Official 2011 Disneyland Half Thread!

[MelindaRuns]

OK, so I registered for the DL Half on Feb 16. I am super excited about this. I did the WDW Half in Jan 2011, so I will get the Coast to Coast Medal. That is really a beautiful medal. I wanted that Donald Duck medal, but the Walt and Mickey medal is even more enticing! Who is the character for the DL Half medal? (Boy, the word 'medal' is in that paragraph enough times, ya think?)

My time at WDW half 2011 was 3:19 something, with very little training. I had done two other halfs previously, at around 3:30. I am actually training right now, for a half in June in Minnesota. My goal time for that half is 2:45, and we will just wait and see what my goal is for September at DL after I finish the one in June.

What kind of time do you have to have to submit to RunDisney for a better corral placement in DL? Will 2:45 get me a better corral than the last corral? I want to be able to get in something other than last (not sure why, because I get passed anyway, lol)

My family is also running with me. Well, my son and daughter will be running the half with me (well, not with me, they will be way ahead of me!), and my husband and 4 other children will be running the 5k! So glad I got those reservations in when I did!

Thanks to everyone on this board! I appreciate the time you all take to post. Keep running, everyone.

Going out on a training run in about 30 minutes. I joined a run club, and I was a little leery of it because I'm not a fast runner, and I do the run/walk/run method (sometimes more walking than running, actually a lot of the time). My goal is to train properly (with accountability to a group). My advice to anyone contemplating joining a running group/club: do it!!! If I can anyone can. Doing 8 miles this morning. I will let everyone know how it goes!

Melinda

 

[MelindaRuns]

We are a family of 8 and we are looking into renting a house in Anaheim while we are there. Has anyone here ever done that? Any feedback? We are a family of 8 so if we go hotel we would have to get 2 rooms. The comfort of a house would be great, I think!

Thanks!

 

[verticalchaos]

We are a family of 8 and we are looking into renting a house in Anaheim while we are there. Has anyone here ever done that? Any feedback? We are a family of 8 so if we go hotel we would have to get 2 rooms. The comfort of a house would be great, I think!

Thanks!

I don't know about houses, but...

My sister, friends and I found a 2-bedroom suite at Portofino Inn and Suites for under $200/night. It sleeps up to 8.

 

[johde]

Who is the character for the DL Half medal?

Disneyland has tended to feature the Castle. Except for last year when the medal featured the fact it was the 5th race.



What kind of time do you have to have to submit to RunDisney for a better corral placement in DL? Will 2:45 get me a better corral than the last corral? I want to be able to get in something other than last (not sure why, because I get passed anyway, lol)

Hopefully you put a 2:46 or so on your registration. That will get you out of the last corral without needing a proof of time. People who put down no expected time or those that put down 2:45 or less and don't provide proof get the last corral.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjsharktank/4630374816/
Good luck on the race.

 

[MelindaRuns]

I don't know about houses, but...

My sister, friends and I found a 2-bedroom suite at Portofino Inn and Suites for under $200/night. It sleeps up to 8.

Sweet! Thanks! I'll look into that!

 

[MelindaRuns]

I did my 8 mile training run today! It went pretty ok. I seem to be taking a long time to warm up. I don't start feeling into it until mile 2 or so, then i get into a groove. There was a time that I thought I wasn't going to finish it, but I made it to the 4 mile mark going out, then had to come back. My run club is pretty awesome. I am literally the slowest one there, but they support as if I'm the fastest one. I am glad I joined it. My son Zach, who is 14, also ran it with me, but he was way faster than I!

I hope everyone else's training runs are going great!

 

[MelindaRuns]

I did my 8 mile training run today! It went pretty ok. I seem to be taking a long time to warm up. I don't start feeling into it until mile 2 or so, then i get into a groove. There was a time that I thought I wasn't going to finish it, but I made it to the 4 mile mark going out, then had to come back. My run club is pretty awesome. I am literally the slowest one there, but they support as if I'm the fastest one. I am glad I joined it. My son Zach, who is 14, also ran it with me, but he was way faster than I!

I hope everyone else's training runs are going great!

p.s. I didn't "run" the whole thing. I follow Jeff Galloway's run/walk/run training method, and I did 3's and 2's (3 minutes running, two minutes walking). On some of my shorter runs, and when I'm feeling particularly good, I can do 5's and 1's, but that's not all the time.

 

[MelindaRuns]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjsharktank/4630374816/
Good luck on the race.

Thank you very much! I am not sure what I put on my registration. I know I put 2:45 on WDW 2011 half reg and got the last corral, but that was ok, because my training wasn't what it needed to be.

I hope to have a certified time of 2:45 or less from the half I'm doing in June to submit to RunDisney.

Thanks for answering

 

[kim3339]

I finally picked the Best Western Pavillions, looks walkable, has a bus, and has a costco deal

I stayed there a couple of years back for the race. If you turn left on Disneyland Drive, after the Paradise Pier Hotel there is a parking lot. If you cut through the parking lot to the back right corner, there's your entrance to walk to the expo and the staging area! Sounds weird written out but when you see it, it'll make sense. You come out by the back end of DTD by the AMC theaters. It's not that bad of a walk.

 

[verticalchaos]

Thank you very much! I am not sure what I put on my registration. I know I put 2:45 on WDW 2011 half reg and got the last corral, but that was ok, because my training wasn't what it needed to be.

