Back in mid February of this year, I ended up signing up for both the 5k (29 €) and half marathon (69 €). Originally I was only going to run the half marathon, but I thought I might as well get in an extra race since I would be flying all that way to France! I was unable to secure a travel package through the authorized travel agency, so I registered for everything on my own during regular registration. I also bought a one day park hopper (62 €) so I could check out Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park. The prices for staying on Disney property was outrageous, but I was able to find an affordable hotel in a nearby city called Serris.
Castle to Chateau Challenge medal
Half marathon medal
5k medal
9/22 Thursday
My flight out of LAX was in the afternoon just before 1 pm. There was a ton of traffic just getting to the airport. I arrived at the airport a bit later than I had anticipated. Good thing that I always leave extra early in case things don't go as planned. I was able to park the car at the usual parking lot C and get to Tom Bradley International Terminal. I printed out my boarding pass at a self service kiosk and headed for the TSA security checkpoint. The was a lot of people waiting in line that backed up all the way to the escalators. They had to stop people from going up as they re-directed people already up there and opened up more lines for security screening. They even switched to using dogs so people didn't have to remove laptop, liquids, or their shoes.
This was my first time flying with WOW air, an airline based out of Iceland. Their airfare was unmatched for flights into France. It was at least $200 cheaper. I'm guessing since they are a really new airline, the gate that we were assigned for our flight was at the very end of the terminal. I bought some snacks to eat while I waited to board my flight. Once we were scanned in to board, we got on a shuttle bus. We had to wait for each shuttle to be filled with passengers before they drove us over to our plane. They took us to a remote area of the airport to board our plane. This was the first time that I had to board in this manner. I guess the terminal would eventually need to be expanded to accommodate more airlines and their planes.
I found my seat, which was an aisle seat in the middle row. I got situated and was ready for my journey to France with a quick stop in Iceland. I tried to get as much sleep as possible during this longer leg of this trip.
9/23 Friday
We landed at the Keflavik International Airport at about 4:15 am local time. Going through customs was pretty easy as I was only heading to my connecting flight. Our flight into Charles de Gaulle Airport was delayed by about 50 minutes, so I walked through the terminal to find some food to purchase. I bought a pre-packaged baguette with ham and cheese and some water. I ate it before going to my gate.
New stamp in my passport!
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
We finally started the boarding process a little after 6 am. Again we boarded a bus and was taken to our plane. It was a big Hi Fly plane which was kind of weird. We boarded from the tarmac via a staircase up to the plane. I'm guessing the delay was to find a plane to take us to our destination. The plane looked pretty nice from the outside, but the seat upholstery looked like they have seen much better days. It was open seating, so I found an aisle seat in the center row again. For some reason a Korean couple decided to sit in the two center seats. I don't think they understood the meaning of opening seating. Perhaps they really preferred sitting next to a fellow Asian. That however caused the passenger in the other aisle seat to go find another seat after which the Korean couple shifted over a seat. Unlike the previous plane, these seats had inflight entertainment. We were able to choose from a list of free movies to watch during the flight. I was able to watch Home which I have not yet seen. It was pretty entertaining and funny, but it was almost like watching an alien version of Sheldon Cooper.
We landed in terminal 1 at about 12:30 pm. I found it a bit odd that we didn't have to go through customs. I made my way via moving walkways to the CDGVAL inter-terminal shuttle train to make my way over to terminal 2. I was taking one of the TGV main lines that would take me straight to the Marne la Vallée Chessy station right in front of Disneyland Paris. I pre-purchased the train tickets online. You can collect your train ticket via one of the yellow kiosks. You just need to enter in your e-ticket confirmation code and your last name. As with most train stations, the TV screens will let you know on which platform to go wait for you train at about 10 minutes before the train arrives. Then you look at the board to know approximately where to stand based on your assigned car. Keep in mind that even though you have a reserved seat, chances are that nobody will sit in their assigned seat. In which case, just find an open seat. The ride was only 10 minutes in duration and was the very next stop.
