Disney Princess Half Marathon - I went out to Orlando with my family and Jenny's Mom (Cindy) and sister Amy on Saturday. We woke up bright and early and were heading into Epcot just after 5:00 am. The weather was very reasonable, just slightly cool but was going to be warming up. Jenny, Amy and their mom were going to run this race together. Jenny's mom ran the Disney half marathon last year. It was her first half marathon and a year prior to that had not ever really run much before. Last year she ran into some fueling problems and came pretty close to having to drop out, but managed to finish just under the three and a half hour time limit. This year went much better. Goal was to come in under 3 hours, but any significant improvement would be a success. I saw them at the four mile point and had seen that as of the 5k point, they were a little bit a head of schedule. The 10K update showed them losing some time. The boys and I saw them again at about 8 miles and Jenny's mom was looking a little more tired. Then, I received the 15K pace alert and it showed them making some time back up and were on track for 2:57! The next four miles were a bit tougher for them. Jenny and Amy did a great job keeping their mom motivated and would not let her slow down (well, at least not that much!). They were able to stop and take pictures and really enjoy the race. The race was not officially closed to men but there were less than 200 men running, about 5900 women. Jenny's mom said that was kind of nice to not have to deal with men doing things that guys often do on race courses. The boys and I staked out a spot at the 13 mile marker and waited. I was watching the clock but I didn't know exactly when there start time was. At about 3 hours I saw them coming around the corner, we gave a big cheer and watched them go by. Cindy was able to pick it up and run to the finish - a big difference from last year. Official time was 3:01:22, just missed 3 but it was a 26 minute PR, and she ended up with 8th in her age group. Great job Cindy! and to your pacing team of Jenny and Amy! Since we were going out to dinner late that night at the California grill and then spending the day at Hollywood Studios the next day, I was a bit worried about getting in a 12 mile run on Monday morning. So, I did 6.1 on the treadmill and would do the rest on the next day.
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