Official 2013 Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare, Half Marathon, 10k, and 5k Thread!

[Bephus]

Today's race was so much better organization-wise. I'm so glad!! But man oh man the heat was not fun. I just couldn't get into a good groove and ended up 3 minutes slower than my goal time. Still a great time considering the heat and humidity so I am pretty satisfied overall.
My family had a great first trip to Disneyland. There is no telling when there will be another since we live in FL and it is a long and expensive trip! The kids loved it and we really enjoyed comparing the two sets of parks. I also learned a lot for if there is a second trip.
We have a 6:30 car service to bring us to the airport in the morning and I have been up since 3 so I am pooped! I hope everyone had a fun race weekend.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DenverVal]

I arrived a little later than I should have today, and corral D was completely full, so they were sending the Ds to corral E, but there was no space to move into and they couldn't move the runners through. I found a space between the barriers and I slipped into my corral, and got chastised by one of the staffers. The people around me didn't object, so she let me stay. Absolute craziness and stress if you were where I was. Once the race started, all was well. I stayed with the 2:30 pacing group and felt really fine past mile 6. I got to carry the pacing sign with the balloons when the pacer needed to use the facilities. Of couse there didn't happen to be any photographers at that spot - that's the picture i would have paid for! I hit a wall at mile 7. We rounded a corner and my group just disappeared from view. I looked all around me and couldn't find the balloons, so I sped up thinking that somehow I had fallen behind and realized they were behind me at mile 8. They had taken a walking break and I missed it; when I realized what had happened I was flustered, disoriented, and needed a walking break of my own. I never caught up after that, and finished in 2:39. Not the PR I had hoped for; I think the race the day before plus.my decision to hang out with friends at the parks made a PR doubtful. I enjoyed the course, the bands, the cheer and poms girls. Loved going through the stadium, enjoyed the crowd. Boy was it hot, though, and really humid. Having grown up in southern Ca, I know that this is not normal. My friends told me a hurricane off the coast that pumped the moist air into the region. We don't have humidity in Denver, and I found it really hard to deal with. I am happy to have finished both races successfully and will enjoy my medals.

 

[Nulles]

I was never able to find a full list of the characters at the half marathon last year, so for those interested here are the characters from the 2013 half in the order they were encountered:

California Adventure:
1. The first was not really a character but three floats from the Countdown to Fun parade (backstage when entering California Adventure)
2. Green Army Men (in front of Little Mermaid)
3. DJ the dance car (at Flo's)
4. Lightning and Mater (in front of Luigi's flying tires)
5. Red (leaving cars land)
6. Mike, Sulley, and Monsters University Cheerleaders (end of Hollywood Land)
7. Phineas with a Fireside Girl (by the airplane near Soarin'). I'm guessing Ferb was there at some point but it was just Phineas when I ran by.


Disneyland:
1. Prince Ali, Jasmine, Genie (by Emporium)
2. Mary Poppins, Bert, and a Chimney Sweep (in front of Jolly Holiday riding the carousel horse tricycles from Soundsational)
3. Captain Hook and Mr. Smee (near King Aurthur Carrousel)
4. Peter Pan and Wendy (riding the carrousel)
5. Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip (outside the castle)
6. Darth Vader and Stormtroopers (in Tomorrowland)
7. Snow White (near Mickey's Magical Map)
8. Merida (moved over by Small World from her usual location)
9. Green Army Men (Toontown)

If anyone saw different characters, please let us know!

 

[rachlovestv]

If anyone saw different characters, please let us know!

That's mostly who I saw, except when I went by, Peter Pan and Wendy were taking pics from behind the hedge at the carousel, and Captain Hook and Smee were riding it.

Also, Cinderella was right before Snow White along that corridor headed to Small World/Toon Town.

 

[Strawberry's mom&dad]

For both the 10k and Half

 

[jmasgat]

Congrats to all of you who toughed it out over the weekend. It sounds like a logistical nightmare---don't know who RunDisney uses in CA to organize the race, but you'd think by now that there would be sufficient learning from the WDW races to carry over to DL. Please consider sending them feedback about what worked and didn't work. I'm sure they know some of it, but it never hurts to provide specific examples with details.

I expect that Princess will be better--even with the 10k added--given that they aren't trying to smush all the races (5k/10k/kids) into one morning like DL.

Maura

 

[smeagol14]

I felt in the 10k race getting to the corrals were a mess. But I only guess it was due to the 5k being just before. The weather was a lot hotter then I expected. But I finished the DDD. Time was not great. But I finished.

