Wow, feels like it’s been forever since I wrote one of these entries, right? Maybe ’cause it has been!
It’s been over a month since I had a race entry in here! (A flight didn’t happen. A race got cancelled. A friend got injured before our mini-roadtrip to a trail race.)
How awesome it is to half marathon again!
As I learned in my last Disney half marathon, you’re not out to get your best time (unless you’re fast enough to be in an early corral, and never let anyone catch you – at which point, more power to you). Not fast people, such as myself, should not go to Disney with the intent to PR.
I jogged the first mile, and pretty much walked the rest of the course. I jogged bits through tight spaces in the park (whenever there was room to jog) in order to be as courteous as possible to all the runners around me. I did my best to make sure people around me who wanted to jog could do so. But I was down to walk.
As we ran through the castle, of course we came to an almost stand still. Everyone was slowing and stopping to take pictures. Then they all realized they were getting their picture taken, and stopped to pose. A bunch of people got super annoyed, huffing and puffing. Hey y’all, it’s Disney. You gotta settle down and enjoy the ride.
I’m sure the huffer puffers were new Disney runners. I don’t blame them. It’s jarring during your first Disney race, but once you learn to just chillax, the Disney races become a lot less frustrating.
We ran through California Adventure, which I’d never been to. The Toy Story soldiers yelled things at us along the lines of, “Are you the bravest? Are you the smartest? We can already see you’re not the fastest.” I thought that was pretty hilarious.
Speaking of fun things through the park – Sometimes, I’m as late to the party on things as humanly possible. I wait ’til the whole world has found something they like, it’s everywhere, everyone gets over it, and then I say, “Whoa, have you heard this new song, ‘Call Me, Maybe’?”
I don’t do it on purpose. For some reason, it doesn’t permeate my circle of pop culture until everyone else is saying, “Yes. I heard the USA Olympic Swim Team do it. I heard Jimmy Fallon do it with toy instruments. I’ve seen the memes about it with Arrested Development and Finding Nemo themes. I’m over it.”
I thought I was over it. It was a little overplayed… but I was never actually listening to it. I was only hearing about people singing it. In the park, I had no choice but to actually listen, ’cause I was on the course and all. Let me tell you, it is one catchy song. I thought the bandwagon was moving on by me. Nope. At the last minute, I leapt onto the “Call Me, Maybe” train. I ran with newfound energy as it played.
We covered Disneyland in the first few miles, then we went around some roads in Anaheim. There was dancing along the side of one. There were custom cars lining a few roads. Later, we ran through Angel’s Stadium, which was super cool. As we turned a corner, there were bunch of fans in the stands cheering. I felt famous for a hot second.
Speaking of being famous As we were all running in, there were signs saying that if we entered we agreed that we could be used for some show. I didn’t stop to read it. I was in a half marathon. Obviously I was going to enter the stadium. So, when you see my name and likeness being used across the world in perpetuity, you know why.
There were amazing people running this race. I love hearing from first-time half-marathoners. I met a 67-year-old woman doing her first half, and a man who’d originally weighed 460 pounds. He’d lost 150 so far. He said he had more to go, but wanted to run this race to celebrate his accomplishment thus far. I saw them both in the final mile, so they were making it.
I saw Juan (the man who’d lost 150 pounds) after the finish. He was elated. It was pretty magical to see.
After the race, I grabbed my Coast to Coast medal and caught up a bit with Wendy and Marty before going home to sleep the afternoon away. On my way home, the only thing I wanted I was a delicious, juicy burger. And yet I couldn’t have one! Why, you ask? Let’s talk about it tomorrow.