Running Disney is all about having fun, and the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend was no exception.
Fortunately, I am healthy now unlike running the Disney World Dopey Challenge last January with plantar fasciitis. Even though I am running well, I intentionally ran the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge easy since I’m also doing the Ventura Marathon next Sunday. I also decided not to add this past weekend’s 5K so I only had to wake up at 3:00 AM two days in a row. I wanted these two races to be all about having fun and staying ready for the full marathon in Ventura.
Since we arrived on Wednesday, I was able to attend the Expo the first day — Thursday — with no time constraints. Earlier in the morning I did a 3-mile shake out run through the area of the Expo so I knew where to go. I had heard there were lots of long lines last year and some problems navigating, however, runDisney folks apparently made some necessary adjustments and the lines moved pretty quickly in spite of the crowds that first day. And waiting in line is a great time to meet other runners and share experiences and information. I picked up my bib and commemorative pin, got my race shirts, then spent a little time with the Hoka reps at the Fit2Run booth before getting in line for the official runDisney merchandise. They control the number of shoppers at a time in the official merchandise store to make the shopping experience less crowded and chaotic. I picked up a few additional tech shirts. I liked the short-sleeve cotton Dumbo commemorative shirt, but not enough to cough up over $40 — way over-priced!
We spend the rest of Friday in Disneyland Park and, of course, I had to ride Dumbo and pose with his statue. We capped it off with a carb-loading dinner at La Brea Bakery Express, then back to the hotel to retire as early as possible.
I started the 10K in Corral B so I had a great view of the start when the first runners set off and my start was only about 7 minutes later. Once again, runDisney race announcer, Rudy Novotny, gave me a personal shout out as I approached. That never gets old, and he did it again the next day for the Half.
The 10K course was mostly in the parks after a mile and a half circling around the Anaheim Convention Center. I was surprised, though, how much time we did spend on service roads behind the scenes. There were some floats with music but no one on them. Mostly there were service cast members here and there encouraging us, but overall lots less characters and entertainment then there was at Disney World in January. Still, it was fun getting a feel for the parks by running through them. At that point, I had only been in Downtown Disney so it was all new to me in the parks.
I had a close call by turning my ankle on a lane marker in the street during the first section outside the park. There are raised circular white markers between lanes in critical areas on the roads. If you drive over them, there is a loud thumping which helps to alert drivers to stay in their lane. However, they are raised at least an inch above the asphalt — something that would never survive snow plows in the northeast winters, and if you land on one the wrong way, you can easily turn your ankle or, even, fall. I know of at least two runners who did fall because of them. I don’t remember any alert in the race materials about these “road hazards,” but I think it would be a good idea for runDisney to give runners a heads up and warn them to take extra care, especially in the dark since the races start at 5:30 AM. I was lucky. Although it hurt initially, I didn’t fall and I had no lasting problems as a result.
My plan for the 10K was to run easy but not take walk breaks. That turned out to be a good decision since I had to take an unexpected, extended bathroom break when we first entered the park — almost 5 minutes lost. Fortunately, I was in an early corral to start the 10K and I was never in any danger of getting swept. The race felt comfortable and, in spite of the pit stop, I ran an 11:44 overall pace, but in terms of actual running time I was going faster than I planned.
Waking up the second day at 3:00 AM for the half marathon convinced me I made the right decision NOT to also do the 5K on Friday for the purpose of doing a faux west coast Dopey Challenge (the three races in Disneyland plus the Ventura Marathon). But the second day in a row with an 0’dark-thirty wake up was more than enough for me. The hardest part of the Dopey Challenge last January was getting up so early 4 mornings in a row!
Although runDisney generally does a great job with race logistics, the corral situation was a little chaotic. I got in corral G early to get a spot near the front, but runners were still queuing up for the corrals after the start of the race. There was one entry point across the road between corrals G and F, but it was clear there were too many runners to get to their appropriate corrals in time. Ultimately, those that came the latest got to go before those of us that got in the corrals early. I don’t know if there were too many runners for the space in the corrals that were set aside or if they didn’t move runners out of the staging area in time, but, either way, it didn’t work well. Regardless, once we got moving toward the start line it didn’t really matter any more.
