Disneyland Half Marathon 2010

A short narrative of pre-race day: Headed to Cali on Friday, dropped the baby off at Sister in laws for the weekend, Saturday morning we headed to Disneyland, rode some rides, when my parents got there we went to the Health Expo to check in for the race, rode some more rides, parents kindly treated us to dinner at Ariel's Grotto and then preferred seating for The World Of Color. Got to the the Anaheim Marriott which over booked their rooms, they had no room in the inn for us, they find a room so we head up to the 17th floor, ended up in a room with only a pull out couch (we had 5 people), had 2 rollaways brought in and complained to the front desk who reduced our room to $50 and night. Kevin and I ended up sleeping on the pull out couch.

Race Morning: We woke up at 4:30 am. I felt a lot better than I thought I would after sleeping on a hide-a-bed. We leave to meet my parents so we could hand off the kids to my mom and go with my dad to out starting corral. Cant find a street near Disneyland that is not closed to traffic because of the race. We park far away (would have been closer to walk from our hotel) and have to RUN with our three kids to meet my parents. We ended up getting to the start at 5 minutes before race time. So they wont let us through to our corral. We had to wait until the last corral went to be let through. So, we started our race with those who were walking the corse. Guess that just meant more kills (people you pass) for us! I was feeling super duper good. It was a great morning to run- nice and cool with lots of cloud coverage. The clouds stayed through the whole race which I was glad because I decided not to wear my sunglasses.
We started off outside the parks and ran for about 1.5 until we entered the California Adventures park. We ran through a good part of it and then across to Disneyland. I saw my mom and kids on the sidelines while running to Disneyland. I love seeing my kids on the sides when I run a race. Its really crowded and hard to get through people in the parks so our pace was slow for the first 4 miles. There were lots of characters out in the parks, way more than last year, and people were actually lining up to take pictures with them. My dad and I were still together. We were about to run through the castle and the crowd got really slow and everyone was looking up. The wicked witch from Sleeping Beauty, green face and all, was standing at the top of the arch where you go under the castle cackling and waving her arms. We finally exit the park back behind Small World and headed out onto the streets of Anaheim.
I told my dad at this point that he could keep his own pace and not to wait for me. We stayed together and then we got to a hill and I pulled ahead a little (my dad hates hills-so do I, but I try to push through them hard) About mile 6 he was with me again and he says to me "You're doing really good" to which I responded "I feel really good". I had no idea what my pace was but I knew I was running good and I also felt good, had lots of energy and wasn't breathing hard at all. Could have been the distraction of Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit running just ahead of me. 2.5 miles later we arrived at the Honda Center and my dad was just ahead of me. We ran out onto the Santa Ana trail where I caught up to him at a hill. Next was Angel's Stadium. There were lots of Boy Scout troops in the parking lot cheering us on. When we got inside the stadium we ran onto the field and, same as last year, and there were people in the stands cheering. My dad and I together, waved to the camera while we watched ourselves on the jumbo screen (I know, a little cheesy - but its kinda ok to be a little goofy when you're running the Disneyland half)
After we got out of the stadium my dad fell back about 15 feet behind me. Wasn't sure why because he still stayed right there but even when I waved him to catch up he never did.
About mile 10.5 I wasn't feeling so great anymore. I also realized then that my Nike + and the mile markers were not the same. I was suppose to be done in one mile and the mile markers were telling me I had more than 2 left. I got a little frustrated because I wasn't sure my official time would be at my goal. My dad caught up at the 12th mile marker and told me that his Nike+ also said we should be done. The last mile seemed like way more and the Mickey Mouse Club March ended on my playlist. I knew I did not reach my goal. My dad and I looked at each other with about half a mile left and I knew he was feeling not so great either. I saw my kids then and just told myself "It doesn't matter, you did great." So I finished it strong right next to my dad and knew Kevin would be coming to the finish soon.
I beat my time of last years race by 34 seconds so at least I got a personal best. After the race we headed back to the hotel for a shower and then we hit the parks with our kids for about 6 hours. It was fun and I look forward to doing it again next year. Who's in?