Today is the day! If you want to run through the Happiest Place on Earth in the Happiest Race on Earth, then you better sign up for the Disneyland Half Marathon taking place during Labor Day weekend. This course takes you through Disneyland and California Adventure Parks and on the streets of Anaheim. One of the highlights is running through Angel Stadium at about mile 9. It is truly a wonderful course!
I am unable to run this year due to financial issues and scheduling, but I hope to run it next year or the year after! But, because I was feeling sad, I clicked on the link to sign up anyway. Registration has gone up a whole $20!! I don't know about you, but I think that's a lot for only a year. I remember $175 being way too much, but $195?! That seems like way too much money for a race. Rundisney should really consider lowering their costs (but that will likely never happen!).
In conclusion, you should sign up because it's a super fun race! But hurry, registration was 99% full the last time I checked. Yikes! Rundisney races are so popular.
QOTD: Will you be signing up for the Disneyland Half Marathon? How do you feel about the price increase?
So, yes. It is about two and a half months late but who's counting? Today I am finally giving my Disneyland Half Marathon race recap! This race was the most fun race I think I will ever encounter in life. The joy that Disneyland brings truly lifts your spirits even though you're running 13.1 miles.
The day started at 4 AM. Fun.... I had set out my race outfit the night before that way I wouldn't have to rush in the morning. As my alarm clock went off that morning, I went into race mode. I'm pretty sure I was half asleep while throwing my hair up in a ponytail thinking "Wait, why did I do this again? Am I really about to run 13.1 miles?" Besides the fact of my thoughts, I kept getting ready. I went out into the living room area of our hotel room and opened the fridge. I had purchased a peanut butter strawberry granola type breakfast from the Jamba Juice in Downtown Disney the night before. I tried to eat a few bites and then me and my brothers were out the door!
Our hotel was about 10-15 minutes walking distance from the start line. But that morning it truly only felt like a three minute walk. I was so nervous! They were rushing people into corrals so we followed the sign to corral E and got there smoothly.
Our corral was on the free-way part. As the time got closer and closer, our corral kept scooching forward. Soon enough, corral A was off! I think after this happened, that was the worst part. It truly meant that this was happening. But the waiting and waiting for each corral to start was killing me and my brothers! Can we just start already?
Once it was corral E's turn, we went up to the starting line. Butterflies were going crazy in my stomach right about now. We were actually near the very front of our corral so we were right next to Mickey! As quickly as we got there, we were gone! It happened so fast. It was time to run...
Mile one felt like it took forever! I wanted to get into the parks already. As we were in the backlots behind Cars Land, we hit mile marker 1. One road took you to mile 2 and another road (which was blocked off ta the time) took you to mile 12! Me and Brad started laughing and each wished that we were at that point. we had lost AJ right before this point. He went ahead, but we could still see him. We were dodging runners and then all of a sudden we turned a corner and we were in California Adventure!
After passing Tower of Terror, awful cramps came to my side. These same cramps had come only a week prior to the race every time I ran. I prayed before the race that they would not come, but sadly they did. While exiting CA Adventure, I wanted to walk so bad! It was killing me, and I could hardly breath! I told Brad to leave me because I wanted to walk but he wouldn't let me. He gave me a few encouraging words and told me to run it out. So, basically crying and wincing with pain in every breath, I continued to run. Tons of people were in the area between CA Adventure and Disneyland. If I were in a better mood, I might've high-fived some of them or given them a smile, but instead I was crying.
As you can see, I was trying to put pressure on the cramps...it didn't help. I must've prayed about a thousand times while running through Disneyland. At one point I even said a quick prayer out loud! Brad promised me that if I still had pain, we would walk at mile 3. Well, as we were going by Adventureland, my cramps vanished. This had never happened in my training. I had always had to walk it off and rest. I thanked God a thousand more times and kept praying that the cramps wouldn't come back. When we reached mile 3, Brad asked me if I wanted to stop. Uhhh no!! I was feeling awesome!
Soon after, we ran through the castle and it was so awesome! I will never forget that moment. We then went on to Tomorrowland and then into Toontown. This is where we went into another backlot to exit the park. This backlot was soooooo cool. Did you know that Disneyland has a full on farm back there? Ya. They had horses, goats, and even a mini horse on display for us to see. It was awesome.
Next, we were onto the streets of Anaheim. Brad tripped on the overpass. Ha. We walked a little bit throughout mile 7. Then we got to mile 8 which was all of the cool, old cars. After that, we headed onto a trail and then into Angel Stadium! I was kind of lagging behind Brad every once and a while, so a few steps before the trail I told him he could go ahead.
After the trail, I was in Angel Stadium! The crowd was so awesome and crazy! My mom and Lex were screaming at me, but I had my headphones in so I didn't even see them. In the video you can actually hear them yelling my name. Lol.
After Angel Stadium was the hardest part for me. Mile 10 felt like it lasted 30 minutes. It took forever. I just wanted to get back to the Disney areas and be done at this point. Miles 10-13 were rough and involved lots of water stops and pain in my legs. Finally I saw the mile 13 sign and I was ready to be done! I ran through the finish line, grabbed my medal, snack box, and water and powerade. I downed that powerade like no other. It's all I wanted in that moment.
After searching for my family for the next 45 minutes, I finally found them and we took many pictures before heading back to the hotel.
One of my favorite pictures.
My precious
After we got back to the hotel, we showered and took a very, very long nap. We headed into the parks that night and I wore my medal! I tried to take a good castle/medal picture but the lighting didn't work out.
