Disneyland Half Marathon

The race was fun!! I finished in 2:17 - I'll take it!

Wake-up time arrived with a 64F temp and 87% humidity. There was light fog in places when I drove in. I parked in the main parking structure - 9 floors I think, larger than a football field, it can hold an amazing number of cars.

Drop bag groupings were by first letter of the last name (mine was R-Z) - a welcome change from organizing by bib number alone. After the race even exhausted runners will remember their last names.

Elite runners were in Corral A, everyone else in Corrals B through G, which were mostly full. Corrals A-E were on Disney Way, remaining Corrals were west near Downtown Disney.

Various pre-race announcers, a dance floor light show, & fast-beat Disney pop rock over loudspeakers got the runners in the mood to have fun!

Ten minutes before the race started, a guest announcer said they were going to do some special Disney magic right then. They drew a random race bib number for one of the runners to come on stage and help start the race. I was thinking "What a great idea! It's free for them and will really make someone's day." Who do you suppose it was? It was the announcer's girlfriend! Go figure, what are the odds of that happening? What a coincidence! The conversation quickly transitioned to the magic part, which is where the guest race announcer proposed to his girlfriend on stage in front of several tens of thousands of people. She said Yes (and a good thing, too!). Very sweet, very magical (at least for her).

I warmed up my calf and achilles tendon before the race by jogging very short steps & half-steps up & down a small hill a few times. At someone' suggestion I also applied BenGay onto the skin over the calf and achilles tendon, the idea being that the warmed-up skin will help to warm the underlying tissue. All told it worked well, no trouble with calves or achilles tendon during or after the race.

Wheelchair racers started a few minutes before 6am. Wave 1 (corrals A through C) started next. Wave 2 included the other corrals - I was in corral D.

I started at a 13 minute pace for the first mile. Then I picked it up to a roughly 10 minute pace and held it +/- through most of the rest of the race.

The course started on Disney Way heading south near Downtown Disney; then
* east on Katella Ave.
* north on Harbor Blvd.
* west into the old main car entrance to the Disneyland park, through the parking fee booths, wound through an area of Disney's California Adventure, through the Magic Kingdom's east side back lot (past warddrobe, the barber, and the main service tunnel entrance - with the familiar aroma of rotting garbage), through Tomorrowland, through Fantasyland, through Sleeping Beauty's Castle, then through Frontierland and Adventureland, down Mainstreet and out of the park
* north onto Disney Way
* east onto Ball Road
* south to the Anaheim Convention Center
* east to Angels baseball stadium
* onto a bike trail along a cement culvert (cement-lined culverts pass for a river in the LA area)
* west on Katella Ave. back to the park
* through another part of the California Adventure
* then finishing back near Downtown Disney.

The course was largely flat, with some small hills. Water stops were every other mile in the first half, and in the second half there were water stops every mile.

My GPS was acting up initially - the course ran under high-voltage power lines, which in theory shouldn't block a GPS signal - my pace was moving from 15 minutes to 9 minutes in seconds, and back and forth. Time to replace the GPS; christmas is coming!

The weather was overcast until 9am, which reduced the heat for most of the runners, unfortunately not the slowest who needed it the most.

The humidity was awful! No evaporation, it felt like a sauna. I drank a half-liter of water right before the race, double waters at every aid station and a Powerade, and I was still very dry at the end.

The medals are amazing. There is the Disneyland Half Marathon medal, which shows Sleeping Beauty's castle. And the special coast-to-coast medal is great looking - it shows Walt and Mickey and nicely enameled. I'll post a picture later.

Why haven't I been posting in August?

So the question is "why haven't I been posting in August after that bad run? Certainly I didn't just give up running." No, but I did give myself a whole week with no running to rest, and after that I only ran a few times and each of them just 3 miles or so.

When I get that close to a race I am looking forward to so much, and have an event happen that might turn into a show-stopping injury, I become very conservative about my running. The best way I can guarantee that my body will be running the morning of the race is to stay away from all running until then. So I get out a couple of times just to make sure everything is working, but otherwise I just bide my time and keep focused on the main event. I'll ride an exercise bike, for example, but no longer runs.

I like to think of it as an early, extended taper.

And it had started out so nicely too...

I woke up at 6:30 energized for a really great, long run. The plan was to head west on the W&OD and see a part of the trail, Loudon county, that I've never seen before. And it was great. I was mostly on the horse trail section which has some loose rocks and dirt and travels more vertical distance than the flat running path.

Overall I was keeping my speed very close to a 9 minute pace. Around mile 7 I pulled over at Smith's Switch Station for water and a break, and soon was back on the road. By the time I pulled into Ashburn, my right Achilles tendon was "twinge-ing". Not really pain, just letting me know it was there, but in a threatening sort of manner. I stretched my legs out well and, that being about the 8 mile mark, started back.

I hadn't gotten far when my twinge became sore and quickly painful, so I stopped.
And it had started out so nicely, too....

I walked quickly using short strides back to Route 28, found a phone at Target and called my wife to ask her to come pick me up, so the rest of the day wouldn't be a total loss.

Now I have to rest it, maybe some exercise bike and weights, until the half marathon on the 31st. There is no excuse for me to push it hard and ruin the race.

Cliff at RR tells me that the Achilles warms up slowly because it is farther away from heat sources, and of course has no blood supply directly. He suggested forcing myself to warm up slowly. Perhaps I could add some insulation to my calves or BenGay or something to help warm them up also.

Mon Aug 4

I ran down the road again to this little hill I've found. It's the steepest hill for the distance around - there is one steeper but it is very short, and there is one longer but it is not as steep. It takes about 7 minutes to run there at a tempo pace.

I finished 5 laps up the hill - 1:16, 1:12, 1:09, 1:13, and 1:06 - with the lap down in the 1:45 range each time. Then running at a recovery speed back home.

I am going to look for something a little longer and just as steep, to build more endurance and hill strength. I think the hill over the next rise might be just the ticket, I'll need to see. I also need to measure the hill grade using my GPS instead of dead reckoning, to be sure my eyes aren't playing tricks on me.

Speaking of playing tricks, I got dressed in a hurry this morning and something about my singlet didn't look right to my sleepy eyes as I was putting it on. I looked in the mirror on the way out the door and I read "JFK 50 Mile Run" on my chest and I remember thinking "yup, looks fine". Which I later realized could only have meant that the shirt was in fact on backwards - how else to read it correctly in a mirror? Gave me a good chuckle.

Sat Aug 4

Running 5 miles with the Reston Runners this morning. Actually I took a wrong turn and doubled-back to join the group, which probably added under a tenth of a mile. It was overcast, a little muggy, and seasonally warm but not hot, it sprinkled a little here and there. I finished in 43:46 for an average pace of about 8:39. Finished strong, no difficulties in any area, stretched thoroughly afterwards.