13.1 miles~~Disneyland's Half Marathon!

Well, the day has finally arrived!  We got here on Friday with no problems.  We were able to eat lunch with our daughter and son-in-law who were returning from their honeymoon (3 years late) that they spent with our other daughter and son-in-law.  I thought it was amazing that they actually all went together to DisneyWorld to celebrate their weddings.  28 years ago, Chris and I spent our honeymoon at DisneyWorld too!  We are a Disney family!

We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel, which is also where the Expo is being held...so no long ride to the run or Expo! Yea!  We stayed here years ago, but since then, they have renovated and added a new section to the hotel.  We have a nice room with a view of the pool.  Unfortunately, it is unseasonable hot for this time of year, so that will make the run a little more uncomfortable.  But we will still do it!

Getting to the run was simple, we walked out of our hotel and down the road with tons of other people at 4:00 in the morning. This definitely beats riding a bus for an hour at DisneyWorld to the start!  We ended up having to wait over an hour before we could start since they did all the starts in corrals.  Chris and I wanted to stay together for the beginning, so we stayed in the last corral.  While we were standing there, I realized that I totally forgot the headband that I turned into a choker!  It is probably laying in my suitcase or something.  Oh well.  It might have bothered me while I was breathing anyway.  

Once we got the start, we headed out.  We ran through Disneyland (which is much smaller than DisneyWorld) so it didn't take very long.  Then we headed out in the streets of Anaheim.  Local schools had bands and cheerleaders at various points of the run.  There were also dance teams and groups performing, the cutest was a group of 5-9 years olds doing the hula!  We ran towards Angels stadium and their were two roads full of old cars and their owners.  Some would honk their horns (a ru gah!) and cheer us on.  It was amazing how many people got up at the crack of dawn with their beautiful cars and trucks to be there for us.  I tried to shout out "Thanks for being here for us" every so often while passing them.  Such community spirit.  The best though, was entering Angels stadium.  There were a couple of scout troops outside, but when we ran in, one entire side was full of Brownies, Cubs, Juniors, Cadets, Boy Scouts, and scouts of all ages with leaders cheering and giving us high-fives.  I thanked and high-fived as many of the kids as I could.  At one point, a little girl grabbed my hand and said, "Cinderella, it's Cinderella!"  So cute.  To me, that stadium full of boys and girls was absolutely amazing.  What a community of people--all along the whole route--students, adults, all ages--there to just cheer us on.  

At this point, it was about 9 miles into the race.  It was hot, and I was pushing myself (even though I didn't know it at the time).  I made sure I was drinking water and Gatorade at every water stop to make sure I was hydrated.  I made it to the finish and realized that I had finished 15 minutes faster than the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  I had no idea that I was moving that fast, and hadn't really planned on doing that.  I moved through the finishers and got my Disneyland medal and my Coast to Coast medal!  I did it!  I had completed 2 Half Marathons!  

I grabbed some more water and snacks and waited for Chris.  It was very hot and they unfortunately had no shade. The longer I stood there, the worse I felt.  I think I had just pushed myself too hard and got a bit over heated.  I grabbed some ice and kept it on my head to cool me off.  Luckily, getting back to the hotel, cooling off and napping, made all the difference in the world.  At that point, I wasn't sure if I could do another half marathon again. But who knows, maybe I will!  We are already signed up for a couple more races--5K, 10K, and a 10 miler! :-)