Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Inaugural Disneyland 10k recap!

Race day was finally here!!

I had my outfit all laid out the night before -

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I had plans to meet Brandi and her mom at the Sorcerer’s hat near the Disneyland hotel before heading to the holding area for the 10k.  On my way there I passed the start line -
DDD 68We met up with other #TeamrunDisney friends for a quick group picture.

brandi pic 22This was runDisney’s first race where they held the 5k and the 10k in the same morning – 45 minutes apart at that!  We couldn’t get to the corrals until after the 5k had started, so we hung out, stretching, chatting and meeting up with old and new friends.  Karen from Just Me and My Running Shoes and I texted and met up again before the race -
DDD 71Brandi and I had some fun with my UGA outfit (I was asked by a couple of people if I cheered for the Green Bay Packers…um…their colors aren’t red and black and I have a bulldog on my cheek people!) Brandi is a Georgia Tech fan…good thing we get along! :)
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Finally it was time to head to the corrals…it was bottlenecked!  We very slowly made our way to Corral D -
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So.Many.People!  We snapped some pictures in the corral while we were waiting -
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Our friend, Lena from The Beginner's Runner, ran the 5k as well and luckily she found us before the 10k started and ran with us!  Soon enough, it was our time to start!!  The official runDisney race announcers, Carissa and Rudy, were dressed as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum – very fitting since the theme of the race was Alice in Wonderland! DDD 80The course took us down off Disney property and through the grounds of the Anaheim Convention Center (the D23 expo was held here just a couple of weeks before!).  We continued along the streets of Anaheim and finally came up on the back of Carsland and entered California Adventure!
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After passing through Carsland we continued along toward Paradise Pier!  I love that they had “World Of Color” playing as we ran through – bummed I missed seeing this show, but it gives me a reason to come back again!
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As we ran through I smelled beer and then passed a man who was drinking a can as he was running!  I’ll admit, an ice cold beer does taste great after running, but not sure I could do it DURING my run! 
DDD 219As we continued through DCA, we snapped a few more fun pictures.
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We finally exited DCA and entered Disneyland!

Running down Main Street USA was a very different experience here than at WDW.  Sleeping Beauty’s castle is so small compared to Cinderella’s Castle at WDW!  The plus side was that the entire road was open and it wasn’t so crowded.  The down side was the lack of crowd support, as only those who purchased a Gold or Platinum ChEAR package were allowed inside.  It was nice to be able to spread out a bit!
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We ran through Tomorrowland and by my Grandpa’s FAVORITE ride EVER, “It’s A Small World”! (He hates it with a passion)
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Next we headed backstage for a bit.  They had Halloween and Christmas parade floats out for us -
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As we were running backstage we came across this pretty cool banner – thanks to the Custodial staff for coming out and cheering for us!

DDD 113We re-entered into the park at Toon Town, where Brandi and I were just too tired to continue -
brandi pic 18Haha not really, but we thought it was a funny photo op :)  We did have fun taking this next one though!
brandi pic 19 We approached Fantasyland, where Alice and the Mad Hatter were waiting to welcome us to mile 5!
DDD 115 Finally it was time for one of the most magical experiences in a Disney race – to run through the castle!
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My Marathonfoto castle pictures crack me up…no, I did NOT stop running!  I wasn’t sure if the photographer would get me so I ran crouched over.  HAHA!  At least I got a few!

We exited Disneyland and finished the race through Downtown Disney.  By this time there were quite a few people there so we had lots of fun spectators!  It was also nice to run by the shops whose doors were open and feel the air conditioning blowing out into the street!
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Yeah…not sure why my shirt kept shifting…it looks so funny!  As awesome as the race was, I was ready for it to be over.  Finally, we crossed the finish line and earned the inaugural Disneyland 10k medal!

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If you were participating in the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, you were to get a wristband after completing the 10k to indicate that you had indeed finished both races.  I was happy to obliged with this and add another wristband to my lovely collection. 
DDD 124I absolutely loved the course that runDisney came up with for this race and really hope they keep it for years to come.  After the race we grabbed some water, our food boxes, and headed to our hotels to shower and get ready for a character brunch with tons of friends! (I’ll recap the rest of Saturday in another post)

What did you think of the 10k course if you participated?  What was your favorite part?

Up next – my recap of the Disneyland half marathon!

Until next time,

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16 comments:

  1. Jen, it looks like SO much fun! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fun shots you guys took!

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    1. Thanks! This was definitely one of my favorite races :)

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  2. Love all the photos. At some point I want to get out there and do the coast to coast

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  3. Looks like so much fun!! Great job, and loving the medal so much!

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    1. Thanks! The medal is super cute :) Disney always does a great job with them

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  4. GREAT recap....this race looks like so much fun, now I need to figure out how to make it happen next year! Love all you photos.....adding to the blog! Thanks for letting me share!

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    1. Thank you! I'm hoping to go back next year...gonna work on my half recap this weekend :)

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  5. I loved this course! SO much fun!! Only downside was not enough water, but that's easy to fix for next year. Glad we were able to meet up!! That Green Bay stuff still cracks me up! A lady came into work this past week with a Georgia hat and purse - I told her the story as to why I knew the team she was representing and she laughed at the people who thought you were in Green Bay attire! Hah..whoops!

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    1. I agree with the water...I carry my own so I don't have to worry about it but I know it was an issue for a lot of runners. Gah...Green Bay...at least you're a fellow SEC gal and know better :) I'm glad we were able to meet up again as well...next time we'll have to plan to see each other for longer than 5 minutes :p

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  6. This sounds like it was a great start to a new race. I am trying to decide if I want to sign up for 2014's race. Will you be doing it again? I hate when people mistake the Georgia G for Greenbay. Come on people. The best G is for Georgia Bulldogs duh!

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  7. Your running group looks like it had as much fun as mine! That's pretty much why I loved it so much. There is nothing better than running with friends through Disney!

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  8. You look like you had such a good time, I feel like i was there with you looking at all those photos!!!

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  9. Love love love this recap! I loved my trip to DCA. BUT, that ferris wheel scared me so bad!

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Your comments make me smile :)