Race Recap: Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2015

Continuing my posts on Disneyland to counteract my FOMO... my Tinker Bell Half Marathon race recap!

Tinker Bell Half Marathon
May 10, 2015

State: Repeat (California)
Lifetime: #54

As with the 10K, this recap might be missing some details, but I am going to do my best to remember everything!  If not, there will still be pretty pictures =)

Another early morning for this race, I was exhausted and in bed pretty early, so it wasn't too hard to get up for this one.  I was running as Tinker Bell and was pretty excited to wear my costume!

#flatsarah ready to go

I made the shirt myself using an iron-on from Miranda at DesignsbyMK on Etsy.  I thought I might see some other people in the same iron-on (since it wasn't custom), but I didn't see any others!  People really seemed to like it - I got a lot of 'Go Pixie Power!" throughout the course which was really nice.

I headed to the start area a little early, as there were a bunch of fellow Oiselle Flock / Volee were there and we had planned a group photo. 

Fly style!

After the photo, I went to meet Abby, Adrienne and Michelle to head to the start!

After our group photo, it was off to the start line.  I was in corral A again, so I made my way up to the front.  We did not have a lot of time to kill before the race started, so it was only a couple of minutes from when I arrived until the start.  Before I knew it, we were off!

The half starts the same direction as the 10K, rounding around the exterior of Disneyland on the highway before heading into the parks.  Unlike the 10K, the half heads into California Adventure first.  If I am remembering correctly, you enter near Cars Land and head towards Paradise Pier.  The official runDisney photographer captured a great shot of me in Cars Land that ended up in the race Facebook album.  It's definitely one of my favorites from race!

via the runDisney Facebook page

I can't remember exactly on this loop it was, but the first character I ran into was Buzz Lightyear!

In the middle of Paradise Pier, Silvermist was there for photo's and a little later on (after making the full loop around Paradise Pier, before you headed back down towards the front of the park), Vidia was there as well.  I had a photo with both of them from the 10K, but since I was Tink today, I had to take another!

From there, the course makes the short trek across to Disneyland Park.  Disneyland was all decorated for the 60th Anniversary and I have to say, I really loved it.  Disneyland always looks great (in my opinion), but I really loved it decorated for the anniversary.

Chip and Dale were out on Main Street again, joined this time by Goofy!  They were dressed differently and there was only like 2 people waiting, so I stopped for a photo.

We headed straight into the Castle them (running through it the opposite way we do in the DLH), but before the castle, they had a spot off to the right you could stop for a photo in the castle.

After castle, we headed around the Matterhorn and back towards the entrance to Tomorrowland.  This is where Tink was!  You know I was stopping for a photo, line be damned.  This was definitely the longest line I stood in all race and it wasn't that bad.  I would estimate 10-15 people in front of me?  I am sure the line got worse as the race went on, but I was lucky.

After Tink, we rounded around back towards the Castle and headed into Tomorrowland.  In Tomorrowland, they had some Storm Troopers out.  My nieces (both of them) are obsessed with Star Wars, so I had to stop for a photo with them.  The line wasn't horrible, probably like 5 or so in front of me.

After Tomorrowland, we headed through Fantasyland and hit a couple more characters.  The lines were starting to get longer, but nothing unmanageable!  Iridessa (again, I think) and Rosetta were hanging out together.

From there, it was Donald and Pluto out as we headed into ToonTown.  You can't tell from the photo, but Pluto kept playing with my wings.  He would tap them and then start laughing.  It was tough to get him to stop for a photo!

After ToonTown, it was time to head out of the parks.  I don't know if it's true or not, but I feel like you get more park time in Tinker Bell then during the Disneyland Half.  The part in the Parks was definitely different then the first time I ran it (I remember specifically running through DL first, probably because Cars Land was under construction at the time).

I don't mind all the time out of the park though.  You know I like to zone out when I run, so this allows me to do that.  They had some bands and dance teams out to keep it interesting.  I also like the Tink non-park portions better then the DLH non-park portions (except for Angels stadium... I love the part with Angels stadium).

You run around Anaheim and personally, I really enjoy it.  I don't know if I feel partial to it because Tinker Bell was my first Disneyland race ever; who knows?

Either way, there isn't much to tell about this section.  I did lost one of my shoe pom-poms during this point, which made me pretty sad, but at least all the photo's were done (I did find a lost pink one near mile 12 which I actually stopped to pick up - so now I have 1 white and 1 pink).

I did get a cool shadow picture during this point.

We re-enter the DL area around Mile 12, heading to the backstage area of California Adventure (right behind Cars Land.  From there, it was a quick run to the finish!  I can't remember 100%, but I feel like the finish section was different then the first time I ran the race.

Who doesn't love a Mickey hi-five!

runDisney got another photo of me finishing on the Facebook album.   You can't see me great, but I love the silhouette in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel!

via the runDisney Facebook page

After finishing, I collected my medals - Half, Pixie Dust and pink Coast to Coast (!) before meeting up with my mom.

They didn't have the snack boxes, but they had taken them all apart and gave you a back to collect the items (I guess to remove the expired applesauce?).  It was nice to have treat after the race!

