i want adventure in the great wide somewhere - running journal! (comments welcome)

[superchime]

but it turns out (according to FaceBook) that the Dallas Airport and New Jersey are also within the 90 miles of Disneyland resort.

I can verify that the sky over Arizona(?) is also within 90 miles of Disneyland. I was so surprised when it let me join the queue.

 

[xjillianpaige]

I can verify that the sky over Arizona(?) is also within 90 miles of Disneyland. I was so surprised when it let me join the queue.

It's amazing how far 90 miles stretches!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge
Race Recap Part 3​

I'm trying to be REALLY efficient in writing this race/trip report so that I can get back to journaling about my Boston Marathon training. So let's dive into day 3 a.k.a. the Disneyland 5k!

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We woke up at like, 2:30 am-ish. Our goal was to be ready to go at 3:30 and we left closer to 3:45. I was hoping that with Disneyland being so much smaller we would be able to sleep in way more and get there a little bit later, but the 5:00 am start meant another early morning. We were about a mile from the entrance to the parks so we figured it would be about a 15-20 minute walk. I was dressed as Wanda this morning and the cold-ish temps meant throwaways! I borrowed a sweatshirt from Alex that she was getting rid of with Ruth Bader Ginsburg on it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Okay, we woke up and got dressed and left the hotel to walk to the start.

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While we were walking, a bus pulled over and the driver asked if we wanted a ride. "Are you serious?" we asked. She insisted! She said they were out earlier than normal to transport runners free of charge. So we hopped on and were dropped right off at the bus station in front of Disneyland. We asked her multiple times if it was free all weekend. "Yeah, free all weekend for runners." Amazing! Our mornings just got a bit easier. Well, this must have been a fever dream because we didn't see a single early morning bus heading to the start the next two mornings and later in the day we were told there was no free transportation. More on that later.

So we get dropped off and hop into the security line. At this point it's about 4:15 am and we are making zero forward movement. Just a total standstill. I hopped onto Facebook to see if anyone in the massive runDisney FB group had posted anything about what was happening. Apparently they started sending people through security but had to stop because the gates to Disneyland park were LOCKED. Like someone forgot to tell the parks that we were running a 5k through them and would need access! We were like... we hope that this isn't going to impact anything and we can start on time because they have 40 minutes to get everyone through security and into their start corrals.

Anyway, the gates were opened to the parks and we made it through security and began our walk past the train station and up Main Street to the castle where corral A is. Yeah. Corral A. There was a horrible mistake made somewhere because I am not a Corral A girlie. As we walked up Main Street I couldn't believe that there was space for all the runners - but clearly it's a much smaller race. The only bummer about where we started is we didn't run up Main St. for the race. Also looking back the course was less in the parks than I had realized. A solid mile is backstage.

Okay, so back to Corral A. Because we planned on walking this race we hung toward the back of the corral so that anyone who wanted to race could go toward the front. It was a pretty small group, though, and when they started us off under that balloon arch with zero fireworks everyone took off walking. Okay, not everyone, but there were a lot more people who crossed the line at a walk than I've ever seen toeing the line at a 5k. We took off at a very slow jog and then slowed to our walk.

Our goal was to enjoy this and take lots of pictures but the lines were so long it wasn't even worth it. I think we got in line for Lumiere and the Beast and it was taking so long we decided to bail and go back to the course. We did stop for Jack and Sally since it wasn't a bad line (no photopass - just people helping each other out). Since we were all dressed as superheroes (Sylvie, Steve Rogers, Spiderman, and Wanda) we decided to prioritize Marvel characters of which there were zero. So instead we stopped at the Avengers campus for some photos there and we also snuck into the area where Dr. Strange has his show and I did a little photoshoot in there with Jenna.

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I also got some nice photos on the course and at the finish. Not going to inundate you here with course photos. You see the costume. You get it.

After crossing the finish line balloon arch in Pixar Pier, we grabbed our snack boxes and emptied them all into a bag so that we could easily carry them back. Which brings me back to the buses.

Remember when I said the bus driver picked us up and told us it was free all weekend for runners and where to go to pick up the next bus? Yeah... we did that. We went to the bus stop 3 and waited for a bus. It came. The bus driver told us we would have to pay. I told her what we had been told that morning by another driver and she insisted that wasn't true and told me she would help me get the app and pay. I laughed at her, said "I'm not paying, I'm leaving" and walked off the bus. It's a mile, I can walk a freaking mile after a race.

So we walked back to the hotel. We didn't really break a sweat in the temps of mid-40s so we just changed into regular clothes, stopped at the hotel's continental breakfast, and drove back to the entrance of Disneyland for a full day at the parks!

The plan for the parks was rides. That's all we were doing, riding rides. We got Genie+ for the day and tapped in. Jenna and Alex managed all that so I have no idea what happened next. Also, as per usual, I may be wrong on what order we did things. This is from memory so I'm out here doing my best over a week later.

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What I do know is that we were like, 0 for 2 for the morning. Our first stop was Indiana Jones because it has a habit of breaking down. We get in line, we're basically walking on... it goes down. So we get out of line and decide to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday. We get to the stretching room and... it goes down. So we get out of the stretching room and leave the line and grab a return time for it. So then we get onto Pirates and ride that. Next we did Jungle Cruise (my favorite). Then we went to our Haunted Mansion Holiday return time and... it went down and we got an any-attraction pass. I think we decided to stop for coffee in tomorrowland because we were under-caffeinated and had time to kill before our Space Mountain lightning lane.

