My First Disneyland Half Marathon (aka my first run ever)

My Experience with the Disneyland Half Marathon Race Weekend

So way back before the Disneyland Half Marathon, I had to register. Initially, I was going to register for the 10K, but somehow my cousin talked me into the half marathon (as she was going to complete it as well). So I registered for that. Fast forward six months, the run was quickly approaching. Because I had almost no training (my longest run before the half was 7 miles), I was freaking out. It also did not help that I was having some serious hip pain two weeks prior to the race, but I sucked it up, sewed a running skirt, and packed my bag for the paradise pier hotel for the night prior to the race. My family, cousin and boyfriend went to Mimi's off Harbor for dinner. We then went back to the room and watched World of Color from our window before getting in bed to try (notice I say try) to sleep for the night.  (See Below for the view of World of Color from the room)

The next morning, after almost no sleep, it was time to get up at 4am. Race starts at 5:30 for corral A. I was in corral I, and my was cousin in J. We got up and ready in our running skirts and made our way to the starting line. I ate a poptart on the way there to fuel, and then the waiting game began. (See photo for pre-race smiles)

Waiting for the race to start is fun (and would have been more fun if I knew someone in my corral). They have announcers talking and music and everyone is getting hyped up. It is also a good time to see some of the creative costumes people come up with for these races.  As many of my friends know, I am pretty clumbsy. During my corral walk up to the starting line, I tripped on a road reflector. That was probably a good thing, as I was completely aware of them for the rest of the day. 

Around 6:12am it was time for my corral to cross the start line! Woohoo! 

And I was off. Now mind you, I had basically no training in the month prior to the race, and had only completed a total of 7 miles on my longest run. That said, I did okay. It is especially an easy first 3-4 miles as they are through and very near the park. I only stopped for a couple of photos as I was afraid that I would not make pace, which was, at this point, my only goal. Here is a couple photos from Carsland: one with DJ (because he's never available for photos, and one with my favorite cast member (my boyfriend).

After finishing my run through the parks, we took to the streets of Anaheim. This is probably the most boring part of the run and the fact that I was getting tired between miles 7 and 8. It is nice that there are spectators and groups dancing and cheering, but the streets are still streets, and they can be pretty dangerous. I saw two people crash on railroad tracks and numerous people trip on the road reflectors, so always watch where your stepping!  There is only one major hill on the whole course (pictured below), so other than the boring, it is a pretty flat course.  

Here is me at mile 6 on the course! There are mile markers to let you know how far you have come. The time is off a bit, though, as it is the race time for the first corral (corral A) starters. I signed up for the text alerts in order to manage my actual time.

My 10k time (6.2 miles) was 1:30, which is a pace of 14:31. My best training times were between 11-13 minutes, so this was a bit slow for me. 

Around mile 8 we were near the Honda center with all the nice cars to cheer us on. I took a picture with a Lightning McQueen impostor (see photo), and headed onto the Santa Ana River Trail, which would take us to Angels Stadium.  

 And here I am inside of Angels Stadium! We got to run through the outfield. There were many scouts of different types inside cheering on the runners!

This was about the time when I thought my legs were going to fall off. About mile 9 I wanted to die. I wanted to curl up on the course and just wave as people passed. I wanted to, but I didn't. I kept walking and jogging. The hip pain I had/have was making it so that jogging was actually more comfortable than walking. I would also have to stop and stretch my quads out as they were cramping pretty bad at this point. But, as Dory says, "just keep swimming", or in this case, running. So I did. I kept at a slow pace for the last 4 miles and then crossed that glorious finish line. It was magic. I was done. What else do you do when you finish? Pick up your medal, your box of snacks, and take a selfie!

All and all it was a great experience, however, I think the 13.1 miles is a bit long for me. I think I will stick to 10Ks. I will definitely stick with RunDisney though. My upcoming races are the Avengers Inaugural 5K, the Star Wars Inaugural 10K, and the Tinkerbell 10K. Let's lace up those running shoes and make some costumes!