All of my favorite signs were already mentioned, but I agree I loved the signs along the way! The "hot mess" people actually had squirt bottles and were spritzing people with water that wanted to be - god I loved them!
We stayed at Park Vue Inn, right across the street from the Disneyland entrance, and it was wonderful to not have to take a bus the whole time we were there. However, I couldn't believe how far everyone (including us) had to walk to get back to the hotels/buses after the race - it seemed like they should have had shuttles picking up at the Disneyland hotel.
I did the half in January 7 months pregnant (I walked, with a heart rate monitor on, with my dad right next to me the entire way, with a lot of training and doctor clearance, and promised I would stop if there was a problem at all). The minute I finished, I turned to my dad and said we were going to California and doing the coast to coast.
What I didn't realize is that having a (now) six month old would make training over the summer in Pennsylvania a lot harder than planned
So with no training the day of the race, and knowing I was starting at the front of Corral E so I had some lead time to get through it all, I am happy to report I have that beautiful C2C dangling proudly around my neck (and have some great pictures of me and my baby sharing it!) It wasn't pretty, but it's done.
I LOVED going through the parks - I decided I was going to go as fast as I could in the beginning while the parks were entertaining me so that if I tanked at the end, I would have enough time to make it slowly to the end, and that worked.
Personally, I like the disney world races better (and I've done most of them) because, even when you're not in the parks, there are characters around keeping you entertained. The cheeerleaders, bands, and classic cars were awesome and I'm so impressed with them trying to keep me going when I wanted to collapse, but I really needed some of the Disney-specific magic to get me through miles 8-12.
There were also a few stretches of the course where it was hot and sunny and we were running directly into the sun. I'm used to Disney World weather, but the California heat and lack of shade and air conditioning in general (through the parks, and on the race course) was brutal!
My 91 year old grandfather was along on the trip in January and proudly cheered me at the finish, and sadly he passed away since then. By mile 10 I knew I needed to finish for him and I was looking for anything to get me by. He was involved in boyscouts his entire life and when I walked into that stadium and there were boyscouts lining the area, I nearly broke down in tears.
There was nothing that beat crossing that finish line, collapsing on the parking lot, and cuddling up with my son to feed him.
Thanks for indulging me my sappiness
I don't know if I would do another Disneyland race, but I loved my time doing this one and that coast to coast medal was SO worth it. I remember signing up for the tower of terror 13k in 2008 and thinking there was no way I'd ever be able to finish 8 miles, especially at an 18 minute mile pace -and then seeing the coast to coast medal and knowing I needed to earn it one day. I'm really excited I was able to do it
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