Soon enough it was time to hop across the street, so we stopped for a snack (the cheesy bread from Maurice's treats) and walked across to DCA. While we were there we did Guardians with a lightning lane maybe? Or it was a short wait. While we were on this ride, we heard a girl talking about "Vancouver" and "December" as we loaded on and we were like "... Are you seeing Taylor Swift?" Turns out we have tickets to the same show! We also did the Incredicoaster single rider line. And in the picture below you'll see the PURE JOY on my face. And Soarin' but not with a lightning lane. And a Web Slingers Lightning Lane!

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Somewhere in this we stopped for lunch at San Fransokyo and I got the Birria Tacos at Cocina Cucamonga. These were DELICIOUS. Greasy, but yummy.

Now, I know that this wasn't the right order because we hopped back and forth a few times, but I know that we did finally end our day at Disneyland because we finally rode Haunted Mansion Holiday and Indiana Jones.

Since we had driven and had the car, we stopped for dinner at Rubio's where it's sort of like a seafood based chipotle. I got a street corn bowl with rice and shrimp and lettuce and it was a little spicy. We brought it back to the hotel and ate it there. What was nice is that we also were able to keep the bags to store all of our post-race stuff in. (This also reminds me that in my post for day 2, I said we went to bed after checking into our hotel. That's half true. After checking in, my friends went to get a few groceries and Subway for dinner but I wasn't hungry and was very tired, so I laid out my 5k clothes and got ready and into bed while they did those errands.)

Okay, so we ate the Rubios and then laid out our 10k clothes and got into bed, once again, a little later than we wanted to.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge
Race Recap Part 4​

Don't tell anyone, but I'm writing these in a draft to myself in my email instead of working. That way all I have to do is copy and paste, format, and add photos!

We are on Day 4 a.k.a. 10k day!

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The day before (on 5k day) I was texting a girl named Laura who is a friend of a friend. She's in book club with my friend from high school who connected me with Laura because, as she said, we had a ton in common. Laura's running journey looks a lot like mine, from first marathons to Dopey to Chicago to this weekend.

I knew that Laura was going to be here for the race so I texted to see which ones she was doing. She said she was signed up for the Challenge so we would both be running the 10k and half! We realized that her hotel was just 5 minutes away from ours and she was on a short solo trip (she's a teacher) so I invited her to join us for the walk to the start.

So, our alarms went off at 2:30 am again and we all got dressed and covered ourselves in glitter. This morning we were Flora, Fauna and Merryweather and Eric was the dragon Maleficent, but specifically he was the Maleficent that caught on fire at Fantasmic. But making flames and attaching them to his clothes was too much effort, so we didn't bother.

I met Laura outside and we all walked together to the start. We got through the security line fine and then split up as Laura was in a corral further behind and we were in corral A. Again. Which again... seemed wrong.

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We hung out in the very back of Corral A so that anyone who wanted to race the race wouldn't be impeded by us. I ate a PB&J for breakfast (we did PB&J each morning for breakfast) and we met up with a coworker of Jenna and Alex who was very fast and racing the 10k. Since we were not racing, we really tried to stay back and cross the start line last within our corral. We jogged a little bit and then pulled over to the far right to start walking and watched as everyone in corral B soon caught and passed us.

I found myself much colder during this race than the day before, and I don't think I was wearing clothing that was any less thick. In fact, I thought I would be warmer in these clothes, but maybe it was colder in general this morning than the morning of the 5k.

Not much to report on from the first mile and a half or so since it was pretty much all backstage. Looking at my map, we came in through the Avengers campus and wound our way through DCA and then back outside and across the street to wind our way through Disneyland.

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I think this race used the parks really well. Lots of winding in and out of lands and just good fun. We pulled over for a photo with a statue of Mickey and Walt in DCA and a photo with the castle in Disneyland. Laura had actually caught up to us in Batuu, so she took our castle photo and we took one of her.

More running through the rest of Disneyland and then we were backstage and on our way out to the finish line for the final mile and change!

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After the 10k we again collected all of our medals and snacks and emptied them into bags and began walking to the hotel since there was nothing to do post-race. No photos. Nada. A park was not on the agenda for this morning, so we decided to stop for Starbucks. Along with everyone else. It was about a 30 minute wait for our order so Jenna and Alex stayed behind to get our drinks while Eric and I went back to the room to change, that way we weren't all fighting for the bathroom at once.

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Our plans were literally just to eat breakfast and nap before going out into Anaheim a little bit. Jenna and Alex came back with our coffees and we all ate breakfast, drank coffee, then went into the room for our nap.

Not much to report on the nap. I slept for probably an hour, the others maybe two? When we all woke up we had five tasks: CVS for hand warmers, lunch, Walmart for a few more throwaways, the Villains brewery, and dinner.

CVS was quick. We each got a set of hand warmers for the next morning. Then we stopped in at Blaze Pizza, which was next to the Starbucks, and we each made our own custom pizza (I did a half pizza and half salad). Walmart was also a quick and easy task. I got a gray sweatshirt that I was honestly sad to throw away because it was really soft and only $8. Then we went to the Villains Brewery!

It wasn't far from Disneyland, just on the other side of the major highway. We didn't have to wait to get in, either. Jenna and Alex got a flight, Eric got an IPA, and I got a mango sour with a tajin rim. It was yummy! We played card games and made friendship bracelets and watched a little bit of the Taylor Swift Football Game. Alex made a friendship bracelet that said Villains for our server and she LOVED it. Trading friendship bracelets was fun this weekend! Lots of joy from it.