Follow the signs for the TGV Main Lines
Pick up your train ticket at one of these yellow kiosks
After arriving at the Marne la Vallée Chessy train station, I exited and made my way towards Disneyland. Just to get into the Disney Village, I had to go through security check with metal detectors and x-ray for my bags. There were runDisney signs up directing you to the location of the race expo over at the Disney Event Arena. It was located just south of McDonald's and the Disney Village.
Before going into the arena, I was instructed to fill out one waiver form for each of the races that I would be running during the weekend. It was balls hot inside the arena! My goodness, I couldn't think in that oppressive heat! I first picked up my 5k bib. Then I picked up my half marathon bib which was just on the opposite side of the arena facing each other. I was then instructed to take a Disney PhotoPass picture with each of my bibs so that they could identify me in the race photos. I wanted to check out some of the official merchandise, but eventually quit with just buying a key chain. It was just too hot in there! I did a once through of the booths in the expo before going to the back of the arena to pick up my race shirts.
Expo
Keychain
There was a crowd of people in line around the runDisney booth apparently signing up for something to get a tote bag. I wasn't interested, so I left after taking a picture of the Castle to Chateau Challenge banner. My friend told me later that they were also handing out Castle to Chateau Challenge pins for those taking part in the challenge. I kind of wish that I had known earlier since I wasn't about to get close to that mass of humanity.
I got in a long line to pick up my Castle to Chateau Challenge wristband. It was long, but it moved pretty quickly. After that I got in yet another line right next to the challenge line to pick up my 1 day park hopper ticket. After that I quickly made my way out of the stifling heat! Oh, did I mentioned that it was hot in there?! Hot like an oven!
Castle to Chateau Challenge wristband
Park hopper ticket
I was pretty hungry and tired... just plain exhausted. It was probably a combination of the long travel and the heat. I decided to just get food at McDonald's. Besides, I always eat at McDonald's whenever I'm traveling to be absolutely safe with my food before any race. I tried to order my food via one of the kiosks. I was so tired that I didn't even notice that all of the machines had a sign that said that they were having difficulties processing foreign credit cards. Pretty much every customer there had a foreign credit card. So I got in one of the long lines to get my food. It was about 3 pm local time, so I was hoping that there wouldn't be a crowd. No such luck. Once it finally got to me, it was quick since I wasn't ordering for an entire family and I had already counted out my euros to the exact cent.
I ordered the Big Tasty meal with fries and bottled water. The patty tasted a little bit gamy, so it reminded me of a lamb burger. Even the fries tasted a little different, but they were good with the pommes frites sauce!
Big Tasty meal
After eating my lunch or early dinner, I started heading out. I stopped in the World of Disney store to see if I could pick up some pins for my friends back home. A couple of them had tasked me to bring back some pins that had anything to do with Paris. I ended up buying a total of 4 pins for them. I can see why people really get into collecting these pins. They might seem pricey, but the level of detail makes it a really nice looking souvenir and they also don't take up a whole lot of space in my bags.
While exiting the Disney Village to head for my hotel, I got to see them set up the starting line for tomorrow's race. The walk over to my hotel, the Hipark Résidence in Serris Val d'Europe, was pretty nice and not too far. There wasn't much to see along the way. There was a police station about a block from my hotel. The walk took about 15 - 20 minutes.
The place surrounding the hotel looked really new, nice and quiet. I checked-in with the friendly lady at the front desk. My room was pre-paid, but I had to pay a 1,65 € per night mandatory city tax. After I took care of all of the paperwork, I was given a key card to my room on the third floor. After I got settled in, the first thing that I did was to take care of number 2 followed by a much needed shower.
Important notice of bus route 50 disruption
Personalized greeting
Kitchenette
Sofa bed
After getting cleaned up, I went through my race packets and got everything in order. I had to keep reminding myself that the 5k was tomorrow as I was tired and had a hard time keeping track of which date it was. I thought that the shirts and bibs looked pretty nice for the race's first year. After watching a little bit of TV, I took a much needed nap.
