Race day!!! The race started at 5:45am. They wanted people in their corrals by 5:15am. Bags needed to be checked by 5am. They suggested you arrive by 4:30am.
So what time to wake up??? I woke up at 3:30. Washed my face. Got all my gear on. Didn't want to forget anything - heart rate monitor, Garmin GPS, Road ID, leg sleeves, arm sleeves, socks, shoes, headband, Camelbak, camera, energy chews, bib number, headphones, ipod, phone. Yeah, and you thought running was easy! I brought my breakfast sandwich with me (didn't want to try anything new on race day!) and went down to microwave it. Tried to eat, but I was so nervous, I was slowly trying to force myself to eat and drink some Gatorade. By 4:15am, I had to wake Ryleigh up to get her ready. We were all ready to head down by 4:30. We met my parents in the lobby.
Ready to run!
We went to go get in the corrals. This is the one thing Chris and I regret - well I regret. There was a 10K race in November. It looked like a pretty boring course up and back down Central Ave in Phoenix. So we didn't do it. We totally should have. By then we were running close to the pace we run now. That 10K would have been proof of time that would have move us up at least 1-2 corrals. When I signed up they asked for a estimated finish time. Back in August, I had no clue when we'd finish. I knew I could beat the cut off of 3:30, but by how much? So I guessed 3:15. And for Chris 3:05. Those 10 minutes made the difference in our corrals - he got D, I got E. When in reality I probably could have been in B or C, and he in C (since guys couldn't be in the first 2 corrals since it's a girls race). Oh well, now we have a race to use as proof of time. Lesson learned from our first race :)
As we waited we were cold. I took the suggestion of someone on the FB group. They said that Walmart had fleece throws for $2.88 each. I picked up a few and it worked great. And I didn't feel bad throwing it away when the race started (Disney donates the tossed clothes to charity). My parents found the start line from a bridge somewhere.
See there it is!
This was our view, and this is only when we got closer! We really couldn't see or hear the national anthem. We saw the fireworks!
You can't tell from this picture, but there's a bridge where that yellow sign is. And past the bridge were bleachers FULL of people (dots in the middle). It was incredible to see.
The Go! for Corral D.
OOH!! OOH!!! OUR TURN!!!
Tinkerbell ready to start our Corral.
Minnie and Daisy on the stage with the announcers.
So we ran up Disneyland drive, then around the back side of Disneyland, over the freeway overpass, then into the backlot of Disneyland. They had the Halloween Mickey and Minnie pumpkins out to pose and take photos with. And they had all the holiday parade floats out with the parade music playing.
This is the horse that Woody rides in the parade. Ryleigh recognized it right away when I showed her the pictures.
After that we ran through a tunnel. This gives you an idea of what the runners looked like. Most runners were wearing tutus and/or wings. Most were running in groups of 2-4 or more. You can see where passing can become difficult.
After the tunnel, we were deposited over by It's a Small World where all the princesses were!! There was Belle and the Beast, Cinderella and the Prince, Snow White, and Rapunzel and Flynn (on the float). The line for photos with these characters was SOOO long (although it would have been a great photo opp), but I was already WAY behind in my time thanks to some tutu-traffic jams. So I ran on.
See Rapunzel?
But as we went through Fantasyland, I found some pirates to take pictures with - their line was super short!
There was also the Three Caballeros.
And then we turned onto Main Street!!
So cool to make that turn and run straight toward the castle.
Apparently Aurora was on the other corner in front of the castle with her prince. Totally missed her.
See we did run THROUGH the castle.
Found the lost boys on the carousel. If you look close in the blurr to the right of the pole in the center, there's a lost boy in a dark grey costume on a horse.
Found Captain hook and Smee!
After running through Disneyland, we ran through Downtown Disney. My parents were right there at the start of Downtown at mile 4.
They found Chris. (Red shirt, red hat, black shorts, and glowing arm band)
They found me!
Our little Tinkerbell was waiting to give me a high five, but the guy in front of me gave her a high five right before I did. His running partner said, "uh, that high five was for her mom." He responded, "well I didn't know where mom was." His partner: "she's right behind you." DOH! It definitely made me happy to see a familiar face before continuing on my journey.
How cute is my little Tinkerbell?
Then it was off to the streets of Anaheim. There were some great signs ("Worst Parade Ever" Held by a guy looking bored out of his mind), signs by leukemia survivors thanking the people who raised money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society as part of Team in Training. There were cheerleaders, dance teams, bands. The Red Hat Society was out in full force with so much energy. They were great! A military band was there.
