I spent this past weekend at Disneyland participating in the Half Marathon Weekend. I was crazy enough to sign up for the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge which gives you a special third medal if you complete both the 10K and the half marathon in the allotted time.
So where to start? From the beginning duh!
Signing up for the event is an event in itself. Disney races are notorious for selling out quickly. I had signed up for email notifications and even set a calendar notice for signing up. Basically registration opens and you wait for the site to load because it's slammed. Once you get on, you click another link to register through another site. This site puts you in a queue for when you get enter the site and register. The whole time, you're refreshing the Disney page to see if it's sold out yet! I finally got in and signed up for the Double Dare and pre-purchase commemorative pins galore. Grand total was $$$$.
So yay! Now you're signed up, what now?
Forget about it for the next 5 months. Ha!
Then start thinking about training. I have run two half marathons previously with different results. The first time I over trained and injured myself during the race and ended up having to walk half of it. The second time, the race was scheduled at the end of lacrosse season, so I did not train as much as I wanted to (pretty much none at all, the longest run I went on was 7 miles prior to the race). So with those two experiences, I wanted to land somewhere in the middle and tack on some hip exercises that I picked up from PT from my IT band injury as a result of the first race.
I laid out my training schedule which I just made up on the fly and stuck to it. I surprised myself that I only skipped one "long" run. I basically backed out from the day of the race and finished my taper two weeks before. I would do two 3 mile runs during the week and one "long" run on the weekend and increasing mileage every other week. Mid training, I decided that I should experience some of my shorter long runs on tired legs and through in a 3-4 mile run the day before the long run was scheduled. I think this really helped in my training. The ramping up of miles for the long runs went like this: started at 6 miles, 5 miles, 7 miles, 6 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles, 5 miles, and 7 miles.
Every day that I ran, I did an assortment of exercises I had picked up from PT for strengthening my hips. I threw in some yoga at the very end for when the longer runs were taking their toll.
A Disneyland race also calls for preparation other than training. Of course, I mean costumes! I started thinking about this pretty much the moment after I got my confirmation email that I was registered. I ended up going with Russell from Up and Eeyore. Russell was an easy choice because the hubster was Russell for Halloween last year and I had most of the costume already made. I only had to buy a yellow running top and a brown sparkle skirt. I had the flag, badges, backpack (camelback), hat and neckerchief already. Russell was the 10K costume because I could not imagine myself running 13.1 miles with all that extra crap.
Eeyore was the half marathon costume and was pretty simple which is what I was aiming for. Something that wouldn't bother me for 13.1 miles. I bought the headband and tail from Amazon and then kept an eye out for color coordinated running gear. I originally tried to match the exact shade of blue-ish gray, but that turned out to be impossible. So I settled for something complimentary. The shorts were the first thing I found and then the tank top. I actually love the shorts and prefer them to the Nike Tempos that I have a billion pairs of.
Registration, costumes, training, and hotels, all taken care of. On to the actual race!
I did not submit a pace verification. I did not want to pay for a 10K just to get an earlier corral. Would I change this for the next Disney race I do? I'm still undecided.
Packet pick up was a breeze. I got up to Anaheim around 2 pm, dropped my car off at the hotel (did not stay on property even though I wanted to, just too expensive), and walked to the Disneyland hotel to the health and fitness expo. There was no line and I got my bib and commemorative items right away. Because I was doing the challenge, they took my picture. This did not match previous year (blog experiences) that I had read about. They used to give you a wrist bracelet thing after the 10K which you would need to show to receive the third medal after the half marathon. I guess with technology now, you don't need to. After I got my picture taken, I went upstairs to visit the merchandise and pick up my race shirts.
Boy was there a lot of merchandise! They have special edition Disney shoes, running gear, medal holders, plaques, cups, everything you can think of. I just grabbed my shirts and perused the aisles. I thought about getting some tall socks for my outfit, but everything was compression and I didn't want to drastically change my outfit without a test run. I eventually made it to the official race merchandise and purchased a new lanyard to hold the new pins. As I was paying, I heard that Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee, Rudy, Goonies!) was going to be speaking. My ears perked at that and I made my way back into the expo hall. I sat down and semi-listened while making some motivational posters for the hubster to hold during the race. I snapped a few pictures and decided I needed to get back to the hotel to figure out dinner and keep the walking to a minimum. Every step will matter!
