4:10 am came too early! I had never stayed on the north side of property before, so I didn’t realize how loud the fireworks were going to be. Oh well, live and learn and at least they were pretty early that night.
We got ready and were out the door around 4:45 to make the long walk to the start area.
When I booked my hotel, I assumed it was the same course as the DL Half, it was not. The start/finish area was at the far end near Paradise Pier Hotel, not DL Hotel. Oh well, that’s what I get for not checking a past map.
We made the trek with a few other runners all the way to the south side of DL Resort and quickly got into the corrals around 5:20. We were ready, but we had a wait. I’m not exactly sure how they sorted to corrals for the 10k because my friend was in A and I was in C, so we started in C together. As always Carissa and Rudy were great! We didn’t have any fairy hosts though, which was a bit of a surprise. Maybe tomorrow?
We did see the most epic Russel and Kevin costumed couple, though!
With the playing of the National Anthem on a trumpet (which was beautiful) and some fireworks, we were off! Our first stop was backstage and then into the park near the Small World entrance.
Then through Toon Town where Miss Chipmunk and Daisy were meeting runners. The line was long so we decided to keep trucking. We then went backstage again and then emerged in Critter Country. We were enjoying seeing Disneyland during the wee hours of the morning when we stumbled upon the best character meet! Just look!
Yep, that’s Little Leota/Bride and the stretching room tight-rope walker! Epic! THIS folks is why you always bring a camera to runDisney races.
After that I believe there were some pirates around but we decided to just keep going. Through Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and then out into the HUB
past
the castle. How did I not see this on the map earlier, we didn’t run through the castle, just in front of it. Oh, well. Another picture and we were off.
Across the esplanade and into DCA where we ran up Buena Vista street and then a turn to run past Soarin’, around Grizzle River Run, and out to the World of Color area where the fountains were on. Love this!
Then around Paradise Pier, a run down Route 66 to Cars Land where Mater and McQueen were out. Through a Bugsland, back to the middle of the park, and then down Hollywood Blvd (or whatever that street is called) and then out thepark.
The last 3 miles were out on the streets of Anaheim and not really anything to write home about. We finally started running back to the resort area, a few more turns and then the finish line was in sight. We did it!
I was so proud of my friend. It was her first 10k and she stuck to her run/walk intervals and we had a lot of fun along the way!
We got our awesome medals, grabbed water and powerade, grabbed the snack box (better than at WDW Marathon weekend), and then decided to head back to the resort. It was really, really crowded and the flow from one station to the next was not great at the finish. It was hard getting around in a logical manner.
Time to head back to shower and then get ready for some breakfast at the Storyteller’s Café! Yum!
Pros:
Fun course with great/unique characters
Great starting area and easy to get to (no cars or busses required)
Great medal and overall experience
Love the theme of the weekend and seriously some really nice people
Cons:
The last 3 miles were a little boring
A bit crowded, they probably could’ve spaced out the corrals a bit more
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