2015 Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend ** Check-In ** May 7-10, 2015

[VickiHD]

Done but my heal is really hurting. Stayed under pace requirement but I'm hurting. I don't want this 10k to ruin my Perfect Pixie Status. I'm worried for tomorrow.

 

[Miranda]

Ugh 4am! I was going to leave the hotel at 4:45. I really don't want to be standing on my feet for 2 hours before I have to run for 3 more. (estimating my corral won't get going until 6) I've had too much feet time already probably in the parks the last 2 days!

I wish they'd put more in the booklet about what to do and where to go to get in the corrals. There's nothing really in there about that unless I completely missed it.

 

[kim3339]

Ugh 4am! I was going to leave the hotel at 4:45. I really don't want to be standing on my feet for 2 hours before I have to run for 3 more. (estimating my corral won't get going until 6) I've had too much feet time already probably in the parks the last 2 days!

I wish they'd put more in the booklet about what to do and where to go to get in the corrals. There's nothing really in there about that unless I completely missed it.

How'd your feet do?

 

[Belle Ella]

Vicki, how did you end up doing during the half? I hope your heel held up and that everything was OK.

Miranda, hope your feet held up well! As for the corrals, they have the map that shows the staging area/corrals with an arrow pointing in the direction of how to enter them. But you're right, they don't give you much specifics. For future reference, the 10K corrals usually open up an hour before the start of the race and the 1/2 corrals an hour and a half (I was talking with them about it this morning while they were setting up - they were running a little behind). I'm an early-bird and always get to the corrals as soon as I can (first person this morning) so I can try to answer any future questions you may have.

 

[Belle Ella]

Kim! How did you do?

 

[kelly 1]

Very happy with everything! Home in bed now! Dead tried those early mornings up at 2:45 due to my stomach. It was perfect we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and we were in the Frontier Tower just out the back door to the stage area. I did make it too the meeting place but mess up didn't see you table of ladies until you were leaving spotted the purple star burst capris. The heat got to me on the half today about 2 miles from end. Last water station a man came up to me I guess I must have been pretty white I was dumping water on myself , a volunteer man dumped a couple of cups over my shoulder. I got better right away so I was just over heating. But all is good received my PDC medal! Happy Pixie Dust to everyone!

 

[Miranda]

Miranda, hope your feet held up well!

They are pretty darn sore My apple health app says we covered about 3-4 mi on Thurs, about 10 on Fri, and about 8 yesterday. Today I am at 25.31 Maybe I should have done a lap of Downtown Disney after World of Color to hit 26.2??

They weren't too sore this morning though and that's all that counts. We ended up walking over at 4:50 and were a little confused about where to go. We followed the flow up to F before I realized we should have walked in the back of G right at the intersection after crossing from the Anabella.

We did not get started in G until 6:20 It was SO HOT by the end. I had a really rough last 3-4 miles but I finished.

 

[VickiHD]

Vicki, how did you end up doing during the half? I hope your heel held up and that everything was OK.

I did it !!!
I rolled, iced, wore the compression heel thing last night woke up this morning and was much better. I could actually walk without limping. Today I wore different socks and the compression thing with lots of Advil.
Very glad I did PDC but I think this will be my one and only challenge.

 

[VickiHD]

Kim
Did you dress like Wendy for the 10k?

 

[kirstie101]

How'd your feet do?

Kim - How did YOU do?

I did it !!!
I rolled, iced, wore the compression heel thing last night woke up this morning and was much better. I could actually walk without limping. Today I wore different socks and the compression thing with lots of Advil.
Very glad I did PDC but I think this will be my one and only challenge.

I'm glad you did it Vicki!!!!!

I've loved reading about everyones weekend! Keep the recaps coming ladies!

How were the crowds in the parks on SAturday and Sunday? Was it a nightmare or was it doable?

 

[kirstie101]

Aw, good luck tomorrow! Just keep telling yourself you can do it. Find a buddy on the course and encourage each other!

