The Princess Enchanted 10K on Saturday, February 21st was the first race of the two-part Glass Slipper Challenge.  I’d run the Frozen 5K the day before and would run Princess Half Marathon the next day.  The most challenging thing about the day of the 10K for me was getting out of bed at 3:15 am.  Confession time:  I am a 50-year-old woman attempting to run multiple races over a 3-day period – getting up at what (for me) was the middle of the night was actually the single most difficult part of the entire ordeal.  I’m not a girl who can go without her beauty sleep!

The morning of the race came all too soon.  My homage-to-Minnie outfit was ready to go and, like the previous morning, I ate my energy bar and banana, suited up, and made for the monorail from Bay Lake Tower to get to the race on time.  You can see how tired I am – look at my eye-bags!!!  Again, Raymond was left behind.  This time, though, instead of just waiting for me to come back, he was charged with booking all of our Disney Cruise excursions for our summer vacation.  February 21st happened to be the first day we could go online and choose our activities and we didn’t want to wait or risk missing out.  He may have had a few tense moments when the Disney Cruise Line website went down, but he managed to book everything we wanted (Good job, Honey!) long before I returned from the race.  If he’d thought for a second I would have benefitted from his presence along the race course or at the finish line, he would have done anything necessary to be there.  He and I both knew I would really need him to help me through the half marathon, so we agreed he’d save his in-person support for when I needed it the most. 

It was a full 10 degrees warmer than the day before (which made a huge difference)!  I love running in cool (40’s or 50’s) weather!  After my inaugural runDisney race on Friday, I felt a lot more confident finding my starting corral and lining up for the race.  I made my way to the designated holding area and felt more awake when it came time for me to line up in corral “B”.  Before I knew it, we were off!  This race will stand out in my memory for two reasons – the fun and beauty of the course combined with feeling incredibly comfortable the entire time.  I cannot recall enjoying a run more!

The first part of the 10K course took us out on the roads circling the Epcot parking lot – it was dark and I just followed the crowd.  The most magical part of the race at first was seeing Anna and Elsa up above the runners on an overpass – they spoke to us as we ran beneath them which was cool, but wasn’t nearly as remarkable as the fact that it was “snowing” on us!

The second part of the race took us (like the Frozen 5K) through the World Showcase and then we went out the International Gateway to the Boardwalk area.  There were a few die-hard cheering guests that made me feel so special – and they were complete strangers!  I finally found Donald!We ran all around the Boardwalk and the Yacht and Beach Club area before going back through Epcot, back to the parking area to finish.  I stopped and took a few pictures of the gorgeous sunrise, soaked up the atmosphere, saved my legs for the next day’s half marathon and had a wonderful time!

For those of us who care about results:

• Women in the Enchanted 10K = 9753, I was #1455 with an official time of 1:06:16
• Women in the 50-54 age group = 708, I was #82 (If I’d known how close I was to the top 10%, I believe I would have taken fewer pictures and stepped it up a bit!)

I had the most amazing time and felt wonderful.  I was really looking forward to the next day’s Princess Half Marathon and the second part of the Glass Slipper Challenge – please check back for the race recap on that event next week!

Are you a runner?  What’s the most fun race you’ve ever run?  Are you an aspiring runner?  What’s your dream event?