Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend: Disneyland Day 2

Our second day at Disneyland was Saturday.Since we didn't hit up California Adventure the day before, we started there first.

We went straight to California Screamin' because it was only a 10 minute wait (what?!?). And it wasn't even a 10 minute wait! We basically walked on. It was great. All of us kids went on the ride the first time but my mom and Lex sat it out the second time.

A.J. decided to be funny...thanks.

Round 2

After only being in the parks for about 45ish minutes, my mom, Alexandra, and A.J. wanted to head back to the hotel and rest/do homework. Brad and I did not have to run a 5k that morning so we were feeling pretty awake. We stayed in the parks while they went back.

First, we went on Tower of Terror. For some reason this ride always makes me nervous and scared, every single time. I truly don't know how it does it. This is one of my absolute favorite rides in all of Disneyland and Disney World. I rode this for the first time in Disney World and I have to admit, the Disney World version is way scarier.

We went on Tower of Terror later that night also.

Brad and I also explored ToonTown.

The rest of the fam joined us for dinner at Naples (sooo good) and then we all headed back into CA Adventure. This is when we went on Tower of Terror for the second time. We also hit up Soarin' Over California. A.J. wanted some Ghirardelli so we headed there next!

Brad and I didn't think dessert the night before a race was that smart, so we stuck to our pasta. A.J. on the other hand got a full on sundae the night before the race! He was pretty brave.

After Ghirardelli, it was time to head back to the hotel and go to bed! I was so nervous going to bed that night. Post about the morning is coming soon :) Overall is was a very fun day 2 in Disneyland.

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend: Disneyland Day 1

I am going a little bit our of order from my last post about spectating the 5k on Saturday. Our first actual day in Disneyland was Friday. Since we went to the expo and couldn't check into our hotel till three, we didn't end up getting to the parks until about five. That meant getting amazing sunset pictures of the castle!

As we were finding a place to have dinner, we went through the Fantasy Faire. This is a new addition to Fantasyland and I had never been to it before. I loved Rapunzel's little tower and the Flynn Rider wanted signs!

After we ate, it was time to go on some rides! We let Alexandra and my mom choose the first ride since they would have to head back early for the 5k. They decided to go on....Splash Mountain! The line was pretty long, but it was so hot and extremely humid that the line was worth it. It almost felt like we were in Disney World with all of the humidity throughout the weekend. It was pretty bad.

My pose was supposed to be a spellout of the number 13 since that's how many miles I was going to run. I totally failed. I even tried it on California Screamin' and Space Mountain and it failed on those rides as well. But you get what I was going for right...?

Next, we went back to Main Street and got some dessert. We found these amazing cake pops that were HUGE! They put Starbucks cake pops to shame. My mom and Brad got chocolate cake covered in chocolate. I didn't think I could take that much chocolate so I got white cake covered in chocolate with white chocolate drizzle. So yum!

Definitely getting this on my next trip.So good.

Mom and Lex headed back after dessert while me and Brad hit up a couple more rides including Space Mountain, Pirates, Matterhorn, and TeaCups.

Yup. There it is again. The failed 13.

We were exhausted ourselves and headed back a little bit before the park closed. We did a lot for only being in the park for a few hours. It was such a fun evening :)

QOTD: Have you ever been to Disneyland for just the night?

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend: Spectating the 5k

On Saturday, August 31, runDisney held a family fun run 5k that my mom and sister participated in! I was so excited for them because my mom worked really hard for this. She is not a runner and she really challenged herself by doing this race. I was so proud of her. My sister has Addison's disease which causes her to not be able to run long distances. Originally, her doctor told her to walk it, but she pushed herself and ran the whole thing! Dang girl.

Snapped this pic as I was exiting Downtown Disney the night before the race.