Sean Astin aka Rudy
Motivational lies
Disney themed
All that swag!
I ordered some delivery and had dinner while watching Netflix. The hubster finally made it to the hotel around 9:30 pm and I went to bed around 10:30 pm. I really expected not to get any sleep at all, but surprisingly, I think I slept most of the night and woke up at 4:00 am. I ate a breakfast of coffee, banana, and Kind granola bar. I had some Greek yogurt with granola too but ended not eating it. My reasoning was that I don't usually eat that much normally and didn't want to change things too much. I'm glad I didn't. I grabbed an clementine and walked out the door to meet my friend who was also running the 10K.
The finish line
We met up at the corrals around 5:15 am and lined up. We were in corral E and we did not start until 30 minutes after the first corral! Like most races, I spent a lot of energy and time dodging around walkers. There were a lot of walkers to get around for this race. I think I dodged the entire race. There were a lot of great costumes out there. The first two miles were outside of the parks and went around the convention center. We looped back around and through the back lot into California Adventure. We exited California Adventure into Disneyland. We ran right down Main Street through Tomorrow land and then more back lot. It got a little confusing where we were in the park.
The start
There were character photo opportunities, but they were mostly villains as that was the theme of this years race. I didn't really stop because I don't like villains. I did take a few selfies, but I just kept on running. Once we left the Disneyland, we went through Downtown Disney to the finish. The race really just flew by. It went by so fast that I threw my plan right out the door. The original plan was to run 3-4 miles and walk the rest to save up for the half marathon. Nope, I ran the whole thing!
Cars Land
Paradise Pier
A fellow Russell with Kevin
A wilderness explorer is a friend to all, be a plant or fish or tiny mole!
Backlot pumpkin
Cinderella's Castle
The medal
We did it!
The hubster and I had talked about his spectator game plan and we planned very poorly. I had read a lot of blog posts about the half marathon, but not the 10K. So I told him that he didn't need to get up early with me and could walk to the race an hour after the race started thinking that's when I would start. Wrong! As I wrote before, my start was only 30 minutes delayed. Add that to me running the whole way and not walking any of it AND the fact that his path to the finish was blocked by the course, the hubster missed the entire race. It wasn't his fault. He tried his hardest to get to me. When he did finally arrive, he had my smart water and my chocolate milk in hand!
Downtown Disney was at a complete standstill, so we took the tram to the park entrance and walked back to the hotel where I rolled out and took a shower. I don't sleep with wet hair, so I watched more Netflix, then took a tiny nap once my hair had dried a bit. Once, we both had gotten up from out nap, we went out to grab lunch and pick up some items that the hubster forgot in San Diego. We didn't make it to California Adventure until dinner time for our reservation at Ariel's Grotto. I really was watching my steps especially since I didn't stick to my plan!
We went on Ariel's ride, had dinner, and then watched World of Color. I was in bed by 10:30 pm.
Rinse and Repeat for the half marathon.
Some differences was that the hubster walked me to the corral and he went to find a spot to watch the race. I was in corral G and started a good hour after the first corral. There wasn't as much dodging of people in the beginning as the 10K, but still a lot of dodging over the course of the entire race. I did a much better job of not starting out too fast knowing that my legs were very tired from the 10K and that I had 13.1 miles ahead of me.
The course started out right away in the parks. It followed a similar path as the 10K. A lot of the same characters were out and I didn't stop for many photo ops. There was definitely more bottlenecking inside the park because there were a lot more runners than the 10K. Once we left the park, there was a noticeable thinning out of runners. Disney did a good job of recruiting local high schools for entertainment in the form of cheerleaders and marching bands. These were sprinkled throughout the course and did a good job of giving me bursts of speed because I would sprint by them giving high fives. Of course!
The other thing that I really appreciated was all the people that came out and lined the streets with their classic cars. This was a great distraction because I think it was strategically placed in the most boring part of the course. There must have been a mile or two of cars on the course that led up to the Honda Center. These great people were cheering, waving, and some were giving out oranges, candy, and paper towels.
