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There's a few things I noticed right off the bat about California:
1. It's wonderfully, blissfully, dry and my hair looks great the whole time
2. It's hot, but not Florida-hot. Florida is Africa-hot!
3. Speaking of, I should have brought more chapstick than I did.
4. Everything at Disneyland is really, really, REALLY, close together.
We got in to town and made it to the Expo in the Disneyland Hotel around 4pm. We were running about an hour behind what I'd originally planned for, but somebody wanted to stop and eat at In-N-Out Burger. I admit, it was tasty. Scot has an obsession with it. We must have come in the wrong door at the Expo (not surprising, we were travel-weary and had just schlepped 30 minutes down the road from the Hilton) because we had to go out and back around and underground into I guess what was a parking garage or something to get my race bib. After that, back upstairs to get shirts and do some shopping. All I wanted to get was the Haunted Mansion themed Sparkle Skirt. Once that was in hand, we were out of there and off to California Adventure.
We spent maybe 3 hours in the park, which was a lot of fun but after being awake for almost 18 hours, we could barely stay up long enough to even find our way back to the hotel. I crashed into bed by 8:30 and awaited my 3:30am wake up call!
My corral assignment was A for the 10K and C for the half marathon. Yippee! I'd been in A before, when Scot and I did the Expedition Everest Challenge, but never for a... real race I suppose. We took the ART bus this time and Scot got to come into the staging area in the Stitch parking lot. We hung out for a little while there- the crowds weren't too bad at all- then I went off to my corral and Scot went back to the Downtown Disney area. He managed to find a spot to watch near the Starbucks, since the Mile 6 marker was right smack in the middle of DTD, with the finish line right around the corner!
The pre-race banter onstage at the starting line was the typical stuff- folksy jokes and goofy character interactions. Stitch showed up. So did Elvis. Elvis actually sang the national anthem and did an amazing job at it.
There's the start! I'm in A!!!!
The 10K was Stitch-themed
I learned something interesting about Disneyland that I didn't think about before. They don't do fireworks at these parks! Because it's in the middle of a city and they don't happen to own the 40-plus square miles surrounding to do whatever the hell they want, they have to abide by noise abatement procedures and such. All the night shows are done with colored lights. So was the kick off for the 10K. Music, lights, and a countdown 3-2-1! It all happened so fast, and we were off!
Know what else I learned?
I don't belong in Corral A.
The proof of time I submitted was a PR 15K with an 8:44 min/mile that I did back in April. I can't for the life of my figure out how I didn't die doing that. The entire A group passed me quickly, and I'm pretty sure the B group did, too. It's hard to not over-do it when you're running with faster people. I had to just focus on my time and my intervals, and it took me a couple miles to settle into my pace at about a 9 min/mi. The first 2 miles were tough- outside the park on dark streets with no much going on. We did pass a homeless guy walking down the sidewalk who was yelling "RUN MUTHERFUKER RUN!!!!" as we all went by. Not Disney entertainment, but it made me laugh!
Just after Mile 2, I popped into Cars Land at CA Adventure. It was a quick turn around the corner to Paradise Pier where I stopped to take a photo of the lake where the nighttime show is presented. Pretty!
After running past a talking Mr Potato Head in front of Toy Story Midway Mania, and past Grizzly River Run (where I stopped for a real bathroom break, with a real sink and real soap), it was out of the park and off to Disneyland!
The route into the Disneyland park led me around the bus drop-off area then in through the front of the park, underneath the Main Street train depot. I was excited! This would be my first time in Disneyland! I ran down Main Street and turned toward the castle and...
Um, where's the castle?
Oh wait, is that it?
Way down there? Is it even lit up?
Damn, it's tiny. Like, Mona Lisa tiny.
I stopped for a photo on Main Street but it came out fuzzy. One thing that I did notice that was different from running the Princess half at WDW was the lack of spectators on this route. Disneyland was empty, as was DCA earlier. At least for the Enchanted 10K at WDW last February, there were people lining the Boardwalk to cheer. Not much going on on this morning!
I turned in toward Tomorrowland and past the Nemo Submarines ride (aw, it's closed for refurbishment? rats), past the Matterhorn (oooh I wanna check that one out!), then backstage for a bit. The Disney employees backstage were cheering for us all, and they had parade floats operational with lights and music playing. I was really enjoying myself and was feeling comfortable with my pace still. Mile 5 sent me right through the castle (anti-climactic, since there was no cheering) then around through Frontierland, New Orleans Square (where I paused to shed a tear that the attraction I was most wanting to go on, my favorite attraction, the Haunted Mansion, was closed while getting prepped for Nightmare Before Christmas), then it was out of the park, backstage again, before popping up at DTD.
Home stretch! I hit mile 6 feeling great, saw Scot and waved as I passed before turning the corner and setting a 10K PR at the finish line.
I got my medal and my finisher bracelet for the Dumbo Double Dare, picked up my Powerade and snack box, then met him back in the staging area. We caught the bus back to the hotel to clean up and hit the parks at rope drop. Nothing was going to stop me from riding the Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land, dammit.
Tiny castle!
Overall? I liked the course, but there were no ChEAR squad people for the 10K. Also, there were maybe 4 character photo stops? I don't stop for characters, but there wasn't really much at all for people who do. The route was fast, no hills. I liked that it was mostly in the parks, although the first 2 miles on the street were bleh. I think that time I was just trying to get in my groove, plus I really had to go to the bathroom!!! It was hard to focus, but it generally takes me about 3 miles to warm up anyway.
Here's the results!
Place: 770/9,603 finishers (Top 8%)
54/1,167th in age group (Top 4% of women 30-34)
258/6,271 in gender group (Top 4% of women)
Net Time: 56:33
More to come- next up the 1/2 Marathon Recap!
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