I took off on Thursday for Disney to do the Dumbo Double Dare (10k Saturday, 1/2 marathon on Sunday). My hotel wouldn't let me check in 45 minutes early so I caught up with the Endurance Sports Connection crew to help them schlep stuff from hotel to hotel and pack swag bags for our meet up. The bags were PHENOMENAL! We stuff 500 of them in a little under two hours. Loads of freebies (I'd say better than the expo)! When we finished, we went to Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel for some food and drink. Good times! We congo lined around the restaurant and likely earned some weird looks as we slowly but surely took over about half of the outdoor seating.
While hanging out with random ESC people, we learned that there was a 2 mile power walk through California Adventures in the morning for resort guests. I stayed with a wonderful bunch of people at the Grand Californian so we could hit power walk. I did run over and finally check into my hotel so my roommate had a place to sleep.
I ended up doing the power walk in my race clothes and managed to not smell TOO bad for race day. Then I hit the INSANE expo. I probably waited around an hour and a half to get my shirts and bib, another hour and fifteen to have my ankle taped and another hour to purchase race merchandise. My feet were killing me!!! Not a good start for the race weekend! I did manage to wander around Disneyland for a bit by my lonesome. I hit Indian Jones and Pirates and called it a night.
The fireworks...those suck... I'm so used to going to bed early and the race was early. They went off around 9:30 and made me jump out of my skin!!! My roomie came in shortly there after. I felt bad that I was half asleep when I met her but oh well.
The next morning was EARLY for the 10k. I was Vanellope von Schweetz. The 10k went well. I ran with a couple of people for ESC on a 2 min run/1 min walk interval. We actually finished around 1:18 which wasn't bad. We managed to stop for some pictures, but I wasn't really digging the characters. It wasn't like WDW. It seemed to lack the more classic characters. It was princesses and Pixar... I'm just ho hum about both. I want LILO and STITCH and Wreck-It Ralph and of course the Fab 5.
Once the race was finished, I attempted to find my way back to the hotel. I am incredibly directionally challenged so I wasn't shy about asking an officer how to get back to the road I needed to be on. HE WAS WRONG! I spent about an hour and a half walking in a weird circle trying to get my GPS on my phone to work! I finally made it back to my room around 10:30. I got cleaned up and headed to the park. I was supposed to meet a friend. His phone died and so I ended up wandering the parks alone most of the day until another lady from the group came and wandered with me. We left around 7 and I again tried to sleep through the fireworks.
Then I did something REALLY stupid. I hopped in the car with another lady and we drove to San Pedro where we registered for another half marathon on Monday called Conquer the Bridge.
The next morning was even earlier for a 5:30 race. Have I mentioned how much those fireworks SUCK?! I lost my 2:1 group due to a bathroom break and somehow never managed to catch them. Well, actually, I passed them at some point. Oh well. I managed to take the shorter route back to the hotel this time.
Of course I had to hit the park one more day! I went to California Adventures and enjoyed a few single rider lines and fast passes. My roommate joined me later and we had a good afternoon in the park. We followed that up with the hotel hot tub because I knew I was going to need all the help I could get for the back-to-back half marathon I was about to complete!
Yet another early morning on Monday so I could drive up to San Pedro. The good news is there was no traffic because of the holiday. It was cool by the Los Angeles Harbor. I should also point out this was my second race (first was Vegas Spartan this year) where I ran in just a sports bra instead of a shirt/tank. I was self conscious, but I was also cheap and didn't want to buy yet ANOTHER shirt on my emergency run to Target for race clothes. We managed to get on a local news station as we ran by the start...which really made me regret not wearing more clothes. I warmed up quick once the race started. The misty air, temps and lack of crowd made this an AWESOME race. I kept with the 2:1 interval minus going uphill on the bridges. The whole bridge concept was neat...mainly since it is rare that it is shut down for event traffic. It stayed in the perfect temperature and overcast range until about the time we went back up over the Vincent Thomas Bridge which was probably around 8:45 or so. By that point the 5.3 milers had started and it was almost like being at the Disney races all over again. We actually managed to shave 30 minutes off my (I say my since I finished alone and I'm not sure what my partner finished in) Disneyland Half Marathon time.
I've been on a runners high for almost two weeks... the next race is set for my birthday (September 15th). I'll be running the Chips and Salsa Half Marathon in Albuquerque, NM. I can't wait...chips and salsa is a close second to nachos and since they are my favorite food in the world, this race seems like the perfect way to celebrate my birthday!
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