After work, I swung over to Disneyland to pick up my race packet. It was the standard runDisney expo at the Disneyland Convention Center that's located adjacent to the Disneyland Hotel. You first go down the ramp to pick up your bib and any commemorative items that you may have pre-purchased. They'll take a mugshot of you and your bib if you are doing the Rebel Challenge. Then it was back up the ramp to get your gear bag and race shirts up on the expo floor. I didn't check out the official merchandise as the line to get in was insanely long! However per the usual, I got in line to get a photo of myself in front of the backdrop.
K-2SO
After I was done with the expo, I went over to check into my hotel, the Travelodge, near the corner of Harbor Blvd and Orangewood Ave. It would be my home for the rest of the week since I was going to volunteer for the 5k tomorrow morning with the Rebel Challenge to follow.
I was tired and didn't want to go anywhere for dinner, so I walked over to the nearby Carl's Jr to pick up some food. I cannot remember when was the last time that I had eaten at a Carl's Jr. I do know that it was back when they had baked potatoes on their menu. Much to my dismay, they no longer sell baked potatoes, one of my favorite items. I ended up ordering their California Classic Combo. It was a pretty decent double cheeseburger. It kind of tasted like a Double Double from In-n-Out, but it wasn't as salty and as to be expected, not as good.
California Classic Combo
After eating dinner, I went through the paltry expo haul and the race shirts. Vendors just don't give out very many samples these days. The shirts were decent, but I'm starting to run out of space at home to store all of these race shirts!
Expo haul
10k shirt
Half marathon shirt
Rebel challenge shirt
1/13 Friday
I arrived for my volunteer shift at about 2:15 am. I got in the volunteer line and when it was my turn, I requested to be in the finish line area to hand out medals. I got my volunteer long sleeved shirt and a box of goodies, the same box that runners get at the end of their race. Then I grabbed a cup of hot cocoa and waited with the other volunteers for our team leaders to tell us when to get going.
I think due to the weather and the slight possibility of rain, there weren't as many volunteers that showed up. They had to grab the group of volunteers from the post race drink area to help us open the medals and hang them on the rack in time for the race to start.
Volunteer shirt
5k finisher medal
It was a bit chaotic this time handing out the medals. Our shirts were gray and we sort of blended in among the runners. Per the usual my left arm got a really good workout carrying those medals, but it's always fun to hand out finisher medals especially to the little kids. After my volunteer shift was done, I headed into work to put in a half day.
After I was done with work, I returned to the hotel. When it came dinner time, I was again feeling tired, so I walked over to the Denny's that was next door. The place was pretty empty. I think the last time I had stepped foot inside a Denny's was several decades ago when I was still an undergraduate college student! I ordered an iced tea and something that loved back in the day, their Moons Over My Hammy sandwich. It came with hash browns. It wasn't as good as I had remembered it to be. Service was ok, but slow despite the place being empty.
Moons Over My Hammy
Back at my room, I laid out my 10k flat runner before calling it a night.
10k flat runner
1/14 Saturday
At about 3:30 am, I went out front to the ART bus stop to wait for a shuttle to the Disneyland Transportation Center. Security was much tighter getting to the staging area over at the Lilo parking lot. One of the first things that caught my eye was that they were selling Death Star balloons as well as other concessions! If there are more ways to extract more money from you, Disney will find it! :)
Death Star balloons
Per the usual, I waited in the bleachers. They were pretty empty as they were still a little wet from the early morning dew. I didn't care, so I plopped myself down. As more and more runners started showing up, some of them were wearing very cool and elaborate costumes. I took a photo of some of the ones that stood out to me.
Stage
C3PO and the Ewoks
More Ewoks!
Sully as a wookie
As it got closer to 5 am, I went to check in my gear bag and to use the portapotties one last time before heading into the corral.
Start line
My goal was to finish in about 48 minutes, so I made sure not to go out too fast during the first mile. I kept to pretty even splits, but had a slight fade during mile 4. I was able to rebound in the next two miles to finish under 48 minutes with a few seconds to spare.
