Dumbo Double Dare 2015 Half Marathon! *Completed*

[cavepig]

Disneyland half marathon weekend! First trip report too, so we'll see how this goes!


Intro:

We ran the WDW marathon in January so decided to go Coast to Coast & Dumbo! This is our 2nd visit to Disneyland, the last was 8 years ago, so Carsland was new to us!

The trip included myself and younger brother. We grew up in a Disney-a-holic family & have lost track of our WDW visits, but only started running Run Disney races in 2014 with the Expedition Everest Challenge! That hooked us. We both have been running since high school cross country, so about 22 years for me! In January I had the flu (just not cool & was sick for a month with it) & he had a pulled calf muscle so it was refreshing going in healthy to these races.


Day 1 - Fly, Expo & DCA

We arrived at 9:50am on Friday and caught the 10:30am Disneyland Express to the Grand Californian. We bought the vouchers with our package, so it was easy peasy. Other runners on the plane & bus, so cool!

We checked in and our room wasn't ready so checked our bags with Bell Services & were in DCA before we knew it! Grabbed a Radiator Springs FP, rode Screamin' & ate lunch at Cocina Cucamonga. Pretty good & filling!




We got a text our room was ready at 3:15pm so we headed back & got our suitcases put in our room, and then headed to the EXPO. Got our bibs (no wait) & Dumbo Picture that were located in the garage area, then went up to the convention hall to get our shirts & gear bag. Then we walked around the expo booths and hit the official merchandise (no wait to get in). Dumbo I Did it shirts and lots of other stuff was sold out. I did get a Coast to Coast shirt but they were out of L & XL Men so my brother didn't get one, sad!

Grand Californian room



Bib Pick up, Dumbo was on the end, no line.




Listened to Sean Astin speak a little.


Sold out racks of I did It shirts. They only had Half I did it left.



Headed back to DCA and ate dinner at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta. We enjoyed it. Rode Radiator Springs at night with our FP & some other things then headed back to the resort about 7:00pm. Of course had trouble falling asleep later as we gained 2 hours coming from Nebraska, note for future races bring movies we know we can fall asleep too.



Next up the 10k! Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Yay, glad you're doing a report!

We were at the expo first thing Thursday...I can't believe how empty it is in your pictures! That really stinks that they sold out of stuff so fast.

Jealous that you got to stay at the Grand...that is definitely on my wishlist!

Looking forward to your thoughts on the 10K

 

[pamster]

Yay for a trip report! Congrats on your Coast to Coast!

(By the way, am I the only one who can't see any photos? )

 

[cavepig]

Day 2 - 10k & Disneyland

Wake-up call was at 3:25am, actually not too bad waking up. Ate some Great Grains Cereal with chocolate milk and orange juice and used the in room coffee pot. This is how I eat most mornings so I knew it would sit well. Got dressed and headed out the door about 4:25am to Downtown Disney and followed the crowds towards the Staging Area.

I was Mary Poppins - "...Spoonful of Sugar...& Every RUN you undertake becomes a PIECE OF CAKE" Oh, and my 1 compression sleeve is for a shin splint. I love the Zensah sleeves.




Stood around then realized we could head to the corrals, so wandered up to Corral A, we were both in A for the 10k. We were near the front, behind a barefoot runner (that is crazy, but if it works go for it).




5:30am & we are off! For half a second my brother & I ran together, but then he was way ahead of me in no time. Lots of people passed me, but I ended up running my fastest mile in a long time. I didn't run into any problems with having to get around people.


The first 2 miles are past the Anaheim Convention Center and outside the parks, not much to see, but with all the people it was easy to be distracted. NOTE: I do not like the round bumps in the road on the lines, I kept ending up on them & thought I would trip.

Saw Sean Astin running, he must have passed me later on as his time is faster and I see him at the finish already done. He seems like a great guy & we had just finished watching all the Lord of the Rings before the trip, so that was kind of neat.