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We also shared some fries. We did this basically until dinner time and then we went across the street to the Anaheim Packing District to grab dinner since it's basically a giant food hall. I got shrimp pad thai. I wanted sushi but the sushi place had limited options and I just wanted a simple, not spicy, tuna maki. And they were like "sorry only spicy." Annoying since there was a hand roll that wasn't spicy but they said they couldn't do the non-spicy tuna in a maki roll.

The shrimp pad thai was good. We brought it back to the hotel to eat so that we could also lay out our clothes and pack for the next day since we were checking out of the hotel after the half marathon.

Not the most exciting of updates! We ate food and went to sleep because we had another early morning... in fact, we only had early mornings on this trip. No rest for the wicked.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge
Race Recap Part 5​

It's the last day of races! Half marathon day! I'll hopefully capture my thoughts on the weekend as a whole throughout this. I think I've touched on some of it in the other posts, but this will be my final space for good, healthy, constructive feedback (that runDisney will never see because let's be real, now).

So again, an early wake up. We wanted to be in the front of the corral this morning, so our goal was to leave the hotel earlier since there had been so many security snafus this weekend. So we had everything laid out and ready to go in the morning and I was able to dress pretty quickly.

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Laura met up with us again for the walk to the start. Now we knew where we were going so we cut through the Toy Story Parking Lot. We were toward the front of security and made it through quickly, and then we stood outside the entrance for Corral D (Laura split off to her corral further back).

We were right at the front and the volunteers managing it named us as the official "front" of the "line." So my group took turns stopping in at the porta potty line while we waited.

ETA: I was just reading a report and realized that I forgot to say that while we waited, we looked over at security. When we went through, we had to open our bags pass them through and take off mylar and all that. Well, lines must have gotten really long because at one point we all looked over and they were just having everyone hold their crap above their head and walk through the detectors. Seems like they just gave up entirely and wanted to get people into the staging area. Not really the safest security...

As we stood there, we watched the crowd get bigger and the corrals behind us were opened and began to fill in. Our team of volunteers told us we would be let in at 4:00 am. And then 4:00 am rolls around. Corrals A, B, and C are allowed to walk alongside our corral to head to their corrals and they begin to fill in. Our corral? Nothing.

I'm checking my watch. I'm making eye contact with the volunteers. I'm looking at the other corrals, then the volunteers, then the other corrals. The only thing I didn't do was say, "Hello!? It's 4 a.m. Corrals are open. The other corrals are all open."

All of a sudden, these two women come BARRELING next to me and my group, DEMAND that the volunteers open the corral, and then PUSH ALEX TO GET BY HER AND SPRINT TO THE FRONT. So entitled.

I refused to run to the front. My friends jogged. I was still at the front with them without running. We all sat down and I opened my handwarmers. I ate my PB&J. And we waited. And waited. And waited. I remember being tired and a little nauseous. These early days are not for me anymore, guys.

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Anyway, I didn't realize that the half started late. I think I was done looking at my watch at that point and as I was in corral D, I wasn't starting at 5 am anyway. We finally stood and began walking to the starting line. Soon enough, A, B and C were off and we were toeing the line (literally).

This morning we were doing a 1:1 run/walk. I think I wore my throwaway for a decently long time and held my hand warmers, which is unusual for me since I run warm.

We all know that the first 6 miles is essentially the 10k route, so I won't bore you. We also all know that there were very few characters or photo pass photographers. Dumbo was not out when we ran by, just the background. I definitely didn't get any photos leaving the castle because it was too crowded. We at least got some nice finish line photos.

We did see a woman "cut" the course in toontown. She basically just didn't go around the fountain. Jenna yelled out, "Someone cut the course? Who would do that?" as she walked by us.

I have to say, folks did a nice job of cheering us on outside of the parks. I saw a few people a few different times so props to them!

After leaving Disney property we continued our 1:1 walk/run. I know I'm preaching to the choir and that nothing I say here hasn't been echoed by others here. I really don't have much commentary on the route after we left the property. We were on the roads. The safety of the weekend was an issue. We saw a woman fall at the first mile marker. The three mile bottleneck was a literal standstill when we got there. I tripped over one of those reflectors on the road and luckily caught and righted myself.

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I ended up leaving my long sleeve shirt on the whole time. I did get somewhat warm but didn't feel like taking it off and tying it around my waist. I also tried compression socks for the first time and I'm not totally sure that they did anything, but maybe I just don't know what they're supposed to do or feel like when they're working.

God, I feel like this report is all over the place.

Honda Stadium did a nice job with the DJs and everyone outside to cheer us on. I was disappointed by Angel Stadium. It was just a long parking lot which will be awful in September's heat. The car show was fine but nothing special. Their band was great, though.

The Santa Ana "River" at least has bigger puddles in it than the LA River.

Right around Mile 11 is when I think we shifted to 45 seconds running and 1 minute walking, and then mile 12 we pretty much walked it in until the finish. Jenna was also on the phone with her husband who woke up at 7 am and decided to try and see us on the route. He almost managed it, too. Jenna told him we were leaving Angel Stadium so he... went to Angel Stadium. We had tried to tell him to go park at the Walgreens and walk to the finish but y'know how men can be with listening skills. Instead we sent him to Norm's to get us a table for breakfast.

Finish line comes around and we do our usual routine. Get our two medals, our water and gatorade, snack boxes, then go find somewhere to drop it into bags before walking back to the hotel.

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For the 10k and half Eric got antsy right at the end and we sent him ahead, so he was waiting for us by gear check. We walked to the hotel - no Starbucks this time, we learned our lesson - and packed up. I was pretty much 99% packed and my suitcase was the biggest so I went out and started putting my stuff in the trunk. They had a little more to do to get ready so I was the pack mule running back and forth to the car.

