The Course was with us, and we successfully completed the Rebel Challenge and earned our Coast-to-Coast medals, also! I’ll have a more detailed report to come, but here’s a few thoughts.
It was a wonderful morning for running – 50 at the start, and cloudy and mid-50s when we finished. There was a beautiful sunrise!
The new half marathon course was interesting. We spent almost 4 miles in the parks, though a lot of it was backstage. We didn’t exit the parks until mile 4.5, which made the first 1/3 of the race go quickly.
Once we left the parks the course went south and west into the city of Garden Grove. It was a mixture of commercial and residential areas, and we went by a couple of pretty park areas, too. Nice wide roads, and it felt open and uncrowded. Easy running. The spectators really embraced the Star Wars theme, and they seemed to having a wonderful time, too. It was especially fun to hear the high school bands playing Star Wars music.
The Costumers who were on the course between mile 8 and 9 were totally awesome (and I don’t just say that because one of them is a friend). Much more variety of costumes and characters than we saw in the parks, without the huge lines. Thank you, Disney, for inviting them to participate in both the Avengers and Star Wars half marathons. They really bring a lot to the races, and give the runners a tremendous lift at a point when we are starting to need it.
The medals are beautiful, though I thought it was interesting the the half marathon medal does not say Inaugural on it – just on the ribbon. The 5K, 10K and Rebel Challenge medals all say “Inaugural”.
It was really a terrific Inaugural event – Congratulations to all involved! We will be back next year!
Learn more about my runDisney experiences on AllEarsNet TV Show #33:
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