Disneyland Half Marathon recap

Sorry the blog has been quiet!  I have a couple more recaps to write up and I’m working on figuring out what to do during my off season.  But for now…I give you my Disneyland half recap!

As I told you before I left for Disneyland, I was dressing up as Hula Lilo from “Lilo and Stitch”.When I woke up Sunday morning, I felt very “off” but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  I got ready and headed to the pre-start area to meet up with Brandi.  I also met up with a Twitter friend, Meredith, before the race in the corral.
I found Brandi and we snapped a picture before the race started.

Finally it was our turn to go!

We actually ran past my hotel, and then circled into the back of DCA near the Tower of Terror.  We ended up running into Jen, Lena, and Kim near the World of Color!
  

We kept plugging along and then we ended up in Disneyland!  Brandi’s mom was waiting for us on Main Street so we stopped for hugs and a photo op -
It was nice to have lots of space to run down Main Street USA…much different than running at WDW.
Too soon, we exited the parks and were on the streets of Anaheim.  It was nice to have Brandi there with me to chat with and encourage me along.

We passed by a crowd support tent, where they had a cooler full of ice water and people with sponges cooling runners off.  They also had candy and orange slices…which tasted AWESOME!
 

There was a decent bit of entertainment along the course, including cheerleaders, marching bands, and probably my most favorite group – the Polynesian dancers!  They loved my Lilo outfit :)
 
Soon after, we came up on the Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Ducks!  Since we have dubbed ourselves Team Duck after running the Peachtree, we had to get a picture in front of the sign!
 
After running by the Honda Center, we made our way onto the Santa Ana trail and headed for Angel Stadium!
 
While on a stop at the medical tent for some Biofreeze, Brandi snagged this shot :)
There were Boy Scouts lining the course before we ran into the stadium.  They had such great energy and it got us pumped up and ready to run through the stadium!  I also saw a girl with a hilarious sign and costume :)
 
Running through the stadium was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!  When am I ever going to have a stadium 1/8 full of people cheering for me??

Here’s a couple of my favorite pictures of our jaunt around the warning track -

After we left the stadium, we were greeted by a group of cheerleaders.  Then, we saw Nicole from Cookies on the Run and HAD to stop and say hi!  She posted on Twitter that she would be along the course.  It was so nice to meet her! (You guys should follow her and her husband, Brian, as well!)
  Brandi and I did a lot of walking past mile 10, just chatting about what we were going to do after the race and other nonsense.
Finally we entered back onto Disney property at mile 12, and saw the infamous Peggy Sue!  She is at just about all of the runDisney races with her trademark sign “Hello complete stranger I’m proud of you, too!”  We stopped for a photo op and she gave us some Starburst…what a nice treat!  Thanks Peggy Sue!
Getting back onto Disney property put a little pep in our step.  As we rounded the corner and passed the Sorcerer’s Hat at the Disneyland Resort, we ran into Lena, Jen, and Kim again! 

We had to high five Minnie before crossing the finish, too!
 
And then we finished!  I PRed my runDisney time by 8 minutes :P  It was awesome to get that awesome medal around my neck -

Then “the girls” had to get a group picture after we all received our half marathon medal -
These are some amazing ladies and I am so lucky to call them my friends!  After the picture, we made our way over to the “Dumbo Double Dare” tent to get our challenge medal, THEN we got our Coast to Coast medal! 
 
Brandi and I carried our 10k medal from the day before and our Princess half medal in our SPIbelt so that we could get some pictures with ALL of the medals :)
We found Brandi’s mom and headed our separate ways to shower with plans to meet back up at Disneyland for a post-race lunch!

Overall I REALLY enjoyed this race!  I do wish we could spend more time on property but, at the same time, I understand that’s not possible for the half.  The crowd support along the course was fantastic, and my BRF Brandi made the race even more fun and memorable.  I may be back to do it again next year, but we’ll see what happens between now and then.

Be sure to check out the blogs of “The Girls”!

Kim - Kim Runs Disney and Beyond
Jen - Travel Girl on the Run
Brandi -Girl on the Run
Lena -The Beginners Runner

Have you run the Disneyland half marathon before?  What’s your favorite part of the course?

I’m off to be a supportive wife this weekend and cheer the hubby and his paintball team on at a paintball tournament outside of Orlando.  I hope to get back in the groove of blogging next week.

Until next time,

LiveJournal Tags: Disneyland,half marathon,13.1,Disneyland half marathon,Dumbo Double Dare,World of Color,Disney California Adventure,SPIbelt,Lilo and Stitch,Disneyland Resort