I was out of water or any drinks. I was too tired to go outside and find a store, so I settled for buying water from the hotel vending machine on the lobby floor. I still had a lot of coins leftover from my last trip to Europe. Back in my room, I laid out my clothes for tomorrow's race before I went right back to sleep. Wiped. Out. Super. Dog. Tired.
Vending machine
5k flat runner
9/24 Saturday
Since there was a 9 hr time difference and the sofa bed wasn't all that comfortable, my sleep wasn't a continuous one. I think or I feel as if I had awaken every 1 to 2 hours. Since I didn't know how things would be set up, I got ready super early and left the hotel a little before 5 am. The police had already set up the barricades at the turnabout at Avenue Paul Séramy. None of them spoke English, but they were able to tell me to get to the start by going through Disney's Newport Bay Club. Since they had blocked the crosswalk, I took the long way and went around the roundabout.
I had to be wanded by security just to enter the hotel. After that, I made my way to the Disney Event Arena. They had barricades set up here as well, so I had to take the long way around Lake Buena Vista. Along the way, I started talking to 3 runners from the DC area. It was good to hear English after a while. We had to go through security check again before going into Disney Village. Then we waited to be let into the Disney Event Arena. Near the corral entrance, they had a small cache of some fancy portapotties as well as a couple of backdrops for people to take pre-race photos.
Corral entrances
After I was done with my final portapotty break, my fellow Disney friend from CA found me. Despite being in a different country, we still managed to find each other before the race without any prior planning. We were both in corral A, so we started heading to the start line to wait for the start of the race. The 5k wasn't a timed race and was supposed to be a fun run, so there were many costumed and non-competitive participants in corral A including someone dressed up as Sadness from Inside Out!
Sadness and Bing Bong!
Waiting in the corral for the start was interesting to say the least. They brought out two professional coaches to have us do warm-ups with them. You could tell who were the Americans among the participants as none of us were following along. There was really no room to do most of those silly warm-up drills. However it was pretty cool that they brought out Paula Radcliffe to say a few words of encouragements to the participants. She has been a great ambassador in promoting this event. I was fortunate enough to have met her at the Walt Disney World expo earlier in January.
Paula Radcliffe!
I didn't start that far up front as I had no idea how my left foot or right hip would feel. Everything felt good, so I decided to give it a good effort. I didn't even know what pace that would entail. It would turn out to be roughly 8 - 8:15 minutes per mile. At about a half mile into the race, I stopped to take a picture of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It looked pretty cool lit up in the darkness of the early morning.
Sleeping Beauty's Castle
After running around the back and through the castle, I passed Paula Radcliffe on the side giving an interview. She would then blow by me on her way to catching up to her daughter. Eventually I caught up to them. I had them in sight, but could not quite get up to them. She tried to get her daughter to run faster, but eventually they dropped back to me. I was feeling pretty tired when I finally passed them, but I was able to find another gear during the last half mile.
Finish line
So the fun run turned out to be a pretty nice hard effort run for me. Honestly for me it feels more fun to run faster. I got my cool plastic medal and a bunch of refreshments. Apparently they don't eat bananas much in France before or after a race. I got an apple, some peanuts, a Special K breakfast bar, a small bottle of water, and a bottle of vanilla milk. The vanilla milk was something new to me which I preferred over chocolate. They gave us a paper bag to carry everything which was a very nice touch!
Finish: 26:16
If the race had been timed, it would have shown that I beat the women's world marathon record holder! :)
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was pretty pooped, so I started heading out as soon as I got my post race refreshments. I asked if I could go down Avenue Paul Séramy, but they told me that I could not. So I took the route that I had taken earlier this morning. However when I got to the turnabout, I noticed that the police had moved the barricade so that pedestrians could use the crosswalk. As I got to the other side of the road, an American runner had somehow gotten to that barricade and was trying to speak to them in French to let him through. Eventually he just climbed around the bush and the fence. We walked back together since it turned out that he was staying at the same hotel. He was also from California. He was from Laguna Beach if I remembered correctly.