I am officially signing off for the rest of the weekend. Please remember to stop by Tangaroa Terrace at 2:30 today! Wear a blue ribbon/bracelet/something on your wrist if you can. I unfortunately lost mine, but I'll be there wearing my purple starburst running capris if that helps any. Hope to see a few of you there!

How did you do????

 

[Belle Ella]

Very happy with everything! Home in bed now! Dead tried those early mornings up at 2:45 due to my stomach. It was perfect we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and we were in the Frontier Tower just out the back door to the stage area. I did make it too the meeting place but mess up didn't see you table of ladies until you were leaving spotted the purple star burst capris. The heat got to me on the half today about 2 miles from end. Last water station a man came up to me I guess I must have been pretty white I was dumping water on myself , a volunteer man dumped a couple of cups over my shoulder. I got better right away so I was just over heating. But all is good received my PDC medal! Happy Pixie Dust to everyone!

i was in the Frontier tower for Star Wars back in January - couldn't have asked for a better location! Plus we were directly next to the elevator AND the ice machine. I was in heaven all weekend long (and didn't have any extra noise that kept me awake either).

It was a pretty quick meet up. I know Vicki and I really discussed trying to do something a little more planned out next year and we're going to work on some plans, I'm sure. So if you're back next year we'll have something more fleshed out, including how to recognize us. I know I had to leave by 3:15 to make the Facebook group meet up so I had to leave pretty quickly, but it was so great to meet a few of us.

The weather was pretty perfect this weekend, but it did get pretty warm during the half!

I did it !!!
I rolled, iced, wore the compression heel thing last night woke up this morning and was much better. I could actually walk without limping. Today I wore different socks and the compression thing with lots of Advil.
Very glad I did PDC but I think this will be my one and only challenge.

Woooooo! I'm so glad you were able to pull it off, you seemed pretty worried about it yesterday. And now you can check the challenge off your list and no need to do it again unless you're crazy like me and still randomly decide to because ... well, bling.

How did you do????

I will say that this was the hardest half marathon for me to finish. I was in a lot of pain by mile 7. I could keep moving forward, either running or walking, but switching from one to the other took a lot of mental pushing. But I kept my 1/1 intervals the whole way through except for the photos I stopped for. But I finished, I got my medals, and then I did enough recovery yesterday that I can actually walk right now. But this weekend I had the time of my life. I met so many wonderful people. I made friends while waiting in the expo line before it opened on Thursday morning and ran into them all weekend long, I started at the front of corral c for both the 10K and the half with the same few people and we had so much fun chatting it up, I got to meet a few DIS ladies, had fun at a HUGE Facebook meet up (and won a mug in a raffle), and just so much more!

Now I'm super excited about the 5th anniversary next year!

 

[kelly 1]

Yes I'm coming back next year! I am bring a lady from our running group it is her 70th birthday in February so her present to herself is to run the 10k at Tinkerbell. She asked me to go with her " How could I say no". So proud of this lady she started running about 3 years ago. Started with our learn to run 10k program. So gang I will be there and I will enter the PDC again. It was a challenge heat got to me in last 2 miles in the half. Have to think about how to deal with the heat for Dumbo Challenge in September. Staying back in the same stop it was perfect!

 

[kim3339]

Kim! How did you do?

Good thanks! Saturday was a little hard, just b/c for some reason wasn't too into it once it started. I think it was partly b/c I was focusing on getting back to the room to make sure I got everything I needed to do before we left for the kids races and concentrating on the 1/2.

5k was a blast even w/ the rain, love running in the rain. Kind of a surreal moment post race, walked out of DCA and over to look in DL b/c it was all closed again and there was no one around but 2 workers on the train and so peaceful and quiet; then noticed the time at 6:15 and thought how completely different it was going to be in 2 weeks w/ the gates opening for the 24 hour party.

They are pretty darn sore My apple health app says we covered about 3-4 mi on Thurs, about 10 on Fri, and about 8 yesterday. Today I am at 25.31 Maybe I should have done a lap of Downtown Disney after World of Color to hit 26.2??

We did not get started in G until 6:20 It was SO HOT by the end. I had a really rough last 3-4 miles but I finished.