I hope to have a certified time of 2:45 or less from the half I'm doing in June to submit to RunDisney.

Thanks for answering

Did you not submit a time or something? I had 2:45 estimated with a time and was initially in Corral D - though a subsequent better time got me bumped up to Corral C.

 

[MelindaRuns]

Did you not submit a time or something? I had 2:45 estimated with a time and was initially in Corral D - though a subsequent better time got me bumped up to Corral C.

Awesome on Corral C! I put 2:45 as my estimated finish time and got Corral H. Go figure. All's well that ends well. It worked out.

 

[verticalchaos]

Awesome on Corral C! I put 2:45 as my estimated finish time and got Corral H. Go figure. All's well that ends well. It worked out.

Thanks. Initially I'd put 2:45 but didn't have a 10K or longer time to submit. I got one of 1:17, and that put me in Corral D with an estimated 2:40 finish. I then did a 15K in 1:52 and that bumped me up to Corral C. Hoping that my 10K time next Sunday (or the 10K I'm doing on 6/11) will bump me up a bit with DL and/or WDW Full...but we'll see.

 

[Qltrgrl2]

More Corral questions.......As a new runner (since October) I have only run 3 races. I ran a 10K for a Corral time for the Princess half marathon and got Corral B with a 1:02 time. My Princess time was 2:28. Does anyone know what Corral I will get for the Disneyland half marathon in September?? I am considering another 10K to get a better Corral placement. Thanks for any help and happy running!

 

[MelindaRuns]

Thanks. Initially I'd put 2:45 but didn't have a 10K or longer time to submit. I got one of 1:17, and that put me in Corral D with an estimated 2:40 finish. I then did a 15K in 1:52 and that bumped me up to Corral C. Hoping that my 10K time next Sunday (or the 10K I'm doing on 6/11) will bump me up a bit with DL and/or WDW Full...but we'll see.

WOW! Congrats. Those are some great times. And just imagine where you will be by DL Half Weekend!

 

[MelindaRuns]

race registrations: check (DL half for myself, and my son and daughter who are competitive runners; 5k for my husband, and 3 daughters and 1 son)

park tickets: not sure about this yet, will have to ask husband, who does all this planning for us

hotel: CHECK! we were looking into renting a house that was close enough to walk to DL (vrbo - vacation rentals by owner - Anaheim) but we wanted one with a pool, and enough room for 8, and it was going to be around 2400 for the week, so we decided to book with Staybridge Suites, whom we have stayed with before and loved it, and it was only $1300 for Aug 30 -- Sept 6, breakfast included.

We will be coming off an Alaskan Disney Cruise that is Aug 23--Sept 30.

I'm so excited for this trip! And I feel a new motivation to focus on my running

 

[thndrmatt]

We will be coming off an Alaskan Disney Cruise that is Aug 23--Sept 30.

A 37 night cruise? Sign me up IMMEDIATELY!

 

[verticalchaos]

WOW! Congrats. Those are some great times. And just imagine where you will be by DL Half Weekend!

Thanks! I just did a HM in 2:40 - 7 minutes off my WDW Half time. Technically I set PRs at the 10K and 15K marks in that, but I don't know that those would be accepted. I've got a 10K race next Sunday...we'll see what that estimates me at, and if necessary I'll submit that time.

*by "just did" I mean a couple of weeks ago. Hee!

 

[johde]

I decided to make a change to my airfare. The flight I was on got in at 11:00am. on Saturday before the race, but had a 25min. layover. I was afraid that was too short. My new flight has 1 stop but no plane change. It get in at 1:55pm, at LAX. Is 4 hours enough to get out of LAX, take the shuttle bus to the hotel, and get to the expo for packet pickup? I'm booked on Southwsest so I can change with a fee if a better fare shows up.

 

[kim3339]

I decided to make a change to my airfare. The flight I was on got in at 11:00am. on Saturday before the race, but had a 25min. layover. I was afraid that was too short. My new flight has 1 stop but no plane change. It get in at 1:55pm, at LAX. Is 4 hours enough to get out of LAX, take the shuttle bus to the hotel, and get to the expo for packet pickup? I'm booked on Southwsest so I can change with a fee if a better fare shows up.

It's actually 3 hours ~ the expo is closing at 5. I would love to say yes, you shouldn't have a problem, but it's LA Traffic and anything can happen, even at midday on a Saturday. There have been times when I was driving down there and it took an hour to go 15 miles. If you can find an earlier flight, I would definitely change it. Depending on the size of your luggage and where you're staying, you could hae the shuttle drop you off at the DL Hotel and then just take you luggage w/ you to the expo. It's a hassle, but timewise it would help you out. Or you could have someone pick up your race packet for you. Don't know where you're staying, but if you want to do that, I wouldn't have a problem doing it for you!


They changed the backdrop to the website today! The picture's now from the ad that they have in the magazine's and the back coloring is blue. Better than the the 3 or 4 year old picture that was still up I always wondered why they would never update the pictures!

 

[johde]

Thanks for the information. I'm looking at taking 1 largish rolling suitcase and 1 dufflebag carryon (with the race stuff in it).I had 6:00 on the brain, but that's the Pasta in the Park time. I decided that was too expensive. I'm not sure where I want to eat yet. 5:00 will be 8:00 home time. The earlier flight only has a 25min layover in Nashville which I was afraid might be too tight. Right now, the SNA flights are significantly more expensive.