At about 8:30 am, I signed up online to enter the New Balance Virtual Queue for the opportunity to buy a pair of the runDisney limited edition Mickey Shoes. The online queue open at 6am for each expo day. I was assigned a time of about 4:15 pm and like clockwork they sent me a text message telling me that it was my turn to show up. I left work as soon as I could and made the slow drive up to Anaheim. The freeway traffic was as horrible as ever. I parked my car in the Downtown Disney parking lot and made my way to the underground packet pickup. This time I remembered to get an official event guide. The volunteers in the last couple of years had failed to give me one.
I then made my way upstairs to the expo where I made a bee line for the line to check-in to be fitted for the Mickey Shoes. The process was seamless, pain-free, and well planned out. Leave it to Disney to make the process of selling me a $124.95 pair of shoes (plus $10 sales tax) very easy. I then picked up my goodie bag and 3 race shirts. I also picked up an art card from the Lasting Commemoratives booth. You had to register your email address with them prior to going to the expo. I finally met up with my friend Mitch at the Speaker Stage area for a little bit. I had to go home, so I checked out the official merchandise before leaving. I thought about buying some pins, but they didn't look too spectacular.
Mickey Shoes
Just as I was leaving I figured to get in line to take some pictures for the Stitch 10k and the Disneyland Half Marathon with the appropriate backdrops. I've always skipped them in the past, but the line wasn't very long for a Thursday.
Stitch background
Disneyland castle background
When I got home, I went through the expo haul. I really liked the Stitch themed 10k this year. This will probably be one of my favorite shirts. I also liked the clean new design for the Disneyland Half Marathon shirt, but I wasn't a big fan of the pea soup green color. The Dumbo Double Dare shirt was a really big improvement on last year's design.
10k shirt
Half Marathon shirt
Dumbo Double Dare shirt
Saturday 8/30
I really didn't know what I was going to wear for the 10k, but eventually I went with the Turkey Leg shirt again. I had 2 weeks to get the bad taste of a horrible race out of my mouth. The horrible race gave me a better idea of how to avoid overheating in hot and humid conditions. Even with the warm weather, I thought that I had enough to go for a 45:xx 10k.
10k race gear
I got to the Mickey and Friends parking structure at a little before 4 am and paid $17 to park. I believe it used to be $9 to park here for the first year of the race! I got ready and headed to the starting area where I bumped into my friend. I used the portapotties before making it into the starting corral. I went to the front of the corral and saw a familiar face. We talked a bit about our race strategies for the weekend while waiting for the race to start at 5:30 am. We were entertained by Stitch and Elvis while we waited some more.
10k starting corral
Stitch and Elvis
As usual I probably went out a tad too fast for the first mile. I settled into a nice groove for the next 3 miles. I was thinking that I could make my goal if I can just keep it going. But then I just got tired and clocked a pretty slow 5th mile going around the "it's a small world" ride. I did muster up some speed for the last mile and ran it in with a decent push to the finish line. Overall I was okay with my performance as I was able to keep all of my miles under 8 minutes and I was only off of my PR by 4 seconds. My PR of 46:30 was set in much more favorable conditions.
1: 7:03
2: 7:21
3: 7:32
4: 7:38
5: 7:55
6: 7:49
.2: 1:16
Finish: 46:34
10k finish line
Kronk and Yzma
I waited around for all of my friends to finish and I got to meet some new people. We had some pretty good conversations at the post race breakfast. We walked to the nearby IHOP to eat some breakfast. I loaded up on a pretty big steak and eggs breakfast. I needed to make sure I had enough to refill the tank for tomorrow's half marathon. :)
10k done!
Breakfast at IHOP
Sunday 8/31
I decided to go with all black for the half marathon. I wore my Star Wars themed t-shirt... "Come to the Dark Side... We have Bacon!" I wore it because this year, I intend on stopping to get a picture with Darth Vader and the storm troopers. :)
Half Marathon race gear
Similar to the movie Groundhog Day, I got to the Mickey and Friends parking structure at a little before 4 am. It was another $17 for parking.
I met up with my friend in front of gear check before we headed to the corrals. We used the very unstable portapotties near our corrals. It rocked like there was an earthquake as you're trying to pee. We wished each other a good race as she went into corral B and I went to corral A. On my way into corral A, I saw another good Disney-loving friend that was dressed up as the Evil Queen in Snow White. We headed into the corral together. I purposely did not line up near the front. My friend had the same idea so we hung out together somewhere near the back of corral A.
My goal was to finish just under 1:50, the current time required for placement in corral A. Corrals A and B were released at the same time. Instead of blasting out of the gate like I normally do, I hung back running a pretty modest 8 min first mile. I kept that same effort knowing that I would eventually start slowing down. I cruised through the course feeling pretty good. I saw my friend Mitch at mile 5 cheering on the runners. I kept in my mind to not red-line it, to save an extra gear for the last couple of miles. There was a nice overcast, but it was starting to get warm and I was starting to labor at around mile 10. I had been dumping a bunch of water on my head and neck all along the course. After running a pretty slow mile 11, I knew that I needed to pick it up a bit to come under 1:50. Lo and behold, about half a mile after crossing mile 12, I saw the 1:50 pacer pass me. I ran up to him and checked to see if he was ahead of schedule. He had about a minute in the bank and had already sent his group ahead to push for the finish line. I took the last mile as well controlled as I could. I didn't want to turn on the jets until the final stretch.
1: 7:59
2: 7:56
3: 8:13
4: 7:55
5: 8:27
6: 8:18
7: 8:43
8: 8:32
9-10: 17:05 (8:32)
11: 8:50
12: 8:15
13: 8:28
.1: 0:40
Finish: 1:49:20
Previous years:
2013: 2:09:10
2012: 1:59:22
2011: 1:58:03
2010: 1:52:28
2009: 1:54:40
2008: 1:55:07
2007: 2:06:38
2006: 2:02:37
This was my 9th consecutive Disneyland Half Marathon and it was my fastest. This weekend had a pair of well executed races that I've not done in a while. It was a good feeling to run two solid races and to see the improvements from being patient and getting the legs back to near 100%. I bumped into a bunch of friends in the finishing chute. We proceeded to take a bunch of finisher pictures together.
Goal of sub 1:50 met!
The medal is not made of bacon!
I stopped by my car to change out of my wet clothes and met up with Mitch to get some post race beers at Earl of Sandwich. This was the only place that I know of that was serving beer this early in the morning. I wasn't very impressed with their food last year, so I decided to stick to beers. I got 2 Stellas. Have I not mentioned that I love running Disney races? What other races give out Almond Roca in their post-race goodie box? I cannot wait to run this race again next year! It will be the 10th year anniversary and I'm one of the legacy runners! I can't wait to see what they do to celebrate 10 years!
Dumbo Double Dare done!
2 Stellas, one for each hand! :)
Almond Roca
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