Princess Half Marathon - After

The first thing I did when we got back to the hotel room was submit to the horrors of an ice bath. Not a long one, since they were going to kick us out at noon, but long enough to do it’s job.

After ice bath, was a quickie hot bath, just so I could feel my feet again, then I got out and dressed, packed up the rest of the stuff (i.e. all the stuff) that Hubby and the Kiddo didn’t pack while I was in my bath, and checked out.

Quality iPod photo of me in a not-so-icy bath

We headed toward the Boardwalk, and told the security guy that I was craving pastries from the Bakery.  He directed us to the visitor parking lot and we found a spot. The walk to the actual resort was LONG!  There was no way I could do the stairs down to the Boardwalk, and we wanted to check out the resort anyway, so we walked in the front door and explored. What a gorgeous hotel – definitely want to stay here, at least once (it’s a Deluxe, so it’s expensive). 

We all needed a potty stop, so we went our separate ways, and marveled at the actual towels in the bathroom. So fancy! If only they were warm towels…. Mmmm.

No paper towels here - fluffy hand towels for guests at the Boardwalk

We took the elevator down to the actual boardwalk, and directly to the dock.

Wait – what about those pastries, you may be asking?  On the way back, I promise. We’re not totally cheating this time, just kind of cheating.

Anyway, we took a Friendship boat over to Epcot, and lunch – we had an ADR for my celebratory lunch at Via Napoli!

Yes, I put my medal on a plate for this photo!

When we got there, we scored a half booth / half table.  Yay for my butt, but I was seated directly under an AC vent so it was cold in there! 

After eating at Via so many times, we knew that a Large pizza would do, if we weren’t all that hungry, or if we were going to snack elsewhere later. I was starving (as you could imagine), so we upsized to a Mezzo Metro pepperoni pizza, to be shared by all of us.

After getting our drinks (water with lemon for me, which they brought ½ a dozen of, on a plate), I began sucking on salted lemons to get some sodium back in me (a trick I learned from my awesome grandma Lillian).  Two other diners, wearing their 10k medals were seated near us, and they kept giving me dirty looks for some reason. Granted, the three of us were being loud and generally enjoying our day, but whatever.

It took a while for our pizza to be done (longer than a regular pizza), and Oh, my god – they ROLLED it out on a cart!  I knew it was big, but really?

Cart holding regular "Large" on the bottom - Mezzo Metro pizza on top (Photo courtesy of Disney Dining Reviews)

The 10k Girls continued their Stank Skank looks at me – probably at this point they are looking at me, my medal and my lunch and thinking some variation of Fat Girl hate on me (i.e. Look at the fat girl eat pizza). Either that, or they were jealous that I had no fucks to give about eating healthily after running a freaking half-marathon that morning, while they were sad women who only did a 10k and ordered salad. I like to think it was the second one.

I forgot to get a photo of it in it’s whole-pizza glory, but I was starving!  And it’s better when you eat it hot.

Parmesan Cheese container for scale

We did some damage to that pizza, and quickly.  Hubby only had 4 pieces (he’s not as big a fan of pizza overall as I am), while Kiddo and I had 7 each. Yes, SEVEN. It’s so damn good!

Lunch was great, full of laughs (and snarky comments about the Stank Skanks), but we were ready to go.  After tax and tip, our meal was $60. Yes, that is expensive for a pizza meal. Yes, everything at Disney is expensive. However, when you really get down to it, it fed three of us, at a Table Service restaurant, with drinks for about $20 each. It would cost the same as a burger and fries at The Plaza, but the food, atmosphere and service (especially service) is much better at Via. And even better – I had $60 worth of Disney Visa Rewards (I pay for my Annual Passes with my Disney Visa to get Rewards), so this meal was free!

Once I was up and moving again, I realized just how full I was – I was uncomfterfull.  That’s when you are so full you have to unbuckle your pants or puke. We walked – slowly – over to Test Track, where Hubby and the Kiddo went Single Rider, and I sat outside, getting warmed up (it was really cold in there!) and trying not to puke.

After Test Track, it was getting late in the afternoon, and we all had to go to work and school the next day, so we made our way back to the International Gateway, and took a Friendship Boat back to the Boardwalk.

Finally, it was time to check out the newly remodeled Boardwalk Bakery. I’ve been wanting to go for some time, but we never remembered about it til later. (Disclaimer - the treats were eaten day(s) after we got home - I put them in Lock & Locks when I got home). 

Oh, man – what a great selection of cupcakes, brownies, sammiches and pastries!

Hubby and the Kiddo both got an Oreo Cupcake.

Intact Oreo Cupcake (Photo courtesy of Disney Dining Reviews) 

This cupcake is a chocolate cupcake, filled with cookies & cream filling, then topped off with mounds of frosting, chocolate curls and two Oreos. Hubby and the Kiddo both agreed that it was a tasty cupcake, but the frosting was more whipped-creamy than buttercreamy, and they didn't like it as much as they hoped. We're all firmly on Team Buttercream in this house!

I was having a hard time choosing between the Lemon Meringue Tart and the Cheesecake Brownie. Hubby pulled out the “you earned it” card, so I got both!

Cheesecake Brownie 

I am usually a stickler for a pure, virginal cheesecake, but I'd heard so much about this piece of tastiness that I decided to try it.  As soon as I unboxed it, I cussed - it had NUTS in it! Grrr - brownies should NOT have nuts or frosting!  So, I ate the cheesecake on top - which was heavenly - then ventured to try the brownie.  I took a bite, thinking that I would kind of suck the nut out, but when I got to the nut, I wanted to know what kind of nut it was, so I bit it. IT WASN'T A NUT! I think it was maybe a peanut butter chip? I don't know what it was, but it made the whole damn thing so much better! Perfect cheesecake, moist brownie, no nuts - can I have five more of these?  Also, it was so filling, I only ate half of it before saving the rest for the next day!

Lemon Meringue Tart

The tart was perfect in every way as well. The crust was shortbread-like. The raspberry (which I didn't eat) didn't leave any 'remains' when I removed it (no juice or whatnot). The meringue stood up well while in the fridge, but the star was the lemon filling. Tart, but not too tart. Again, so filling that I ate half of it one day, and the other half the following day!

The cast member packaged them up nicely (and they traveled well, considering turns, brakes and interstates!), and we were out the door and walking back to our car in no time. We grabbed snacks from the nearby Hess and then it was time to go home.

The ears were soggy from the frosting and toppled over, but other than that, the cupcake specific box did a good job!

Unboxed Oreo cupcake, after we got home

My plan was to take a long (looooooooooooong) hot shower before bed, but that never happened!  Hubby and the Kiddo unpacked the car, and I fell asleep by 9!

All in all, this was a great race weekend. Extremely stressful events leading up to it, but great once it was the weekend. Did I enjoy the race itself again? Yes, to an extent. I think this race had what I called “Third Baby Syndrome”. Last year, it was my first ever race, so I doted over everything. But then I did Celebration last month, and now it’s like “I’m doing another half, yeah, whatever.” A lot of the urgency and the stress was gone. I noticed more things on the race this time, like rude women, but I was able to enjoy myself more too.  Would I do the Princess again?  I don’t know – I think I want my runDisney dollars to venture out to unknown territory, like Wine and Dine, or the WDW Marathon Weekend Half-Marathon. Maybe I’ll come back for the 10^th anniversary of the Princess – I’m sure there will be a cool new medal!

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it - go check out DisneyDiningReviews.com - they are great!!!!!!