After getting cleaned up and resting for a little bit, I made my way to Disneyland Paris to meet up with my friend at about 10 am. It wasn't too bad getting inside the park. After snapping a few pictures of the entrance, I found my friend sitting near the Disneyland train station.
After grabbing a map of the park, we headed for our first ride of the day, Space Mountain: Mission 2. I was warned by my friends back home that this ride was much faster and more exhilarating than the one back home in Anaheim. Indeed it was. While in line, we got to talking to a mom and daughter from Netherlands. She told us about their theme park, Efteling. I will definitely have to look into planning a trip out there. I could plan it around the Rotterdam Marathon in April or the Amsterdam Marathon in October.
After riding Space Mountain, I wanted to ride Star Tours, but unfortunately the ride was closed for refurbishment. That seemed to be the theme for the day. The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mine car ride and Big Thunder Mountain were also both closed. We went on the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast ride before we left Discoveryland. My fingers were getting tired having to pull the trigger that many times! I had to switch hands a few times. We got a FastPass for Space Mountain before leaving for Fantasyland.
Eve and Wall-E!
Our first ride in Fantasyland was It's a Small World. I would have to say that this ride was much better here than the original ride back home. It looked more modern and the song wasn't as annoying. I'm not sure how they managed to do that given that the song was the same.
We then made our way into Adventureland. We were a little bummed that the Indiana Jones ride was down, but we did get in line to ride the classic Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was pretty much the same ride as the one back home but backwards. After the ride we checked out the menu for the Blue Lagoon Restaurant and noticed that they had a rack of roasted piglet on the menu! I wonder how Winnie the Pooh feels about his little friend being on the menu?! :)
Oh no! Piglet is on the menu! :)
We then moved on to Frontierland. Unfortunately Big Thunder Mountain was down, so we went to Phantom Manor, their version of the Haunted Mansion. The line was pretty long, but it went pretty quickly. The ride was pretty similar to the one back home, but the ride stopped a few times while we were on it.
I was supposed to meet up with a few of the Disneyland Half Marathon legacy runners for a photo in front of the castle at 2 pm. We had a little time, so we went looking for places to eat. Eventually we decided to forego eating lunch. We instead waited at a bench just in front of the castle. It was pretty cool to get a practically unobstructed picture of the castle.
Waiting for the other legacy runners
Disneyland Half Marathon legacy runners
After we took some still photos and the obligatory jumping photo, we all went our separate ways. We got in line to ride Autopia. Unfortunately we got a pretty horrible car. The engine had little power and the steering wheel was very non-responsive. There was a delay whenever you turned the wheel. I was crashing everywhere further validating the stereotype of a bad Asian driver! Eventually I gave up steering and the car just bumped all over the place.
The Autopia ride took a bit longer than anticipated, so we had to hurry on over to the FastPass line for Space Mountain before our passes expired. This time around, my phone slid out of my pocket during the ride. Good thing I noticed or I would've lost my phone somewhere in space!
After the ride, we exited the park to go find food in Disney Village. We were given a coupon in our race packet that was good for 15% off at some of the restaurants. We had to choose from Café Mickey, The Steakhouse, Sports Bar, Billy Bob's Country Western Saloon, and Annette's Diner. Unfortunately most places were closed at that hour, so we ended up at Annette's Diner. We noticed that only the waiters were on roller skates. The waitresses walked around and brought out the drinks. As to be expected, the food was pricey and mediocre... except for the Pineapple Whip. I had that and their Avocado Burger.
Pineapple whip
Avocado burger
After we were done eating, we made our way into Walt Disney Studios. The first thing that I noticed was that there was a lot of food options inside Disney Studio 1. I was pretty pooped by this point and wanted only to check out Crush's Coaster. Unfortunately the ride was down, so we decided to get into the extremely long line for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. While we were in line, there were two kids bumping us during the entire time we were in line. They were extremely rude and kept talking over the cast member. The cast member finally stopped talking until they would shut up. I thought he was going to kick them out of the ride!
