As soon as I got off of work, I headed on over to the expo at Disneyland to pick up my race packet. I figured that I might as well get it over with today rather then going on Friday which is typically busier. Parking wasn't too bad at Downtown Disney. After parking, I made my way down the ramp to pick up my bib and my coast-to-coast bracelet. Then I went back up to the expo to pick up my shirts. I stopped by the Lasting Commemoratives booth and picked up a free bookmark. I had forgotten to register my email online, but he gave one to me anyways when I told him that they already have my email since I've run so many Disney races.
May the course be with you!
Free bookmark
Before leaving the expo, I stopped by the runDisney booth to take a free green screen photo. They required that you follow them on Instagram. So finally I joined Instagram. My username is ilovesteaks88 if you want to follow me. For the photo you get to pick the Alliance or the Dark Side. I picked the Dark Side because it looked cooler. :)
Saturday 1/17
It took me a while to find this R2D2 shirt, a shirt that I got for making a donation to UNICEF. It was pretty much in the last place that I looked. I got ready and drove over to the Mickey and Friends parking structure where I paid $17 to park. They really should factor that into the cost of registration. I mean how many runners actually stay there after the race? But hey, it's Disney... it's not cheap to provide that Disney Magic!
After using the parking structure restroom one last time, I headed over to the pre-race entertainment that was located at the stage. We watched them bring out C3PO and R2D2. A couple of Jedi fought off Darth Vader. Then it was time to head over to the starting corral. In the corral, they kept showing the movie trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
There was a little stage play going on and Darth Vader took Rudy away for a little bit. Luckily, the rebels were able to rescue him. :)
I liked that the entire course was pretty much in Disneyland or Disney California Adventure. After the two hills (freeway overpasses) during the first 2 miles, the rest of the course was pretty flat. I ran the first 5k in 23:45 and the second 5k in 22:58. I'm definitely better at pacing for shorter distances. I was a little surprised that the legs moved pretty well after the Dopey Challenge. It was a little strange for me to see my miles starting to creep below 7 minutes.
1: 7:36
2: 7:41
3: 7:08
4: 7:40
5: 8:03
6: 6:59
6.2: 1:37
Finish: 46:43
10k finish
After getting my medal and a post race goodie box, I drove home to eat my snacks and rest up for tomorrow's half marathon.
Sunday 1/18
For the half marathon, I dug out one of my favorite Star Wars shirts. A lot of my favorite shirts are cotton. Again I parked at the Mickey and Friends parking structure and paid another $17.
Half marathon race shirt
Once again, they played the same movie trailer while we waited in the starting corral. There was no kidnapping of the race announcer today. Just like yesterday, there was a scrolling Star Wars message before we were released. All of the Star Wars geeks were eating this stuff up!
I started out a bit too fast. I eventually settled into around an 8 min per mile pace. The course took us all the way down to Garden Grove Blvd. As you can see, things fell apart at mile 9. Just like the Avengers Half Marathon, they had a line of people dressed up in Star Wars costumes, most of them in Jedi clothes. From the elevation profile, it was a steady slight incline all the way to the finish line. I could not recover and had to cruise in just barely under 1:50. I was definitely feeling the effects of the Dopey Challenge.
1: 7:16
2: 7:32
3: 7:40
4: 8:04
5: 8:18
6: 8:02
7: 8:06
8: 8:14
9: 8:37
10: 8:59
11: 9:11
12: 8:36
13: 9:04
13.1: 0:48
Finish: 1:48:28
It was pretty cool seeing Goofy dressed as Darth Vader and Donald Duck dressed as a Storm Trooper at the finish line. You just can't get this type of finish at another race. I'm glad that I'm now at a point where running a 1:48 was a bad day for a half marathon.
Half Marathon finish
I met up after the race with a couple of my fellow Disney loving friends. We traded race stories before I went back to my car to change out of my wet clothes. We all eventually headed over to the Earl of Sandwich. I ordered a Chipotle Chicken Avocado sandwich and two Stellas. For some reason, they would not let my friend order two beers. I knew for a fact that Disney limits 2 beers per person. Odd!
My Disney friends
Earl of Sandwich
After eating our breakfast, my friend and I went over to Trader Sam's to see if we could get some drinks. We had no luck there, so we decided to go to ESPN Zone. It would turn out that they opened early at 10 am. We went in at about 10:30 am looking for a place to sit where we could catch the NFL playoff game between the Packers and the Seahawks. We couldn't find a spot at the bar on the right side, but we were able to find a couple of spots at the bar on the left side. It seemed like I was the only one rooting for the Packers, but the place was packed with Seahawks fans. The Seahawk fans were nice to me when their team came from behind to win the game. During that game I went through 5 big Firestone DBA's. Again, my friend was cut off. He did switch to smaller sized beers as the game wore on. Oh well, we were going to leave anyways. :)
Trader Sam's
Big Firestone Double Barrel Ale x 5
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