Disneyland Half Marathon 2009

At the Walt Disney World marathon expo, I saw a booth for the Coast to Coast Challenge: if I completed the marathon in Florida and a half-marathon at Disneyland in California within the same calendar year, I could earn a third medal commemorating that achievement. After about 20 seconds' thought, I decided to sign up for that Disneyland half marathon. I planned on making a mini-vacation out of it, taking a couple of days after the race to spend some time at Disneyland with my baby sister, who lives in Los Angeles. Naturally, as had happened with Disney World, once my dad heard about my plans, he invited himself along. ("Which actually worked out well, as he let me stay at his hotel and provided transportation to and from the airport." "Not to mention buying the food!" "I know. Eight dollars for a churro?!") I was also joined on this trip by fellow Runner's Edge of the Rockies members Gert, Merril, Susan, and Kandy, all of whom were going for that Coast to Coast medal.

After spending some time in LA with my sister, I connected with my friends at the expo at the Disneyland Hotel. Then on Saturday, my dad and I went to Disneyland. There had been a 5K race that morning at 6:45, and a kids' fun run at 8:30, so of course the park opening was delayed slightly while the staff ushered all the participants out. ("God bless Disney. No free rides for anyone, eh?") We spent a little time in the Magic Kingdom before heading across to California Adventure, where we spent the day before returning to the hotel after dinner. ("Wait, you spent the day before a big race walking around?!" "In fairness, most of it was standing. In lines.") Saturday's dinner was a home-cooked pasta meal at the condo which my friends were renting, which was across the street from the Disneyland Hotel and within walking distance of the race start.

Very early Sunday morning, my friends and I made our way to the starting area. After dropping our bags and getting our picture taken with a couple Toy Story army men, we wished each other luck and headed off to our starting corrals. I was in Corral B, and seeded myself about 20 feet from the front--much further up than I'd intended, as I discovered when I saw the 1:45 pacer move into position a little in front of me! I looked behind me and saw the pacer for a two-hour half marathon (which was my goal) towards the back of Corral B. Oh, well. As long as they didn't catch up to me.....

At 6:00, we were off! As I crossed over the start line and began my race, I focused on holding back. My strategy for this race was to run the first mile in 10 minutes, and then up my pace to 9-minute miles for the rest. That would get me to the finish line in just over 117 minutes. Of course, the cool temperatures ("It was still dark out."), plentiful oxygen ("God bless sea level!"), and plethora of faster-paced runners surrounding me ("That's what happens when you start too far up." "Didn't you learn that lesson at Oklahoma City?") made it easy to lose track of my slower pace, and I really had to work to stay where I wanted to. I did not want to burn out in the first mile!

As the course turned off Harbor Blvd to the south access road into the park, I looked for my dad and baby sister. Unfortunately, the crowd had only started to thin out and it was still dark, so I did not see them. Nothing daunted, I continued to run, now settling into a 9-minute per mile pace which I would hold for the rest of the race. We ran through California Adventure in the predawn, to the cheers of the park employees who were our only crowd. ("Unlike Disney World, spectators were not allowed into the parks for this race." "Lame!!") We crossed through California Adventure and across the Promenade which separted it from Disneyland, then entered the Magic Kingdom. We wound our way behind Space Mountain before wrapping around Fantasyland and heading to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. As at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, there was a great photo opportunity as I came out of the castle--or would have been, if there had been less people around! ("Actually I'm pretty sure there won't be very many good pictures of me on the course. Almost every time I saw a cameraman, there were at least three runners between me and him; and on the few occasions there weren't, he was reloading film!" "You are such a narcissist.")

