Race report: Disneyland 1/2 Marathon

So, Sunday was the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon and I did it!! (Jacked up hip and all).  This race was my goal race that I had set back when I decided to have surgery and my entire family, mom and dad, both sisters, and one brother in law ran it with me.  One of my sisters is even 6 months pregnant and still ran it!

Got up at 3:30 am (also known as the middle of the freakin' night), ate some peanut butter and banana and we were off to take the shuttle to Disneyland.  Walked to the start area over by the Disneyland hotel, checked our bags, did the porta-potty thing and then it was time to head off to our corral.  This was the one part of the entire even that truly, truly SUCKED.  Disney had very very bad crowd managment and it tooks us probably a 1/2 hour to walk across one intersection to get to the sidewalk to get to our corral b/c a ton of people just decided they would start from the intersection and nobody could get through and there were no race staff there moving them along.  Then we probably stood for almost an hour waiting for our corral to go.  Nothing is harder on the body pre-race than standing, wish there was a better way to handle this for large races.

Anyway, about 6:30 our corral was off across the starting line cheered on by Mickey and Minnie.  We ran out past the Disney hotels, and then around the streets until we turned into the Disney bus/parking area which wraps around the back of California Adventure.  From there we entered California Adventure, greeted by the Incredibles.  I knew I was going to be too slow so I didn't bring a camera to take pictures with any of the characters but it was still fun seeing them.  Then it was over Paradise Pier, around by California Screamin and the boardwalk games, then up around the backside of the lake, they had the small World of Color fountains going the whole time along with the music for whatever ride/attraction you happened to be running by.  We then ran around Grizzly Rapids and towards Soarin over California (Mater and McQueen were out over there parked right along the course and revving their engines, totally fun!).  Then it was out a secret exit and across the esplanade to Disneyland. 

We got to run right under the main entrance and then up Main Street.  From there we cruised over to Frontierland where I saw Princess Tiana, the frog prince and the crocodile and then Woody, Jessie and their horse were out and then up to Fantasyland.  I took a quick bathroom stop here b/c hey! flush toilets!! hoping I wouldn't need any other stops later.  Cinderella's wicked stepmother and stepsisters were riding the carousel, Cruella and the Wicked Queen were flanking the castle (and apparently Malificent was perched on top of the castle and I'm really bummed I didn't see that) and the princesses were all out front together.Then it was thru Fantasyland, through the castle!! and over to Tomorrowland.  As we rounded Tomorrowland Darth Vader's them was playing which was supercool and there were storm troopers out.  Then it was back around the Matterhorn and out a secret exit to the right of Small World.  Running the backstage areas was pretty cool and there were lots of cast members out cheering us on.  We also got to see one of the steam engines from the Disneyland RR out, and the engineer was in there waving and blowing the horn.

Then it was out for the duller stretches through Anaheim, however, there were great school bands and cheer squads that were full of energy and cheering us on.  When I did the PF Chang's, they petered out by the time us slow people came by but not here for this race, they were rocking it hard the entire time.  Either SoCal has more energy or as my parents said, the fear of Disney was put into them to be extra cheerful.  Either way they were fabulous.  Evenutually we wrapped around the Honda Center (formerly the DuckPond) where I caught up w/ my dad and brother-in-law (woohoo!).  I left them in my dust and headed on towards Angel Stadium.

They had scout troops lining the entire portion leading up to Angel Stadium and they had such great energy too and were cheering us on.  Then as we approached the stadium you could hear a roar from inside the stadium.  This was the part of the race I was probably most excited about and although I was hurting pretty badly by this point, I was going to run all the way through the stadium come hell or high water.  We entered the tunnel and I swear to god it smelled like popcorn but my family thinks I was hallucinating :).  We burst out of the tunnel and onto the warning track by 1st base.  They had the lower level of the stadium (like the 1st 10 rows or so) filled with more scout troops all the way around it and their great cheering made me feel like a total superstar athlete.  This was a narrow part of the course and lots of people were walking but I veered towards the outer edge and just rocked it around the stadium.  It was AMAZING!!  Then it was out a tunnel over by third base and on for the last 4 miles or so of the race.

Eventually we ended up on the same back route behind California Adventure, this time not entering the park, and we cruised to the finish line over by the Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotels.  I finished and I was able to sprint across the finish line.  It wasn't comfortable at times, it certainly wasn't pretty with my 3:27:49 finish time but I did it!  I was doing a run 3/walk 1 the entire race, a few times I had to break it down to 2/2 but I kept the running segments the entire time and considering I hadn't run over 7 miles and nothing for the last 3 1/2 weeks before the race, I'll take it!  Everybody in my family finished and had a great race!

If you love Disney, I strongly recommend this race, it was lots of fun.

I did get all teary the last mile or so thinking about where I had come from and how a half marathon would have never entered my mind (although this was my 3rd now, I'm hooked), and how I certainly wouldn't have attempted something like that w/ a nagging injury, I would have let that sideline me no arguments.

Now it's time to rest up so that I can be ready for my next race adventure. :)

Rebecca

Good for you Rebecca! Glad you were able to run & complete the race of your dreams with your loved ones; what an increadible that must have been crossing the finish line! Well done girl! Now get rested up so you can be healthy for the next race! LOL!!!

Jet

Congrats!

That sounds like a wonderful race.  I'm glad you seemed to enjoy yourself.
I hope your recovery is smoothe and quick.

Thanks for sharing the reace report.

Scott

awesome!  and great race report, it felt like i was in it with you!

 That is so great!!!  Congrats on a job well done!!!!

Congratulations!  You went into this race knowing your limitations, figured out a plan to get you to the finish and stuck to it!  There will be faster races in your future, but none so memorable as running this one with your family!

Cassie