Race recap part 1

This will be a multi-part trip review, starting with the expo, then both races, a few detailed dining reviews, and then our hotel. Hope you enjoy!

Our plane arrived Friday in Orlando at 11:30 about an hour late due to the “intensive ice removal” they had to do before we could leave Indianapolis. We used Magical Express with no issues, and checked into our room at Caribbean Beach. I’ll do a full hotel review later – but it was great! We ate lunch at the hotel’s food court, got our refillable mugs (free with Deluxe Dining), and headed to the expo. Compared to Wine and Dine, the bus transportation seemed much “easier” – less crowded, better organized.

After packet pick up for both races, we did some shopping and I got a black Princess Half jacket, a pink Finisher’s t-shirt, purple running shorts, and a 13.1 Mickey window cling for my car. We had dinner reservations that night at the husband’s only food request: the clam bake at Cape May Café. We have gone for the character breakfast, but this was our first dinner trip. The buffet had clams, mussels, crab legs, and all sorts of sea food and sides. We ate probably too much, but the food and service were sublime. After a quick walk though Epcot, we made it back to hotel for an early night in preparation for the next morning’s 5k.

We left for the Royal Family 5k at 5:15. I wore: black nike tempo shorts, hot pink nike v neck, nike airborne sports bra, my zensah calf sleeve, cheapy target running socks, and my Dyads. The bus was basically empty, and the bag check area was equally dead. We took a few pictures in Epcot, and made our way to the start line area, where there were crazy long lines for pictures will Belle and the Beast and a semi-obnoxious DJ trying to get people to dance. I also saw a man in the greatest shirt ever: On the front “For my 50^th birthday my wife made me do this” and the back “ That’s why I married my favorite princess”. Super sweet! There were tons of people in costumes and tiaras. In the starting area, they had pace guidelines signs, and the husband and I agreed to split it up. He wanted to really “run” and I was trying to get in a pace run for the next day. The race started with fireworks and we were off.

My only complaint about this race is how not accurate the course map was. It took almost a mile to get into Epcot, running on service roads and under Test Track. It was really nice to be able to run through world showcase. I thought it was really funny how many people complained about the “hills” – come and run southern Indiana with me! I hit mile 1 and 2 exactly where I wanted: 12:10, 24:45, and finished the race in 38:08, though the course was more like 3.3 than a true 5k. The husband beat his PR by 10 seconds. We got our medals, went back to the hotel to change, and started our first day at Epcot.