Anywho, while their alarms were set for 3 am, my alarm was set for 5:30ish. I was going to wake up, then wake up my brother and we would walk near the finish line and wait for them to cross. Well, plans don't always go through do they? In this case, I slept through every single one of my alarms I had set. Ahh!!! Somehow, my brain triggered the idea that I was supposed to be somewhere and it decided to wake me up at 5:50. I jumped out of bed and started brushing my teeth immediately. Next I through on jeans and a sweatshirt (bad idea) and tried to wake up Brad. I tried a couple times...and a couple more. By then I was so worried that I would miss them crossing the finish line that I ditched Brad. Sorry!

I was late for this very important date.

I was so, so scared that I was going to miss Lex and my mom and then they would be mad that no one was there to support them. So at this point I had no choice but to run. I ran down the very long street all the way to Downtown Disney. And it was hot. And I mean hot, humid, the whole deal. Keep in mind that I did this in jeans and a sweatshirt. Once I hit the stoplight that leads to the Disneyland Hotel it was time to walk through a sea of people. There were spectators every for the 10k along with all of the 10k runners moving in the opposite direction as me, trying to get to their corrals. It was a mess and a lot of "excuse me's".

I finally reached a pretty good spot of the finish line and stood my ground! I probably looked like I had just finished the 5k by how tired and sweaty I was. I ended up waiting their for about 20 minutes before Alexandra crossed the finish line. At first she didn't see me, but then she found me and we waited for Mom.

Alexandra celebrating her victory.

About 20 minutes after Lex had finished, Mom came through the finish line and saw us. She was so happy to see us! Next they both got their medals and I may or may not have sneaked into the runners area where they got food, water, and a goodie box.

Happy to get some food and water!

We headed into the family reunion area and took some photos with the medal.

So proud!

Ended the morning with a beautiful sunrise!

I was so glad that I actually got to see them cross the finish line despite my alarms not waking me up. I had so much fun supporting them! Great job Alexandra and Mom.

What Brad was doing this entire time...

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend: Health and Fitness Expo

Good evening! Today's post will be the first of the many posts about the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. I had such a great time and can't wait to share it with you all.

My family and I arrived on the Thursday before the race. We stayed at one of Disneyland's friendly neighborhood hotels, the Holliday Inn. It was about a seven minute walk from Downtown Disney. On Friday, we walked over to the Disneyland Hotel and went straight to packet pick-up. Since we had printed our waivers before the trip, picking up our packets went very smoothly!

Going underground to pick up our packets.

Our packets included the race number, bag check number, and the Disneyland Half Marathon pin I had ordered when I registered for the race.

Next, we went upstairs and checked out the expo!

At the Angels booth

Checking out the medal!

At the expo we also picked up our race shirts! At first I wasn't too please about the color orange, but once I put it on it actually wasn't that bad!

Enjoying a Dole Whip in my race shirt.

I was going to get the really cute "I did it!" shirt at the expo. We planned to revisit the expo on Saturday and buy the shirt (since the checkout line was very, very long on Friday). Unfortunately, I thought the expo closed at 8. We showed up there at 6 and the whole runDisney merchandise was completely gone. Turns out the expo had closed at 5!! I was completely upset. Does anyone happen to know where I could get any merchandise of runDisney online? This hiccup has taught me that I need to buy things right when I see them at the Nike Women's half marathon expo!

Other than not getting what would have been my favorite shirt of all time, the expo was pretty great. Thanks runDisney for a great day!

QOTD: Have you ever missed an opportunity at a race event?

Half Marathon Finisher

So guys, it's official. I finished a half marathon! It was so much fun and amazing and everything I hoped it would be. Well, except the part about being super duper sore during/afterwards. I will share a race recap later on but I thought I would share some race photos with you. Enjoy these awful looking pictures of me :)
 
My favorite is the lower left one. It was right after I ran through the castle. I tried to manage a smile as I ran by the photographer :)

QOTD: Did anyone run in the Disneyland Half Marathon?

**I do not own the rights to any of these photos. I did not purchase these. These photos came through Marathon Foto**