We were finally packed up and then we went to Norm's for breakfast. We all got pretty much the same thing: 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, bacon or sausage, and hash browns. The hash browns were especially delicious.

After that we drove back to Jenna's house and knocked out on the couch. I had intended to shower first, but instead fell asleep on the couch - face glitter on and all. I was actually falling asleep the entire drive home so it's not a surprise that I hit the couch and never made it anywhere else.

After a few hours we all woke up and finally showered before we went out for dinner. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was a ramen place that Jenna's husband really likes. It was my first time having ramen and it was SO good. I got their basic ramen with the soft-boiled egg and it was DELICIOUS. But there was so much food! I could barely eat half of it. Honestly, though, I've been craving it ever since.

Afterwards we went to Salt & Straw for ice cream. I gotta be honest - I don't get the hype. I know adding salt to the ice cream is the schtick, but it was too much for me. I tried a few flavors and decided on a cinnamon snickerdoodle ice cream that was more sweet and less savory.

And then we went home again and early to bed because we had - you guessed it - another early morning. Yep! Back to Disneyland.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge
Race Recap Part 6​

Can you believe that this was a vacation and I was up at the crack of dawn every morning? I think we had to leave the house by 6:15 because we had a 7:05 reservation for breakfast at Storytellers at the Grand Californian. I don't think we had much issue at all getting there and then we had 3 free hours of valet parking for our meal, so we handed over the keys and went into the hotel.

This breakfast was delicious. My first plate was filled with mickey waffles, bacon, hash browns, french toast, scrambled eggs, and a few pastries. I also got apple juice and hot tea to drink. Our server was lovely and he and the busser did a good job of making sure we had room for new plates without being overbearing.

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For characters, we met Chip, Dale, Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie. Chip came by first and we forgot to take a group photo because we were sort of still settling in and getting our plates and drinks, but that's okay since we got a few action shots and then he came back later and we got a photo of Eric and me with Chip (Jenna had already left to start moving the car).

After Chip was Dale and since we were more settled we got a group photo. Minnie was right behind them. And then Pluto was right behind her! One more group photo and Pluto was on his way.

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Now, we were eating while Pluto was at the next table and my goodness. The poor guy had to be saved. The woman next to us had a Pluto shirt and purse so she's probably a big fan. She gets up and is very excited and starts talking. A few minutes later we all sort of look at each other and realize she has NOT stopped talking, so we look around to see if there's someone to like, help Pluto get to the next table. Now this is all we can talk about and we're whispering to each other because we're about to be on like, 10 or 15 minutes of Pluto at this table.

As an adult, I do love meeting characters. It's fun! For like... a minute or two. I feel like maybe I could manage 5 minutes of interaction at most. Nevermind nearly 15! And her friend didn't seem to be trying to like, move her along, either. Finally the team at the restaurant realized that Pluto had been commandeered. Our waiter noticed and got the character attendant who came over and gently moved Pluto off the floor and backstage. I heard the man bussing our table murmur about how long Pluto had been at one table.

Anyway, it was also time for the characters to do their little walk around the restaurant to music and Pluto was not there. Pluto needed a break.

We had a long break before Mickey was there, so we went for our second plates. I think right around this time I heard our server tell the neighboring table that he wasn't rushing them, was just checking on them. We noticed that they barely ate - maybe a small plate of food? It's anyone's prerogative to eat as much or as little at these places as one wishes. And then they left earlier than we did without meeting all the characters. The character attendant from earlier had seen them leaving and was like "You guys are leaving already?!" and made small talk as they left. I do think they came here to meet Pluto and maybe a few other characters and not so much to eat, which is fine, it's just not how I operate.

Anyway, my second plate, for the record, was huevos rancheros and a breakfast nacho type of meal. Plus more potatoes (I LOVE breakfast potatoes). I was told the nachos were spicy but I didn't find them spicy at all.

We finished up our meals. Alex and Eric got coffees to go and Jenna got tea to go.

Our plan for this park day was truly to eat, drink, and play all day. Jenna did have to move the car from the hotel to the parking garage, which we thought would take 20 minutes. But no, it took ages. It was like, 10 minutes alone to get the car from the valet and then she had to drive over and the traffic was madness.

Meanwhile, Alex, Eric and I walked to the Disneyland gates and realized that we have a 9 something reservation at Ogas. What were we thinking? So we walk right there and let them know that our fourth is meeting us but she's at the gate (a white lie). One CM was like "it's fine, we've got you" because there was space for walk ups at the time. Turns out tequila at 9 am isn't super popular.

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Finally we were brought in and not so subtly told to pretend that Jenna is in the bathroom. We asked if we could pause to order but our server was not playing and was like "you have 45 minutes to sit here" and so we all got a first round. I got the Takodana Quencher because it's unique to Disneyland. I forget what Eric and Alex got, Jenna joined us and decided not to drink.

After a little bit, Eric and Alex got a second round but I was still working on my drink so I stuck with just the one. We finished Ogas and since we were in Batuu, took some medal photos. I didn't LOVE my photos so none for you here.

Our next stop was to meet Sorcerer Mickey in ToonTown. We waited maybe 15 minutes? A few photos later and we were back outside. ToonTown was so busy. With the holiday it made for a crowded park day, which is why we had done the rides on Friday so we could just hang out on Monday.

We took the train to the front of the park because we could hop now, so over to DCA we went. Our hope was to stop at the Lamplight Lounge but there was no walk up at all - so busy - so we sat upstairs on the boardwalk because we could still get the Dole Whip Shot here! Fun fact: they also do a Dole Whip mixed drink, which is just a doubleshot. So we did the shot and I also got a drink called Final with a Fix that was lovely.