So before I get to the end of the race - here are some thoughts about the race. 1. Still wish I'd gotten in a faster corral. We were in the corral with all the first timers, and walkers. While waiting before the race we were waiting next to a mom/daughter group. They were sitting on the curb. The mom goes to get up, and she has trouble. Guess her knees were stiff. Made me wonder how she's going to do 13 miles. There were lots of walkers, people who instead of running 3, walking 1 minute, like me, did the reverse - or less. A lot of them ran for like 10 seconds, walked for 50 seconds. It was annoying to be stuck behind them. Passing people in Disneyland was near impossible due to the narrow pathways. By mile 3 I was at an hour. Seriously, an hour?!! I ran a 5K in 34 minutes, how was I at twice that slow?!! So I busted my butt once I got out on the streets. I didn't do much walking and "missed" a lot of my walking intervals. It took until mile 7 or later for people to spread out enough to get into a nice run/walk pace without stepping all over people. So there was a lot of dodging and weaving around people. I felt good throughout the race despite starting to get hungry as soon as the race started and having to pee from mile 2 on. Finally found a restroom without a line in CA Adventures around mile 11. Around mile 10 I had to stop for a few minutes to stretch my calves and hips. They were getting pretty tight and I didn't want to get a cramp, so I found a spot where there was enough room to pull over. Killed about 2 minutes on my time though.
Anyways, after the streets of Anaheim, we ran through Disney California Adventures. It was all a blur, but I did see the Scully from Moster's Inc. And The Toy Story Crew was out for photos. Again, super long lines, and my time was already awful, so I kept running. We run out of CA Adventures and onto that road that the tram from the Mickey and Friends Parking structure takes. As we ran down that road you could hear people lining the street on the other side. I took one more walk break and vowed to run the rest of the way, even though I had no clue where the finish line was at that point. I started running and then turned the corner... And there was my little TinkerBell running towards me!!
Here's Chris making that turn. (Red shirt, 2 people off the shoulder of the guy in the foreground)
Ryleigh got a big hug and high five.
Here's Ryleigh running to me.
I just gave her a hug, but apparently she was upset, she didn't get a high five!
After we ran down that street, there was another turn to the right before heading into the Simba Parking lot for the last 0.5mi to the finish line. Then we got our Medals, took photos, got food and gatorade, and water, and found the rest of them.
WE DID IT!! We earned our WINGS! I FINALLY got that medal I've been chasing for over 7 months!! (TinkerBell spins in the middle!) It feels great to officially accomplish something that I never thought I could do.
Chris's official race time: 2:16:13. My official time was: 2:47:57.
So what time to wake up??? I woke up at 3:30. Washed my face. Got all my gear on. Didn't want to forget anything - heart rate monitor, Garmin GPS, Road ID, leg sleeves, arm sleeves, socks, shoes, headband, Camelbak, camera, energy chews, bib number, headphones, ipod, phone. Yeah, and you thought running was easy! I brought my breakfast sandwich with me (didn't want to try anything new on race day!) and went down to microwave it. Tried to eat, but I was so nervous, I was slowly trying to force myself to eat and drink some Gatorade. By 4:15am, I had to wake Ryleigh up to get her ready. We were all ready to head down by 4:30. We met my parents in the lobby.
Ready to run!
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
We went to go get in the corrals. This is the one thing Chris and I regret - well I regret. There was a 10K race in November. It looked like a pretty boring course up and back down Central Ave in Phoenix. So we didn't do it. We totally should have. By then we were running close to the pace we run now. That 10K would have been proof of time that would have move us up at least 1-2 corrals. When I signed up they asked for a estimated finish time. Back in August, I had no clue when we'd finish. I knew I could beat the cut off of 3:30, but by how much? So I guessed 3:15. And for Chris 3:05. Those 10 minutes made the difference in our corrals - he got D, I got E. When in reality I probably could have been in B or C, and he in C (since guys couldn't be in the first 2 corrals since it's a girls race). Oh well, now we have a race to use as proof of time. Lesson learned from our first race :)
As we waited we were cold. I took the suggestion of someone on the FB group. They said that Walmart had fleece throws for $2.88 each. I picked up a few and it worked great. And I didn't feel bad throwing it away when the race started (Disney donates the tossed clothes to charity). My parents found the start line from a bridge somewhere.
See there it is!
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
This was our view, and this is only when we got closer! We really couldn't see or hear the national anthem. We saw the fireworks!
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
You can't tell from this picture, but there's a bridge where that yellow sign is. And past the bridge were bleachers FULL of people (dots in the middle). It was incredible to see.
The Go! for Corral D.
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
OOH!! OOH!!! OUR TURN!!!
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Tinkerbell ready to start our Corral.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Minnie and Daisy on the stage with the announcers.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
So we ran up Disneyland drive, then around the back side of Disneyland, over the freeway overpass, then into the backlot of Disneyland. They had the Halloween Mickey and Minnie pumpkins out to pose and take photos with. And they had all the holiday parade floats out with the parade music playing.