Finish line
Finished: 47:52
Click here for my Garmin data.
That was one of the better executed races that I've run. I don't think that I could've run any faster on this day. It's always a good feeling to hit your goal and to run without any significant injuries. This was the healthiest that I've felt in a long time!
I got my medal, drinks, a banana, and a snack box. I then went over to pick up my gear bag. The bags were organized by bib numbers which meant people with similar finishing times were showing up to pick up their bags. That in turn meant every since volunteer was bunched up in the same area looking for bags on the same rack. After I got my bag, I went to the usual spot to wait for my friends to finish.
10k medal
After we parted ways, I walked over to the transportation center to catch a shuttle back to the hotel. A group of other runners and I had to wait until about 7:20 am before the ART shuttles would start running. We had to wait until all of the runners had gone through that part of the course. Also there was some confusion with riding the ART shuttles. The shuttle drivers insisted that we needed to have a pass or pay for the ride. However we were told that we could ride it for free if we stayed at one of the good neighbor hotels and showed our race bibs. Our driver was nice enough to let us slide this time.
Back at my room, I took a shower after eating some of the stuff in the post race snack pack. Then I was going to take the ART shuttle back to Disneyland to meet up with my friend for some park time. The shuttle service seemed to be kind of disrupted by the morning race, so instead I walked up to the Toy Story lot and took one of those shuttles. I actually had to turn around and go back to my room since I forgot to bring with me my park ticket.
Post race snack box
Once I finally got there and through the security lines, I met my friend at the Hyperspace Mountain Fast Pass line. Throughout the day, we went on Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Hyperspace Mountain, and Matterhorn Bobsled.
Time for Disneyland!
I know I got destroyed by about 20k points, but where's my score?! :)
When it came time to eat lunch, we ate at Jolly Holiday Bakery Café. I ordered their corned beef reuben. Man, it was good! I never knew it existed here! We came here because I thought that was where Casey's Corner was located. It would turn out that the Casey's Corner that I was thinking of was located at the Disneyland in Paris! Minor details. :) After lunch, my friend was tired and decided to tap out to go take a nap in her hotel room.
Corned Beef Reuben on Toasted Sourdough
I didn't stay too much longer. I went and got in the long line for some Dole Whip. However this time I didn't get the float. Instead I bought one of the Moana souvenir sippers and filled it with pineapple juice. I went back to get a Fast Pass for Star Tours, but I wasn't paying attention and instead got one for the Buzz Lightyear ride. So I got into the long line for Star Tours just to pass time. After that, I used my fast pass for Buzz Lightyear. This time the picture actually showed my score. :) Afterwards I got a Fast Pass for Star Tours, but it was way too late for 9:55 to 10:55 pm.
Moana sipper
I suck at this!
Star Tours Fast Pass
I called it a day and headed out. Before heading back to my hotel, I swung by the expo to pick up a pass so that I wouldn't have any trouble riding the ART shuttles. After taking care of that, I took the shuttle back to my hotel. I rested while watching the TV until it was time to go back out for dinner.
For dinner, I made the walk over to Clancy's American Grill. I've been here once before and a couple of my friends that live in the area really like this place, so I decided to go back for a meal as well as to watch the NFL playoff game. Along the way, I came across a massage place next to a hotel that was giving body massages for $40 an hour! I haven't seen too many of those, but it seemed a bit sketchy to me.
Body massage!
Once I got to the restaurant, I was promptly seated. It wasn't too crowded. There wasn't a bad seat in the place since they had a ton of TV's. The Patriots were playing the Steelers. There was a pretty dumb Patriots fan. She kept yelling at Brady to throw the ball. Dude, even Brady can't be throwing every single pass to his receivers especially into tight coverage. Then there was old guy who was hacking up a lung. I hope he was okay. Other than that, the food was great. I started dinner off with some rib tips. The sauce was tangy with just the right amount of kick. Then I ordered their spaghetti and meatballs and added a mixed field greens. This wasn't the place to get spaghetti, but I needed the carbs for the race tomorrow.
