Monday, February 24, 2014

The Cinderella Royal Family 5k and Kids Races

Well, this past weekend was Princess Half Marathon Weekend.  It was full of activities including an expo and 3 races!  I was originally supposed to take part in the Glass Slipper Challenge, which was the 10k on Saturday and the 1/2 on Sunday.  Well, after Celebration, that plan got nixed.  So, I decided that I would do the 5k on Friday.  At least I got to do one race.  Of course, I walked the entire thing.  I also decided that Matt would do the 5k with me.  It was his very first one and I was so proud of him when we crossed that finish line.  He walked the entire thing with me.  We had to stop a couple times to let him rest and take some water, but we finished in about an hour and a half.  For a pregnant woman and a 4-year-old, I think that's pretty darn impressive!

We started in Corral D, so we started around 6:45 or so.  We ran a tiny bit as we crossed the start line, but quickly slowed down to a walk.  Matt started to get upset because "those other people are faster than me."  He stopped moving and started pouting.  I crouched down and explained to him that as long as he crossed that finish line, he would win.  There was a lady that was nice enough to help me out in convincing him and we started moving again.  He had a few more moments like that during the course, but we managed to move past them.  We only stopped for one character photo with Princess Ada from Bugs Life.  He didn't want to see any of the other characters.   We hit the first mile marker shortly after that and we figured out together that we had 2 more miles to do.  Hey, why not turn a 3-mile run into a math lesson?

In Epcot walking around the World

We met Princess Ada!


We did well the rest of the walk.  About 10 feet from the finish line (I'm not exaggerating), he had a total mental breakdown.  He started bawling, wouldn't move, etc.  I still have absolutely no idea what happened.  The only thing I can think of is that it was super loud (we were near the announcers and speakers) and he just got overwhelmed.  I spent a couple minutes just hugging him and calming him down.  I persuaded him to cross the finish line with me (he insisted on walking across it, instead of running) so we could go eat breakfast at the race retreat courtesy of a friend of mine that had extra tickets.

His very first 5k medal!



After we ate breakfast, it was time to do his 200m dash at the Kids Races.  While we were eating breakfast, he kept saying he didn't want to run it, but I knew he'd be upset later if he didn't.  So, I convinced him to go ahead and run it with me.  We had to wait until all the Mickey Milers and 100m dash racers were done.  It felt like forever.  There were 4 or 5 100m dash waves and they were set off like 5 minutes or so apart.  When you have a bunch of 4-6 year-olds who are still waiting to go racing and are very impatient, things get a little tense.  Finally, it was our turn to head over to the start line.  We managed to get into the first wave of runners since at that point, I really just wanted to go home and I think he might have, too.  He wanted to run the entire 200m, though, so once they shouted "GO!" we went for it.  He did GREAT and was super happy to get his 2nd medal of the day.  Not even gonna lie, I was jealous that he got twice the bling.

His official picture with his Kids Race medal

Twice the bling!

Overall, we had a really fun day.  We left Epcot around 10am and he passed out before we even made it onto I4 to get home.  He's already said he wants to do another 5k, so I'll have to find a really fun one for him.  It looks like his next kids race will be during Expedition Everest weekend in May.  The kids races then are a mixture of an obstacle course, a scavenger hunt, and a run.  I know he'll have a blast.  I can't wait for all the fun he and I will have running together!

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