Official Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2012 thread

[Qltrgrl2]

The tink dooney's sold out Friday...so sad! I really wanted one

How disappointing. I found the Expo for WDW marathon had sold out of a lot of things and I arrived at about midday on Friday. The Rundisney people need to order more race related merchandise. Have a great race!

 

[lisah0711]

Good luck to all our Tinker Bell Half runners tomorrow! Go WISH!

 

[freepixie]

Good luck ladies!! Thinking of you all and can't wait to hear all about your race!! I wanna see some pics please

Lots of thoughts, prayers and pixie dust to you all!!

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

So excited! My first half marathon and I survived!! All of my toenails are intact, I didn't puke, faint, trip or die.... Success!!

What was everyone else's time? I think I was about 2:45:00. Something around there, which means I totally met my goal for this one. Definitely pleased


ETA: Got my official itme from the Tink website: 2:43:15. Made my goal of 2:45!

 

[specialks]

I did it! Took some photos which I'll post after a little relaxation time. . Congrats to all my other Tinkerbell runners! I actually ran 13.58 miles because I didn't know the trick to stay on the inside corner cuts. Newbie mistake, but I'll know for next time! . My time was 2:40:05. Which is not my 2:30 goal, but I'm totally proud of myself and really enjoyed my first 1/2 marathon!

 

[Disfan11]

I survived as well!
I took tons of pictures and when I get home, if I can figure out how to post them, I'll let you all know.
I ran with the Tinkerbell girl in the brochure and took a picture with her. She and I had run together during the Disneyland half last September.
I finished in 2:14!

It was fun meeting with the WISH group on Saturday.
And seeing some of you on the route today.

Some of you might have seen me before you headed into CA Adventure.
I was shaking the cowbells and holding the funny signs!
I was dressed in my Tinkerbell costume and had my medal in!

Disfan11

 

[Belle Ella]

I finished my first half!! My original goal was just to cross the finish line, but as I started to see my times at each mile marker I decided to shoot for under 3 hours and came in at 3:55:58!!

 

[becky11]

I shaved 15min off of my previous PR so it was a great race for me!!

 

[FireWoman]

There was miscommunication, and a group of about 12-15 of us got swept, even though we were absolutely within pace. I think the volunteer thought we were the tail end... After 15+ minutes of working it out, while others behind us were allowed on the course, and the officials deciding to let us back on course, the bikes and the real swept people started showing up, and they decided that they couldn't get us back on course because they had to reopen the street to public.

It was bizarre. A lot of ladies were yelling and swearing, and I was just stunned. I kept a great pace. They gave us medals, and escorted us to the finish line for pictures, etc, sneaking us through barricades, but would not let us finish or give us an official time. So, no Coast to Coast this year, which saves me MAJOR cash. But I'm a "DNF". I am just in shock. I was doing fairly well! Definitely not sweepable! They admitted their fault, but there is nothing to be done about it.

What a letdown. Yet, it was okay. I'm just tired. It wasn't my fault, but it's still a drag. My husband took me to the beach, and it was just what I needed. It was our favorite beach when we dated in CA back in '94.

I guess 2013 will be my C2C year!

 

[jmasgat]

Firewoman I am impressed by your reaction. I probably would have been one of the really pissed off people. And this is where I would be pulling out the stops with Disney Guest Relations to have them make this right. Yes, mistakes occur (although this isn't their first race, so I would expect better), but they should provide more than a ride to the finish and a medal--which you defintely COULD have earned. What if someone had been going for Coast to Coast? And made the trip out just for this?

But congrats on your attitude. It is probably worth more than an extra medal if you can deal with the disappointment that way.

Maura

 

[Cripey]

Wow, sorry about that mess firewoman, that must have been such a letdown! I also would not have been anywhere close to being that calm about it

I had a great race, despite some worries in the back of my mind because the tail end of my training wasn't all that great. I managed to finish at 2:30 on the nose, which was a PR for me by about 2 minutes! My bf was all over the course to cheer me on so I'm sure he feels like he ran the race too! He even met me at a spot we hadn't discussed as a surprise and ran about a half mile with me...he's so great

I think I'd love to do this race again. I liked the course much better than the DL half...I like the cooler weather this time of year too! It was great meeting everyone at the meet...an thanks for the WISH bracelet!

 

[FireWoman]

Firewoman I am impressed by your reaction. I probably would have been one of the really pissed off people. And this is where I would be pulling out the stops with Disney Guest Relations to have them make this right. Yes, mistakes occur (although this isn't their first race, so I would expect better), but they should provide more than a ride to the finish and a medal--which you defintely COULD have earned. What if someone had been going for Coast to Coast? And made the trip out just for this?

