Disneyland 10K Race Recap

Normally, I try and write these recaps on the same day of the race, but the hubby was in Portugal for the week and a half beforehand, so I decided to spend the time with him rather than in front of the computer. #SorryNotSorry

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But first things first... THE COSTUME!

If you haven't been around for a while (which, if that is the case, WELCOME), then you probably don't know that I enjoy making a fool of myself and dressing up pretty ridiculously at runDisney races. I still want the runners and spectators to know who I am, but I prefer non-traditional characters (that way I am not one of the 3,478 Minnie Mouses running on the course - don't get me wrong, Minnie Mouse is AMAZING, I just like trying to be a little more "unique").

Since the 10K is the shorter race of the weekend (I was participating in the Dumbo Double Dare, which includes the Disneyland 10K on Saturday morning, followed by the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sunday morning), I knew I could make my costume a little more outlandish because I was "only" running in it for a little over 6 miles.

I had some really awesome ideas... Like a Dole Whip (but I couldn't figure out the logistics to make it look legit), a Churro (um, someone else beat me to it because I saw a picture on Instagram of them!), a Turkey Leg (I'm sure you can see the theme now, I must have been hungry when I was first brainstorming), etc.

After much pondering and changing my mind, I finally decided on an actually Disney movie character, instead of a Disneyland food (but that doesn't mean I won't figure them out for a future race ;) ).

My #FlatCarlee included yellow Marathon socks from Pro Compression, a yellow Sparkle Athletic skirt, a gold Sparkly Soul headband, a plain yellow burnout tank from Run with Perseverance, a yellow RoadID sport, my Garmin 220, a Freshly Squeezed Orange Handful sports bra, and a pair of Brooks PureConnects 2 with yellow reflective Shwings. 

LUMIERE! The candlestick from Beauty and the Beast! (I was actually contemplating singing "Be Our Guest" the whole time, but thought I might get a little tongue-tied, not to mention I normally try to say THANK YOU to as many volunteers and spectators along the course as I can.)

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I ended up finding the yellow "candlesticks" at the Dollar Store (they are actually "play horns", but I figured I could make them work). The candle portion is actually Dollar Store LED candles (which I turned on during the race because it was still dark out for the majority of it). The hat was from Party City and I added the "flames" with felt and LOTS of hot glue. I was worried that the rest of the costume had 23 too many shades of yellow/ gold, but it seemed like most people understood (although someone along the course did call me Lady Liberty).

Now that I had the costume set, it was time to make a game plan for the race. In the past (since this was my 3rd Dumbo Double Dare Challenge), I usually take the 10K easier, more as a shake out run for the half. I figured I would stop for character pictures along the course (which forces you to take your time because you normally have to wait a few seconds in line) and just enjoy the morning.

Finally got to meet Kindal (@RunningWithStrength)
She went with the Malificient themed colors!

AJ (@A2theJ44) & Ivie (@IvieAnne) ROCKED the Flotsam & Jetsam costume!

Shelby (@sgiancas) and her dad went as Jafar and Iago...
I MEAN, REALLY?!

In theory, my game plan was a great idea... That was, until I started running and realized that it was still pitch dark outside (I guess that is what happens when they start races at 5:30am to make sure everyone is out of the parks before they open). In the past, when it has been dark out and I have stopped for photos, the pictures have been pretty craptastic. They are all blurry or not in focus or just didn't turn out. I thought to myself, "Should I waste the time and effort to stop for pictures if they aren't going to turn out?" And by the first character stop I had decided to opt out of the photos for the race (also, a candlestick in each hand made it a hassle to get my phone in and out of my belt).

The starting line! A little scary when the villains take over the race...

Rudy and Carissa are my FAVES!

Well, with no forced stops, I bet you can guess what happened... I went a little too fast for having another race the following morning. I ended up accidentally PR'ing my 10K (but, truth be told, I don't run a lot of 10Ks, so I guess it shouldn't be that surprising) by about 3 minutes. How in the world do I PR a race while wearing a flame on my head and carrying two candlesticks?! Only at Disney I guess ;)

The 10K course is a blast. The first 2 miles are outside of the parks, but the last 4ish miles are through Disneyland and California Adventure. Sure, some of the distance is spent in the backlot, but it is still awesome to be able to run through the magic without all the normal crowds, tourists taking pictures on their iPads, playing bumper cars with strollers, etc ;)

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Oh yeah, and remember how I said that the hubby JUST got back from Portugal and I was originally planning on stopping for pictures? Well, I decided I would be a nice wife and let him sleep instead of coming down to the start with me at 4:30am. We made a plan of him making his way to Mile 6 to cheer and take some pictures... But the estimated time of me at mile 6 was with character stops, so since I kept chugging along he got down to the race too late and totally missed me. #Oops

And, YES, I did run with the candlesticks the entire race ;)

So stoked everything held up, people "got" the costume, and I had a BLAST!

Not too shabby if you ask me ;) I guess I will consider that my "pace run" for the week ;)

Except for the hubby missing the race and me potentially not saving my legs enough for the following morning's half marathon, I would say it went GREAT! Being in the first corral DEFINITELY helps with keeping the lines for the characters short, but it also means it is still dark out (so if you plan on taking pictures, I would highly suggest some sort of camera/phone that takes great night shots).

That reminds me... I had a MAJOR SNAFU with my corral placement this go around. runDisney changed their process this year. Instead of entering your proof of time at registration, now you have to go back at a later date to enter your information. (Check out The Runner's Guide to Walt Disney World's blog post about this topic if you are interested in more of the details.) I am NOT a procrastinator so I put the date in my phone (it stays open for a while, but I "HAVE" to do things when they are first available) and put in my information ASAP. My proof of time (showing runDisney that I can run a specific finishing time so they can safely put folks into corrals with people who run a similar pace) was a 1:44:42 half marathon, which should have put me in Corral A.

I went to print off my waiver a few days before the race and was SHOCKED when I saw I was put in the back corrals. I reached out to the folks with runDisney and they said that the proof of time was actually entered as 3:44:42, which qualified me in a much later corral. They were able to correct the situation and told me to stop by the Runner Relations booth at the Expo to get a sticker they would put on my bib so I could enter to appropriate corral. (What is strange is that I ran a 1:50:16 half marathon at the WDW Half in January, so you would think that they would have access to information for their own races...)

Under the A sticker, you can see the original E for the 10K and F for the Half

I am glad it all worked out, but I have to be honest... I am 99.99% sure I did NOT put in 3:44:42. Honestly, all someone needs is a last name and birthday and they can enter/ change your proof of time. I am HOPING that no one would be so rude and change other runner's information, but maybe in the future runDisney should consider having some sort of security on that functionality... like a password required or something...

Anywho, everything worked out and I ran away with a PR, some fabulous bling to add to my collection, and race #1 of the Dumbo Double Dare checked off the list!

THE BLING!

Have you ever worn a costume to run in?