Race Recap: Disneyland 10K

If you haven't yet, make sure to check out my expo recap!

Disneyland 10K
August 30, 2014

Race morning came bright and early - but not as bright and early as in Disney World.  Start time is the same (5:30am), but since we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, we only had to leave about 5am to be there on time.  It's so much nicer!

After getting to the start area (which is right outside the DL Hotel), Pam and I split.  I wanted to use the bathroom one last time and Pam wanted to head to the corrals.  Since they split the 5K and 10K this year, it was much less crowded and after using the restroom, I was able to make my way to my corral easily.  But not before a picture!

Cheshire Cat ready to run!

I only had about 15 minutes before the start by that point.  The announcers were doing their thing and since it was Lilo and Stitch themed so they had Stitch on site (and Elvis too!).  After Elvis sang us the National Anthem, it was time to go off!

 

I was in Corral A so I didn't have to wait long to start.  The course was the same as last year, so I knew what to expect.  After about 2 miles, we headed into California Adventure.  We went in the back way and headed in through Cars Land.  I love Cars Land - especially with their neon on!  Even though I already had a photo, there was no line, so I stopped for a picture with Lightning McQueen!

After heading out of Cars Land, we took a left and headed towards Paradise Pier.  After making a full loop, I stopped for a photo in from of Mickey's Fun Wheel with the World of Color lights on.  I really love how they look!

From there, we headed past Grizzly River Run, Soarin and into Hollywood Land.  From there we went backstage and headed across to Disneyland - I love how close they are!  You head into Disneyland via Main Street.  I don't get the same chills running down Main Street here vs the Main Street in WDW, but it's still pretty amazing. 

Can't resist a photo in front of Walt's statue and original castle

 There definitely weren't as many characters out this year, but there was Prisoner Dale and Police Man Chip (with Elvis!) and Elvis Stitch.  Not as many, but those are definitely some different characters so I had to stop!  Fortunately, they didn't have long lines so it went quickly. 

After making our way through the park, we headed back into Downtown Disney and towards the finish.  After a quick right before the Disneyland Hotel, there is the finish! 

I really tried not to go out too quickly, but I did start faster than I wanted.  The character stops helped slow it a bit, but I was still faster then I would have liked. 

There was definitely less characters on the course for the 10K this year.  My guess is that last year there were so many on the course, it really held up people from finishing.  Since they have to open the parks, they probably need to get us off the course.  It didn't really bother me, but I am sure there were some people who upset by that.


Results
Official: 6.2 mi, 1:03:00, 10:09 pace
Garmin: 6.28 mi, 1:03:01, 10:02 pace

Love the Stitch themed 10K medal!

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend - Expo Goodies

 
Last year's expo was a disaster - sheer insanity.  I'd been keeping my fingers crossed that this year it would be better, but I wasn't sure if it would.  Forntunately, this year it was much smoother!

The expo opened at noon on Thursday and since we were already there, Pam and I decided to go on the early side.  First stop, merchandise!  There were a couple of things I really wanted, so it made sense to do it first.

The merchandise was in the same area, but this year it was sectioned off better.  There was a line to get in and they were monitoring how many people were inside at once.  The line wasn't too bad when I arrived and it moved quickly - probably only waited 20-25 minutes.

Once inside, there was plenty of room and there was none of the mad grabbing to get merchandise as there was last year.  And there was also plenty of merchandise to go around (and from what it sounds like, plenty all weekend).  Looks like runDisney actually listened and made some positive changes!  Thanks runDisney!

They didn't preview a ton of the merchandise online (just a couple of t-shirt designs), so I wasn't sure what they'd have.  I knew a couple of items I hoped they had (and they did!) and assumed I would find a couple of other things to buy.  I can't resist race merchandise!

I started with the three items I knew I would want: Sweaty Bands (I love them and wasn't able to get them last year), a magnet (which I have gotten from all my recent runDisney races lately) and a mini Dumbo Double Dare medal pin (I got the mini medal from both Dopey and Glass Slipper and wanted to complete my collection).