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We hoped to follow this up with a ride on Mickey's Death Wheel, but the Incredicoaster had just broken down so there was a mad dash to the wheel. Instead we went to the other side of the Pier to take photos with our medals. It took a few tries to find a good spot where we weren't totally backlit, but we did it!

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We had also taken a selfie every race at the same stop over the bridge looking at the wheel, so we took another one with our medals.

Quick side note regarding the medals: Remember when my Goofy medal was in 3 pieces last year? I was SO paranoid that my Dumbo medal was also going to fall apart that I decided to just wear the half medal all weekend. That one seemed the least likely to smash into pieces. The paranoia was so real.

Okay, so after that we went over to the Avengers campus for drinks and Pyms. Jenna and I shared the Blue Hawaiian and then we also got the giant pretzel and some sort of peanut butter and chocolate cake thing.

Since we were on campus, we decided to get in line for the Doctor Strange show. While waiting Ant Man and the Wasp came by to say hey. When we got into the show, I sat on the floor at the front while my friends stayed against the wall in the back. The show was cute. At one point we all had to do something with our hands, and I didn't want to put my drink down and have it be knocked over by mistake so I kept holding it with one hand while using the other for the show. Dr. Strange walks over and - mid-speech - says "Put. Your drink. Down."

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So I did.

Captain Marvel was the surprise guest for this show. I heard that it's usually Thor.

After that we took more medal photos with a statue of Walt and Mickey. And then crossed back to Disneyland for photos with the castle before we lost sunlight. And then we went and got some pixie dust from the store with all the little princess dresses. More photos with the Dumbo medal by the Dumbo ride.

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I can't remember what we did after all these photos. We must have walked back to DCA because the next thing I see on my phone's photo album is videos from the Death Wheel. I love this ride, but it didn't swing as much as I was hoping. I like to really feel it.

We were pretty tired, so we walked to Disney Springs and got dinner at Black Tap. I got their caesar salad with chicken cutlet and a milkshake. It was good, but more food than I needed, which tends to be the reality for me.

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We walked back to the trams and our car and went back home so Eric and I could start to pack since we were flying home the next day.

Now, I don't think I have any photos from our travel day, so I'll summarize it here.

We woke up on the earlier side but not nearly as early as we have been. I packed up my bags and got dressed for our flight. For breakfast we went to Portos which is a Cuban cafe. I got myself a spinach and cheese empanada and a churro croissant to take with me. To eat there I got a cheese and egg omelette with guacamole on a regular croissant. The food was DELICIOUS here.

Jenna and Alex also insisted that Eric and I try a few things they're known for like the cheese roll, the Guava strudel, and potato balls. There were 3 kinds we tried, a chicken one, a beef one, and a potato one. They were all PHENOMENAL and I swear I had to be rolled out of the place. Y'all have to find this place next time you're in LA.

After that we went to a place called Rad Coffee for coffee and tea and lattes before heading back to the house to pack the car up and head to LAX for our flight home.

Our flight was fine. I read a little bit, then watched a movie - I can't remember which one, then read some more. I ate my croissant. We were in the same row as a man who owns his own business transporting dogs, so he was sitting with the dog in economy and the couple who owned the dog was sitting in first class. They hired him to FLY THEIR DOG because dogs aren't allowed in first class. I want "hire someone to fly with my dog in economy" money.

We landed. We took the bus back home. I somehow managed to wake up for work the next morning.

 

[jmasgat]

Love your "castle with medals" photo. As for the dog....wow....that's a first, but why am I not totally surprised.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Love your "castle with medals" photo. As for the dog....wow....that's a first, but why am I not totally surprised.

Thank you!

Tell me about it! I was shocked. The dog was so well behaved and we chatted with the man transporting her. He said it's his business and he usual does ground travel, driving new adopted pups that are too big for the airplane to their new families. It's $2/mile so a trip from the east coast to California is about $6,000. And he drives them all in a Tesla. The couple in first class brought him back a meal.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dumbo DoubleDare Challenge
Final Reflections​

I wanted to do a quick final reflections post because I feel like I was a little all over the place in my trip report, so here's my thoughts, somewhat in order.

Expo
I would do two things here.

First, I would rethink the space. Either move to the convention center or refigure the layout. Put the bib pick up and t-shirts in the same room upstairs. There was plenty of room, just split it in half. Grab your bib, get your shirt, go downstairs to the expo and merchandise. This means the expo and merch spaces can be larger, easier to navigate, maybe include some more vendors.

Second, either update communication about boarding groups or call groups back in ranges of groups. Instead of a single group, start with 1-5 or 1-10, then add on. I feel like this is how it generally works at WDW. A few groups are called, then it starts adding on more throughout the day. Or change communication and say that there will not be a space to line up until your group is called and anyone arriving to the merch area before their time will be turned away.

Training
This brings me to the staff/volunteer training. How about we tell everyone one thing and do that? I can't believe how many times I heard different things from different CMs volunteers, sometimes within earshot of each other. Why did Eric and I have a totally different bib pick up experience than Jenna and Alex (Alex being required to pull up the account information and we just handed over our waiver). Why did the CM outside the room and the Dumbo bib pick up volunteer say one waiver would suffice but the 5k bib volunteers required a second waiver?

