Last time I was at DisneyWorld I ran/jogged/walked an unplanned marathon…and now I’m back to do the Fairy Tale Challenge – a 10k on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. This wasn’t my first time doing back to back races (did the Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare), but it doesn’t necessarily get easier 😛 Also it didn’t help that I tweaked my ankle and got a horrendous cold (bed rest for 4 days straight) right before this race..but no excuses, I just straight up didn’t train for this x_X I feel like since my first real race was the marathon (read that story here), I have the perspective that running races are mind over matter and that I can power through it no matter what. I still hold this philosophy BUT as I’m getting older, I’m finding my body can’t recover as quickly so moving forward I will attempt to train for reals 🙂

Now back to this race which was all about princesses (my favorite!) with my cousin (we did the marathon together!) and her friend (first race for her!) so I signed up without hesitation. The weekend came and next thing I knew it was time to wake up at 3am for the 10k. By the way, I honestly think the hardest part of Disney races is waking up at the crack of dawn or actually before dawn 😛 we put on our matching outfits and we were on our way. The 10k was a relative breeze with picture stops with characters. I tried to keep a steady pace since I knew we had another race the next day. It didn’t work because after the race we all needed massages 😛

Now comes the hardest part of the weekend, waking up AGAIN at 3am for the half marathon x_X this time around it took longer to warm up. We got to see some special characters like the princes or Gaston & Belle! However, this race had a lottttt of folks who also like taking character photos so we had to attempt to book it to make time. Then mile 7 happened and for some reason there was a gridlock. The race track itself was narrowed and there were a lot of racers. Usually the folks who want to walk would stay on the right, but they were the entire lane so my team and I were “forced” to walk too since weaving and dodging folks was a lot of effort…

I thought walking the rest of the race wouldn’t be too bad, but honestly it’s rough! The sun just gets higher and hotter and the miles seem longer when you’re going at a slower pace. BUT I have to say that walking made me take into account everything going on around the race. I saw men and women of all ages and sizes doing this race and I was so inspired. My cousin asked if I would do another race and even though I hate running and waking up at the crack of dawn, I think I’ll always do races as long as my family wants too. No more marathons, but the other lengths of races I will do because I always want a reason to spend more time with my family 🙂 Next up is the marathon relay in October (first time running up hills).