After that we exited the park and parted ways. When I got back to my hotel room, I laid out my running gear before hitting the hay to get some much needed rest. Since I didn't go out and buy Powerade, I planned to use my Nuun tablets for my handheld.
Half marathon flat runner
9/25 Sunday
Again I didn't sleep very well. Even though I had set multiple alarms, I was again waking up every hour or so. Since I was familiar with where to go from yesterday's race, I didn't start my walk as early. Along the way, I saw all of the police assembling in front of the police station. I swear every one of them was smoking. They really love their cigarettes here. I took the same route through Disney's Newport Bay Club. It was pretty much the same pre-race show as yesterday. Again they brought out the two coaches to lead the participants in their silly warm-ups. Paula Radcliffe came on stage again to encourage the runners and this time she kept her jacket and pants on as there was a chill in the morning air. The race was delayed for about 10 minutes as they finished securing the course.
This time I was closer to the front, so I started the race at a decent effort from the get go. There was a lot of zig-zagging and hairpin turns on this course as I navigated my way through the parks for the first 5k or so before I started heading out into the surrounding neighborhood. Apparently my current endurance was only good for about 3 miles. I was pretty exhausted and had to slow down the pace as well as take frequent walk breaks. For the most part the course stayed on the Boulevard du Grande Fossé. At about mile 8, I made it out to a very small lake near Hotel Kyriad where I ran a loop around the lake before heading back towards Disneyland and the finish line. Before turning left on Avenue Robert Schuman, I got to see those that were still heading out on the course. One of my friends was able to spot me. I then ran through Hotel Santa Fe and Hotel Cheyenne before running almost an entire loop around Lake Buena Vista. It was then a short run through Disney Village before I came up to the finish line. With about a half mile to go, I was really exhausted with nothing left in the tank. I barely mustered enough to come in under 2:20.
Finish: 2:19:35
Click here for my Garmin data.
After getting my half marathon medal and some drinks, I slowly made my way over to pick up the coveted Castle to Chateau Challenge medal. There were volunteers there spotting runners wearing the challenge bracelet. After getting my finisher photo taken, I made my way for the exit where I picked up another paper bag and a banana. Again, the bag was very useful in carrying the post race goodies. On my walk back, I talked to a guy that was a Perfectly Goofy runner. Then my friend caught up to me as I was waiting to cross the course. She started in a few corrals behind me and finished a couple of minutes ahead of me via chip time. I wished her a safe trip home as we got to where she needed to turn off for her hotel. I kept on walking until I got to the point where I needed to cross the course again. I was feeling a little lightheaded, so I sat down and chugged my vanilla flavored milk. I then started to feel much better for the rest of my walk back to my hotel.
Medals and post race goodies
Back at my room, I ate most of my post race goodies. I saved the banana and a couple of the breakfast bars for tomorrow. I got cleaned up and just rested in my room until it was time for dinner. I felt pretty wiped out for having completed only a half marathon. It felt more as if I had just run a full marathon.
At about 6 pm, I got ready and walked a couple of blocks south down to La Vallée Village. It was a huge shopping mall which included a hypermarket called, Auchan Val d'Europe. I could've bought all of my food and drinks from here! Since my room had a kitchenette, I could've really saved money by doing some easy cooking. I also learned that a hypermarket is a combination of a supermarket and a department store. I stopped by GO Sport to pick up souvenir soccer scarves for my friends back home.
I then walked over to L'interprete at the corner of Cours de l'Elbe and Cours du Danube to eat dinner. One thing that I cannot get used to is that Europeans all eat so late. My usual dinner time is at 5:30 pm. While they were happy to seat me at 6:30 pm, they informed me that the kitchen was not open for dinner until 7 pm. I was fine with waiting since I've done the research and wanted to try out their food.
