The first day of racing for us began on Saturday for the Disneyland 10K. This is one of my favorite runDisney races, if not my favorite. The alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. and I got up and began to get “sparkled” for my Disney anniversary costume. We walked from our hotel to the Disneyland hotel and arrive around 5:00. The crowds for the 10K are not as large as they are for the Disneyland Half Marathon so we had no trouble walking over to our corral and getting right in with very little wait time.
We met a cool girl Stephanie Adams, in the corral and got a few pictures before it was time to run the race. If anyone knows her, I’m trying to connect via Facebook. I know she said she was part of the Double Dare Challenge Team but I can’t locate the group. As we took off running it was the normal rush of people in the beginning so we didn’t begin our intervals right away. We also saw a lot of people tripping over the curbs and falling while trying to pass others or just running out of room.
The first mile of the race takes place on the streets of Anaheim and then we entered the backlot of Disney California Adventure. I couldn’t wait for Diana to see Cars Land while it was still early in the morning and the sun wasn’t fully up yet. We rounded the corner into Cars Land and it was perfect! The lighting was just right and I told Diana to get in line for pictures. This is what the races are all about. I had to remind her that we were going to take as many pictures as we could in the park, then we would run on the streets or between picture stops depending on the time.
The characters at the character stops were villains and they had great characters out on the course! There was DJ from Cars, Lotso from Toy Story 3, Shadow Man or Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog and Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas and many, many more! My favorite was The Hun from Mulan! My family and I just watched that movie the week before and I was playing the main song continuously during my runs so it was appropriate to have such a rare character out on the course and actually get a picture with him! While standing in line for them the cast members were warning us that the pacers were about 10 minutes behind us and that if we remained in line we were risking getting swept off the course. Diana started to freak out but I told her we were fine. We could outrun them even if they were right upon us.
After our picture stop with the Hun, we ran towards the Haunted Mansion and got some pictures in front of the mansion and also as ghosts. Then we continued on through Disneyland towards Downtown Disney and the finish line.
As usual, the race wasn’t about time. Our finish time was just under 2 hours. The Disneyland 10K is one of my favorite races because most of the course takes place within the two parks.
After the race, we went back to our room to shower and then worked on the hats for our Sleeping Beauty Fairies for the half marathon the next day. I carried the materials out to California with me in my suitcase to assemble them in our room. I didn’t want the hats to get squished in the suitcase. I also knew that we would be spending most of the day and night at the parks, so I wanted everything in order before we left the room because I assumed we would be collapsing like we did the night before!
We met Mandy at the Expo and I spent a little more time shopping at the Expo, listened to Tara Guidus talk about nutrition and running, and visited Jeff Galloway for pictures and his autograph of my race medal. I usually have him sign my bib; but I forgot to bring that with me. I also took the opportunity to register for the Tinkerbell race next May. I haven’t run that race yet and it was falling at a time that we weren’t going to be on vacation in Walt Disney World so I went for it. It’s the 5 year anniversary of the Tinkerbell races so I’m also happy about getting an anniversary medal as well!
After the Expo we went over to Downtown Disney so I could find some of the anniversary items that I wanted to purchase and to also find some gifts for the kids. Then we went to California Adventure and Disneyland for lunch, rides and dinner with the World of Color to end the night.