Mile 1 marker I think was Jafar, it was on the way other side of the road so I missed a picture.


Then we were in DCA for mile 3 and I stood in line for a World of Color Mickey Fun wheel picture, but then hopped out (I tend to do this with icons, why?, I don't know. I think I want to wait, but then decide why bother I'll get it later with my medal on). I just took a picture without me, good enough.



The Lotso line was probably my longest wait, about 2 minutes maybe, people were taking too long posing & taking multiple pictures ahead of me. My thing is take your picture & go!



Stopped for these Villains crew people & the parade float.




Continued in next post

 

[cavepig]

Day 2 10K Continued...

Running in the Hollywood area at DCA, reminds me of Studios at WDW a little bit.





Then we crossed over into Disneyland to find mile 4 & 5 markers. Again, I stopped for an icon picture by the Partners statue, but then hopped out of line, why do I do this?


I felt pretty good so ran "my race pace" between characters. The course was flying by I thought & kept telling myself not to go crazy as I had the half tomorow.





My favorite photo I think...this was a great stop!


Loved the Custodial crew out there cheering us on.




Continued in next post

 

[cavepig]

Day 2 10K continued...






Then we were in Downtown Disney and found mile 6 marker. Lots of people out cheering. This flew by and then there was the finish!



Net time 1:02:10 (I don't keep track of how long I waited for pictures). Very happy, I haven't raced a 10k in years.




Got my medal, water, Powerade & snack box then met up with my brother waiting at our predetermined spot of near the Massage Tent.
Passed through Downtown Disney and watched people running, that was fun.

Continued in next post

 

[cavepig]

Day 2 10k Continued ....

Then went up to the room & took a nice hot shower (NOTE: the Grand's shower/tub floor was slippery, I slipped bad the first time but caught myself every other time)

Snack box stuff, so random, but the corn chips hit the spot.


Our view, we could see people still on course, pretty cool!



We then went to Disneyland in time for Rope Drop. Road some rides. Then ate lunch at the Hungry Bear. The fried green tomato sandwich was delicious. Watched the canoes (which we will ride after the half on Sunday).





Road more rides, watched Moments with Mr. Lincoln even. That's the main thing I missed was more "just sit inside rides" like at Magic Kingdom, such as Country Bears, Carrousel of Progress or even the TTA. Tiki Birds was a good sit, but oh my those lines for Dole Whips were crazy long and made the whole entrance a little chaotic. We do love Indiana Jones.


Ate dinner at Red Rocket's Pizza Port in Tomorrowland. The pasta was a little gummy but not terrible.





Rode a few more rides, saw the Soundsational parade because we got stuck by it trying to get to Small World. The parade was cute, but we really enjoyed finding the Characters put in throughout Small World, like Cinderella, Mulan, etc. Then we took the Monorail out about 6:30pm maybe. Toured the resort, watched the end of Nemo & beginning of Tarzan as they were on TV. Slept well luckily.



Oh & in our room there was a Disney Resorts SPa H2O softening Mint Foot Rub - so I went ahead and used it all over my feet, felt great.

Next up Half & DCA
Continued in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Yay for a trip report! Congrats on your Coast to Coast!

(By the way, am I the only one who can't see any photos? )

Oh no, I'm just uploading through here, hopefully you can see them at some point. Thanks!

 

[cavepig]

Yay, glad you're doing a report!

We were at the expo first thing Thursday...I can't believe how empty it is in your pictures! That really stinks that they sold out of stuff so fast.

Jealous that you got to stay at the Grand...that is definitely on my wishlist!

Looking forward to your thoughts on the 10K

The Grand was very nice & that entrance into DCA was very cool to use. We stayed at Paradise Pier last time. We normally stay at POP at WDW so this was a nice treat, but I missed having a big food court & refillable mugs! At least we didn't have to wait for merchandise, although we only bought a shirt each, since he couldn't get a Coast to Coast he got a blue Dumbo one, the one nobody buys since they had plenty, but it's pretty neat.

