DL Half Marathoners Report HERE!

[Maherae]

Because we have a large contingent at DL, I thought a separate DL report thread would come in handy. Anxiously awaiting...

 

[Kristi1357]

Anxiously awaiting...

Me too!

 

[wfloyd]

Hope everyone has a good run. Now to wait for the reports...

Bill

 

[Big Vic]

Good luck everyone!

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I have been tracking the runners under DL 1/2 Live Results Thread.

Matt just finished!

Updated: I have been getting a few reports from runners that finished today saying how hot it was and they thought it was worse than the WDW 1/2 this year. Yikes! Need more details and picks!

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I have heard from some slower runners, that aid stations were out of Powerade I can't believe Disney allowed this to happen again after they promised this wouldn't happen again after the WDW disaster.

As a fellow RD, this is unexcusable

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I have some photos from a runner on my forum. I added them to my website at http://www.disneyrunning.com/07dlhalfphotomjk.html .

Enjoy!

 

[Hey Mickey]

I have heard from some slower runners, that aid stations were out of Powerade I can't believe Disney allowed this to happen again after they promised this wouldn't happen again after the WDW disaster.

As a fellow RD, this is unexcusable

oh, yes....by the 3rd or 4th stop, they were telling us they were out of powerade. And tbh, for the first few miles I was going at a decent pace and probably near the middle of the second wave (of three), No clifshots for us either. Honestly, it was ugly, I saw one poor woman being treated by the paramedics right outside of Californai Adventure headed to the finish line (around 12.5 miles into it). I definitely was having chills and hurting after 13 miles with pretty much only hot water....

But . . . I finished!!! And lived to tell the tale, too. I wasn't even DLF. I almost didn't make it to the start line, and in my head (it is such a mental game) I was considering taking a big ol' DNF and being happy I wasn't a DNS (honestly, I was concerned about being the sole responsible adult out here with two sons and being sick from the heat). But once we got through ANgel Stadium and I was safe from being swept, I figured I'd crawl across the finish line if I had to. Luckily, I did not have to -- I got a nice burst of energy when I came around the corner at mile 13 and saw Matt there in his bright green shirt cheering me on! WISHers rock!!!!

It was also great hearing all the great compliments on the shirt and having people tell me how inspiring the back was (especially because that meant there *were* people behind me!). Oh, and i met another DISer (but not a WISHer) and we sort of pulled each other through and . . . she wants to get in on this next shirt order!

I am back at the hotel, took a cool shower and a quick nap (this jet lag/time difference has been wreaking havoc on my sleep), and am now going to take my "I did it" shirt and my bling and go take my kids on some rides.

Not a day for PRs by any stretch . . .but next year I will make it to the family reunion area before everyone else is back at their hotels relaxing. So there! And hopefully this got me "back in the saddle" -- it was my first race and pretty much my first long run since my father passed away back in June. Now I just need to stay in running/training mode so I don't miss everyone at the finish line in January!

Hope everyone else has/had good runs!

Erica

 

[hrpufnsash]

Just wanted to go on your board and tell you again how much you helped me get through today. I also want to know how to become a WISHer.

I felt OK after the race and went into one of the cool shops. Well about 5 minutes later I was swimming in my head and had to plop right down on the floor of the Downtown Disney store. Apparently I had cooled down too fast.

I came home, slept, drank water and feel human - that is until my husband came in and told me the HIGH in Anaheim today is 106 and supposed to feel like 109.

It's all kind of a blur now.

Sasha

 

[chimera]

Wow...what awful conditions! I hope everyone made it through ok! Congrats to all of you for finishing in that kind of heat

 

[escape]

Oh, wow! I can't imagine - the heat, no Powerade. The heat you can't control. But, how can you run out of Powerade! Oh, wait...it's Disney. I sure hope they have their act together for the WDW half and full in January!

Sasha and Erika - glad you are ok.

Sasha!

Congrats to all our DL racers this weekend!

 

[TXBelle]

Great job WISH team! I am so sorry to hear about the heat and running out of Powerade and gu. Grr! Completely ridiculous!

Sasha- All you have to do to join the WISH team is indicate an interest to join so WELCOME! You are now a member of the WISH team! Please join us over on our weekly training thread.

Can't wait to hear from other WISH team members.

 

[Kim10110]

Hey everyone, it was kinda rough today, i landed up finishing a lil after 3 hours. I was happy bc i just had foot surgery 3 1/2 weeks ago but still kinda wish i did a lil better, but theres always next year . It was extramly hot. i dont think i ever sweated like that. well we landed back up at the hotel quick quick shower and on the road for over 7 hours. but we made it home . I didnt see anyone with wish shirts, i saw alot of lime green though next time i will have on a wish shirt. congrats to all!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hey Mickey]

Just wanted to go on your board and tell you again how much you helped me get through today. I also want to know how to become a WISHer.

I felt OK after the race and went into one of the cool shops. Well about 5 minutes later I was swimming in my head and had to plop right down on the floor of the Downtown Disney store. Apparently I had cooled down too fast.

I came home, slept, drank water and feel human - that is until my husband came in and told me the HIGH in Anaheim today is 106 and supposed to feel like 109.

It's all kind of a blur now.

Sasha

You are more than welcome, and thank *you* for everything.

Oh, guess what? Poof, you are a WISHer!