 

[Woth2982]

hey all! I finished! Still coming to terms with my finish time. It was horrible. I was hoping to best my last half when I finished 2:55.......not so much. Came in at 3:32 It was really far too hot for me to keep my best pace. I started strong and then by mile 5 I hit a wall. My toes cramped and running straight into the rising sun did not help either. I think the lack of cold water on this race effected me as well. I was hoping to get a PR, and I guess I did.....my personal worst lol. I heard over 2000 did not finish the race. I still have wine and dine coming up so I am going to work on getting my PR there! Have a 5K race in 2 weeks so it will be good practice! Then Wine and Dine in November!

Congrats to all those who finished, got their C2C and DDD medals! I met so many amazing people this weekend.

 

[AquaDame]

I arrived a little later than I should have today, and corral D was completely full, so they were sending the Ds to corral E, but there was no space to move into and they couldn't move the runners through. I found a space between the barriers and I slipped into my corral, and got chastised by one of the staffers. The people around me didn't object, so she let me stay. Absolute craziness and stress if you were where I was. Once the race started, all was well. I stayed with the 2:30 pacing group and felt really fine past mile 6. I got to carry the pacing sign with the balloons when the pacer needed to use the facilities. Of couse there didn't happen to be any photographers at that spot - that's the picture i would have paid for! I hit a wall at mile 7. We rounded a corner and my group just disappeared from view. I looked all around me and couldn't find the balloons, so I sped up thinking that somehow I had fallen behind and realized they were behind me at mile 8. They had taken a walking break and I missed it; when I realized what had happened I was flustered, disoriented, and needed a walking break of my own. I never caught up after that, and finished in 2:39. Not the PR I had hoped for; I think the race the day before plus.my decision to hang out with friends at the parks made a PR doubtful. I enjoyed the course, the bands, the cheer and poms girls. Loved going through the stadium, enjoyed the crowd. Boy was it hot, though, and really humid. Having grown up in southern Ca, I know that this is not normal. My friends told me a hurricane off the coast that pumped the moist air into the region. We don't have humidity in Denver, and I found it really hard to deal with. I am happy to have finished both races successfully and will enjoy my medals.

Same here - since we couldn't even get close to the corrals for the 10K the day before until 15 minutes prior to the start (had to wait for the 5Kers just to get into the corrals for some reason? WHY? They had started a half hour prior!!) we chose to arrive barely in time for the half. there were so many still heading to the corrals that we were technically 'late' to be in there a half hour before the start for corral A. I'm sorry but standing up and still for 45 minutes while everyone from wheelchairs through C goes first and not being able to stretch or sit is not my cup of tea but I know it is what it is. We also jumped the orange barriers to get in. We worked HARD to move up from F, I wasn't about to be pushed back because they didn't make enough room for the # of runners!

Congrats to all of you who toughed it out over the weekend. It sounds like a logistical nightmare---don't know who RunDisney uses in CA to organize the race, but you'd think by now that there would be sufficient learning from the WDW races to carry over to DL. Please consider sending them feedback about what worked and didn't work. I'm sure they know some of it, but it never hurts to provide specific examples with details.

I expect that Princess will be better--even with the 10k added--given that they aren't trying to smush all the races (5k/10k/kids) into one morning like DL.

Maura

Thats the odd thing - the other races up till now in DL have been fine. I haven't done kids races but have heard that this one was different from years prior. Doing the 5K & 10K on the same day SHOULD have been fine. There was plenty of time to clear the corrals and let us in... but they DIDN'T. We were held back until 6am for some reason and had to scramble to get into place. There had been no mention of this - the brochure said be in the corral no later than 5:45 after all, but they would not let us move. Once we did, it was fine though hectic. It was nice not having to sit in the corral for forever that time. Doing the 5K on Friday and the 10K on Saturday sounds perfect for the Princess. City ordinances are different in Anaheim so it might not be possible to do it on a weekday there or something. Hopefully they will figure it out for next year, but I guarantee we won't be there.

hey all! I finished! Still coming to terms with my finish time. It was horrible. I was hoping to best my last half when I finished 2:55.......not so much. Came in at 3:32 It was really far too hot for me to keep my best pace. I started strong and then by mile 5 I hit a wall. My toes cramped and running straight into the rising sun did not help either. I think the lack of cold water on this race effected me as well. I was hoping to get a PR, and I guess I did.....my personal worst lol. I heard over 2000 did not finish the race. I still have wine and dine coming up so I am going to work on getting my PR there! Have a 5K race in 2 weeks so it will be good practice! Then Wine and Dine in November!

