Disney PHM Enchanted 10K Race Recap

Well, I've been home from Disney for almost a week now and still feel like I'm processing last weekends events and how I feel about everything. I came home and immediately jumped into a massive statistics take home midterm, a large Black History Month event at work, and a 5 hour assembly party to get my wedding invites done yesterday, and these recaps were pretty low on my list of to-dos. Thank goodness for Monday snow days that allow me to catch up on what's clearly important- reliving an amazing weekend through stories and pictures!

My PHM weekend started Friday morning with an early morning flight out of BWI without all of my running friends that were following half an hour later out of DCA. I was sad to not be traveling with the girls that have made this weekend important to me, but was grateful to find a ton of other Princesses on my flight to chat with. Before I knew it, we were in Orlando and I was meeting my girls for our ME trip to All Star Sports!

We dropped our bags and headed towards Disney's Fit for a Princess Expo at ESPN WWoS. I can't even begin to express how glad I was that it had moved back to ESPN this year, as the memories of this years Expo are so much more positive than the last 2 years (2012 I ran through it 30 minutes before closing, and there are no words to describe the horror of 2013 at Coronado Springs). I held the spending spree together pretty well (which Kevin appreciated) and left with only an official GSC wine glass and a RawThreads Little Mermaid tank, both of which I absolutely love. We spent the rest of the day at Hollywood Studios where I got to ride my favorite- Rockin' Roller Coaster- and hold all the bags while my friends braved ToT.

After a quick dinner back at the hotel and an early bedtime, it was time to get up and get the 10K started! Can I just reiterate everyone else's thoughts? 2:45 am comes REALLY early, but I honestly don't even notice it once I get up and moving? I had laid everything out the night before, so flat Erika was ready to go as soon as that alarm went off. We headed off to the bus around 3:30 am and made it to  the staging area with plenty of time and before most other people, so we had a chance to snag this beautiful pre-race pic:

Seriously, I love these girls. Wouldn't runDisney without them!

We also managed to find the GSC wall, which was noticably missing from the expo yesterday. It was nice to find my name and know that I was a part of something new and special.

The race itself? I have mixed feelings. I understand that WDW has limited park space to run through, and because of this, I full accept the fact that I am going to spend a large chunk of these races on the highways. HOWEVER, I thought that the entertainment on the first 3 miles of the course was sorely lacking, with the exception of Elsa and the snow in the first mile (that part was AMAZING and literally made my jaw drop). I tried to snag a picture of the mile 2 marker, because it was my girl Ariel, but I wasn't willing to slow down enough to take a good picture.

 I will say, once we got into Epcot, I was a much happier camper. Running through the World Showcase before the sun came up was great and a fun experience. I absolutely loved running the Boardwalk, as it was a part of WDW that I had never experienced before. I thought it was so sweet that people were up early and out along the boardwalk with signs, cheering us all along before 7 am! My only complaint, which isn't fair to Disney because they don't control it, was that the humidity was BRUTAL. Seriously, I had to take my glasses off at every walk interval to wipe them off and clear the sweat/fog just so I could see during my next run interval. I remember the humidity being brutal last year at PHM, but I don't remember having to do that before. Before the race I was much more concerned with wearing the ears for 6 miles, but that turned out to be the least of my worries!

I had planned to take the 10K slow and save myself for the half, because I REALLY wanted to PR the half this year. I did slow down significantly from my training pace, but it didn't feel like it! I really think it was because of crowding and humidity than what I was consciously doing with my body. It certainly wasn't my best 10K time, but I'm ok with it for this time.

Garmin Splits:

Mile 1: 11:59

Mile 2: 12:07

Mile 3: 11:28

Mile 4: 11:22

Mile 5: 11:25

Mile 6: 11:08

Mile 7 (.36): 3:29

Total: 1:12:56

Official Time: 1:13:15

Negative splits! I just noticed that I had negative splits- I totally didn't care when I finished this race, I was just glad it was over and I could shower and stretch like crazy to keep myself loose for Sunday. I grabbed my medal, my GSC wrist band so I could be legit for Sunday, and all the food and water they were willing to give me, and headed off to find 2/3 of the rest of my posse that had started before me. We hung out by the bag check tent waiting for Amy, who didn't submit proof of time and was stuck back in Corral E, and I enjoyed the break to sit and relax for a while. That is, until I stood up to leave and found this:

 No more obvious proof that your behind is MASSIVE than a nice sweat spot left on the pavement after a quick 6 mile run. Thanks humidity for that reminder!

Overall, I enjoyed the Enchanted 10K. I'm finding that I really like the 10K distance, more than the 5K for sure, and love that it requires less training time than the 1/2 does for me. I may have to find more of these in my local area to improve my time!

What were your thoughts on the 10K? Did anyone else struggle with the humidity and eyewear as much as I did?