Sorry to hear about your post-race experience. At least it was in an air conditioned store? I practically crawled into my hotel room -- I brilliantly decided waiting for the tram would take too long. what a dork -- especially after that sprint to the finish line for no real reason. I totally collapsed for about 15 minutes -- my 9-year old actually unpinned my number for me so I wouldn't puncture myself if I rolled over. But like you, after a cool shower, some water, and a quick nap, I felt human again. In fact, walking around today i realized this is the best my leg muscles have ever felt after a race (my stomach is still feeling a little "special") -- not sure if it was because I finally got smart about not taking hot showers afterward or because of the oace, but for the first time, i can actually imagine being able to get up the day after a race and do another. Goofy '08, here I come! See you in WDW in '09, right?

Have a good trip home I;ll try to download pix and forward them to you in the next few days!

Erica

 

[lap3]

Hey everyone,
Just chiming in with my race report...Going into today, I knew that I wouldn't set any PRs. My goal was to just finish safely and, with any luck, under 3 hours. As you know, it's been extremely hot this week and today was no different. In addition, although we don't see too much humidity out here, the humidity level was a bit higher than usual. Nothing like what you folks have back east but still noticeable and a bit uncomfortable. I was definitely sweating much more than I normally do.

The first 7 miles were good, for me anyways. I managed a nice comfortable pace, no pain, and I really was going well. When the temps were going up and the miles were getting longer, I really started noticing that I was in for a long day. Maybe it's just me but the water stations seem to be few and far between. Each step was a motivation to get more water. The stretch going through an industrial area were just boring and I'm sure this made my day longer. Once we reached the Honda Center and Angel Stadium, everyone's morale around me just picked up. Why? Not because of seeing themselves on the jumbotron but the fact that we were getting closer and closer to finishing.

By mile 11 and 12, I was just literally crawling. I'd trot but I would eventually feel myself start to cramp up so I would eventually walk for a bit. The one thing I wanted to do is to be able to run through DTD to the finish line. I did and seeing my family and them cheering me on and them giving me kisses before the finish allowed me to have something resemble a finishing kick!

All in all, I finished (which was one goal) and I finished in under 3 hours which was another goal). Considering that I trained for only 1.5 months, have not paid much attention to my nutrition this summer, AND the heat was unbearable, I am more than pleased with the outcome. In fact, I'm very happy with the finish.

A couple of other notes...

I did, however, see a couple of people suffer some form of heat exhaustion. For that, I hope they were ok. In addition, I realize that some of you have voiced your displeasure about Disney running out of the diluted Powerade. To their defense, they did have water(at least when I stopped at each water station) and I was just as happy to have that. It's not an excuse for them and I hope they are able to plan better for next year. In fact, my suggestion to them would be to have water stations at every mile when conditions are this bad as opposed to every 1.5 miles.

Lastly, if there are any volunteers reading this....THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! Without you guys, gals, and kids, I wouldn't have been able to finish.

BTW, unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the DIS meet or see WISH runners on the course. I hope all of you had a great time as well. Until then, I hope to see all of you next year!

Thanks for reading...

 

[TEK224]

Congrats to all the DL finishers! Oh my, I'm getting the shakes just thinking about 100 degree weather for the race!

Terri

 

[Kristi1357]

Running out of Powerade?
You would have thought Disney learned their lesson after the '07 races in Florida!

Congrats to our WISHers!

 

[HMHunters]

Wow! You all are champions for finishing under race conditions like that. Congratulations!!!

 

[Hey Mickey]

Running out of Powerade?
You would have thought Disney learned their lesson after the '07 races in Florida!

Congrats to our WISHers!

Okay, now that it is the morning after and things are a little less "fuzzy," I reread my original post and wanted to clarify -- not every water stop was out of Powerade when I got to it. I know that there was definitely Powerade at the waterstop just before Angel Stadium because I chugged it too fast and it almost came back up on me, and there were definitely some others that still had Powerade as well in the second half. Its just that, as is human nature, one tends to remember the ones that didn't have Powerade more than the ones that did.

And I agree, the volunteers were fabulous. Especially considering that it really could not have been too much fun standing out there in that kind of heat for any length of time. Those guys rocked! And I was especially impressed with the high school marching band near the end, who were still playing their hearts out three hours later, despite their dark blue band shirts and heavy gleaming instruments.

But yes, given that they started the race with a warning about the heat and advised that there was a possibility that the warning flags (which started the race at orange, I think, for a heat advisory) might go red (turning off the timers) or black (stopping the race), and the heat wave had already been going on for several days beforehand, a few extra water stops and other precautions might have been a good idea. For example, they mighthave added some extra paramedics in those last 3.1 miles because i think people saw the end was in sight and just pushed themselves too hard.

Anyway, didn't mean to sound like I was just griping -- it was still a fun race (okay, except for the industrial park stretch) and I am already talking about next year.

Erica

 

[pigletliz]

Hi All,

Just a comment on running out of Powerade. I'm don't know what happened at the earlier stops, but I know Disney did increase extra water and Powerade, specifically due to the unprecedented heat. We had Powerade at our water stop the entire race (one of the later ones), but due to the heat, a lot of the runners were actually grabbing two cups or filling up their personal bottles. We mixed Powerade and filled cups until it was confirmed that the very last runner had past us. We never ran out, but we were scrambling to keep up with the demand since the middle and later runners just came in one long continuous wave (and trust me, we had filled tons of cups prior to the start.) Even though it looked like stations had a lot of people, they were used to set up tables, mix, pour drinks, distribute, clean up and cheer. We were exhausted, but we had a great time. The kid volunteers at my stop were just in awe of each of you. If we would have let them, they would have chased you down and personally handed you all a drink. Congrats to everyone. I did see a few of the lime green shirts.