This is the horse that Woody rides in the parade. Ryleigh recognized it right away when I showed her the pictures.
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
After that we ran through a tunnel. This gives you an idea of what the runners looked like. Most runners were wearing tutus and/or wings. Most were running in groups of 2-4 or more. You can see where passing can become difficult.
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
After the tunnel, we were deposited over by It's a Small World where all the princesses were!! There was Belle and the Beast, Cinderella and the Prince, Snow White, and Rapunzel and Flynn (on the float). The line for photos with these characters was SOOO long (although it would have been a great photo opp), but I was already WAY behind in my time thanks to some tutu-traffic jams. So I ran on.
See Rapunzel?
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
But as we went through Fantasyland, I found some pirates to take pictures with - their line was super short!
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
There was also the Three Caballeros.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
And then we turned onto Main Street!!
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
So cool to make that turn and run straight toward the castle.
Apparently Aurora was on the other corner in front of the castle with her prince. Totally missed her.
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
See we did run THROUGH the castle.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Found the lost boys on the carousel. If you look close in the blurr to the right of the pole in the center, there's a lost boy in a dark grey costume on a horse.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Found Captain hook and Smee!
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
After running through Disneyland, we ran through Downtown Disney. My parents were right there at the start of Downtown at mile 4.
They found Chris. (Red shirt, red hat, black shorts, and glowing arm band)
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
They found me!
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Our little Tinkerbell was waiting to give me a high five, but the guy in front of me gave her a high five right before I did. His running partner said, "uh, that high five was for her mom." He responded, "well I didn't know where mom was." His partner: "she's right behind you." DOH! It definitely made me happy to see a familiar face before continuing on my journey.
How cute is my little Tinkerbell?
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Then it was off to the streets of Anaheim. There were some great signs ("Worst Parade Ever" Held by a guy looking bored out of his mind), signs by leukemia survivors thanking the people who raised money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society as part of Team in Training. There were cheerleaders, dance teams, bands. The Red Hat Society was out in full force with so much energy. They were great! A military band was there.
So before I get to the end of the race - here are some thoughts about the race. 1. Still wish I'd gotten in a faster corral. We were in the corral with all the first timers, and walkers. While waiting before the race we were waiting next to a mom/daughter group. They were sitting on the curb. The mom goes to get up, and she has trouble. Guess her knees were stiff. Made me wonder how she's going to do 13 miles. There were lots of walkers, people who instead of running 3, walking 1 minute, like me, did the reverse - or less. A lot of them ran for like 10 seconds, walked for 50 seconds. It was annoying to be stuck behind them. Passing people in Disneyland was near impossible due to the narrow pathways. By mile 3 I was at an hour. Seriously, an hour?!! I ran a 5K in 34 minutes, how was I at twice that slow?!! So I busted my butt once I got out on the streets. I didn't do much walking and "missed" a lot of my walking intervals. It took until mile 7 or later for people to spread out enough to get into a nice run/walk pace without stepping all over people. So there was a lot of dodging and weaving around people. I felt good throughout the race despite starting to get hungry as soon as the race started and having to pee from mile 2 on. Finally found a restroom without a line in CA Adventures around mile 11. Around mile 10 I had to stop for a few minutes to stretch my calves and hips. They were getting pretty tight and I didn't want to get a cramp, so I found a spot where there was enough room to pull over. Killed about 2 minutes on my time though.
Anyways, after the streets of Anaheim, we ran through Disney California Adventures. It was all a blur, but I did see the Scully from Moster's Inc. And The Toy Story Crew was out for photos. Again, super long lines, and my time was already awful, so I kept running. We run out of CA Adventures and onto that road that the tram from the Mickey and Friends Parking structure takes. As we ran down that road you could hear people lining the street on the other side. I took one more walk break and vowed to run the rest of the way, even though I had no clue where the finish line was at that point. I started running and then turned the corner... And there was my little TinkerBell running towards me!!
Here's Chris making that turn. (Red shirt, 2 people off the shoulder of the guy in the foreground)
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Ryleigh got a big hug and high five.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Here's Ryleigh running to me.
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| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
I just gave her a hug, but apparently she was upset, she didn't get a high five!
After we ran down that street, there was another turn to the right before heading into the Simba Parking lot for the last 0.5mi to the finish line. Then we got our Medals, took photos, got food and gatorade, and water, and found the rest of them.
WE DID IT!! We earned our WINGS! I FINALLY got that medal I've been chasing for over 7 months!! (TinkerBell spins in the middle!) It feels great to officially accomplish something that I never thought I could do.
 |
| From TinkerBell 1/2 Marathon Weekend |
Here's to many more races!!