After leaving the Honda Center, we ended up on a dirt trail that led us to Angels Stadium. On a side note, in the days leading up to the race, the hubster suggested I add some new songs to my playlist to update it. He said the songs on the list dated me. Hello, Spice Girls! WHATEVER! So I thought it was funny that during the portion of the run on the trail which was the quietest part of the race, Spice Girls starting playing. I don't wear headphones and just let the music play through the speaker. The volume is not set very high because I could not hear any of my music during the entire 10K and didn't start hearing it until we left the parks during the half marathon.
Going into Angels Stadium was great. It was filled with people who had probably been there for a while and they were still cheering! I, of course, gave out a lot of high fives and had the foresight to video most of it! I did stop to take a selfie inside the stadium and get a shot of the logo in the infield. This is the second time that I've run inside a stadium of a professional sports team and it's always so interesting to see the size of the venue from the field vantage point.
Leaving Angels stadium, I knew I had about 4 more miles before the finish. This is where the cheering crowds got a little thin and I stopped feeling my legs! Those miles were kind of a blur until we got closer to Disneyland. Once we could see the hotels and the rides, I picked up my pace. I finished the race with a leaping race photo a 100 meters from the finish and a high five to Donald Duck across the finish line.
My official time was 2 hours, 21 minutes, and 17 seconds. I haven't decided whether I am happy with time or not. I think the original goal for this weekend was to finish and get the Dumbo medal. But I'm not sure that was a high enough goal. 19.3 miles is the most I have run in two days. My time for the half was a good 12 minutes slower than my PR. I also did not stick to my plan for the half marathon. During dinner the night before, I was talking to the hubster about how tired my legs were and how my knee was hurting and how I was worried about the half marathon. I came up with a plan to run 6 miles, walk 1, run 2, walk 1 and finish the last one running. Well of course that didn't happen. I ran the whole thing! Was I hoping to have a PR? I think it was a small hope that I would, but my brain says well you ran a 10K the day before and that it was in Disney and there was a lot of bottlenecking and dodging and I stopped for photo opportunities. Would I have run faster if I hadn't done the 10K? I like to think I could. I think if I had finished at 2 hours 15 minutes, I would have been happier.
My 10K time was 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 10 seconds. That's definitely slower that my training pace. I was being very cautious and started out both races slower due to the number of miles I would be running and never actually running all those miles during a training run.
Overall, I'm happy that I didn't follow either plan for either race and ran the whole thing. I think it was the smart thing to have a back up plan, but if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I would have followed it short of injury.
After the race, I received both my medals, got some ice, and met up with the hubster who knows me so well and had a breakfast sandwich and COFFEE waiting for me. I promptly sat down on the ground for about 20 minutes before getting up and getting on the tram to head back to the hotel.
After a shower and a nap for the hubster, we went to lunch were I had a celebratory bellini at The Cheesecake Factory. The hubster also bought me a celebration gift of Sanuk flip flops. So comfy and so welcome after the race. I ended up wearing these to dinner that night. We went back to the hotel and I took a nap. We hung out there until it was time for our dinner reservation at the Blue Bayou. We left for the park and rode a couple rides before dinner. Dinner at the Blue Bayous was pretty amazing. The food was delicious especially the gumbo. The hubster's filet was very tender and my lamb was pretty tasty a well. We also got a free dessert of chocolate mouse, sorry, mousse, because we told them we were celebrating our anniversary. It was soooo good.
Peach Bellini!
Jungle Cruise, up front!
Blue Bayou
Would I do it again? Definitely not the Double Dare challenge, not because of the mileage, but because it makes for such a long weekend. The race registration plus the hotel plus the park food made for very expensive weekend. I think I would do the half marathon again. I actually think I might try the coast to coast challenge, but I might need a year break to 1) have enough time to sign up for the races and 2) save enough money for a trip to Orlando and super annual pass.
I think the only thing I would do differently would be submit proof of pacing for a better starting corral. Otherwise, I think Disney did a great job with the race especially with all the people that were there.
