Hi everyone, I recently returned from a quick trip to Disneyland to run the 2013 half Labor Day weekend. I guess this is a trip report, though I have already mentioned a few things in the What Did You Do and Disneyland Half threads.
To get it out of the way, I ran 2:36.0 in Sunday's half, my second ever half marathon and my first ever runDisney half.
Backtrack to September-October 2012 as I had completed my first ever runDisney race, the 2012 Tower 10 miler. Ran that in 1:55.02. Afterward I questioned myself, can I run 20K? Can I run 3.1 more miles for a 13.1 mile half marathon? In December 2012 at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon / Half / 5K expo I saw a booth set up for the Louisiana Marathon and Half in Baton Rouge, which was putting on its second-ever event the third weekend of January. The thought came into my mind again, can I run a half marathon? I decided to enter and I accomplished the feat, running 2:22.57 on a sea-level flat course through Downtown "Red Stick" and Louisiana State University.
A few days after running the Louisiana Half, I entertained the thought of running in the 2013 Disneyland Half, and maybe complete the Coast 2 Coast Challenge by running in the 2013 Wine and Dine Half. So, after the sticker shock of the half price of $175 plus tax, I bit and registered. A few months later I also swallowed and entered the Wine and Dine Half to compete for the Coast 2 Coast Challenge finishers medal.
Nope, I didn't enter the Dumbo Double Dare because it was just too expensive. The bling is nice, but I was in it for the half.
I trained since April for the Disneyland Half, running through Downtown Memphis, Germany, and Ohio. I used the Galloway training plan and I never got past running 7 miles straight, though in January I ran 13.1.
Fast-forward to Aug. 28, a Wednesday, my last day of work at the TV station before the half weekend. I put in a full day's work and thought I could get in a few hours of sleep until my Thursday 7am flight out to LAX via Atlanta. Nope. Ended up working past 2am and decided to stay up and make my flight in time. Although I tried to rest on both flights, I ended up reading a book.
Noticed that a lot of passengers on my connecting flight from Atlanta to LAX were also running the half and/or 5K and/or 10K. Cool. Noticed that some of the passengers who also got off waited with me for the Disneyland Express shuttle, which took some 2 hours to get us to Anaheim. Didn't complain too much as the shuttle did get us all to Anaheim and to our hotels.
After checking into the Riviera on West Katella (okay motel, no frills, across street from Garden Walk on corner of West Katella and Harbor) got my military discounted 3-day park hopper from the cast members and I was on my way inside California Adventure. Later in the day met up with Melissa (@melflip8 ) and her friend Stacy as all 3 of us were running in the half. Melissa was gunning for her Coast 2 Coast medal. Mel and I ran the 2012 Tower 10 miler, so it was really nice to hang out inside the Magic Kingdom Thursday evening. I had been to Disneyland 2 times previous, most recently in 2010, but not since California Adventure had its grand-reopening since its overhaul. This was Mel's first trip to Anaheim.
We were all surprised that given it being a Thursday before race weekend the parks were quiet. We all got on rides within 5 minutes or less at both parks, with the exception of Radiator Springs Racers and Tower of Terror. We ended our Thursday night watching the "Magical" fireworks show in the VIP section in front of the castle. An instant Disney magic perk from two cast members. Afterward we all three were exhausted as we all had been up for several hours. We said our goodnights and hoped to see each other again, but we did not as our schedules did not synch due to the expo and the increasing amount of runners and fans arriving for race weekend.
Friday decided to sleep in as much as I could, got nearly 8 hours. Expo was to have started at 10am, so I decided to hit West Katella and looped around Garden Walk (some of the half route between miles 11 and 12) before walking to the Disneyland Hotel for the expo.
I guessed that due to the addition of the Dumbo Double Dare, EVERYONE decided to arrive Friday morning for the two-day expo. It caused two massive lines - one line to pick up your race bib and another line to enter the expo and pick up your race packet and t-shirt(s). I got to the Disneyland Hotel around 11am and by that time the lines had zigged and zagged near the front entrance of the hotel. It was organized chaos and something slightly different than the expos held at the ESPN Sports complex at the Jostens Center at Disney World.
After about two hours of securing my bib, shirt and race packet, I was out of the expo. In that time though I met Jeff Galloway and thanked him. I also saw the new race bling, saw Ali Vincent and Sean Astin, and rummaged around the expo merchandise area. Unfortunately I did not purchase anything because EVERYONE who got there before me was in line for checkout. The checkout line wait time was between 2-3 hours and a cast member decided to close the line at the time I was going to wait for my purchase of a runDisney 13.1 magnet and a t-shirt. It occurred to me that there must have been more guests inside waiting for merchandise purchases than the lines at the theme parks. I was right.
Ended up spending the afternoon and evening at both parks, taking advantage of the extra magic hours and left Disneyland after midnight. Cool highlight: I drank a lot of water during my trip. I even got a free bottle of water and a 6-member fastpass after Goofy's Sky School ride broke down. I ended up giving the fastpass to six lovely ladies who were on their bachelorette party in Cars Land.
Saturday slept in a little and made it back to the parks after 10am but noticed that the lines for some rides, especially in the Magic Kingdom, were long due to race weekend and locals visiting. Ended up leaving the parks around 8pm after a nice pasta dinner at California Adventure underneath the Screamin' roller coaster. Set my alarm for 3:15am and was out the door by 3:45am Sunday and headed toward the Sorcerer's Hat outside the Disneyland Hotel for out WDW Magic meetup and stretch.