Rib tips
Add mixed field greens
Spaghetti and meatballs
Back at my room, I laid out my half marathon flat runner before calling it a night. This was one of my favorite Star Wars shirts that I own.
Half marathon flat runner
1/15 Sunday
I got up, got ready, and went out to catch a shuttle at about the same time as yesterday. Pretty much the same group of runners were waiting at the shuttle stop. After the shuttle ride and getting through security, once again I made my way to the bleachers in the staging area. There wasn't a huge line to take a photo in the garbage compactor, so I went and took care of that first.
Down the garbage chute, flyboy!
This time while waiting, I saw a pretty cool costume. A lady was dressed up as Buddy the Elf Imperial Officer with a sign on her back that read, "because blowing up planets is my favorite!" :) Some people are just really clever and creative!
Buddy the Elf Imperial Officer
Then it was time to head to the corrals, so I went to check in my gear bag. After using the portapotties one last time, I headed for the corral entrance. Along the way, I saw them escort Darth Vader and a couple of storm troopers to the starting line stage. I met up with my fellow runDisney buddies near the front of corral A. We got a good view of the pre-race entertainment. I was able to capture some of it on my phone.
Vader!
I ran the first mile pretty hard as I was caught up with the initial surge of the runners around me. I slowed down a bit for the next two miles, but I still kept an honest pace. Once I hit 30 minutes of running, I took my scheduled walk break and kept the pace from there on forward at a slower pace. I exited the park and ran onto Harbor Blvd as I approached mile 5. My friend caught up to me around here and we ran together until my walk break at the 1 hr mark. I would run down onto Garden Grove Blvd heading west. There would be two spots where there were lines of people in Star Wars costumes. Some of them were really good. The course then took me up Euclid St followed by a turn onto Chapman Ave. At about mile 11, I turned back onto Harbor Blvd and headed back to Disneyland. Here's where I got to see all of the other runners that started in later corrals heading out. At about mile 12, I turned onto Katella Ave. I was running on fumes by this point. However I was relieved to know that I had a sub 2 hr finish in the bag. I have not run anywhere near a sub 2 since March of 2016.
Finish line
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, a bottle of water, and a bottle of Powerade. I then headed over to the tent for the bonus challenge medals. After they confirmed that I was the same person that had picked up the race packet, they gave me the Rebel Challenge medal for completing both the 10k and the half marathon. Then with my wrist band, they gave me the Coast 2 Coast medal. It was cool to see the new C2C medal, as they finally updated the medal for the 10th anniversary!
Half marathon medal
Half marathon medal side 2
Rebel challenge medal
Coast 2 Coast medal
After getting my post race banana and box of snacks, I made my way over to collect my bag from gear check. I then headed back to the runner exit to wait for my friends to finish. While waiting I got a picture with a fellow runner that looked a lot like old Ben Kenobi.
Obi-wan Kenobi
Post race group photo
I tried to take the ART shuttle back to my hotel, but they weren't running since the race was still going on. They were in the process of rerouting the shuttles. So I hoofed it back to my hotel. It was pretty cool to see the runners out there. They got a preview of the medals when I walked by.
I checked out of my room at about 10 am. I took the ART shuttle and it was slow going on Harbor Blvd. I'm thinking I could've gotten there faster if I had walked. The lines to get inside the Disney Esplanade was ridiculously long. There were no separate lines for those without bags. I got my friends to meet me at Tony Roma's instead as I didn't really like the food at the ESPN Zone, our original meeting place. That sucked for my friend as he had already gone back to his car to change clothes. He had to go through the security line at the other end which was just as bad.
Security line kept going...
...and going!
I haven't eaten at Tony Roma's for ages. That seemed to be a common theme here. The restaurant looked rather empty for lunch. The NFL playoff games weren't going to be on until later, so maybe everybody will show up when the games are on. Since I more than met my goals for both races this weekend, I rewarded myself with a full rack of St Louis ribs. Man, they were good!
Post race lunch
Full rack of St Louis ribs
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