I hurried on over to the Disneyland Convention Center right after I had gotten off of work. Parking wasn't as bad as it had been for some of the prior runDisney events. I was able to get in and find a parking spot in the Downtown Disney parking lot. Per the usual, I first went downstairs to pick up my bib, Coast to Coast bracelet, and have my photo taken for the Rebel Challenge. They want to make sure that the registrant is actually the finisher for the half marathon on race day.
Tagged and released back into the wild
Then I went back upstairs to pick up my bag and shirts at the expo. After picking that up, I went to check out the official merchandise. There was a line to get inside. It does get a bit crowded and chaotic if you let everybody in all at once. I did see one t-shirt that I liked, but they only had large and extra large sizes available.
Expo
Can't wait to complete the Kessel Run
10k shirt
Half marathon shirt
Rebel challenge shirt
Stay on target!
Before leaving the expo, I took a couple green screen photos with runDisney and iTouchBooth with BB-8. That was pretty much all the fun that I had before heading home.
Friday 1/15
After getting home from work and eating dinner, I laid out my clothes for the 10k tomorrow. I was a little nervous about the race because I don't know how the legs will perform after putting them through the Dopey Challenge last weekend.
10k flatrunner
Saturday 1/16
I arrived at the Mickey & Friends parking structure super early at about 3:30 am. Unfortunately I did not score free parking. I had to pay $18. I still don't know how they determine who gets complimentary parking. I'm guessing you should always go to the line furthest left. Once I parked, I took a quick snooze in the car before heading out to the staging area. There's bag check which included waist belts when we were leaving the parking lot area. With the recent terrorism occurring in the US and around the world, this sadly has become the norm. At the staging area, I bumped into a couple of my fellow Disney friends. We saw the little show up on stage. Those First Order Stormtroopers were making very weird exaggerated movements. Their behavior looked strange and funny when they were trying to go for intimidation. We also saw someone dressed as Dark Helmet!
The First Order
Dark Helmet!
When it got closer to 5 am, I headed for the portapotties one last time and then to the starting corrals. This year, the entry to the corrals was from Magic Way. The first corral we came up to was corral A. Usually they have us coming from the other end. In the corral, I got up near the stage area where we saw Rudy and Carissa put on the usual pre-race entertainment for us while we waited for the start of the race.
10k start
The race started with the legs feeling pretty good, so I kept the pace at around a 7:30 pace. It was about a minute faster than my coasting pace, but not hard enough to feel like I was pressing. Judging by the way I felt, I knew that I probably had about a 48 minute 10k in these legs. I got through the 5k mark at just under 24 minutes. I slowed down a tad in the final 5k as I didn't want to be completely burnt out for tomorrow's half marathon.
10k finish
10k: 48:35 (23:55, 24:40)
Click here for my Garmin data.
It was good knowing that I could've run faster if I didn't have a race the next day. It was also a good sign to see that I could still move relatively fast even after a rough Dopey Challenge. Still I need to take some more time off from racing or hard effort running.
10k medal
Post race snack box
For dinner, I met up with a good friend at JT Schmid's with some of her friends. Getting in the parking lot was a little strange. There was a guy taking money if you were there for the Monster Jam. It was free if you were there to eat at the restaurant. Lately my friend and I like coming here the night before a runDisney race because of one of their beer on tap, Grandpa Emil's Amber. My namesake was actually a pretty good beer and I'm starting to feel like a grandpa lately having to deal with my ailing foot and hip. I've read that salmon is good for reducing inflammation, so I got their Salmon Thai Salad to see if I could reduce some of the swelling in my sore left foot. That was a really good salad and I would get it even if I didn't have inflammation in any of my body parts. Also it goes to show that I don't always eat burgers before races. :)
Grandpa Emil's Amber
Salmon Thai Salad
When I got home, I laid out my clothes for tomorrow's half marathon. I've been waiting for about a year to wear this awesome shirt! Help me Obi-wan Kenobi get through this race, you're my only hope!
Half marathon flatrunner
Sunday 1/17
I was still feeling tired and woke up a little bit later than I normally would have. I got to the Mickey & Friends parking structure right about 4 am. I saw my friend along the way. I had to pay $18 and he didn't. Go figure! All I could tell was that I went to the line on the right because I didn't want to change lanes over to the left and he went over to the lanes on the left that volunteers normally take.
We went to the staging area and then to the gear check area because my friend was to meet some fellow runners for some pre-race photos. I took the opportunity to use one of the nearby portapotties. After he was done with the photos, we start heading towards the corrals. We made our way near the front and I was spotted by one of my fast friends from the Bay Area.
Half marathon start
The first mile was somewhat ok, but my stride deteriorated in a hurry. It also turned out that I had double pressed the start/stop button on my Garmin and I didn't notice until I checked my watch as I neared the mile 1 marker and the watch was asking if I wanted to resume. Since I was laboring to keep an 8 ish minute mile and the Garmin wasn't recording anything, I decided to not bother with any time goals and to switch over to minimizing the damage. I tried to move as fast as I could and at the same time minimize the discomfort. A few of my friends passed me along the way to mile 5. They all checked up on me to see if I was okay. I tried to run a bit with my friend, but I just couldn't maintain a decent pace. It was more of an issue with my right hip. Just after running past the long line of cosplayers, I saw a tall girl dressed up as an Ewok passing me. I said to her you're pretty tall for an Ewok. That got a laugh out of her. I said yub nub. She replied with some other Ewok gibberish. Man, I love connecting with other fellow Star Wars fans/nerds. :)
Half marathon finish
Half marathon: 2:14:35
My friends stuck around to wait for slow butt to finish. We stuck around for the awards presentation. One of our friends won first overall in the Masters division. Pretty cool! After that, we went our separate ways. My friend and I went back to our cars to change before getting some breakfast. We stopped by the finishing area and got in line to take a picture inside the wampa's cave. The guy behind us was dressed up as Barf. He was pretty spot on with his costume!
My fellow Disney loving friends!
Barf!
Trying to use the force to get the lightsaber
Per the usual, we ate breakfast at Earl of Sandwich. I don't usually eat breakfast, but I had the Chipotle Chicken Avocado sandwich with two Stellas. That seems to be my go-to meal whenever I eat here. After breakfast, we head over to the ESPN Zone to catch the NFL Playoff game between the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers. Both of the bars were packed. We might need to get there a bit earlier next year if we want to keep the tradition going. Eventually we were able to snag a couple seats at the bar from people that were leaving. This year I rooted for the Seahawks. Again they had a slow start, made a late charge, but this year they fell short. Usually the team that I root for always loses. We stuck around a bit for the Denver Broncos vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game.
Post race breakfast
Half marathon medal
Rebel challenge medal
Coast to coast medal
NFL playoffs
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