 

[pamster]

You took so many fabulous pictures!!! I was way in the back of corral D, so I couldn't even see the stage and then missed a bunch of characters, it seems. But your report makes up for all of that!

 

[Slogger]

Disneyland half marathon weekend! First trip report too, so we'll see how this goes!

Awesome that you are doing a TR!! Looking forward to reading about your adventures and seeing all the pics. Thanks for sharing!

 

[cavepig]

You took so many fabulous pictures!!! I was way in the back of corral D, so I couldn't even see the stage and then missed a bunch of characters, it seems. But your report makes up for all of that!

I tried to take lots of photos and video clips so actually never even put my camera in my belt. The hardest is in the dark deciding to actually stop so it won't turn out blurry. I love seeing others photos from the races so figured I wanted to share too.

Awesome that you are doing a TR!! Looking forward to reading about your adventures and seeing all the pics. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for following along. I love how on here is where others get the Run Disney thing.

 

[cavepig]

Day 2 - Half Marathon & DCA


Wake-up call was at 3:25am again & I did the same thing as the day before. Entered Corral B around 4:45 probably. Luckily, didn't feel terribly sore or anything from the 10k the day before. My knees were a little achy so I applied some bio freeze on them right before starting, I had a little packet in my pocket along with 2 Clif Energy Gels . I was Dumbo "the Magic Feather was just a Gag, You can RUN!" - a little hard to read on the gray shirt.









5:30am & Corral A started (I had set my phone to receive runner tracking for both of us, so it went off alerting me my brother had started. I liked doing this then I knew right away our timing chips were working). The corral A runners were leaking out of their gate so it took a few minutes for them all to get through. We were walked up to the start & it was about 8 minutes later that Corral B started! I got bumped at the start as people took off, but nothing too crazy luckily.

We entered Carsland of DCA around mile 1, I think, seeing all the lights is pretty cool.




Continued in Next post

 

[cavepig]

Day 3 Half Marathon continued...

I again stopped for a World of Color icon picture, but hopped out of line.



Not too long and the first characters I saw were out - Robin Hood & Prince John, I had to stop. It was about a 2.5-3 minute wait maybe. I saw more characters, but they were a lot of the same villains I saw the day before but plus their Hero counterpart. I decided not to stop today, instead stopped for other photos. I wish I had stopped for Frollo, but oh well. When I saw him he was alone, but I guess Esmerelda joined him at times.






We left DCA & entered Disneyland, and saw the mile 2 marker.




I stopped to meet this very sweet horse! He kept nuzzling his head into me. Glad I stopped here.



Continued in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Disneyland Half continued...


We went backstage, but the entered Disneyland again into Toontown. Rolled my ankle at some point, but I've done it enough in the past I caught myself from falling luckily. Could have the course a little off during this part as we weaved around a lot through the park.










I saw these signs for photo ops by Small World, so stopped and waited in line for one, it was taking a while, but the noticed a girl with another sign with no line, so quickly changed to her. I guess that was a nice break, but wish I had seen the no line person sooner, oh well.




Fairly quickly we were at Mile 4 and out of the parks. While that seemed sad to know we had no more park time, it actually was pretty fun as there was a lot out on the course from bands, dancers, cheerleaders, & people cheering. We train on lots of hills where we live so the few hills were not bad. Oh and a runner passed by in a full Belle dress, wow that was cool but too much for me.


Continued in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Disneyland Half Continued...



Miles 5-7 passed by fairly quickly. I did eat one of my Clif Energy Gels about mile 4.5 as I was needing a bit of a boost. Right after eating it was a water stop so washed it down with water. Most other stops I took powerade and walked to drink it, otherwise I just spill it all over.

a blurry Mile 5










Mile 8 came with about a mile worth of old cars & the Honda Center. This was a great distraction. I felt pretty good still with no major issues luckily.