Cost + Transportation/Parking
For the amount of money we spend on these races, I don't think free parking or race transportation is a big ask. You get it from WDW, bring that to DL. Send a voucher to registrants, have the bib function as a bus pass. I don't think this is unreasonable. Also, fun fact, the Mickey shaped magnets are about $3 more expensive and smaller in size than the magnets from 2022. Magnets shrunk in 2023.

Photographers
Again, no photopass for the photo opportunities at the expo, not a lot of on-course photos, and no photo opportunities at all at the finish line. I think I saw a photographer for the Percy Jackson thing at the expo, but we didn't stop and I wasn't sure if they were making you pay for your picture. I got some decent photos on the course, but not a ton of photos in general.

Final Thoughts
Would I go back and run again? Maybe. I don't think I would run the half marathon again, especially if the closest thing to something special we get outside of the parks is the parking lot of a sports stadium, then no. Put the course into the stadium? Now I'll consider it. I do think I would run the 5k or 10k but only if I were racing it at my race pace and could potentially stop for some photos along the way/avoid the worst of the crowds. At this point, however, WDW does it right so that's where I'll continue to prioritize.

Will I be back to Disneyland? Heck yeah. As long as I have friends living in LA, I'll be doing the occasional day trip. (This might not be for too much longer - we're hoping Jenna is moving back to the East Coast this year and Alex will likely look into moving back to the Bay Area to be closer to her family not long after.) But back to WDW is next up for me!

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Great trip report! I think you are one of the first people who loves the death wheel, but I knew they must exist! I have been wondering that since Disneyland uses paid (temp?) staff instead of volunteers if that hurt the "spirit" you get at any race (not just Disney) of people who want to be there and others who have to do it as part of their job.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Great trip report! I think you are one of the first people who loves the death wheel, but I knew they must exist! I have been wondering that since Disneyland uses paid (temp?) staff instead of volunteers if that hurt the "spirit" you get at any race (not just Disney) of people who want to be there and others who have to do it as part of their job.

I get to DCA and start chanting "death wheel death wheel death wheel" over and over again; I love it that much. I laugh the ENTIRE time. The more violently it swings the better.

 

[Naomeri]

I get to DCA and start chanting "death wheel death wheel death wheel" over and over again; I love it that much. I laugh the ENTIRE time. The more violently it swings the better.

I also love the death wheel, but my grandma doesn’t even like regular ferris wheels, so we skipped it entirely.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Boston Marathon Journal
​

Back to the real world and now this journal is officially a Boston-only journal! Let's go.

January 17: 5.00 miles • 1:01:00• 12:12 avg pace
Your girl was back from Disneyland and right back into training. This run was scheduled for Tuesday, but I was flying all day so I moved it one day. Also my luck - the roads were bad from a storm the day I had flown home, so I went on the treadmill which just turned my run off after an hour! So my stats here are a slight estimate, but I basically ran 5 miles in an hour. Not bad considering I had just done the challenge and two long park days.

Treadmills are really difficult for me. It feels much harder and I'm not sure if it's because the Y hasn't calibrated them or if it's because I get too warm or if it's just a mental block, but this felt impossible and I was glad to be done.

January 18: 5.59 miles • 1:04:09 • 11:28 avg pace
I had a workout and the morning was still icy, so I decided to see if Heather could meet up for a later morning run. She was, so we chose to meet at 10 am at the town's common and we attempted to find clear roads for my workout. We managed to get the warm up in on sidewalks, dodging some ice, but then our warm up took us to a half mile loop neighborhood and we did my workout there.

2 mile warm up: 11:47 & 11:26 (11:37 avg)
8 x 2 min @ 9:14 with 2 min jog recovery: 10:12, 9:31, 9:11, 9:01, 9;10, 9:06, 8:59, 9:06
1 mile cooldown: 10:52

January 20: 14.00 miles • 2:47:46 • 11:59 avg pace
My first long run/workout on the Boston Marathon course! It was hard!

Warm up: 3 miles
Workout (repeat 3 times): 1 mile at 11:02, .5 recovery jog, 1 mile at 9:55, .5 at easy pace
Cooldown: 2 miles

I am SO glad I came out to the course, even if it was a real feel of 1 degree outside. I needed to be out there because the hills scare me and I learned so much after just one run. I started at the top of Heartbreak Hill and ran my first 2 miles down and back up the hill. My first mile was 10:50. It should have been in the mid to high 11s up to 12. I had no business running that fast. The next mile was 11:45 because I was running UP the hill now. I met my friends at the top and we ran back down and guess what, I hit 10:47 this time. I learned nothing from that first mile. I warmed up way. too. fast.

After that I had my workout to do (x3) before cooling down. Here's a breakdown of those intervals:

1 mile at 11:02 (actual 11:09)
.5 recovery (11:33 pace)
1 mile at 9:55 (actual 10:40)
.5 easy (11:45 pace)

1 mile at 11:02 (actual 11:12)
.5 recovery (16:33 pace)
1 mile at 9:55 (actual 10:55)
.5 easy (12:09 pace)

1 mile at 11:02 (actual 11:55)
.5 recovery (15:36 pace)
1 mile at 9:55 (actual 11:52)
.5 easy (12:05 pace)

So what's going on here? Because we can see that I did not hit my 9:55 miles and those last two recoveries were a walking pace. Well, what's going on is I ran 2 of my first 3 miles under a 11:00 pace and it was hilly as heck. My last 9:55 mile began as I turned at the fire station. Want to know what the turn at the fire station is? A massive hill. But like I said, I learned a lot and at the end of this report I'll be sharing about this past weekend's long run on the course and it went MUCH better. I did manage to do okay on my cool down but that's because I met some random guy and ran with him for a little bit. It helps to run with someone SO much.