Congrats to all those who finished, got their C2C and DDD medals! I met so many amazing people this weekend.

Same here! We were trained and ready for a PR by a ton (went from 1/1 walk run splits to 4/1) - ended up a couple minutes slower than last years times. Such a disappointment... especially since we had submitted a 1:14 time at a 10K. I know we at least finished in under 3 hours but still...

 

[Majik9]

Maybe I just timed everything really well.
I went to the Expo at 5:30pm on Friday and there was no line for printing out the form, picking up the bib & shirt. The shirt was a bit to big and there was a line for exchanging it so I just kept it. There was also no significant line to buy merchandise.

As for the half, I was in corral B, now I did get there at 4:20am but I walked right to the front of my corral and due to that did not see the chaos that everyone described behind. That said it did suck waiting around for an hour plus but I just chilled and chatted with those around me.

As for the temperature, I thought it was fine. Again, Corral B went off at 5:38AM, so it was still dark and cool and didn't really get to see the sun until we hit the Honda Center as we approached Angel Stadium.

Overall, I thought it was good but I understand that my experience does not seem to reflect the masses overall experience.

 

[AquaDame]

Maybe I just timed everything really well.
I went to the Expo at 5:30pm on Friday and there was no line for printing out the form, picking up the bib & shirt. The shirt was a bit to big and there was a line for exchanging it so I just kept it. There was also no significant line to buy merchandise.

As for the half, I was in corral B, now I did get there at 4:20am but I walked right to the front of my corral and due to that did not see the chaos that everyone described behind. That said it did suck waiting around for an hour plus but I just chilled and chatted with those around me.

As for the temperature, I thought it was fine. Again, Corral B went off at 5:38AM, so it was still dark and cool and didn't really get to see the sun until we hit the Honda Center as we approached Angel Stadium.

Overall, I thought it was good but I understand that my experience does not seem to reflect the masses overall experience.

Yeah, I am sure that going to the expo a couple hours before close was much better than when it opened, and being at Honda as the sun went up would be amazing as well. D didn't go off until a few minutes before 6 and people didn't start running until a bit later - just no space to move and stretch out - so we had less than a half hour or so before the sun came up. At 12 min miles we were still in the parks when the sun hit... with PLENTY of miles to go in the hot sun vs only having 3 miles to go ala your quick self! Had it been cooler, or cloudy, it would have been fine but cest la vie!

 

[Blondie1973]

hey all! I finished! Still coming to terms with my finish time. It was horrible. I was hoping to best my last half when I finished 2:55.......not so much. Came in at 3:32 It was really far too hot for me to keep my best pace. I started strong and then by mile 5 I hit a wall. My toes cramped and running straight into the rising sun did not help either. I think the lack of cold water on this race effected me as well. I was hoping to get a PR, and I guess I did.....my personal worst lol. I heard over 2000 did not finish the race. I still have wine and dine coming up so I am going to work on getting my PR there! Have a 5K race in 2 weeks so it will be good practice! Then Wine and Dine in November!

Congrats to all those who finished, got their C2C and DDD medals! I met so many amazing people this weekend.

I had my worse race as well. I received my medal but didn't make the 3:30 limit but I didn't get swept either. I ended up getting dehydrated to the point of a headache. I drank my water bottles down to empty inbetween water stops, refilled those and took extra cups of water and I still got dehydrated. I've never been that bad before.

 

[Blondie1973]

Yeah, I am sure that going to the expo a couple hours before close was much better than when it opened, and being at Honda as the sun went up would be amazing as well. D didn't go off until a few minutes before 6 and people didn't start running until a bit later - just no space to move and stretch out - so we had less than a half hour or so before the sun came up. At 12 min miles we were still in the parks when the sun hit... with PLENTY of miles to go in the hot sun vs only having 3 miles to go ala your quick self! Had it been cooler, or cloudy, it would have been fine but cest la vie!

And F didn't cross over until 6:30, almost 6:45. The sun was up and it got hot quickly.

 

[BlazerFan]

Sorry I missed the meet up. Did many people show up?

 

[1MCSCROOGE]

Same here - since we couldn't even get close to the corrals for the 10K the day before until 15 minutes prior to the start (had to wait for the 5Kers just to get into the corrals for some reason? WHY? They had started a half hour prior!!) we chose to arrive barely in time for the half. there were so many still heading to the corrals that we were technically 'late' to be in there a half hour before the start for corral A. I'm sorry but standing up and still for 45 minutes while everyone from wheelchairs through C goes first and not being able to stretch or sit is not my cup of tea but I know it is what it is. We also jumped the orange barriers to get in. We worked HARD to move up from F, I wasn't about to be pushed back because they didn't make enough room for the # of runners!

