2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend – Half Marathon

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Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

Sunday morning at 3:45… time to get up for the 10th Disneyland Half Marathon!

We’d gotten almost everything set aside and ready to go the night before, but we still had some final preparations. Everyone has their own pre-race routines – it’s a very individual thing. What works for me doesn’t necessarily work for Lee and vice versa. We both get up and have something to eat – I eat yogurt, and he usually has a bagel/toast with peanut butter. And he has to have his coffee. The coffee spots in the Disney hotels open early on race mornings, as do several places in Downtown Disney, such as Starbucks. Lots of runners AND spectators take advantage of that.

Have I mentioned yet how much easier race mornings are at Disneyland because we don’t have to take a bus and can walk to the starting line? I did? 🙂

The number of participants in the half marathon is not quite double that of the 10K, and it’s noticeable, especially in the pre-race area. It’s not horribly crowded, but there are longer lines for the porta-potties and more people trying to get to the starting corrals. Just another reason to love 10Ks. 🙂

There’s not the “show” at the start line for the half marathon like there is for the 5K and 10K races. This one was pretty understated. The race announcers recognized the 436 “Legacy” runners who have finished all of the previous Disneyland half marathons. Jessica
Bernard, one of the current Disneyland Ambassadors, sang the national anthem – it was a beautiful performance. And there were some fireworks, too.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon fireworks

Weather-wise it was another nice morning for running. About the same temperature as the day before, though I think the humidity was a little higher and it felt slightly warmer to me. As the morning went on the humidity dropped – but the temperature went up. Still, for me the drop in humidity compensated for the slightly higher temperature, and I was pretty comfortable. Not that I wasn’t a sweaty mess, but I wasn’t miserable like I have been for some of these Disneyland Half Marathon races! (2013. Ugh.)

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon start

We were again in Corral B, though running with a larger group this time. There were seven of us. We tried to be considerate of our fellow runners, running in single- or double-file where the course was crowded, and moving to the side when we were walking.

I was surprised that the start of the race didn’t feel nearly as slow/crowded as it did for the 10K. I think that’s because the new proof-of-time system does a much better job of group like-paced runners together, so everyone was going a similar pace right off the start line, and we didn’t have to try to get around slower runners/walkers.

Another surprise: the race course was modified slightly this year. Instead of going south and turning left on Katella we turned left and ran backstage behind Disney California Adventure. This was a little challenging because it bunched us together more and there were cones placed at intervals in the center that we had to watch out for. They were hard to see in the dark.

This tweak to the course meant we had a little more on property time and it seemed like we were in the parks a bit more. Some of the way we ran seemed like we ran in the opposite direction of the way it’s been for this race in the past. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. We find it interesting to see how runDisney manages to do all of these race courses just a little bit differently, which has to be a challenge given the limited space. We appreciate that they do make them different instead of just re-using the same course over and over. (Cough…Walt Disney World…cough.)

Anyway…running through Radiator Spring in the dark with the neon lights glowing is always a thrill. We were running with a couple of people for whom this was their first Disneyland half marathon. It’s always fun to see it through someone else’s eyes. We also ran around part of Paradise Bay where the World of Color fountains and the Fun Wheel were going.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

Jafar is the only character I remember seeing in DCA, and the line was pretty long.

We ran down Buena Vista Street and out of DCA across the Esplanade to Disneyland. We stopped at the floral Mickey – I wanted to get a similar picture to the one I have from the first Disneyland Half Marathon.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

Disneyland 50th Floral Mickey

We passed the two mile mark just inside Disneyland, and then we really wound around and backstage and in and out. I was getting dizzy. 🙂 But I think we were in all of the lands except Adventureland. I made a new friend, too. 🙂 I was surprised they let me touch him, but the handler said to go ahead.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon food box

Sometime after mile 3 we passed near the start line, and could still hear the announcers sending runners off. The race had been going for about 45 minutes at that point. It takes a long time to start 16,000+ people.

There were a number of character stops in Disneyland, though I think that overall there were fewer than there were in the 10K. And most of the lines were pretty long. But I found a couple of shorter lines.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Queen of Hearts

The Captain is always such a gentleman – for a pirate. 🙂

Disneyland Half Marathon Captain Hook Peter Pan

This summer the PhotoPass photographers have had sign boards of various designs – I was glad to see one for Half Marathon Weekend.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon signs

As usual, at the mile 4 mark we were outside the parks and on Disneyland Drive. The rest of the course was the same as it’s been for quite a while now.

Fun to see these two cheering out on the course!

