Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Disneyland Half Marathon Recap

Before I get into the recap itself, I just need to do a little CELEBRATING!! This race marks my TWO YEAR RACE-IVERSARY!

Top 2 pictures are from 2012 and bottom 2 are from 2013 DL Half!

The 2012 Disneyland Half Marathon was my VERY FIRST half marathon! I returned in 2013 to tackle the Inaugural Dumbo Double Dare (and ran the Disneyland Half along side my hubby who was running his VERY FIRST half marathon). I think this one will be an annual tradition (but quite an expensive one, huh?!)...

2012 Disneyland Half Marathon Recap
2013 Disneyland Half Marathon Recap

And now onto THIS YEAR'S race :)

But first, just in case you missed PART ONE of the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge - the Disneyland 10K Race Recap, make sure to check it out here.

And without further ado, ON TO THE MAIN EVENT!


Although the 10K was a "fun run" with a friend, I woke up Sunday morning knowing the half wouldn't be a walk in the park. I got up to my alarm at 3:40am and started getting my Tweedle Dee costume together (I have to say, I did get asked A LOT if I was a "Hotdog on a Stick" girl...). I checked my weather app and it was confirmed my suspicion that it would probably be a rough run...

YUM...

I had been chatting with some "friends" about meeting up before the half and I am SOOOOOO gladit worked out. Of course the 4:30am meet-up time was early, but WELL worth it! I LOVE when social media/ running friends turn into REAL friends! I was able to meet so many amazing folks (and of course take a couple pictures ;)).

We had a whole mini-meet-up goin' on!
Thanks for the picture Shelby!!

Ivie (Daisy Duck), AJ (Goofy), Kara (Darla from Finding Nemo) and I (Tweedle Dee).
Thanks for the picture Kara!!

How crazy is it that out of the 15,000 runners I happened
to see Henry in the same spot BOTH mornings?!

Thanks for the picture Henry!!

The "Darla" smile KILLS me EVERY TIME I see it ;)

Around 5:00am they started telling us we needed to head to the corrals. Thankfully the corrals at Disneyland are MUCH closer than the ones at WDW. We hit up the port-o-potties one last time and then made our way towards the starting line. I said BYE to my new friends and went to see if I could find more ;)

"We are all mad here"

Casey, an AWESOME runner who lives in Las Vegas who I knew through Instagram, was going to be in Corral B and when I asked her about the pace she was planning on running I decided it would be GREAT if I could run with her. In the corral I was able to chat with Cory for a bit and then went looking for Casey. FOUND HER! We were both shooting for 8:30-9:00 minute mile pace (and crossing our fingers for sub-2 finishes), so it was terrific to have found her AND to be able to run with her.

Seems like the corrals were a little strange this year. They were telling us all to squish in so other runners could get in (which makes sense since we all wanted a little extra personal space due to the sticky humidity). When they were getting ready to send the wheelchairs off they told us, "Oh yeah, Corrals A and B will be going together..." No time like the present to start I guess ;) {Hopefully us taking off a few minutes earlier helped get everyone else enough room, but I really didn't hear or think anything about it after we took off.}

Not sure if you can tell, but the sweat is already
pretty thick at this point... SOGGY!

We started off strong. My goal was to try to beat the sun. If you have run the Disneyland Half before you know there is a stretch of the course where you are running directly into the rising sun. I figured the faster I went, the more likely I would be to miss that part. The first three or four miles are in the parks. They are high energy, your legs are fresh (well, mine weren't 100% fresh, since I had run the Disneyland 10K the morning before, but you know what I mean), and your adrenaline is going.


While we were in the parks I lost Casey for a bit (I think she stopped for a picture), but thankfully she caught up to me later ;) I didn't stop for any pictures, but did want to note there were more characters on the course than the previous day (THANKFULLY... of else runDisney might have been in trouble ;)). Once I left the parks I pretty much hit a WALL. The humidity was taking a LOT out of me and my Tweedle Dee shirt (which was 95% cotton - BAD IDEA) was drenched! I decided I needed to cut back my speed a bit or I would be crawling over the finish line.


I'm not sure if you remember my post with the Run With Perseverance tanks or not (if you don't, check it out here), but Kathy is the owner of the company. I was running through the Classic Car section before you get to the Honda Center and I saw someone wearing one of her tank tops. Well, LOW AND BEHOLD, IT WAS KATHY! She chased me down, got a sweaty hug, and ran next to me for a bit while we chatted! It was so wonderful to meet her out on the course! [Maybe I should have had her make me my tank, then I wouldn't have been so sweat-tastic ;)] Oh yeah, and this is where Casey caught back up to me.

Kathy's dad and his PURRRRRRRTY 57 Chevy!
Thanks for the picture Kathy!!