Contiuned in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Disneyland Half Continued...





We entered the Santa Ana Trail dried up riverbed. It was dirt & small gravel, which I liked since it was softer than the roads. Then we were back on pavement fairly quickly with a small hill. *** Here was where a rude lady, told me to "Watch out" and pushed me a little. Guess she was trying to push her way through even though it was not that crowded, so I just powered up the hill fast and lost her as she couldn't keep up. I'm not sure what her problem was or why some people feel they have the right to move you on course (as I had a lady do that during the Jan Marathon at WDW).







Mile 9 and the Clif Energy Gel stop came up & we could see Angel Stadium coming up. I grabbed a couple enery gels.






Continued in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Disneyland Half continued...




Then we ran into Angel Stadium. This was amazing with the crowd's loud cheering. I saw Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in the stands too. That went by very fast even with having to slow down as it got a little crowded going through the small space.






The sun was out in full force and it was hot, but luckily we had hot & humid weather leading up to the races to train in so it didn't feel terrible. I did see a person in a full head to toe Buzz Lightyear costume, that had to be warm, neat but warm. Mile 10 came and I was feeling good but needed a boost so I ate another energy gel and drank water at the water stop. I prefer water right after an energy gel versus Powerade, it washes it down better.




Mile 11 marker



Continued in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Disneyland Half Continued...


Saw "Disney Way" sign and Tower of Terror towering over everything. We were getting close to the finish. I grabbed Powerade at the last water stop somewhere.




Mile 12 marker was the last photo & video I took as I decided I should just run to the finish so stashed my camera in my belt.


Saw the Mile 13 marker with lots of people cheering and 'sprinted' into the finish. Wow, and just like that it was over.

Net time: 2:06:34 (I was happy with it & my 10k time, they'll be future Proofs of time)


Received my half medal. Walked in to the Dumbo Double Dare tent where I walked over a mat and maybe that pulled my picture up so the worker could verify it was me as he just said "you're ok" and then another worker put the Dumbo medal on me and my Coast to Coast medal.





Grabbed a water & Powerade bottle, got one of those cool towels (really nice to wipe my face), snack box, took a picture with the half backdrop (I guess I missed the Dumbo one, oh well).




Met my brother at the massage tent and then we headed back to the room, stopping to watch some other runners finish!



Continued in Next Post

 

[cavepig]

Disneyland Half Continued & DCA...

The Medals. I really liked the designs of them all. Oh & the Snack Box & cool towel behind it.


Cleaned up, kind of stretched but not really, put Bio Freeze all over my legs & went into DCA. Got a Radiator Springs FP, rode in single rider, went to Screamin', and then ate lunch at Flo's. I had the Veggie Tater Bake, it was really good.






Went on more rides, took a short break back at the room. Rode Grizzly Rapids, I think I prefer Kali at Animal Kingdom, but it was still fun. Saw Goofy, who doesn't liked to be asked if he likes dog bones, oops! Met Oswald & Olaf. Rode the Red Car Trolley & did Monsters again.



Ate dinner at Paradise Garden Grill, but my brother got a corn dog at the Corn Dog place.



Finally got on Goofy's Sky Coaster as it had been down a lot. Rode Radiator Springs again, that ride is really cool with the large animatronics! Rode the Ferris Wheel (non spinning as that was just too scary when we did it last time). Love the views from up on it.




Rode Heimlich's Ride again & watched It's Tough to Be a Bug (a nice good sit). Not a fan of the other Bug's Area rides, too much spinning for me.

Used our World of Color fastpass to go into the Blue area. It was stuffy standing there waiting for it to start. I didn't love World of Color, it was just okay to me. The attraction & movie parts were neat, but I thought Neil Patrick Harris singing and riding cars was weird in it.



All the walking in the parks helped me not get too stiff during the day, but I was feeling a little sore in the hamstrings & quads.


Next up a full day at Disneyland!