I started with some vanilla flavored black tea. I think I like vanilla in just about anything. I then ordered their saumon fumé sur blinis and magret de canard. The smoked salmon was a good starter and came with a small salad. I love duck meat. It's my favorite fowl. The duck breast was cooked medium and was pretty charred on the outside. It was a bit pricey, but not bad! It was a bit dry, so I think I would get it medium rare next time.
Saumon fumé sur blinis
Magret de canard
It would seem that the French are more laid back than Americans. My dinner took longer than I had expected even factoring in the wait for the kitchen to open. Once I settled my bill, I made the short walk back to my hotel. Back at my room, I did a little packing while watching Speed. I always enjoy watching this movie. It's fun, mindless, and entertaining. Just your typical Keanu Reeves movie.
Pop quiz, hot shot!
9/26 Monday
My flight was in the afternoon, but I reserved an early morning train ride to the airport. When I booked my travels, I didn't realize that I didn't need to allot extra time for getting through immigration. So I got all packed up and took another early morning walk to the train station. As I got near the station, they were still taking down the start line. I had to go around near the parking structure to get to the station. There was a crowd of people all waiting for the same train to the airport. After getting to the airport at terminal 2, I took the CDGVAL inter-terminal shuttle train to terminal 1. Once I got there, I had a few hours to pass. I sat near the walkway up to the boarding gates charging my mobile devices. Once it got closer to my boarding time, I got in line to head up to my gate. Getting through security was a bit different. We didn't have to take out our small liquids or take off our shoes, but we had to take out our tablets. They kept speaking to me in French, so I was pretty lost. Of course they "randomly" selected me to swab my hands.
Heading to terminal 1
Once I got past the security checkpoint, I went into the duty free store to check out what they were selling. I didn't know you could buy refrigerated foie gras. Does it keep for the entire flight? I also saw a box of chocolate snails. Life is like a box of chocolates... sometimes you do know what you're going to get! :)
Duty free foie gras!
Chocolate snails!
The first leg of the trip home would take about 8 hrs. During the boarding process, a confused lady had no clue where her seat was and during that confusion, she spilled her coffee on a fellow passenger. I quickly gave them some of my napkins to help wipe up the mess. It's a good thing that I always have napkins with me wherever I travel.
We landed in Iceland a little after 2 pm local time. After getting through customs, I quickly got in line to buy a roast beef sandwich and a bottle of water. I also picked up a package of dried fish just to check it out. It was similar to Asian dried cuttlefish but not as good. It was way too dry. Then I hurried to my gate to board our flight. Apparently we got back on the same plane that we were just on.
During the second leg, I sat on the left side of the plane further in the back. During the flight, a lot of people around me were buying Yum Yum instant cup of noodles. Even the lady sitting next to me ordered a cup. The noodles definitely smelled delicious, but for me it did not smell good enough to warrant the price of about $5-6 US dollars a cup!
We landed at LAX at that remote part of the airport again. We got on a bus that took us to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. It was of course a mad dash by everyone to get into the lines for passport inspection. Fortunately, it was a lot easier for US citizens as we got to do it via answering questions and taking a picture at one of the kiosks. Then after one last checkpoint to declare items, I was finally able to head on home. I was able to hop on the Lot C bus just as I got to the median. The timing was too perfect. I got to my car and started heading on out.
I wanted to get some dinner along the way home. My Waze app mapped a very different route than my usual route. I suppose my windshield and I had a destiny with a wooden block debris. While driving eastbound on the 91, a car ahead of me ran over and kicked up a good sized chunk of what looked to be a wooden block right into my windshield. It cracked the windshield pretty good and also scratched a little part of the roof. It was just my luck. Bummer. I went through a lot of what ifs in my mind.
Anyways, I concluded the trip with a bowl of ramen at my usual ramen shop, What's Up Men. Way better than instant ramen!
Will I run it again? I'm going to be cutting back on the number of races that I run in the upcoming years. Disney races will be the last races that I cut from my race schedule. I'm going to try my best to make it possible for me to run this race every year or at least for 5 consecutive years.
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