(Race day report and photos below)
To get it out of the way, I ran 2:36.0 in Sunday's half, my second ever half marathon and my first ever runDisney half.
Backtrack to September-October 2012 as I had completed my first ever runDisney race, the 2012 Tower 10 miler. Ran that in 1:55.02. Afterward I questioned myself, can I run 20K? Can I run 3.1 more miles for a 13.1 mile half marathon? In December 2012 at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon / Half / 5K expo I saw a booth set up for the Louisiana Marathon and Half in Baton Rouge, which was putting on its second-ever event the third weekend of January. The thought came into my mind again, can I run a half marathon? I decided to enter and I accomplished the feat, running 2:22.57 on a sea-level flat course through Downtown "Red Stick" and Louisiana State University.
A few days after running the Louisiana Half, I entertained the thought of running in the 2013 Disneyland Half, and maybe complete the Coast 2 Coast Challenge by running in the 2013 Wine and Dine Half. So, after the sticker shock of the half price of $175 plus tax, I bit and registered. A few months later I also swallowed and entered the Wine and Dine Half to compete for the Coast 2 Coast Challenge finishers medal.
Nope, I didn't enter the Dumbo Double Dare because it was just too expensive. The bling is nice, but I was in it for the half.
I trained since April for the Disneyland Half, running through Downtown Memphis, Germany, and Ohio. I used the Galloway training plan and I never got past running 7 miles straight, though in January I ran 13.1.
Fast-forward to Aug. 28, a Wednesday, my last day of work at the TV station before the half weekend. I put in a full day's work and thought I could get in a few hours of sleep until my Thursday 7am flight out to LAX via Atlanta. Nope. Ended up working past 2am and decided to stay up and make my flight in time. Although I tried to rest on both flights, I ended up reading a book.
Noticed that a lot of passengers on my connecting flight from Atlanta to LAX were also running the half and/or 5K and/or 10K. Cool. Noticed that some of the passengers who also got off waited with me for the Disneyland Express shuttle, which took some 2 hours to get us to Anaheim. Didn't complain too much as the shuttle did get us all to Anaheim and to our hotels.
After checking into the Riviera on West Katella (okay motel, no frills, across street from Garden Walk on corner of West Katella and Harbor) got my military discounted 3-day park hopper from the cast members and I was on my way inside California Adventure. Later in the day met up with Melissa (@melflip8 ) and her friend Stacy as all 3 of us were running in the half. Melissa was gunning for her Coast 2 Coast medal. Mel and I ran the 2012 Tower 10 miler, so it was really nice to hang out inside the Magic Kingdom Thursday evening. I had been to Disneyland 2 times previous, most recently in 2010, but not since California Adventure had its grand-reopening since its overhaul. This was Mel's first trip to Anaheim.
We were all surprised that given it being a Thursday before race weekend the parks were quiet. We all got on rides within 5 minutes or less at both parks, with the exception of Radiator Springs Racers and Tower of Terror. We ended our Thursday night watching the "Magical" fireworks show in the VIP section in front of the castle. An instant Disney magic perk from two cast members. Afterward we all three were exhausted as we all had been up for several hours. We said our goodnights and hoped to see each other again, but we did not as our schedules did not synch due to the expo and the increasing amount of runners and fans arriving for race weekend.
Friday decided to sleep in as much as I could, got nearly 8 hours. Expo was to have started at 10am, so I decided to hit West Katella and looped around Garden Walk (some of the half route between miles 11 and 12) before walking to the Disneyland Hotel for the expo.
I guessed that due to the addition of the Dumbo Double Dare, EVERYONE decided to arrive Friday morning for the two-day expo. It caused two massive lines - one line to pick up your race bib and another line to enter the expo and pick up your race packet and t-shirt(s). I got to the Disneyland Hotel around 11am and by that time the lines had zigged and zagged near the front entrance of the hotel. It was organized chaos and something slightly different than the expos held at the ESPN Sports complex at the Jostens Center at Disney World.
After about two hours of securing my bib, shirt and race packet, I was out of the expo. In that time though I met Jeff Galloway and thanked him. I also saw the new race bling, saw Ali Vincent and Sean Astin, and rummaged around the expo merchandise area. Unfortunately I did not purchase anything because EVERYONE who got there before me was in line for checkout. The checkout line wait time was between 2-3 hours and a cast member decided to close the line at the time I was going to wait for my purchase of a runDisney 13.1 magnet and a t-shirt. It occurred to me that there must have been more guests inside waiting for merchandise purchases than the lines at the theme parks. I was right.
Ended up spending the afternoon and evening at both parks, taking advantage of the extra magic hours and left Disneyland after midnight. Cool highlight: I drank a lot of water during my trip. I even got a free bottle of water and a 6-member fastpass after Goofy's Sky School ride broke down. I ended up giving the fastpass to six lovely ladies who were on their bachelorette party in Cars Land.
Saturday slept in a little and made it back to the parks after 10am but noticed that the lines for some rides, especially in the Magic Kingdom, were long due to race weekend and locals visiting. Ended up leaving the parks around 8pm after a nice pasta dinner at California Adventure underneath the Screamin' roller coaster. Set my alarm for 3:15am and was out the door by 3:45am Sunday and headed toward the Sorcerer's Hat outside the Disneyland Hotel for out WDW Magic meetup and stretch.
(Race day report and photos below)
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