But congrats on your attitude. It is probably worth more than an extra medal if you can deal with the disappointment that way.

Maura

I had several people tell me to write them, including the RunDisney officials, so after pondering it over the day, I think I am going to. Even if 2013 will now be my C2C year now (YES, I can't imagine if that was my 2nd leg! I would be out of my gourd!). Plus, I have my pictures of the mile markers, and my picture at the previous mile would show that I was clearly within time. Yay for pictures.

And you know, they didn't even give us a ride to the finish, after the mistake. They had us walk back to the finish area. Which took a WHILE, especially after the brouhaha of them trying to figure out what happened, so I saw a gal finish, who I was running alongside for a couple of miles. Such a strange reality...

 

[longhorns2]

Oh... that is all kinds of wrong. I am SOOOO sorry this happened! I didn''t run tink (doing Princess) but wanted to hear the happy tinkerbell stories. This one has my mouth hanging open.

Write them. I think they owe you FREE entry to Tinkerbell next year and a bump into Corral B to boot... just because. This is a pretty messed up deal.

But you are handling it with grace! So impressed. But wish you could have finished.

 

[My<3BelongsToMickey]

The Tinkerbell Half TOTALLY exceeded my expectations. It was my second 1/2 marathon and my first RunDisney race. I came in at 2:08:32- 2 minutes shy of my PR, but I'm pretty darn pleased considering the fact that I spent some of that time waiting in line to take pictures with characters

Have to admit my pacing was all messed up at the start of the race- I was on cloud 9 running through Disneyland and seeing the characters!!!! I was keeping like a 7min/ mile pace I was so excited!!!

 

[fashionista311]

Congrats to all finishers!

Yeah, Firewoman, I agree with everyone. That is some serious bs and you should be writing/calling Guest Relations. In fact if I was you, I would be so ticked off that I would try and figure out which exec is in charge of RunDisney and contact them directly. Sorry RunDisney, a medal for a "DNF" when you were on pace within the time limits is not enough at all. At the very least, you should be comped another race for sure (although that doesn't help with any travel costs) I hope they take care of you!

 

[proudmonkeymama]

I agree with everyone here, Firewoman.. that was just SO wrong. I also think you're probably still in shock with your calm-like reaction. I hope they can right their wrong's. I'm so sorry.

I had SO much fun! I can't wait to do another Disney run! My time was 3:06 - not bad considered I stopped at each character and mile marker to take pics! Plus 2 potty breaks. I'm sure my time would've been around 2:40 - but i dont care - I was having fun!!

Oh, and those Red Hat Society ladies? One was my Mom!! Sneaky old broad didn't tell me she was going! hahah Best.Surprise.Ever! Even my bf kept her updated of my pace so she knew when to expect me!

Sorry I didn't make any of the meetups - I got much more busier than I should've been on Saturday.

 

[RedRosePrincess]

There was miscommunication, and a group of about 12-15 of us got swept, even though we were absolutely within pace. I think the volunteer thought we were the tail end... After 15+ minutes of working it out, while others behind us were allowed on the course, and the officials deciding to let us back on course, the bikes and the real swept people started showing up, and they decided that they couldn't get us back on course because they had to reopen the street to public.

It was bizarre. A lot of ladies were yelling and swearing, and I was just stunned. I kept a great pace. They gave us medals, and escorted us to the finish line for pictures, etc, sneaking us through barricades, but would not let us finish or give us an official time. So, no Coast to Coast this year, which saves me MAJOR cash. But I'm a "DNF". I am just in shock. I was doing fairly well! Definitely not sweepable! They admitted their fault, but there is nothing to be done about it.

What a letdown. Yet, it was okay. I'm just tired. It wasn't my fault, but it's still a drag. My husband took me to the beach, and it was just what I needed. It was our favorite beach when we dated in CA back in '94.

I guess 2013 will be my C2C year!

FireWoman, I must have been with you. Same thing happened to me. I wasn't making pace though so it would have been a struggle for me to finish. I was ok with it. But a lot of the other ladies in the pick-up area were angry. A lot of them said they didn't hear any announcements about being behind pace. I had heard one but the people on the bikes with the orange flags weren't very loud and I could barely hear them. I figured there was no use in arguing with the race officials since they didn't seem like they were going to allow anybody back onto the course. It was a matter of minutes (like 2 minutes) that I missed the cutoff for the course closure.