January 23: 6.56 miles • 1:12:20• 11:01 avg pace
Today's workout was a 2 mile warm up, then 1 mile at 9:55 with a 3 minute jog recovery, then 8 x 45 seconds at critical velocity (CV) which is 9:14 and 1 minute jog recovery in between each one, ending with a 2 mile cool down. I gotta be honest, I think a year ago, 6 months ago, I would have walked those 1 minute recovery intervals. Not tonight. I crushed this one.

That 9:55 mile was EXACTLY 9:55.

My 45 second reps: 8:52, 9:16, 9:22, 9:01, 9:37, 9:12, 9:35, 9:02

Really happy with this effort.

January 25: 5.00 miles • 57:41 • 11:32 avg pace
This was another gross weather morning, but I got out there and managed not to eat it on some really slick spots. My coach ran by me and told me she was going to wrap me in bubble wrap and I told her that I stubbed my toe so hard the night before I thought I had broken it. She didn't love that. (It's not broken, for the record.) Not much to report, it was an easy run and I got it done. Felt good and my HR was in zone 3 the whole time. We love to see it.

January 27: 13.63 miles • 2:43:56 • 12:02 avg pace
A slightly slower pace than last week and I felt stronger and better. My coach reached out and said that she wanted to add some planned walking into my workout. Not gonna lie, my initial feeling was that I was failing as a runner. Two years ago I PRed in my half marathon with a sub 2:30 time and now I feel like I'm struggling in the 2:40s. But I have to remember that two years ago I was doing zero speedwork outside of 6-8 weeks of track in the spring and fall. I also wasn't running up and down the hills of Newton. And that was a race! Not a training run. Anyway. I got over it because my coach is so knowledgeable and she didn't intend it in any negative way. That's my own dumb brain being dumb.

Anyway, this is what she had for me: 1 mile warm up, 10 x 1 mile at 11:02 with a 3 minute walking recovery in between each one, 1 mile cool down.

What's nice about this run is that I had planned walks to recover. I also had a buddy since we had a new member join us who is running Boston for a charity and she stuck with me the whole time. I also felt SO good at the end and ran up hills that I have quit out on before. Right before starting, Kayla had said she had read something or listened to a podcast or something where they talked about how your brain gives up before your legs do, so you have to trick your brain into achieving something small. You say to yourself, "At the top of this hill I can walk" and then you get to the top of the hill it's a downhill and you're like "Oh, I can run this." You just keep tricking your brain into doing a little more and going a little further.

That was a long tangent. Let's break down those miles:

Warm up: I was SO intentional about s l o w i n g down on this first mile since I was going downhill again and I managed to keep it to an 11:41 which was MUCH smarter than last week.

1 mile at 11:02 (x10): 11:19, 11:11, 11:07, 11:26, 11:12, 11:14, 11:14, 10:50, 10:56, 11:06

Not quite at that 11:02 pace. I remember being really thoughtful about being slower than last week and not letting the downhills carry me so much, thus fatiguing me. Maybe a slight over-correction and I could have sped up a hair. I thin the slowest interval was up this really long hill, and then the 10:50 was down it. The 10:56 mile though, that was at the fire station! I actually managed to run up it for the last quarter mile of the run, and then I got to do a 3 minute recovery. And then the next mile (11:06) was also mostly uphill. I cut the final 3 minute recovery to like, 1.5 minutes? I forget exactly, but I know I shortened it so we could go right into our cool down. I did that in 12:32. At one point I did take a short little walk during a hill, I was like, "When we get to .5 we'll run again" and then I looked up the hill and was like, "let's actually walk the hill" and my buddy was like, "No we can do it" and that's exactly what I needed. So we ran it all in and I finished my cool down nice and strong.

 

[jmasgat]

Want to know what the turn at the fire station is? A massive hill

Oh yeah....if it's where I think, it's where I feel the course really begins (to suck)!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Oh yeah....if it's where I think, it's where I feel the course really begins (to suck)!

The Newton Hills!!!!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Boston Marathon Journal
​

Helllloooo again. I'm clowning because the Grammy's are tonight and Taylor Swift's profile photos are in black and white and the grid is aligned and she added the OG reputation announcement post back to her grid a few days ago. She's up to something. She's announcing Rep TV tonight at the Grammy's.

January 30: 5.50 miles • 59:45 • 10:52 avg pace
This was a workout with the Tuesday night girlies. A mile warm up, 4 x .5 miles at 9:55 with .5 recoveries and a mile cool down. This went really well: 9:54, 9:59, 10:00, 9:42. Ran all of my recoveries. And the timing was SPOT on. My coach estimated 5.5 miles in 59:51 and I was 6 seconds faster. Heart rate was mostly in zone 3, too, which explains why I felt so strong.



January 31: 3.00 miles • 34:04 • 11:20 avg pace
A Wednesday run! Unusual for me. I had four runs this week, so this was 3 easy. I did them solo after work. A little fast, my easy run should be 11:30 wish at the fastest but not too speedy. Pretty steady, though: 11:19, 11:18, 11:25 (when I realized I was running too fast). Also my heart rate was zone 3 the entire time. Not even a little spike into threshold at all.

February 1: 5.01 miles • 54:29 • 10:53 avg pace
This 5 mile easy run on Thursday morning was WAY too fast. I did 1 mile a little early with two other girls (11:41) then the next 4 with the group: 11:10, 10:43, 10:20, 10:32. I don't know how I was this fast. My heart rate was a little higher than it should be for an easy run, but I feel like it could have been worse and I was still chatting, just not as easily. This is what happens when I run with people.



