I’m going to Disneyland – ½ marathon!

For Labor Day weekend, I had the crazy idea to run a ½ marathon at Disneyland and with me was Amy for her first ½ marathon ever. We left early Friday, to drive to Cali and have a few days to enjoy the area. Saturday, we went to California Adventure since none of us had ever been there. It has more rides than I remember at Disneyland for adults. Also, it was not as crowded as I expected it to be on a holiday weekend. However, the challenge was the heat which got worse over the day (and the weekend) which prompted us to detour to ESPN Zone for a time to cool off in downtown Disney. My favorite rides were the Hollywood hotel (which made my stomach drop since it is a “haunted elevator” that drops repeatedly for several stories) and the roller coaster – I will have to make my way back there soon to hit Six Flags. Each night also Disney had a spectacular fireworks show that I loved to watch!

Sunday, it was time to attend the expo. I had my own celebrity run in the day before seeing Travis Barker and Shana Moakler by the park, but what excited me more was meeting the guy that wrote a favorite running book Chi Running Danny Dreyer. It is all about alignment to make running easier, which I have to love. We went to a seminar he gave and I already used the tips to run easier the next day. Later that day, we tried to hit the beach but apparently all of Los Angeles had the same idea and instead ended up at the Sunset Beach local brewery instead.

Then the real event - Monday it was time for the race! We had to be up at 4 am to be there no later than 5 am. The race had 13,000 participants which had sold out months ago. We were in the second wave, at the very end. This meant that the race started at 6, be we did not even get to the start line until over 20 minutes later. Overall, I liked the race atmosphere- there are Disney characters along the way, and you run though both parks and Angels Stadium. However, being in a later wave meant more walkers around and there are several narrow sections of the race, making it difficult to get around people. Plus - on top of that they had a heat wave. Oh - I had never run a 1/2 in that kind of heat! For a high the day was 108, which meant that we were running in 80-90 degree temps with 50% humidity. I am still glad I did it, but it was not a race to set a PR!