Disneyland Half Marathon Race Report

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Disneyland Half Marathon....

On Friday morning my husband and I left on our vacation without the kids.  It was our first trip without them... and although I enjoyed our trip, I did miss them a great deal.  They had a great vacation at Gramma's while we were away!

We arrived down in LA after a very early morning flight...  We drove around LA, hitting the Fabric District and Mood Fabrics...  It was an interesting trip and we found some beautiful fabrics - most of which I didn't buy!  I only came home with two pieces of rayon knits from Micheal Levine's The Loft where fabric is sold by the pound!

We went to Rutabegorz for lunch in Fullerton and the Disney outlet store.  Loved the Vegetarian Black Bean Chili....

Then after checking into the hotel we walked to the race expo.  The expo was held at the Disney Convention Centre right near downtown Disney.  It was a short walk, and great to get out and moving after driving around town for the day...  Having only been to one other race expo, I was impressed by the freebies and selection.  Many more samples and freebies than at the Princess Half Marathon.

Race Day...

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this for yourself, enter the giveaway on my blog here.

Race day saw us getting up early and walking to the race.  This was much easier than busing it at Disney World.  The walk was easy, and many others were walking to the corals.  There were a few bottle necks getting to the corals, and they weren't checking as we entered each coral, only if you were in corals A,B or C...  There seemed to be many more "jumping" corals here... it really wasn't an issue as those that "jumped" were able to keep pace, but it did add many more to the coral than should have been, making for a crowded start.  I found the start at Disneyland much more crowded than Disney World at the start of the race...


The race starts through the back of California Adventure park, then through downtown Disney to the main gates and into Disneyland.  At the Disney Princess half marathon I found it much more impressive going through Magic Kingdom, main street and the castle.  I think mainly because at Disneyland we were only at 5km, but at Disney World by the time you get to the castle it is 10km into the race.  It felt like an accomplishment at Disney World - no so much at Disneyland.   


I loved seeing the backstage and behind the seen places at Disneyland, but it seemed there were far fewer cast members out than at Disney Princess.  It seemed like we'd hardly ran anything before we were leaving Disney property for the streets of Anaheim (by Mile 5).  There were various bands, cheerleaders, and other groups along the streets.  The water stations were numerous with a marvellous set of volunteers!  Wow!


We ran past the Honda Centre then to the A's stadium... The stadium had a nasty slope heading in, but there were many volunteers reminding you about the slope and to be careful of your footing.  As we ran through there were Girl & Boy Scouts all in their uniforms cheering for us.  It was great, but reminded me I was missing my kids.  At this point we were 9.5 miles into the race and I was feeling exhausted, and knew I wasn't going as fast as I'd hoped... Then as I left the stadium a family cheered their mom on (who was running behind me).  This wasn't good for me, I then realized my kids wouldn't be at the finish line for me.  They wouldn't even be nearby, and I would have to wait about 36 hours to see them.  It took me a kilometre or so to get back on track... But I managed.   

The last 3 miles or so was uneventful, but I did miss the Sergeant from Toy Story that pushed us on in the Princess Half Marathon....

I did forget to stop my Garmin as I crossed the finish line, so wasn't completely sure of my final time... I was quickly awarded my medal and went off to claim my Coast to Coast Medal...

All the while I'm looking for my husband.  I'd expected to see him at the finish line, but he'd already headed to the family reunion area...   He headed there based on CLOCK time, not adjusted for the start time...  Oh well, I found time without needing to go to one of our many contingencies!

Then we headed back to the hotel, showered, changed and off to Disneyland... We went on some rides, then for lunch.  Then I was feeling awful, so we went back to the room to lay down. After a nap, some Tylenol, ibuprofen, I was feeling human again.  We set back off to California Adventure, finalizing the night with our picnic in the park, and World of Colour show.  The Vegetarian Picnic was yummy, but could have used a little more protein...

In the parks after wearing our medals, we got lots of congrats!  Many more than at Animal Kingdom... Many more of the cast members seemed to know of the race - I'm wondering if it would have been different if after the Princess Half if we'd either stayed in Epcot or Magic Kingdom where the race went through... Those at Animal Kingdom seemed out of the loop!

The next morning we packed up, returned our rental car, and sat waiting at the airport for our flight.  We were there super early as we didn't want to pay an extra day on the rental car for 1.5-2 hours...  But we sat and read quietly with no interruptions!

Reflections on the race:

• Spraining my ankle just as I was planning to ramp mileage isn't a good idea.  Set my training back 6 weeks!  
• Only getting 1 - 2 runs in per week for many of the 8 weeks before the race isn't a good idea!
• I need an adult to watch the kids in the summer when the kids and I are in a different location than my husband.
• So don't plan a long distance race right at the end of that vacation!
• It was warm, which it really hadn't been at home.
• I was only 11 minutes slower than my first half (run early morning, in the cool fog!) and 6 minutes slower than the Princess Half (similar temps, but better trained).
• I felt great after - and wasn't too stiff or sore!  My feet ached a little, but nothing a little yoga didn't cure....
• RunDisney puts on great destination races!