We ran through Frontierland and past the Rivers of America before exiting the park and turning up towards Ball Road. Almost immediately we started one of the very few climbs on this course as the road arced over the Santa Ana Freeway. ("Or as the natives call it, 'the I-5.'") I was still feeling great, the temperatures were still in the low- to mid-60s, and happily, the sun had yet to break through the clouds. What's more, there were plenty of spectators as the course made its way east along Ball Road. I enjoyed slapping five's and blowing kisses to the high school cheerleaders as I went by. ("Pervert.") I even ran for a bit with a man dressed like Peter Pan, and joked that we should just fly out of here. He left me behind at about the 4 1/2 mile mark, but I'm happy to say that I caught up with him and passed him at around mile 7 and never saw him again. ("Peter Pan flew with children...in a fairy tale.")

Just before the 8-mile mark the course turned off Douglass Rd and through the parking lot for the Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. ("I think they're just the Anaheim Ducks now." "What's up with that?!") This was a mile before we would run through Angels stadium, home of the Anaheim Angels. ("Actually, they're the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim." "What's up with that?!") I spent that mile running along side a very lovely woman who was wearing a Kansas City running shirt. I asked her if she had ever run the KC Marathon, and if she knew of the KC Runner's Edge group. Turns out, she's a member. I told her I was a member of the Denver affiliate, and we spent some time comparing notes and sharing war stories of our various races as we ran along the Santa Ana Trail between the two stadiums. ("Should that be 'stadia'? If the plural of datum is data...")

At mile 9 1/2 we entered Angel stadium and ran along the warmup track behind the first base line, past home plate, and then along the third base line. There was a huge crowd inside the stadium cheering for us. As we passed home plate, we could see ourselves up on the jumbotron screen, which was pretty neat. I still felt great, not really tired thanks to the copious amounts of air available at sea level. I was ahead of schedule by more than two minutes at this point according to my Garmin. As we passed the 10-mile mark, I said out loud to myself, "Okay, just a 5k left. No problem." ("Someone came up to me after the race and said that he'd heard me say that, and he wanted to thank me for it because he'd been starting to fade at that point. My words encouraged him to keep going!" "How d'you like that. Someone actually listened to you!")

Just before mile 12 we crossed Harbor Blvd again and re-entered California Adventure. At this point I saw my sister and dad, which made me happy as I hadn't seen them the first time I went past that point. I also realized that I had been running for an hour and forty-five minutes and had less than a mile and a quarter to go. If I'd wanted to, I could afford to slow down considerably and still come in under two hours. Of course, I had every intention of doing the exact opposite, and pushed my pace even harder. Then, as the course made its final turn, with about a quarter mile to go, I repeated what Coach David had called to me as I approached the finish at Georgetown last year: "Less than a quarter mile--less than one lap around the track!"

At the 13 mile mark I saw the finish line around a slight curve, with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck all cheering runners in, and the finishing clock inching its way towards 1 hour, 58 minutes. Arms raised in triumph, knowing that because I was about two minutes behind the clock, my final time would be even better, I ran across the finish line. Sure enough, my final time was 1:56:21, nearly an 8-minute improvement over last year's Georgetown race. I also got my Coast to Coast medal as well as the half marathon finisher's medal, which of course was the whole point of this.

I spent the rest of Sunday (after a shower and a nap) at Disneyland and California Adventure. My dad and sister and I had a great celebratory dinner with Merril and Gert, and my dad and I hit almost every ride in the Magic Kingdom over the course of the next day and a half. ("Actually, we did every ride I wanted to, including Splash Mountain and Mr Toad's Wild Ride, both of which had been closed in Disney World." "So how many rides didn't you do?" "Mad Hatter Teacups and It's A Small World.")

I want to thank all my friends and family for believing in me and sending their positive vibes my way. I felt really good going into this race about breaking the 2-hour mark, and am very happy with how it turned out. My next full marathon is less than 4 weeks away, and I expect that one will also be a great race.

Official Time: 1:56:21
Total Races: 17
YTD Race Miles: 141.9
YTD Total Miles: 937.6
Worst Part of the Weekend: The booth in the big Disney shop at Downtown Disney selling half marathon merchandise, including finisher's Tshirts and slightly-smaller-than-the-real-deal finisher medal replicas!! Seriously?! What the hell did I just run that race for if just anybody can buy one of those?!