2012 Disneyland Half Marathon

The Disneyland Half Marathon usually takes place on the first weekend of September, which is Labor Day and more important my special 3-day birthday weekend. Last year, with a little help from my family, close friends, friend of friends, friends of friends of friends, a few strangers and a couple of awesome bloggers, I was able to get enough entries to win the iFitness contest, a free entry to the 2011 Disneyland Half Marathon. It took place on my birthday, Sept 4th. I will never forget! This year, I happily signed up for the race again. After all, is there a better way to celebrate a birthday than running at "the happiest place on earth"?

Saturday, Sept 1st -The Disneyland Health & Fitness Expo

After picking up my running shirt and bib,  I walked around for 2 1/2 hours!! This must be my new expo PR!  I purchased a running skirt, a pair of compression socks, 2 sporty glasses, a visor and a couple of GU energy gels.  I should have left the wallet in the hotel room! Lessons learned: Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry.

2012 Disneyland Half running bib and shirt

At the expo, I met some friends from the Embrace The Crazy running group.

I also met a super special friend, Jennifer, who drove from San Diego with a nice birthday present too. Love it!

My new tinkerbell half marathon necklace

Afterwards, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for some pre-race carb-loading. I am prety sure I didn't burn all the calories I ate running the next day.

Sunday, Sept 2nd - Race Day 

I woke up at 3:15 am. Yes, you read it right, 3:15am Zzzzzz. OMG, sooo early! I left the hotel at 3:40 and arrived at the staging area at 4:30 am. There I met my friends, the "crazies", once again. Coincidentally, we were all dressed up like Minnie Mouse.  We took some pictures before heading to our respective corrals.  Last year, I was in corral C. This year, I was in B.

The "crazies"

The race started on time at 5:45am after the National Anthem was sung, the fireworks exploded in the sky and the race VIPs, Mickey and Minney Mouse, sent us off.

Photo Credit: Run Disney 

Photo Credit: Run Disney

The first 2 miles were very slow, slower than usual, due to the large crowds. There was no way I was going to PR running at 10:00 min/mile and I couldn't go any faster.  I told myself, "It's OK. We are here to have fun". I reminded myself that my goal for this race was to run the entire 13.1 miles without making any stops for character greetings and pictures BUT still have fun. You see, I didn't have any luck taking good pictures at the Tinker Bell Half Mararathon nor at the 2001 Disneyland Half Marathon. No, this time around I was not going to stop 5 minutes in line to say hi to Dark Vader.  My plan was to take it all in an keep running.

 
Almost immediately after this thought, we entered in California Adventure's Cars Land. This part of the park was under construction last year. Running in Route 66 was soooo awesome!! I couldn't help it. Of course, I had to stop to take pictures in Radiator Springs. Are you kidding me? Forget about PRing.

Photo Credit: Run Disney

From California Adventure, we went to Disney Downtown where the crowds were waiting for us before entering the Disneyland park. I love running through Disneyland's Main Street.

Again, I was planning on running non-stop through this park when I saw Merida from the movie Brave. Oh yes, I am taking a picture with her!

The first four miles inside the park flew by really fast and soon we were on the streets of Anaheim heading to the Honda Center. At mile 7, there was an All American Classic car show, just for us runners. Unfortunately, the sun was soo intense that I couldn't see half of them. We were running towards the sun for many miles. It was only 7:00am but it was getting really hot.  At mile 9, we reached the Angel's Stadium. I always dedicate this mile to my yogini friend Catherine S who sent me to the Disneyland Half Marathon last year. She is also a crazy Angels sports fanatic.

Hundreds of people and cheerleaders were waiting for us. I loved every second of it. This year, once again, the Jumbotron cameras were pointing at us. I stopped to take some pictures. I tried to find the camera to take a nice shot of myself in the Jumbotron but I missed it.  If you are reading this and you know where it's located, please let me know.

After leaving the stadium, we were back on the streets of Anaheim with a few miles to go before entering California Adventure again and the Cars Land backstage area. Soon after, I could see Paradise Pier hotel. Great! Less than a half mile to go!  The sun was intense, the crowds were getting loud and in the horizon the finish line where Mickey and Minnie were waiting for us. I crossed the finish line with a BIG smile on my face. My finishing time was 2:12:54 including several stops for pictures. This time around, they turned out fine.

The finisher's medals were the same as lat year ( except for the year) but it didn't matter. They were beautiful!

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	2:20:03
Chip Time	2:12:54
Overall Place	3375 / 14836
Gender Place	1397 / 9341
Division Place	223 / 1473
5K	31:27
10K	1:03:22
15K	1:34:31

The overall female winner of the race, Cindy Lynch, finished in 1:24:25. She is the owner of Running Skirts. We were wearing the same running outfit that day.  BIG congratulations to her!