Tinkerbell Half - Race Recap

2:18:54 (Stopped multiple times to wait in line to take pics with characters.)

Steph and I left at 11:30 pm Friday night. We got to LA around 5 am, and she called the hotel and was able to get an early check-in time. Score! We got to the hotel a little before 6, napped for a few hours, then got breakfast and headed to the expo to pick up our bibs and Disneyland tickets. The expo didn't open until 10 am. Booooooo! That was two hours of Disneyland we would be missing. This 10 am expo opening was the only negative thing about this whole experience.

Bibs secured, Disneyland tickets in hand and we were off to go play. I never used to understand adults who went to Disneyland without kids. I always thought Disneyland was so boring. And then I had kids. Now I know that going ANYWHERE without kids is a joy.

 

Staying up all night during the drive and having only a few minutes sleep in the morning left us feeling pooped by 5 pm. So we split a fried chicken meal and carrot cake at Disneyland and called it a day and headed back to our hotel. We were asleep by 8 pm and up at 3:30 am to get ready.

4:30 am and Team Eat Our Pixie Dust was good to go. It was a bit cold, but not that bad as we made our way to the start. Everything was easy to find.

We were in Corral B.

Tons of people were in costume. It was all so cute. However, it kind of sucked being behind people wearing wings if you don't like your eyes being poked at.

The gun went off at 5:45 am. We were at the front of our corral, so we managed to cross the start in about 5 minutes.

It was pretty neat running through Disneyland, they had it all lit up. I wasn't worried about time. My aim was to have fun, so I gave Steph my garmin before the race because she wanted to beat her previous half time.

I saw Captain Hook and had to get a pic with him and that's when Steph and I split.

 

Sure I had to wait in a line, but come on, how often does one get this chance?

The neat thing about it was not only did they have the Brightroom photographer take your pic, they also had a Disney worker there to take a pic using your camera. How cool is that!

We ran the first few miles throughout Disneyland, then Downtown Disney and out into the streets of Anaheim. The crowd support was amazing! There were tons of families out there supporting their moms or family members, but it was so awesome because they also cheered for everyone. It made you feel like a rockstar. There was crowd support at the Nike Women's Marathon, but I got a whole different energy and vibe from Tinkerbell's crowd. This was actually fun.

There was also a lot of entertainment along the way - cheerleaders, the Red Hat ladies, Hawaiian dancers, an Army Band and tons more I can't remember. You didn't run very long without something to see.There was an aid station at almost every mile. The volunteers were great. It made me smile every time I heard, "Good job, Mary!" thanks in part to Disney putting your name on your bib.

I remember feeling super awesome at Mile 9, thinking that was when my wheels normally fall off. But I felt great, and for the first time in any of my races I was sad it was nearing the end because I was having so much fun. I decided that when I hit Mile 10 I would pick it up. There was a guy pacing me, so I speeded up just because I could.

In the middle of Mile 13, I had to stop. I guess racing that guy earlier took its toll on me. However, I walked only a few feet before I came across this:

I actually ran again to hurry up and get in the line for this picture.

It was just the break I needed to finish up the race.

Steph got her PR and I came in just two minutes after. I'd like to think that if I didn't stop and wait in line for pics, I could have PR'ed, too, since my time was just a few seconds off from my PR. But who knows. Maybe those stops re-energized me. All I know is that I had an amazing time, and I actually had fun during a race.

I felt so happy afterwards and had that runner's high. I felt like I could run another 13.1 miles. I thought all the hype about Disney races was just that - hype. But they really are amazing. They are well organized, you can't beat the crowd support and I was never bored during the whole race.

Oh, and Team Eat Our Pixie Dust came in 16 out of 154 teams!

I was worried about my left foot, but it felt perfectly fine this morning. I went for a shake out run at the gym, but then my right arch started hurting, so I stopped after 2 miles. Looks like it's time to give my body a few days break from running.