Quite the heel striker I am...

As you can see from my times, I just continued to fade... By about mile 9 I was DONE. My legs were tired, I felt like I had lost 5 pounds of sweat (okay, okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic ;)), and was just ready for the race to be over. Thankfully we ran through the Angel's Stadium around this point. It was just the (temporary) boost I needed. So many boy scouts and girl scouts cheering for us. It is one of my favorite parts of the course! The stadium felt extra full this year (I was actually worried we wouldn't be able to run through it because I thought there was a baseball game on Sunday and wasn't sure when batting practice would start).


After the Angel's Stadium Casey started pulling away and I decided I'd let her. Yes, I may have been able to push myself a bit more, but runDisney events are all about the memories and magic (not necessarily about the time on the clock) and I really didn't want to hurt myself before starting up my next round of Marathon training. At that point I just sort of wanted to throw in the towel, so it was a HUGE mental game I had to play the last 4 miles. Telling myself everything from "Don't let the spectators down" to "I don't want others to see my give up and walk" to "You can walk when you are done" to "YOU FREAKIN' GOT THIS" (RunEMZ's mantra ;)). I was actually super proud of myself for NOT walking (I walked through the water stations, but that's more because I can't run and drink out of a cup at the same time).

I was able to cross the finish line at 2:01. It is a little over 10 minutes slower than my fastest time (which I got earlier this year at the San Diego Half Marathon), but with the conditions, the large crowds, having raced the day before, I can't be too upset with the outcome. You never know what race day will look like... You can prepare and prepare and some days it just isn't meant to be.

TALK ABOUT POSITIVE SPLITS, WOWSER!

After crossing the finish line I was interviewed by runDisney. I was pretty drained at this point (and maybe even a little delirious), so I didn't have anything witty to say. When I walked away I was actually hoping I wouldn't make the cut...

STRUGGLE STREET! 

Casey waited for me cross the finish line so we could collect our medals together (I got the Dumbo Double Dare medal as well as the Disneyland Half medal because I had completed the challenge of running the Disneyland 10K the morning before). We took a couple pictures and then I decided I would head back to the hotel to shower (I felt pretty disgusting).

Loved running with Casey!!

Soggy Tweedle Dee

THE BLING! And participant shirts!

Remember my friends from earlier in the morning? Ivie, AJ, and Kara? Well, I had messaged Kara to see where they were at on the course and when I got the info I decided to head back down to cheer them on! I was at Mile 12 for about 45 minutes cheering on everyone I could. (At this point the sun was up, it was extremely steamy, and you could see the exhaustion on every one's faces... which is why they needed our encouragement even more!) While I was there I met Ty (he ran past and then said "I KNOW YOU" and turned around) and got to cheer on Ivie, AJ, and Kara (AND GET SWEATY HUGS :)).

Thanks for the picture Ivie!!

Oh yeah, I can't forget this little tid-bit... Remember that interview I did at the finish line... Well, it made the cut... Check out the video below (I am around the 2:00 mark). A friend of mine joked since I told him I looked CRAZY, he said it was just part of the theme of my costume... so I'm going with that ;)



Screen shot of CRAZY CARLEE! Or maybe I was doing the "Darla" smile - HA!

Aren't running friends THE BEST?!

9 comments:

The Silent Assassin said...

Still a great time considering you ran the day before and the heat. Way to go C!

Carlee McDot said...

I know not every race can be a PR, but now that I know what pace I "could" go, I get frustrated with myself when I am not close to it...

The Silent Assassin said...

Trust me...I know that song and dance all too well fren. Like you said, we will get there.

KookyRunner said...

Way to go! Awesome time :) You're right, running is all about having fun. Congrats on making the video!

Samantha @ Food Fitness Family Friends said...

Looks like a great time! Love your costume!

Danielle said...

Ha! I love the idea of you "acting" crazy in the interview to go along with your costume - too funny!

I had a tough race too (at least you didn't face plant halfway through the race like I did!), but I agree that runDisney races are for the experience, not for time - I make it a point to never try to PR at a Disney race.

I'm SO glad we got to meet quickly before the 10k, we'll definitely have to plan to get together in January!

Mer @ Scoot a Doot said...

I absolutely LOVE that you made the video. I don't think you're crazy, I think you're ADORABLE!!! :)

Unknown said...

I told my Dad you wrote about his truck and he was very honored!! Made his day =)

Carlee McDot said...

Shoot, Kathy, next time I want to get a picture with him and it ;) LOVE ME SOME CLASSIC CARS!! (Hubby and I try to go to Cruisin' Grand as often as possible... Hubby had a 67 Dodge Van and I would LOVE a 60's Mustang!)