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.