Lucky me - they had all 3!  I actually got 2 Sweaty Bands - one for the Half and one for Dumbo.  The designs were really cute!  I was also able to get my magnet (I got the Dumbo one only, they did have 2 for the Half) and the mini medal pin.  Off to a good start!

I also thought I might get a wine glass... I don't need one, but I have one from all my other runDisney races so I thought I had a feeling I would get one for this race too.  And it was really cute this year!  I love the tag line - 'Running the Dream!'.  Perfect for this race!

They also had a really cute waterbottle (I have an obsession with them) so I picked up one of those.  The pack of the waterbottle says 'Running for Peanuts'.  I also picked a Dumbo Double Dare keychain.  So cute and something I can use everyday!

Lastly, I ended up getting a Dumbo Double Dare hoodie.  I loved the blue color and the back had a great design.  I didn't really need it... but I couldn't resist.

The back, the front says 'Running for Peanuts' on the right side

After making our decisions, we headed to the registers.  They had them located in a side room and it was a very smooth process.  So easy!

Once we had paid for everything, we headed back to get our numbers.  My line to pick up was pretty short, so it went quickly.  I also got my race pins with no line as well.  Pam's line was a little longer, but not too bad!

After that, it was upstairs to get the race shirts.  They had it set up so you went directly up from the number pick up into the back of the expo for shirt pickup.  The shirts were well organized and no lines.  I really like the shirts this year!  The color of the half shirt isn't my favorite, but I don't hate it (I know some people really didn't like it).  And they were women sized, yay!

Did some quick walking around the expo, but honestly didn't look around too much.  I don't need much of anything so just made it quick.

Overall, I think this expo was a 100% better than last year.  They made some important (and needed) changes to the expo so it went smoother.  They organized the official merchandise better and had plenty of it.  I'm not sure how much they had left over (I hope not a lot so they don't order less) and that they continue to order a lot of merchandise.  It's not fair to the people who can't go on the first day not to be able to get stuff.

If you went to the expo, what did you think of it?

Dumbo Double Dare Costumes

I can't believe Dumbo Double Dare is here already!  As excited as I have been for the race, it did kinda sneak up on me.  I only did my costumes this past weekend!  Eeek!

I mentioned this in my post for my Glass Slipper costumes, but after the hours spent on my Donald costume, I wanted to stick to something easy to make.  The costumes for this year are all running clothing based with accessories to help pull it all together.

So without further ado, I bring you this year's costumes!

For the 10K, I am going to be the Cheshire Cat.  I had found the tank at last years Rock n Roll Providence expo and am going to pair it with 2 Sparkle Athletic skirts.  I have a purple one already and I am going to pick up a pink one at the expo to layer on top.  I already have a pink Sweaty Band to wear and I got some ears on Etsy to complete the look.  BTW, searching for the ears on Etsy was pretty interesting.  There was a surprising number of cat ears (and tails) available.  I know why I wanted the ears, not sure what other people do with them, lol.  No tail though, that just seemed like it would annoy me.

Imagine a pink skirt on top of the purple

For my half costume, I took my inspiration from Karen (over at Just Me and My Running Shoes) and her costume from the Disneyland Half from last year.  Thanks for letting me borrow your idea Karen!

I am going to be a Mouseketeer!  I used a basic white skirt and added my name (using iron-on letters) and I'll pair it with a blue Sparkle Athletic skirt.  I actually already had an extra set of ears that I can wear as well.  I am excited to be Mouseketeer Sarah for the race!

Anyone else going in costume for the Disneyland Half races?


See all my runDisney costumes here.

Disneyland Half Marathon Medals

Since we are talking about Disneyland, I thought I would also share the medals (which I apparently never did) for the races.  I really want to get my race recaps done, but it's taking me a little bit to get back into blogging after all that time off.  They are coming!

I really like the 10K one and that has Stitch on it!  Stitch is such a fun character and I like they went in the other direction from the Alice in Wonderland theme from last year.

I am not 100% sure how I feel about the circle around the D on the half medal.  I like that it's pretty much the same since it's so iconic.