That's a lot of miles! I'm always scared to wear a tracker during race weekend, too many miles.
How'd the shoes work? Any problems w/ blisters again?

I was feeling the sun too. I didn't have a problem w/ the temps, it was just the sun being on you and no shade. Definitely missing the 5am and lateness of the sunrise from Jan.

I did it !!!
I rolled, iced, wore the compression heel thing last night woke up this morning and was much better. I could actually walk without limping. Today I wore different socks and the compression thing with lots of Advil.
Very glad I did PDC but I think this will be my one and only challenge.

Yay! Congrats!

Kim
Did you dress like Wendy for the 10k?

I did! I tried curling my hair, but didn't work too well w/ the larger curling iron and shorter hair, but still was okay.

Kim - How did YOU do?

How were the crowds in the parks on SAturday and Sunday? Was it a nightmare or was it doable?

Good thanks! You HAVE to come and run it next year with us!!

Crowdwise I'd say we need 1 more weekend to be able to judge well. Saturday they had the Tomorrowland movie premier and blue carpet so people were there for that and they closed the Tomorrowland section early for that so crowds were busy there and if that weren't enough, they debuted the Hatbox Ghost in HM! We got into the parks around 11, HM had lines around the tree in front, but were only 45 min and fp up and running, POC was 30-45 b/c fp people were there while waiting. Jungle Cruise wasn't too bad, but Fantasy was a little crowded. Can't help w/ yesterday, we were trying to go for a couple of hours, but when we tried to get to the parking garage traffic was bad on Ball just opening back up and we couldn't get into Mickey and Friends so by the time we got back to Katella where we were it was already 11:40 and we had to drive home, so no parks yesterday.

Now I'm super excited about the 5th anniversary next year!

PERFECT PIXIES!!!!

Congrats on finishing everybody!!

 

[Miranda]

That's a lot of miles! I'm always scared to wear a tracker during race weekend, too many miles.
How'd the shoes work? Any problems w/ blisters again?

I did end up wearing the new shoes, and I broke the cardinal rule of nothing new on race day... I bought socks at the expo and wore them during the race. But it worked out ok. I got 4 pairs of the ones where they were selling the Thorlo socks for buy 3 get 1 free, and wore a pair around Friday night with the newer shoes to see how they would work out, and I thought they would be ok so I decided to go with it because the cushion on the newer shoes really does feel better. The Nimbus 17 is a lot squishier than the 15. I did get a blister on my big toe, kind of near where one of the previous ones was, but I am not sure I wouldn't have gotten one there anyway, my foot is weird there. It didn't bother me too much during the run... I didn't start feeling it until like 7 or 8, and it never got too bad.

I was feeling the sun too. I didn't have a problem w/ the temps, it was just the sun being on you and no shade. Definitely missing the 5am and lateness of the sunrise from Jan.

Coming from NH, I was really missing the weather that we had Thur/Fri/Sat! That would have been a lot more preferable!! Although Thur was a little windy. A friend that I was here with did the Pixie Dust and she said the weather was really pleasant for it on Sat.

Crowdwise I'd say we need 1 more weekend to be able to judge well. Saturday they had the Tomorrowland movie premier and blue carpet so people were there for that and they closed the Tomorrowland section early for that so crowds were busy there and if that weren't enough, they debuted the Hatbox Ghost in HM! We got into the parks around 11, HM had lines around the tree in front, but were only 45 min and fp up and running, POC was 30-45 b/c fp people were there while waiting. Jungle Cruise wasn't too bad, but Fantasy was a little crowded. Can't help w/ yesterday, we were trying to go for a couple of hours, but when we tried to get to the parking garage traffic was bad on Ball just opening back up and we couldn't get into Mickey and Friends so by the time we got back to Katella where we were it was already 11:40 and we had to drive home, so no parks yesterday.

