Disney Princess Half-Marathon 2012: The Expo

On Friday (2/24) we got to go to the expo for the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and I have to admit, I love this sort of thing. We were greet by Cinderella's footmen, who were showing off her carriage (the woman with me is my big ChEARleader Maryanne. Then we go to go pick up our numbers and all that kind of stuff. There's a little bit of a thrill standing in these sorts of lines, at least since I'm relatively knew at all these organized activities. You have to sign a waiver (which is always a sign that something is going to be good) and there's an identifying number, which makes everything seem more real and urgent. All that training has been leading up to something, and in this case, getting a little bib with a tag (so Maryanne could track me along the course) that said my number and deemed me Princess Angel, was a big indicator that the race was imminent.

After picking up my number and posing for some picks with the infamous bib, we were sent inside the massive expo building proper that was at ESPN's Wide World of Sports. The whole facility is just gigantic, with football/soccer fields for days and building after building of sports arenas. It's really quite a treat. Inside the Expo building there were vendors galore and so many sporty things to look at. And this was about eight times the size of the one that I got to go to for my triathlon last summer, so it was a might overwhelming to say the least. And they had cute things like a glass slipper sneaker. I mean, honestly, how can you not love that?

To make the day even more magical, I walked around a corner, got dusted with pixie dust by a fairy godmother for some good luck and then literally stumbled upon the booth where Jeff Galloway (the running trainer who's book I've been following) was stationed. I almost passed out. I meet celebrities and interview them quite frequently for my day job, but after religiously sticking to Galloway's "To Finish in an Upright Position" half marathon program for the last four months, I was actually more than a little starstruck. ( I mean, look at the goofy ass grin on my face). I hopped in the not too long line and took my only had to wait a few minutes to meet him. I was babbly and a little on the insanely exuberant side  as I told him how I'd been following his program and was nervous for the 13.1 miles on Sunday because of the time limit and because of how slow I was. He kindly informed me that if I'd been doing the program, I'd be fine. And that SLOW was a four letter word and I shouldn't think of my running that way. While other's had been telling me this too, hearing it from the actual man was just what I needed.

He even signed my bib, and it was inspiration during the race to not think of myself as slow (in fact, I turned off my nike GPS early on and just ran and enjoyed myself, and it was fine).

I also managed to pick up my goody bag ( which was really just a t-shirt, but a cute tech one) and Maryanne got me the specially designed Princess Half Marathon ears (they even have a little veil in the back) that I'm sporting on my head. I saw a million motivational t-shirts that I wanted. Most especially an adorable one that said "Suck It Up, Buttercup", but a lot about only being half crazy, and others about the turtle winning the race. OK, and the ones about running for wine were pretty great too. I was tempted to change my leggings for some sparkly little running shorts and a skirt, but opted not to. The devil you know, and all. But did splurge on a device called simple, "The Stick." It's a magically little massage item that gets into those knots on the back of your leg and whatnot. I had been tempted to get a massage, but the man at the booth for the Stick spent about three minutes working on the knot I'd had in my leg for three days and when I stood up, it was completely gone. It didn't take me long to fork over my credit card for that one, though I did buy a small model so I could get it in my luggage for my return trip. I think I know what I'm buying all my sporty friends for the holidays this year.

The whole experience was rather enjoyable, and really helped set the mood for racing. Almost everyone was so nice... Well, aside from the bitchy girls I heard later on the bus complaining about how dirty it was -- it was spotless, and how they disapproved of the goody bags -- what do you expect for a race for 20,000 people?  Some people just like to gripe about everything. But I was honestly quite pleased with the few hours I spent there.