After taking my requisite finisher photo, we headed back to the hotel.  We made a stop at Earl of Sandwich because I was STARVING and needed real food.  It was delicious and hit the spot.

Overall, I loved this race.  In my opinion, the course is better then the Disneyland Half (in total, certain sections of the DL course are better.. ahem, Angels stadium).  It never got too hot for, I lucked out with no really long lines for the characters and I earned my pink Coast to Coast.  I will definitely be back at some point for Tinker Bell again!

Results
Official: 13.1 miles, 2:00:32, 9:12 pace
Garmin: 13.36 miles, 2:00:33, 9:01 pace

Who else ran the Tink half?  How'd it go for you?

#runalltheraces #allthemedals

Race Recap: Neverland 5K 2015

Neverland 5K
May 8, 2015

Better late then never, right? Even those these Tink recaps are so overdue, I still want to share them!  Maybe more so for myself then others, but whatever.  It's not going to be as detailed as it would be if I had written it closer to the race, but oh well.

This was the first time I had done this 5K.  One of the main reasons I wanted to do it was because it starts on Main Street in Disneyland park.  How cool is that?

Even though it was a 5K, it still started at 5:30am.  Fortunately, I had been to bed early - thanks jet lag!  I didn't need to get too early since I wasn't going to eat a full breakfast, only a snack to get me through it.

If you remember, I was going to be Smee for this race!  I had laid all my clothing out so it was easy to get ready and out the door.  It was bit humid out, not horrible (although the wool hat probably wasn't the smartest idea).  They were calling for rain, but fortunately it waited until I was done (I did get rained on on the walk back to the hotel, #ohwell).

#FlatSarah ready to go

After I was all dressed and ready to go, I made the (short) walk to Disneyland for the race.  It was not very crowded and easy to get.

It was really cool to be there so early.  Main Street was all lit up and it looked great!  I couldn't resist getting a pre-race picture on Main Street.

Love Main Street!

What was a little different then the 5Ks I've done in WDW was that there were no corrals.  They did have different waves for the start, but they were done on a first come, first serve basis.  They did 4 waves, so I'm not sure why they don't do a corral.  Luckily, I was early enough to get into the second wave.

The announcers were keeping everyone entertained until the start.  Since it was Peter Pan themed, they had a London-style double deck bus out in front of the castle for the announcers.  Looked really cool!

And then, it was time for the first wave to go off.  But - before that could happen, they had a great firework display.

Fireworks!

After the fireworks, the first wave started.  I can't remember how long it was in between waves, but it was definitely a bit.  But eventually, it was time for us (wave 2) to go.  I was lucky to be in the front of the corral, so I was able to start right as the wave went off.

It was still pretty dark out and parks of the course were not well lit, so I needed to be careful to pay attention to the course (just a note for those who might do it another year).

Here is where the non-seeded waves became a little annoying.  Since the corrals were on a first come, first serve, when I started, I had to spend the first 5-7 minutes weaving around slower runners and walkers who had been in the first wave.  Please know, I have no problem with slower runners/walkers (I think it's great that people of all speeds do the races), it just involved a lot of weaving since the waves were unseeded.

There were only a couple of characters out on the course - all from Peter Pan.  My only true goal for the race was to get a picture with Smee!  I was hoping he'd be out and I was in luck!  He was the first set of characters out on the course (with Captain Hook) right by Pirates of the Caribbean.  The line wasn't long, but honestly, I would have waited if it was.

Captain Hook couldn't believe there were TWO Smee's!

From there, the course continued through Disneyland and got a bit of backstage as well.  After Disneyland, we headed across to California Adventure.  We came in through the backstage before heading to Paradise Pier.  Right before heading into Paradise Pier, the Lost Boys were out!

Since I was the "bad" guy, I got some razzing from the Lost Boys before they would take the picture.  Even so, we managed to all escape unscathed!

We played nice for a photo

After the Lost Boys, I headed into Paradise Pier towards the finish line!  All the lights on the pier were on - I have to admit, that is one of my favorite views of Paradise Pier.  It just looks pretty all outlined.

Right before the finish line, they had Peter and Wendy out.  Even though the finish line was so close, I wanted a picture to round out the Neverland 5K characters!

Second star to the right!

After Peter and Wendy, I headed to the finish line.  Since the race is small and I was on the faster side of finishers, I actually got to finish by myself!  The announcers called out my name and everything.  It was pretty cool to finish alone - don't think that's ever happened before!

After finishing, I grabbed a water and a snack box and headed back to the hotel (it was starting to sprinkle at this point).  But before I headed back, I grabbed a photo with my medal in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel.  It turned out pretty good - the sky looks pretty awesome behind me.

5K Finisher!

Overall, I had a good time at this race!  It's a bit expensive for a 5K, but it was an enjoyable time!  I liked the course (it was almost entirely in the Parks!) and only crowded at the beginning.  If you like Disneyland and 5K's, I think you'd enjoy this race.

Results
Garmin: 3.12 miles, 27:02, 8:40 pace
(it's an untimed "fun" run, so no official time)

Such a fun medal!

 Anyone else run the Neverland 5K?  What did you think?