Yesterday was pretty insane in DL... CA not as bad. We went over to DL at about 12:30 and walked the perimeter of the park and the only thing we managed to do before we needed to head to our 3:20 Carthay Circle reservation was see Mickey and the Magical Map and wait in line for 40+ min for Pirates. I had wanted to do HM again but we had no time after Pirates. We did see HM on Saturday. We were there at rope drop so that was kind of cool... there were a lot of Hatbox Ghost fans there, dressed up and everything.

 

[Belle Ella]

This year kind of throws everything off for judging how the move impacts crowds for race weekend. Like you mentioned Kim there was just so much going on that is out of the norm for any weekend be it a race weekend, regular weekend, holiday weekend, etc. Everything is so skewed because of the 60th, and then that movie premiere really threw everything off. Trying to get around on Saturday was such a royal pain! We had our small little DIS meet and then on my way over to the DL picnic area for the FB meet I thought I was going to go insane from all of the people dodging I and to do. I barely had any desire to stay in the park for fun yesterday. We had lunch at Carnation and then I went back home!

But part of that was because I was simply exhausted. Got home and passed out!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Because access to the Grand Californian during race weekend always seems to come up, I thought some might be interested in the voice mail we received just before 9PM on Friday night at the DGC. The message was that cars in DGC parking would not be available between Midnight and 7:30AM on Saturday or Sunday. If we needed our car during that time period, we were to move it to the Disneyland a Hotel parking (or if it was in valet, call to have the valet move it to DKH valet parking). It wasn't an issue for us, so we didn't move our car. -- Suzanne

 

[kim3339]

I did end up wearing the new shoes, and I broke the cardinal rule of nothing new on race day... I bought socks at the expo and wore them during the race. But it worked out ok. I got 4 pairs of the ones where they were selling the Thorlo socks for buy 3 get 1 free, and wore a pair around Friday night with the newer shoes to see how they would work out, and I thought they would be ok so I decided to go with it because the cushion on the newer shoes really does feel better. The Nimbus 17 is a lot squishier than the 15. I did get a blister on my big toe, kind of near where one of the previous ones was, but I am not sure I wouldn't have gotten one there anyway, my foot is weird there. It didn't bother me too much during the run... I didn't start feeling it until like 7 or 8, and it never got too bad.


Coming from NH, I was really missing the weather that we had Thur/Fri/Sat! That would have been a lot more preferable!! Although Thur was a little windy. A friend that I was here with did the Pixie Dust and she said the weather was really pleasant for it on Sat.




Yesterday was pretty insane in DL... CA not as bad. We went over to DL at about 12:30 and walked the perimeter of the park and the only thing we managed to do before we needed to head to our 3:20 Carthay Circle reservation was see Mickey and the Magical Map and wait in line for 40+ min for Pirates. I had wanted to do HM again but we had no time after Pirates. We did see HM on Saturday. We were there at rope drop so that was kind of cool... there were a lot of Hatbox Ghost fans there, dressed up and everything.

Glad the shoes and socks worked out! That weather would have been awesome! Sat was beautiful for running! I was colder yesterday pre-race than Sat and kept my garbage bag on until the start, but that was b/c the clouds were gone.

Oh my gosh, seeing the fans dressed up would have been so cool! I would have loved to see that. I saw a group at the Halloween party last year all dressed as the different ghosts from HM. Some people have so much talent and creativity!

 

[Belle Ella]

Parks were much better today! Went in for a little while when my rookie got off work for drinks at Cove Bar and we went on Tower of Terror (was hovering between a 15 and 25 minute wait) and then on Haunted Mansion so I could see the Hatbox Ghost. He's so cool! It was 20 minutes when we got in the queue and 10 when we got out!

 

[Miranda]

Oh my gosh, seeing the fans dressed up would have been so cool! I would have loved to see that. I saw a group at the Halloween party last year all dressed as the different ghosts from HM. Some people have so much talent and creativity!

My SO and I felt like total posers in line at rope drop with everyone that was clearly there to see the new ghost. I knew nothing about the ghost or that anything new was going to be going in until dinner on Friday night when one of my traveling companions told us that it was reopening with a new feature in the morning. All we knew is that on Friday we showed up to go on it because we never checked the closures and ran into the sign saying it was closed.