Crazy eyes from the flash
My first dole whip!
It was really nice to go into the parks and have everyone congratulate you! Every single Disney cast member told me congrats! I felt awesome. Thank you runDisney for putting on such an amazing event. I will definitely return.... :)
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.
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?
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**
I just simply cannot decide on a costume for the Disneyland Half Marathon. Here are the things three main goals that I have for a costume:
1. Comfortable. I don't want to be running 13.1 miles in something that is chafing or extremely uncomfortable the entire time. So, I am looking for athletic clothing that could be interpreted as a Disney character. 2. Recognizable. This is the one I am struggling with. I have found great athletic clothes that go with the color scheming of some Disney characters but I'm not so sure if people will recognize the character just based on the colors in my outfit. 3. Affordable. This one would help a lot. I don't want to spend too much money.
I am proud to announce that I have narrowed my choices down to three characters!
1. The Little Mermaid. I would love to be her but I don't know if people will recognize that I am Ariel if I just wear a purple top and green shorts.
2. Rapunzel. This idea I got from Through Heather's Looking glass. She did this look for the Princess Half Marathon and I thought it was so cute! I would basically wear a purple top and shorts and then buy the mini Pascal bean bag and pin him to my shoulder. The only problem I have with this is Pascal. I don't know if he will be super comfortable on my shoulder.
3. Minnie. It's cute. It's classic. It's recognizable. And I would get to wear ears :)
Hopefully I can make up my mind before the race and post my outfit soon!
QOTD: Which costume would you wear to the Disneyland Half Marathon?
So, it's official. I got into the Nike Women's half marathon! I received this amazing email as soon as I got back from Hume Lake:
I have to admit, I was completely surprised. I went into this thinking that I wasn't going to get in. I thought I wasn't going to have to keep training after Disneyland half but it looks like I am. And with hills. Ugh. The dreaded hills. I have no idea how I will even try and train for those. I know I have to and I know that somehow, some way, I will conquer those San Francisco hills!
I'm so happy to be sharing this news with you guys and I am glad I can share my journey on this blog. Happy running :)
Yesterday I ran a pretty hard run but only for a short amount of time. I wanted to run around 1.5 miles with around a 9:00 minute mile. I really want around a 9:00 or 10:00 minute mile for race day on September 1st (It will be here before I know it!) so I'm trying to train closer to 9:00 minutes that way I have some wiggle room.
I've kind of been getting bored in my runs, which sadly, makes me want to stop running. Then I end up not getting to my goal or not conquering what I wanted to. I haven't been really into my running playlist so I thought that maybe I should do a run without music. Didn't go too well. I lasted like a mile. Lol. So yesterday I thought I should change my course. Instead of running out on the streets, I ran around all of my connecting neighborhoods. It was kind of nice because I could set little goals to myself like "When you get to that green house, you can turn around and go back" or something like that. Whereas on the streets, I would get confused on which tree I set my goal at.
The new course actually helped me a lot! I ran at a 9:27 pace for 1.44 miles. I was done within 13:39 minutes (I didn't want a super long run yesterday).
I actually felt really good afterwards too. And lately, I have been feeling like I'm going to either pass out or throw up when I run. I felt so good but also completely exhausted afterwards that I literally laid down on my grass and stayed there for a while. People walking by probably thought something was wrong with me.
Yeah so that's me lying down on the grass. Great picture huh? But that face literally describes how I felt. Even though it was a short run, it was definitely a great run :)
QOTD: Have you ever had a great run, short or long?
When I first started running, I wanted to find the perfect app where it could tell how many miles I've gone, know my pace for every mile, calculate my average pace...etc. I thought about doing those Couch to Half Marathon apps but those are walk/run. I didn't want to tell people that I walked/ran a half marathon, I wanted to tell people I ran a half marathon! After searching for many days, yes I searched for days, I'm pretty sure I found the best running app ever. The Nike Running App. It fits every single expectation I had for a running app. I usually need music when I run (see my music playlist HERE) so I wanted an app that would allow me to play music while I ran. You would think that would be a common thing in a running app but most of the running apps I looked at didn't allow you to play music. Anyways, this app lets me do so many things and I will give you a little tour of how this amazing app works...
So this is your "home" page. It tells you how many miles you have ran total, your average pace, how many runs you have been on, and how many Nike Fuel points you have. It also has little facts and different goals that you have conquered. For example, the one on my screen today said that I ran .15 miles more and 0"22/mi slower than the average of all of my past runs. Pretty neat. It was also tell you your fastest mile, 5k, 10k, or your longest run.
When you want to go on a run, all you do is click the "run" button in the top right hand corner. Then you get to the "Run Setup" page (left). This is when you make your options for your run. It lets you choose your music, location, and how you are holding your device. The one thing that I recently discovered is the "Run Type" option. At the very top, you tap on whatever setting it is on already (in my case, time run) and then it will bring you to this screen (right). Now it know exactly was run you are running and how to track it! It amazes me.
When you click the options tab, it tells you all of your past runs. If you turn your device horizontally, you see the picture below which is a graph chart about all of your runs.
The last thing to mention is the end of the run. Once you are finished running, this screen pops up. It shows your progress throughout the run. After your run you get to choose how you felt, where you ran, and if you have Nike+ shoes you get to tag your shoes. It's really cool to see that when I first started running 2 miles, I felt sick and horrible after. But now, I always choose the "I felt great!" happy face.
As you can see, I would definitely recommend this app. It's pretty amazing. Hopefully you can give it a try!
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