…the superior castle color scheme in my honest opinion). Another unbelievable moment! However, now I have the unrealistic expectation that every time I run it needs to be through Tomorrowland and Cinderella’s castle or it’s not worth it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Okay so this is the part of the story that takes a turn. If you’ll notice, there are no more photos taken between when we leave Magic Kingdom and when this next photo was taken at the 10 mile marker. That is because the stretch between MK and Epcot was where I began to lose my mojo and I mentally and physically took a trip to hell and back. These 5 miles or so truly were one of the most difficult things I have ever done and required me to channel everything I had in me to keep going. It was all on the highway, so nothing exciting to distract me from the feeling that my body was slowly shutting itself down and it was getting later in the morning which meant that the sun was more overhead and getting hotter bouncing off of the asphalt. I hadn’t really noticed my belly much up to this point, but now it felt like a giant bowling ball was bouncing around in my torso. I was having super intense abdominal cramping that caused me to double over and stop to wait them out.

Disclaimer: I’m about to get a little graphic about my pregnant body and this is a story about going to the bathroom so if you don’t like hearing about bowel movements, skip ahead! But it’s more fun if you don’t. I knew my body well enough know that these weren’t premature contractions….I HAD TO POOP. Ladies, let me tell you. If you have never been pregnant, the constipation you will inevitably experience as your inner organs shift and smush is next level. And I was miserable. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go on unless I made some magic happen. If you have ever ran any kind of race, you know there are typically port-o-potty’s lined up along most of the route. Well, for Disney races there are about 2x as many to accommodate how many people sign up for these things!

Brian was so attentive and stayed with me every step of the way. We stopped at a handful of bathrooms and I was so stressed out about the balloon ladies coming to get me that I couldn’t make anything happen. I kept trudging along hoping that whatever was ravaging the inside of my body (besides my unborn son) would soon pass so that I could finish the race strong. I stopped at one last port-o-potty praying that this would be the last attempt. Brian was waiting for me outside, I’m sure praying the same exact thing. He had told me later on that he had some really serious doubts at this point in the race that I would be able to finish it. I said, I can’t say I blame him lol. As I sat there feeling absolutely awful and quite honestly having a panic attack over this whole pooping ordeal jeopardizing my fate in this race, I hear from a loudspeaker outside the potty, “THE BALLON LADIES ARE COMING! IF THEY PASS YOU, YOU WILL BE LOADED ONTO THE BUS AND TAKEN BACK TO THE START. ONCE AGAIN, BALLON LADIES ARE COMING.” I’m sure you can imagine my sheer terror as I sat there helpless on the toilet as the ballon ladies drew closer and closer to seal my fate of race failure. Well, God must have heard my prayers from the port-o-potty because guys, I FINALLY got things movin!! Hallelujah! And what’s more of a blessing than that? I looked down to grab some toilet paper and the roll was empty. Seriously?? How can this possibly be happening?? I turned around and glanced behind me, and lo and behold. A beautiful, full roll of the most wonderful toilet paper I had ever laid eyes on. God was handing out blessings on blessings that day!!!

I finished taking care of business as quickly as humanly possible, pulled my pants up over my pregnant belly, and busted out of the potty door at a full speed sprint. I blew past Brian and just keep running Forest Gump style. I was so focused that I didn’t even bother to look behind me to see if the balloon ladies are actually gaining on us or not. Brian ran after me, “Wait! Mikayla! You don’t need to run that fast! They are still a ways off!” I just kept on going. No balloon ladies were getting me that day!

We were finally nearing Epcot and things were looking up. I was feeling so much better (and lighter) and I had a newfound sense of confidence and determination to finish now that I had been through the most difficult part of it. I was Beyonce shaking it to the DJ’s tunes and was unbelievably proud of myself even though the finish line was still a few miles away.

We rounded the corner and saw that a ramp was just ahead that would wind us back into Epcot’s parking lot. I can’t even begin to describe to you the overwhelming amount of relief that I felt at this point in time. I had done it, I was going to finish this half marathon PREGNANT. The best part of getting up on top of this ramp was the moment when we looked down and actually caught visual of the balloon ladies trailing behind us with no chance of gaining on us at this point in the race. It was so surreal and satisfying to know that we had evaded them permanently. I felt like calling out some remarks to them but I’m sure they are all very nice people and this is Disney after all! See the photos below to make out those stinkin black Mickey balloons that haunted my thoughts from the day we signed up for the race until I crossed the finish line lol.

We finally entered Epcot and we could hear the distant music and cheering from beyond the finish line. We were SO CLOSE. Brian kept encouraging me and reminding me, “You did it babe, I’m so proud of you!” I started getting teary eyed and emotional as we drew closer.

FINALLY we took those final few long strides into the corral and crossed the finish line hand in hand. It was such a powerful moment in my life and journey and in my relationship with Brain. My head had been spinning with doubts and worries for months leading up to the race about my performance but I feel that I always knew deep down that I was going to cross the finish line no matter what. At that moment I understood why people did these things and how they get addicted to them. When you cross that finish line, it’s all worth it. You cross it and all of your emotions come bubbling up to the surface. It’s hard to describe the euphoria that is completing a race. Overwhelming relief, gratitude, exhaustion, happiness, accomplishment, strength and empowerment. You push your body to its limits, it carries you through to the end even during the moments it feels impossible. Even the moments when your brain and your body are having an all out battle internally. I was so amazed and in awe of my body that not only just ran 26 miles in 2 days but was also simultaneously growing a human being?! How frickin unreal is that?! I set a goal, I was determined to prove something to myself and proved myself right that I can do anything that I set my mind to and so can you!!!

I’ve never done anything more difficult or pushed myself to such extreme limits but it is one of the things I am most proud of. I’m so so excited to tell Jude about this story one day and tell him that I carried him through that race (and he only interfered a little bit with the whole smashing my intestines thing). I hope this story proves to him that anything is possible if you have the grit and the self discipline to make it happen, the faith in God to work through you in your goals and a supportive and loving spouse to pull you through the hardest lows when you begin to doubt yourself.

We absolutely loved our RunDisney experience and would absolutely do it again (well, maybe not another half for me 😅). If you have any questions for me about RunDisney or an about an upcoming race you’re signed up for, feel free to reach out! I would be happy help out!