I just accepted the medal and went back to my hotel, I didn't want to stay around with all the women yelling/being upset so I missed them escorting people to the finish line for pictures. I was happy that my sister finished and that I was able to meet up with her in the finish area. I was surprised that Tinkerbell and/or the other fairies weren't out during the Half.

I had a great time doing the Neverland 5K though. IMO it was a lot better than the Star Tours 5K I did last September. It was fun seeing the Lost Boys! And I loved running at night especially through CA Adventure. There just needed to be more light in certain areas backstage; I almost fell once and I saw somebody who did. And it was a bit random that there were Halloween and Christmas floats out backstage. Overall I had a good time and took being swept as a learning experience (an expensive one but one nonetheless).

 

[FireWoman]

FireWoman, I must have been with you. Same thing happened to me. I wasn't making pace though so it would have been a struggle for me to finish. I was ok with it. But a lot of the other ladies in the pick-up area were angry. A lot of them said they didn't hear any announcements about being behind pace. I had heard one but the people on the bikes with the orange flags weren't very loud and I could barely hear them. I figured there was no use in arguing with the race officials since they didn't seem like they were going to allow anybody back onto the course. It was a matter of minutes (like 2 minutes) that I missed the cutoff for the course closure.

I just accepted the medal and went back to my hotel, I didn't want to stay around with all the women yelling/being upset so I missed them escorting people to the finish line for pictures. I was happy that my sister finished and that I was able to meet up with her in the finish area. I was surprised that Tinkerbell and/or the other fairies weren't out during the Half.

I had a great time doing the Neverland 5K though. IMO it was a lot better than the Star Tours 5K I did last September. It was fun seeing the Lost Boys! And I loved running at night especially through CA Adventure. There just needed to be more light in certain areas backstage; I almost fell once and I saw somebody who did. And it was a bit random that there were Halloween and Christmas floats out backstage. Overall I had a good time and took being swept as a learning experience (an expensive one but one nonetheless).

So there were actually bikes behind you? Bikes didn't come up to where I was until about 10 minutes of talking with the officials. I think that's where I was so confused by it all. A volunteer closed the course, but there weren't any sweepers in sight. BUT, I know that I was playing with fire, taking pics at DL ... but I made up for it the next mile. I booked through it, and had a 7 minute mile. So, it was shocking for me, and I knew the sweep was wrong, but didn't know quite what to do.... My friend said it was unfair that the people they accidentally swept had to walk to the finish, and the genuinely swept people got a ride. I think it was good to walk. I didn't want to be around the yellers anymore.

I'm glad the 5K was good!

I decided I'm going to rock next year. I feel like the medal I earned was for the lesson I learned! Next year will be different, for sure! I won't even let there be a grey area!

 

[Funnyrun]

There was miscommunication, and a group of about 12-15 of us got swept, even though we were absolutely within pace. I think the volunteer thought we were the tail end... After 15+ minutes of working it out, while others behind us were allowed on the course, and the officials deciding to let us back on course, the bikes and the real swept people started showing up, and they decided that they couldn't get us back on course because they had to reopen the street to public.

It was bizarre. A lot of ladies were yelling and swearing, and I was just stunned. I kept a great pace. They gave us medals, and escorted us to the finish line for pictures, etc, sneaking us through barricades, but would not let us finish or give us an official time. So, no Coast to Coast this year, which saves me MAJOR cash. But I'm a "DNF". I am just in shock. I was doing fairly well! Definitely not sweepable! They admitted their fault, but there is nothing to be done about it.

What a letdown. Yet, it was okay. I'm just tired. It wasn't my fault, but it's still a drag. My husband took me to the beach, and it was just what I needed. It was our favorite beach when we dated in CA back in '94.

I guess 2013 will be my C2C year!

I'm pretty sure I was with you, FireWoman. I just started crying quietly. I also stopped to take pictures in the park and I'm kicking myself for it now. I don't know how accurate it is, but I heard later that nobody who was swept by the parking garage got a ride back to the finish. I guess someone was injured and they needed an ambulance near the true sweep point, so Disney had to rush to move it back to where we were and it caused confusion. Did you see the group that had been behind us that got to go through after we were stopped? That hurt more than getting swept. I understand, though. My Garmin said I was at about an 18min/mile pace and I had been near the back of Corral E, so it was probably right. If I'm honest with myself, I know the sweep was justified, even though they apologized to us. I know I could have made up time and been okay, though. I don't get why they didn't just tell us there was a medical emergency ahead, though. I don't think the screamers would have cared, but I would have been more understanding, I think.

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Hello!

Here's a picture from the DTD meet-up.

And me after I finished (with the sign my mom cheered me on with along the course).