After the 10k, I made sure to take it a little easier at the parks. The parks were pretty crowded and it was hard to get much done. Also, most of the group had woken up for the 10k so we were all okay with taking it easier that day. It was lucky we had done most of our park touring the day before!
I ended up calling it a day pretty early, grabbing some Earl of Sandwich (the holiday sandwich is fast becoming my favorite pre-race meal at Disneyland) and went back and chilled in the room. It was perfect, I’m so glad Wookie is happy with chill evenings like this!
4am once again came to early. Got ready and was out the door by 4:25, however in my final check before leaving the hotel I realized I had forgotten my bib. Doh! I grabbed it quick and was on my way!
Made it over to the start area and got into corral A and was ready. My legs were feeling good and I was ready to race and just have a great time. The weather was also perfect, a cool 50 degrees which is a great temperature when you are ready to run hard. I had looked at the top times for my age group from the 10k and they weren’t too fast so I figured if I put in a solid effort I felt like I could age place (!!!!). I had my RawThreads tank on, my Sparkle Skirt was extra sparkly and I was ready.
The plan was to take the first 4.5 miles (aka the park miles) easy-ish and evaluate how I was feeling as I went. National anthem was sung (I have been so impressed by the National Anthem singings in 2015 so fat), final announcer info banter completed, and the final countdown was upon us. I didn’t start at the front because I wanted a buffer so I’d take the start slow.
Our runner story!
We were released and the first 4.5 miles were all backstage and park time. LOVE IT! Luke and Leia, Chewie, Darth Vader, and other characters were on the course. They were everywhere! Loved all the Storm Troopers in Disney California Adventures. After being told a bunch of Storm Troopers weren’t there for photo ops in other races, this was refreshing.
My legs were feeling good so this race was on! I didn’t stop for character pics but I still enjoyed every minute! Every minute except for when I was going through a water stop and a woman decided she needed to put her hand on my back and push me forward because she hadn’t planned for the fact that people slow down through water stops and was apparently tailing me and couldn’t be bothered to slow down or say anything to me (grumblegrumblegrumble). Whatever, I walked, downed my water, and then passed her and vowed she would never pass me again. Thanks for the motivation random annoying runner!
So now were out of the parks and onto the roads. My legs were feeling good and I was ready to race. I had looked at the 10k times from the previous day and taken a look at the Avenger’s Half Marathon times and well if I ran this right, I had the potential to place in my division.
The course out of the parks was pretty nice, very flat and had lots of interesting things to see. It was fun to run through a new area of Anaheim and the on course entertainment was super awesome. The cosplay group around mile 8 were awesome! So many great costumes. There was also some unofficial Star Wars fan entertainment including a rather short Wookie. Super fun.
With new places to run and my legs feeling good I kept pushing myself but I was being really aware not to burn out my legs too fast. It wasn’t until mile 12 that I realized if I had turned up the speed a little bit, I could’ve set a new half PR but unfortunately at that point it was too late. The final mile flew by and got to the mile 13 marker and booked it in.
I finished with an official time of 1:43:23, my third fastest half marathon time ever (didn’t I just run my third fastest marathon a week ago? Crazy!). I felt good, my legs felt great and I was anxious to see if I had age placed but would need to wait (currently still waiting since the top finisher in my division didn’t look… well… female and I’m currently sitting in 6th).
How do I handle all these medals?
71 runDisney miles later!
This half marathon/challenge/weekend was so exciting! I am definitely coming back for this next year and in the years to come! The challenges that combine the 10k and half marathon is fast becoming my favorite challenge distance pair. Thanks runDisney for a fantastic weekend!
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