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon storm troopers

The sun was just starting to come up as we turned east on Ball Rd. There was a nice sunrise.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon sunrise

Our favorite multi-generational mariachi group was performing just after mile 5. It’s always wonderful to see them.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon mariachi group

There’s no particular theme for the Disneyland Half Marathon, so runners come up with all kinds of costume ideas. This one was pretty clever. (She carried it rather than running in it, but still, that would be a lot to carry for 13.1 miles.)

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon e-ticket runner costume

Past mile 7 the Polynesian dance group was on the course to entertain us. It’s wonderful to see how the city of Anaheim comes out to support the runners.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon hula dancers

The classic cars are a relatively new addition to the race – we started seeing them in 2012. This year there were even more of them, and they occupied another ~1/4-mile more of the course. They arrange them mostly by date, with the older cars first.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon classic cars

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon classic cars

We found one that matched our shirts.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon classic cars

This Star Wars-inspired van was beautiful.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon classic cars

We even found the Batmobile!

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Batmobile

After we ran past the Honda Center we dropped down to the Santa Ana River Trail. Most of it is paved now, but the first part was dirt. I know a lot of runners don’t like it, but I do – it’s a relief to run on a different surface. This is one of the Legacy runners, in the pretty blue powder blue shirt that they all received. (Why couldn’t they have given the rest of us a blue shirt instead of gray?)

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Legacy runner

At mile 9 we’d reached Angel Stadium.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Angel Stadium

Running inside the stadium is always energizing. They get hundreds of Boy and Girl Scouts to cheer on the runners, and they do a great job of passing some of that energy to us.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Angel Stadium

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Angel Stadium

Mile 10 – only 3.1 to go! As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day. Which is not great for running. Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the sun had burned off some of the humidity. And we were running into a little bit of a breeze so it was relatively comfortable for us. Those who started later and were on the course longer might not agree with me, though. But at least it was significantly cooler than the last two years.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Mile 10

In addition to the groups I’ve previously mentioned, there were lots of cheerleading squads and high school bands out on the course. They were enthusiastic and loud and very encouraging. We especially appreciate them in that mile 10-12 stretch when we’re starting to get mentally fatigued, too. RunDisney seems to know this, because that’s where a lot of them are placed. Lee does his best to give back to them and let them know they are appreciated. 🙂

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon band

We had two friends, Jan and Molly, who were out cheering on our extended group of friends as well as other runners.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

They got a lot of sweaty hugs that day! Thanks, ladies – you ROCK!

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

As usual the course went backstage at DCA at mile 12. There were lots of cheerleaders to encourage us as we went around the Paradise Pier Hotel and then the last .2 miles to the finish line.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon finish

Here’s our excellent little running group – we had a great time together. Running Disney races with friends is a lot of fun. You won’t get a best time, but you’ll HAVE the best time. 🙂

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

We went to the tent to collect our Dumbo Double Dare medals – the volunteers looked up our numbers and said we were good, and then we received our medals. While I still question the need for this process, it is efficient. And I’m happy not to have to wear a wristband after finishing the 10K.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

I was hoping that maybe for the 10th Disneyland 1/2 marathon we’d get real food, but no. Just the runDisney MRE boxes. Sigh. Though just after finishing we received some really nice cool towels. Those felt very good. The sun was out and it was warming up. There was a light breeze that provided some cooling, though.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon food box

As we were leaving the finish area I noticed the sign with the names of all 436 Legacy runners on it.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon Legacy runners

The 10th anniversary medal is pretty nice. It’s a spinner with a running Mickey on one side and the castle on the other.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon medal

For the most part it was an excellent race experience for us. A few comments: The slight change in the course was interesting except that it made it a little narrow for us early in the race. It seemed like there were fewer characters than in the past, especially as compared to the 10K the day before. We heard that some of the water stations ran out of PowerAde for those that were at the back of the pack, but that was not an issue for us.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon stage

But the community on-course entertainment was excellent. We are grateful to the citizens of Anaheim and surrounding communities for their continued support of this race over the years. In addition to the entertainment there are the hundreds of volunteers who work the Expo, the water stations, the medals, prepare the shirt bags, and a lot more things that I haven’t thought of. I also must mention the wonderful Disney cast members who lend their support in so many ways. Thank you to all of you for everything that you do!

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon

We had a great time during this race weekend. The races were fun, but even more than that we enjoyed spending time with a lot of our Disney running friends, both while running and in the parks. And we came home with some pretty nice bling, too.

Disneyland 10th Annual Half Marathon medals

Our next race will be the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in November. We’re hoping for better weather than last year, when it was the “Wet and Drenched Half Marathon.” 🙂

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Laura Gilbreath is a native of San Diego, CA. She has been making the trek up Interstate 5 to Disneyland since she was a small child and terrified of talking tikis and hitchhiking ghosts. She and her husband Lee enjoy trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as sailings on the Disney Cruise Line.

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