Also of note... we had our annual awards banquet on Thursday night! So we all ran together and then saw each other that night. I was the emcee of the evening and I also won a superlative! Most Likely to Run to a Taylor Swift Concert. So true. A ton of fun and then the next morning brunch and shopping.

February 4: 14.00 miles • 2:44:52 • 11:47 avg pace
Last week went well so my coach brought my walking intervals down to 2:30 this week. In fact, her exact comment on my workout was "This was phenomenal." She liked that I was consistent in my pacing and had some speed in there and told me to expect for those walk segments to shorten. And here we are!

Anyway, I had to move my run from Saturday to Sunday because I had a work commitment I couldn't get out of. So I was going out solo. The original plan was to be on the marathon course, but since I was solo and spent a little time in my head this morning, I decided to give myself a break and go out to the bike path instead. I got there later than I had planned and started around 9:30 am!

My workout today was 2 mile warm up, then 10 x 1 mile at 11:15 with 2:30 walk recoveries, and a mile cool down. Quick note: my heart rate was almost 50/50 zone 3 and threshold.

Okay, back to the run. First two miles were 11:44 and 11:57. Then the intervals kicked in: 11:13, 11:03, 11:13, 11:09, 11:07, 10:53, 11:06, 11:27, 11:07, 11:08. Not sure where the speed in the 6th interval game from but it was there! I skipped the walk after mile 8 because I was at my car and took a minute to ditch my headband, gloves, and water bottle. Then I told myself that if I felt good, I could skip the interval between 9 and 10 and just keep going at marathon-ish pace. I felt good, so I skipped it and maintained my pace. Then my cool down was realllllllly easy at 12:38.

I considered going to a running store near the bike path to get fitted real quick, but decided against it. I want to talk to my coach first. Long story short, I've been running in Brooks Ghosts for a long time now, but I just don't think they really serve me. They're fine, but it feels like they stop feeling good long before the 300 mile mark and I don't think they have that cushion I want for a whole marathon. I think these are good short/easy run shoes, but I think I need a shoe for speed work and MAYBE one for racing. I also want to check out this carbon-plating thing and see if it really does give an oomph and if I notice it jogging a little bit or not. And I know that carbon plate shoes can mess with your feet/legs a little bit but I also think that's probably related to overuse of the shoe versus every once in a while. Anyway, that was a lot longer than I intended. Oops. Gonna talk to my coach about her thoughts since changing shoes mid cycle is not IDEAL but also are my shoes really working for me?

See you next week!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Boston Marathon Journal
​

There probably won't be an update next weekend because your girl has Covid. So let's make this update a good one! And right off the top - Go Taylor's Boyfriend! Super Bowl Champs!

February 6: 6.01 miles • 1:04:06 • 10:40 avg pace
Another Tuesday night workout. This time I had company with Monique and Ellen running my workout with me. I told Ellen that my workout pace would still be slower than her easy miles because she is speedy. But it was nice because she could talk to me during the speed intervals and help to pace me. So my workout was 2 warm up miles (11:15 and 11:12), followed by 3x3 minutes at 9:14 with a 2 minute jog recovery in between each one, then a .5 mile jog (11:27), then 6x1 minute at 8:49 with a 1 min jog recovery between each. Ended it with a 1 mile cool down (11:20).

3x3 minutes: 9:24, 9:12, 9:12
6x1 minute: 8:53, 9:04, 9:10, 9:03, 8:41, 8:18

It always takes a little bit of time to find my pace but I got there! This also estimated me to run 5.87 miles so when I realized how little I had to do to hit 6, I just ran a little extra at the end to get there.

February 8: 6.00 miles • 1:08:29 • 11:25 avg pace
Easy Thursday miles with the girls. I got there early to run 2 miles on my own (12:03 and 11:55) and then met up with the group for the last 4 miles (11:08, 11:14, 11:18, 10:49). Nothing to report on that.

February 10: 15.07 miles • 3:00:01 • 11:57 avg pace
Long run Saturday! I went solo to the bike path again since I had a busy weekend and had to get to a 12:00 work event and then I was babysitting my nephew from 4:30 to 11. And Sunday wasn't much better since I had noon lunch plans and a Super Bowl Party. So, Saturday it was. I woke up early, got out the house, and did my run!

The V.02 app had 15.31 miles scheduled in 3:01:43. My workout was 3 miles warm up, then 6x1 mile at easy pace (11:25-12:30) with a 1 minute walk recovery, then 4x1 mile at marathon pace (11:02) with 2 minute walk recovery, ending with a 2 mile cool down.

So how did I do?

Warm up: 12:20, 12:28, 12:59 (I was quite in my head about this run and almost bailed, this is probably why I was so much slower on my warm up than normal - a mental struggle)

Easy miles: 11:27, 11:25, 11:22, 11:32, 11:27, 11:24 (okay, now I've found my groove. This workout isn't so bad)

Marathon Miles: 10:56, 10:50, 11:05, 10:57 (Feeling great, in fact! I love this workout)

Cooldown: 12:43, 12:26

I ended up ending my workout right when I hit 3 hours because my coach and I had discussed that being the beset course of action for me. Ultimately, I rocked this workout and she agreed. If I can manage this for another 11 miles (and I felt like I could) and I expect to slow down on the hills but speed up towards the end, my goals are definitely in sight. I just need to run a smart race and hold myself back on the early downhills.

See you in a week or two depending on my health.

 

[nancipants]

Hope you recover quickly! <3

 

[Cabius]

Feel better soon!!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Hope you recover quickly! <3

Feel better soon!!

Thank you! As my coach said, better now than April!