Friday, September 6, 2013

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend 2013

I'm back!!

Last Thursday morning I got on a plane & heading to L.A. I've never been to California so this was a first for me. My mom's friend lives out there so we also got to visit with her. We had a lot of fun. It was hot, which I love.

On Friday I went to the Expo. Being my 4th runDisney event I had an idea of what to expect at the Expo. This was quite a time though. I got to the Disneyland Hotel at around 10:20 am. I got into the line to pick up my bib. The line was long, but moved pretty quickly. Once I was out of picking up my bib I then got into line to pick up my bag & check out the Expo. Yes I had to get into a separate line to get into the Expo. My mom met me in this line. Once we got into the hotel I went over to get my shirt. We walked around to check out the exhibitors & then had to get into ANOTHER line to see the runDisney merch! I grabbed an I Did It! t-shirt & a pint glass. My mom stood in line while I checked out a few more exhibitors. Then we switched spots. I got to watch Jeff Galloway & Ali Vincent speak while standing in line. I eventually got up near the registers, grabbed a Sweaty Band & got out of there! It was about 2 hours of standing in a line.

From the Expo we went back to the hotel to meet my mom's friend & her oldest daughter. We drove up to Hollywood to take a tour. We had a great time. Hollywood gets a little crazy at night so we got out of there not too long after that.

Godney


On Saturday I went to Disney California Adventure Park with my mom. We had a great time & enjoyed walking around & seeing this part of Disneyland. We loved the Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. We also loved Tower of Terror! We both said we liked it more than the one at Disney World! I also really enjoyed California Screamin'. My friend Joe came down to Anaheim from Cupertino so we got to hang out at Disney together. After a little while we went back to the hotel & I set my alarm to get up to run on Sunday!



I woke up on Sunday & felt nervous. I knew my training wasn't great, but I've never felt this nervous before a run. I drove over to Disneyland. This was a much easier process than Disney World. After a quick walk I was in the parking lot near the start line. There was less entertainment than a Disney World here. I checked my bag & went over to my corral. The corral was already pretty full when I got there & they actually closed it due to too many people being put into the corral. I was still feeling super anxious so I texted my friend Christopher who reminded me I would be fine.

Start!
I finally got over my anxiety around mile 3. We ran through California Adventure first. Then we went into Disneyland. This was my first view of Disneyland. I took 2 pictures in this part.
We all have a dark side!

I could use that magic carpet!



The first time I saw Sleeping Beauty's castle I thought "It's so small!" & "Aurora got jipped!" Then we ended up on the streets of Anaheim. Anaheim is not so pretty. Disney did a good job of adding entertainment along the streets. We had hula dancers, classic cars, cheerleaders, & many other groups along the course. We ran around the Honda Center & through Angel Stadium.






 I enjoyed running through Angel Stadium more than the stadium at ESPN in Disney World for sure. I couldn't believe how good I felt by the time we got to Angel Stadium. It was hot & humid. I was feeling my knee & my hip flexors, but I still felt good. I knew I wasn't going to PR at this race. Especially being a Disney race. It's all about fun! I was really excited to see that finish line! Once I finished I got my Disneyland Half finishers medal & went over to get my Coast to Coast medal. The Coast to Coast medal is when you run a half marathon in (or the full marathon in January) at Disney World & a half marathon in Disneyland in the same calendar year. The medal is awesome.

Coast to Coast & Disneyland Half Medals!

TNT Loves!
After I got my bag I met up with a few friends that I ran with in DC with TNT. It was awesome to see them & celebrate another accomplishment with them & their friends. I started to hear that they ran out of water pretty early on during the race. This is no good. Hydration is important & even more important in warmer weather like that.



Look at us!



Joe & his friend Dave met me at the finish & we went to Disneyland! I enjoyed Space Mountain & Splash Mountain here a lot. I'm pretty sure I got wetter on Splash Mountain on Sunday than I ever have at Disney World. We grabbed dinner at Rainforest Cafe & headed over to California Adventure for a little while.







Next thing I knew it was Monday. We went to visit my mom's friend's parents in Oceanside. We took a walk on the pier. We saw a seal, pelicans, & dolphins. It was about when I stepped on a dead fish that I knew it was time to get out of there. Tuesday we had a pretty chill day & grabbed lunch. It was a nice to hang out. On Wednesday we took a trolley tour of San Diego. San Diego is really nice.

Pier at Oceanside
Thursday we had to wake up really early & head up to Hollywood. My mom's dream is to go on the Price Is Right & it was her day. It was fun. Our show airs on November 4th. Mom & I said bye to her friend & hung around The Grove for a little while. We got to the airport really early, but it gave us time to rest. We got home at around 8 am on Friday morning.

Don't tell CBS I took this photo.
I can't believe it has already been almost a week since the half. Or that it's September already! I'm running the AllState half in Boston on the 15th so this rest will be over soon.