HF#11988

HA! So first off, no, I am not a Princess and this race is aimed for women runners but guys can take part as well and if you are sensitive to winter like myself, this is a great race to escape it for a weekend in Florida. I am not exactly sure how easy everything is when you stay off Disney property but if you stay at a Disney resort then everything is made really easy for you with transportation everywhere and the resorts communicate the bus schedules in their lobbies. With that being said, you will have to stand in lines waiting for a bus sometimes and race morning is super early as we had to be on a bus by 4:30 for a 7 start time. Catching a bus back afterwards was hectic for the expo so we cabbed it to dinner instead and my group was middle of the pack to tail end finishers and there were buses waiting on us so we got back to our resort pretty quickly. The expo is massive, if you need it then it will be there and if you forget something, there is a running store at Disney Springs. Everything about this race is setup really easy for runners and if you need something then reach out and it will provided one way or another. For example, it was cold this last year and they supplied blankets to everyone in the starting area and at the finish-line. The course is pretty cool but you do not run there as much of the parks as you might think, you run briefly through Magic Kingdom and Epcot but other then that, it is mostly the behind the scenes areas and park roads. Turning down Main St. in Magic Kingdom and having a crowd standing shoulder to shoulder cheering for the runners down the entire street is a pretty cool setting though. Tons of character stops along the route for photo opportunities if that is your thing. Aid stations are every mile with everything you could ask for to get you to the finish. Also, if you are new to half marathons and not sure you are ready for the next step, first off, you are, it is all mental over physical but this is not a bad place to start. If something happens you cannot keep pace then they will pick you up and bring you to about a half mile before the finish so you can still experience the finish-line and help spark that drive you need to train up for the next race.

All-in-all, not a bad race, especially for women runners and Disney fans and if you are like me and would probably never do this race if some work friends had not invited yo;, enjoy it and support the women in the race...you always be back home suffering through an ice storm! Oh, one more thing, get the dining app for your phone and schedule your meals 24 to 48 hrs in advance. We did not catch on to this until the middle of our trip and you have difficult finding meals on the property if you do not take care of this.