And I love the Dumbo medal - not much changed from last year but they swapped the colors.  What's blue on this medal was red last time and vice versa.  The ribbon might be my favorite part though - so cute!

I am clearly a little excited, huh?

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Updates!

In the craziness of the past couple of weeks, I wasn't able to share the exciting Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend updates!

Most importantly, waivers were released (still need your waiver?  Click here).  The waivers include your number and can help you figure out what corral you'll be in.  My number puts me in Corral B.

It looks like similar to Disney World, they have made the Corral's smaller and added more.  Which is awesome since last year the corral's were insanely crowded and definitely needed to be spread out.  I'm glad they made that change!

Also posted was the Official Program.  I always pick up a hard copy to keep (nerd alert), but it gets me excited for the race to read it online before hand anyways.  Based on the official program, it appears they have kept the expo in the Disneyland Hotel room.  Hopefully they have a better plan for this year because last year it was a disaster.  Fingers crossed on that one.

Also posted were the final race instructions.  This is more condensed version of all the important details.  Key to keep one of these around.

And lastly, the courses were posted!  The courses look the same - I was wondering if we would still go through Angels Stadium since there is a home game that day.  That was one of my favorite portions of the course so I am glad we are going through again!  They also added an elevation chart to the half.  The elevation chart makes it look hilly, but when you look at range it's very small which means those hills are minimal.  Honestly, I don't really remember hills from last year.

Here's the 10K:

And here's the half course:

Anyone else really excited?  Or is it just me?  Only 3 weeks to go!

Race Recap: Disneyland 10K

We are having another heatwave here in NYC - it was over 90 yesterday!  I am dying for fall to start already (although winter follows fall and we all know how I feel about that!).

Yesterday, I recapped the expo and today I am back with a recap of Inaugural Disneyland 10K.  Let's get right to it.

The morning started bright and early with the alarm going off at 4:30.  Even though it was insanely early, I wasn't even tired since we had gone to bed at 8:30 the night before (bless you jetlag!).

I made my pre-race breakfast of oatmeal (brought from home) using hot water from the coffee maker (I just run a cycle without the coffee).  I am such a nerd - I even brought my own measuring cup so I would put the right amount of water in.  I ate it while I got dressed.  I had laid all my clothing out the night before so it was nice and easy.

Pam accidentally pinned her number on upside down

After finishing breakfast and getting dressed (I was going as Minnie for the 10K), we headed down to the race.  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel so the start/finish area was only a 5 minute walk away.  Such a nice change from the Florida races where you have to get on a bus hours before the race!

We hung out briefly in the pre-start area where we say Abby rocking her Mad Hatter outfit!  Such a cute outfit for the 10K since it was themed the Wonderland 10K!

Photo courtesy of Pam

It was about this time they started to announce to head to the corrals.  I said my goodbye's to Pam and Abby and started to make my way to the A corral.  I have no idea why they started announcing to head to the corrals as they were not open.  We just got penned in another area waiting.  I hear it's because there were still 5Ker's starting, but still wasn't ideal.  After about 10 minutes, we were able to get into the corrals.

Once there the announcers started to get going to prepare for the start.  Since the 5K and 10K started only 45 minutes about and we were delayed getting into the corrals, there was only about 10 minutes before Corral A was supposed to start.

Alice and the Mad Hatter help kick things off!

While waiting in the corral's, I got my siting of Joey Fatone to complement my siting in January.  This one wasn't as good, but I am still counting it!

He's in the green shirt with stripped arm warmers taking a selfie

After the National Anthem, they sent us off "through the rabbit hole!" (via a video screen).  Since it didn't start until 6:15am it was already light out.  I have to say, it was weird starting a Disney race in the light.

The course started by heading towards the Anaheim Good Neighbor hotels and past California Adventure.  We hit mile 2 right before heading into DCA.