Thats the odd thing - the other races up till now in DL have been fine. I haven't done kids races but have heard that this one was different from years prior. Doing the 5K & 10K on the same day SHOULD have been fine. There was plenty of time to clear the corrals and let us in... but they DIDN'T. We were held back until 6am for some reason and had to scramble to get into place. There had been no mention of this - the brochure said be in the corral no later than 5:45 after all, but they would not let us move. Once we did, it was fine though hectic. It was nice not having to sit in the corral for forever that time. Doing the 5K on Friday and the 10K on Saturday sounds perfect for the Princess. City ordinances are different in Anaheim so it might not be possible to do it on a weekday there or something. Hopefully they will figure it out for next year, but I guarantee we won't be there.

Same here! We were trained and ready for a PR by a ton (went from 1/1 walk run splits to 4/1) - ended up a couple minutes slower than last years times. Such a disappointment... especially since we had submitted a 1:14 time at a 10K. I know we at least finished in under 3 hours but still...

TINK's 5k is on Friday. So Anaheim ordinances can't be the reason.

 

[Aw Phooey]

hey all! I finished! Still coming to terms with my finish time. It was horrible. I was hoping to best my last half when I finished 2:55.......not so much. Came in at 3:32 It was really far too hot for me to keep my best pace. I started strong and then by mile 5 I hit a wall. My toes cramped and running straight into the rising sun did not help either. I think the lack of cold water on this race effected me as well. I was hoping to get a PR, and I guess I did.....my personal worst lol. I heard over 2000 did not finish the race. I still have wine and dine coming up so I am going to work on getting my PR there! Have a 5K race in 2 weeks so it will be good practice! Then Wine and Dine in November!

Congrats to all those who finished, got their C2C and DDD medals! I met so many amazing people this weekend.

I did PR and that's good but still disappointing in its own way. For the Donald I went over 3:30 because I stopped to take a lot of photos of stuff along the way (no characters ever for me I'm afraid). This time I figured I'd shave off maybe 10 minutes just by not stopping for anything even if I wasn't any faster.

What I did shave was more like 10 seconds. And still over 3:30 too. LAWD it was HOT!

 

[disEAR]

I share a lot of the same frustrations as most folks have already mentioned. On Friday morning we arrived at the same time we always have (9am) east coast and west coast, for packet pick-up. This was the biggest disaster I've experienced at a Run Disney event. Messes of people everywhere, misinformed cast members. No one knew where to line up and which line was for packet pick-up or the expo. The heat and lack of shade just added to the tensions and stress in the air. Eventually I pushed my way through a huge crowd of people to find the line for packet pick-up tucked away in the corner behind the line for the expo. (Whoever thought that was a good place to have it start there needs to be reprimanded). Once in line, we moved through fairly quickly, however adding in the time it took just to find the line we probably spent a good 45 minutes in the awful heat. After picking up our race bibs they had finally started to settle the lines out and had the line for the expo start at the exit of the packet pick-up area. so we hopped in that line and waited probably another 30 minutes before making it in. The heat was nearly unbearable and I had to step inside the hotel at one point just to avoid getting heat stroke. Luckily my DW was with me and held my spot for me in line. Our first stop in the expo was for the store. We saw a line and were told by cast members that was the line to get into the store. However a minute or two later I over heard someone say it was the line to pay, not shop and I started to notice majority of people ahead of us already had merchandise. So we got out of line and made our way towards the store, only to be informed they were no longer letting people in. I overheard the line at that point to pay was nearly 3 hours.. Yikes! So instead DW and I went and picked up our race shirts and bags, and we looked around the show floor a bit. After 30 minutes or so of looking around we decided to give the store another try. No luck! It was an even messier situation then before and they were refusing anyone access. By this point my blood sugar was getting very low and my patience had run out so we left and decided we would come back later in the afternoon to try our luck again.

At 3:00pm we came back and were allowed into the store. However to our dismay, ALL of the Dumbo merchandise was sold out. All of it. No magnets, key chains, shirts of any kind. All that was left was a pin at check-out and the ugly lime green hoodie that no one seemed to want. We asked a cast member if there would be more brought out today or the next, she informed us they misjudged how popular the merchandise would be and didn't order enough stock. In my opinion this is a lame and sorry excuse. Based on how fast the DDD sold out, they knew this would be a popular race and to not have the foresight to order enough merchandise is just plain incompetent. We looked around a little bit longer, but both of us decided the rest of the merchandise was only okay and not really what we wanted. So we left, walked around the expo floor a bit longer and finally left the expo without any official merchandise.