And once again, I got a shout out from Rudy as I came up to the start line. This time we ran down Disneyland Drive to Katella and a short way up Harbor to get back into the park. It seemed like there were more characters out for the Half, but we were soon out of the parks after 4 miles.
The next 4 miles we ran through the streets of Anaheim. There were high school bands and drill teams and cheer squads periodically along with residents and spectators keeping us distracted and entertained. It was a bit more humid than on Saturday, but I was feeling pretty good with my 2/1 run/walk split, and I found I was doing a much better job of power walking at a pretty good clip.
Near the 8-mile point, as we approached the Honda Center, there were classic cars, custom hot rods, antiques, and muscle cars lining the course with their owners cheering us along. I think they must have covered about a mile of the course. It was pretty amazing how many there were.
After leaving the Honda Center we got onto the Santa Ana River Trail which was pretty depressing — not because the trail was a problem in any way, but because the Santa Ana River no longer exists. There is just a bone-dry river bed with absolutely no water. It actually looked like loose dirt and dust — very desolate. Fortunately, we weren’t on the trail too long before getting to Angel Stadium where we ran the warning track from right field around home plate to left field where we exited the stadium. The stadium was filled with scout troops and leaders and parents cheering us, and video cameras caught us running around the infield and displayed on the big screen video board above the outfield.
Just two miles brought us back to Disneyland, but we didn’t run through a park this time — just kept to the access roads behind the scenes of California Adventure, then around the Paradise Pier Hotel to the finish line just past the Disneyland Hotel. My time was 2:35:17 and my pace was 11:42 — just slightly faster than my 10K pace even though I used run/walk intervals. It wasn’t a great time, but I was really pleased because I felt terrific and it was a great rehearsal for using the 2/1 intervals for the Ventura Marathon.
Overall, I really enjoyed the two races. It wasn’t the same as the Disney World race week, but it was still a lot of fun and well-run except for the corral issue on Sunday. It was great to finish the Coast to Coast Challenge as well as the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge. I wasn’t very impressed with the 10K medal, or, for that matter, with the race mascot Stitch, but the other three medals for the Half, the Dumbo Challenge, and the Coast to Coast Challenge were definitely pretty cool. I bought a 10-hook display rack at the Expo for my Disney bling — just the right number.
I don’t have any plans to do other Disney races at this point even though I definitely recommend runners experience them if they can. runDisney does a great job of organizing and implementing races and Disney destination races are a ton of fun. Races often have runners in costume — especially larger, big city races — but nothing compared to the number of costumes and the detail some runners put into them at Disney races — there are always interesting costumes around you. And runDisney provides lots of entertainment along the way to distract you from the miles — in addition to characters and floats there are bands and choirs and other performances in addition to having cast members cheering you inside the parks along with other spectators.
But I won’t be running Disney again soon for two reasons. It is expensive to do Disney races. Registration alone for the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge was $320 and the Dopey Challenge in January was nearly $500. On top of that there are the regular costs of a Disney vacation including travel, lodging, and park fees. And there are unique merchandise items at the race expo that are hard to resist. Don’t get me wrong, the experience is worth it, but unless you have a large vacation budget or are a Disney Vacation Club member and already heading to Disney more than once a year, it is a big financial hit.
The second reason I’m not planning another Disney race is that my next major running goal is to work on 50 states — as in running a marathon in each of the 50 states. And at age 65 I will be racing a biological clock in that effort. And that goal also involves a lot of travel expense as well as time. I’ve already picked up my Florida marathon at Disney World, and I don’t know of any plans for Disney to open another theme park in another state any time soon (or ever, for that matter).
So here ends my Disney running adventures for now. But I invite you to visit some other blogs of Disney runners — especially race reports from this past weekend in Disneyland — by going to Brianne Smith’s recap of the race: http://willrunforamedal.blogspot.com/2014/09/disneyland-dumbo-double-dare-and-coast.html. She has a great set of race photos and at the end of her post is a list of other blogs that have posted about the weekend (including this one — Thanks, Brianne!).
Next up: Sunday’s Ventura Marathon — State #9
Starting Late 