Since I knew I had a half still to run the second day, I was trying to take it easy, but I definitely went out to fast at the beginning.  It's all that adrenaline of starting in a group of people!  I knew there would be lots of opps for photo's in the parks and I figured waiting in the character lines would force my pace slower.  I was running with my phone purposely for this reason (sorry now for all the photo's!).

We heading into DCA through past the backside of Radiator Springs Racers and into Cars Land.  Cars Land was not open when I was there for Tink in 2012 so this was my first look at it.  Let me just say, I was excited to come back for real!  I stopped for several photo opps while in Cars Land.

With the firetruck from Cars

Lightning McQueen and Mator!

After Cars Land we headed to Paradise Pier.

They left the World of Color lights on and everything looked so pretty!

In Paradise Pier they had Woody and Jessie by Midway Mania.  They didn't have a long line so had to get a shot!

After my photo opp with Woody and Jessie, we made the full loop of Paradise Pier and headed towards Grizzly Peak and then into Hollywood Land.  They did have the gang from Monsters U there, but the line was like 20 people long and I just didn't want to wait.

We then moved through a back exit and into the back of DCA.  We took a service road under a little tunnel and back up (the only "hills" for the whole 10K) and into Disneyland.  We headed in through the main gates and down Main Street.  I could not get over how empty Main Street was - I am used to World races where it's packed with cheering people.  I was also surprised they had an actual water stop inside the park (right as you hit Main Street).  I know they don't do that in World (so they don't have to clean up the cups before the park opens).

A note on the water stations.  On a normal day, 3 would be fine for a 10K - if they included Powerade.  The stations were 100% water and it was too hot for no electrolytes.  It was just insane out.  I could have used some Powerade at this point.

At the end of Main Street I had to stop for a photo with the Castle and Mickey and Walt in the background.  This is definitely one of my favorite photo's from the race.

From Main Street we headed into Tomorrowland and past the Matterhorn, it's a small world and a backstage area before heading into Toon Town.  These ladies were holding court here.

Next up was Fantasyland which the gang from Alice in Wonderland were to be found.  I had to stop for a photo since this was their race.  Fortunately there was not a huge line when I was there, but I know people in other corrals experienced a long one.

 

Running through the Castle is always one of my favorite things and did not disappoint!  We headed into Frontierland next and I got a shot with Western Chip n Dale.

At this point, we were already at mile 5.5 - it had flown by!  We headed out of Disneyland and through Downtown Disney towards the finish.  I saw some of the Sparkle Athletic ladies who gave me a nice cheer (thanks ladies!).  Feeling great, I pushed on to the finish and crossed with a big smile on my face.  I was officially half way to my Dumbo medal!

Just after crossing the finish line and getting my medal, I spotted Sean Astin and couldn't resist taking a picture.  He was super nice and indulged me in a sweaty pic. Thanks Sean for being a good sport!

After that I headed to get my Dumbo bracelet (now I had 2, C2C and Dumbo) and made my way through the finishers chute, picking up some water, getting my finishers photo and post race box of food.  This box was different then the one in Florida.  Not sure which one I liked better.  I am leaning towards Florida as I know I didn't eat everything in the boxes (I usually do).

Since the hotel was right there, it was short walk back to our room.  I stretch, drank my recovery drink and showered for a partial day in the park!  We spent the morning at Disneyland doing some of the bigger rides (Matterhorn, Space Mountain, etc).  We then came back and spend some time at the pool and napping.

We concluded our day at Naples in Downtown Disney where we filled up on pasta and were in bed by 9pm.  Had an early wake-up call the next morning!

Overall, I really enjoyed this race.  The course was well designed and I loved that most of it took place in the parks and there were lots of characters on the course.  They have some things to fix with the start (if they are going to continue to do the 5 and 10Ks on the same day, they will have to separate them more), but overall I had a blast at this race!  First runDisney 10K in the books - glad I got to be apart of the inaugural one.

Disneyland 10K Medal and Pin

Up tomorrow, my recap of the Disneyland Half Marathon!

Results
Official results: 6.2 mi, 1:01:34, 9:55 pace
Garmin results: 6.28 mi, 1:01:35, 9:48 pace

Splits