The next day, we arrived at the suggested time and made our way to our corrals, however as everyone already knows that was a disaster in its own right. Clearly in the future they need to space out the runs more, so the 5k and 10k don't overlap so closely. While I was a bit nervous about making it to our corrals I knew we were all in the same boat and there was nothing we could do, so we just waited patiently until they finally cleared the 5k runners and moved us into our corrals. I think we were far enough ahead that we were able to get into our corral with little trouble. But I did see a lot of people waiting on the side of the corrals. Not sure why they didn't have enough space? I have to say I really loved the course for the 10k. Running by the convention centre was neat, and it had the perfect allotment of Anaheim streets and Disney parks. Also the characters in the parks were great! We don't normally stop much for character photos during the runs but we made the exception this time. The only disappointing part of the run was the water stations. The first 2 were too spread out and the last one was too close to the finish line. They should add one more and keep them more evenly spread out. Aside from the corral issues and the water stations, we really loved this race and would do it again.

The half on Sunday went very well for us. They had clearly worked out the corral issues and making our way to ours was easy peasy. We actually pr'd despite the awful heat, though we expected to and actually finished slower then we'd hoped. However a pr is a pr and we finished the race really strong, so we were very happy at the end, even if it wasn't our set goal. For us, finishing a race alone is reason enough to celebrate. Especially when you factor in the unexpected elements, heat, crowds, possible injuries. We're always happy just to finish. One thing I noticed during the half that I have to complain about is runner etiquette, (I noticed it during the 10k as well just more so on the half) there was a lot of runners that cut us off and pushed us when they saw cameras were out taking photos. This was mostly noticeable at the castle and angel stadium photo spots, however it happened at nearly all of them. I was nearly taken out by a woman who decided to jump in front of me at the last possible second and walk just to make it in front of the camera. I understand the want to have nice photos of you in the race, but please don't do it at the expense of other runners safety. I've been in races where one wrong move or step can lead to a collision and can cause major injuries. Is a photo really worth risking the safety of other runners?

Anyways, all that aside, we had a great time over the weekend and love our newest bling! We finally invested in race hooks at the expo and will be displaying our medals soon. Sorry for writing so much, I just had to share my 2cents on the whole thing. We aren't signed up for any future races yet, but we can't wait to experience our next rundisney event! All problems aside, they are the most magical!

 

[AquaDame]

TINK's 5k is on Friday. So Anaheim ordinances can't be the reason.

Well there went my theory...! Hopefully they do this next time.

One thing I noticed during the half that I have to complain about is runner etiquette, (I noticed it during the 10k as well just more so on the half) there was a lot of runners that cut us off and pushed us when they saw cameras were out taking photos. This was mostly noticeable at the castle and angel stadium photo spots, however it happened at nearly all of them. I was nearly taken out by a woman who decided to jump in front of me at the last possible second and walk just to make it in front of the camera. I understand the want to have nice photos of you in the race, but please don't do it at the expense of other runners safety. I've been in races where one wrong move or step can lead to a collision and can cause major injuries. Is a photo really worth risking the safety of other runners?

Oh my yes! I was especially frustrated with a particular group we were behind for awhile that would speed up, cut us off, and then go suuuuppppeeeeerrrrr slooooowwwwwww past them just to go fast to the next one and do it again (the photogs were clustered a bit at the castle). We were trying to be patient and wait our turn but whats the point of having your picture taken at a stand still in a race? We gave up and ended up with maybe 3 shots apiece, none of them anywhere interesting.

 

[Woth2982]

I did PR and that's good but still disappointing in its own way. For the Donald I went over 3:30 because I stopped to take a lot of photos of stuff along the way (no characters ever for me I'm afraid). This time I figured I'd shave off maybe 10 minutes just by not stopping for anything even if I wasn't any faster.

What I did shave was more like 10 seconds. And still over 3:30 too. LAWD it was HOT!

I thought I would shave off about 10-15. My half in May I had a broken toe and a 14 minute bathroom stop! I am trying not to make excuses, but it is hard. I do feel there were some external things beyond my control. BUT like I said, I can't do much worse! I will do better at Wine and Dine! Trying to get my confidence back up! Great job on finishing! Your next race will be your best too!

 

[smeagol14]

Did anyone come across this? I read on Facebook that some of the people in the last corrals did not get any water at the water stops during the first few stations on the course. I know I came across one station that did not have water around middle of the course At least not water ready.