Time for the Wonderland 10K--Dumbo Double Dare Begins

I will start by saying, Disneyland races are so different from ones at DisneyWorld. I had read about them and I had looked at the maps but WOW, I was shocked when I made the walk from Paradise Pier over to the start line. It was crowded but nothing like WDW and it was SO CLOSE!!!

I got there super early so I could be there for the Princess Posse picture and the PbRC picture. It was so fun to see the costumes and to see people in person for the first time. I have to say, once again the running community is the best and the most welcoming!

After pictures and talking we made our way to the corrals. Now since we had all done this before we waited. By the time we got to D corral, it was completely packed. I mean there was NO WHERE for us to go. We ended up kind of sneaking into the front of the corral which was nice but it was not laid out well or in a position to fit as many people in as needed to be there. They did delay the corrals so there was more time between starts.

In the corral we got talking about how we were going to manage the timing/pace for this race. I said I was going to go slow and use my intervals. Melissa was there and decided to stick with me and use my 2:1. When we went off at the start Jeff Galloway was in front of us. It was so cool to watch him. He was using his usual :30/:30 and he took off and left us in the dust within the first mile.

I personally think the course for the 10K was altered so we did not cross the 5K course because the water stations did not match what was on maps from before the race. Melissa and I stuck together and I have to admit it was a HOT day.

There were not many character stops in the beginning and the ones we did pass were BUSY. Since it was the Wonderland 10K they were all Alice in Wonderland characters. We did stop at a couple places and we had a great time!


Our time was not great but we had an awesome time!!!



After the race, we decided to spend the day exploring Los Angels. Now that was a fun day!!

Dumbo Double Dare--Part 1 The Expo

Since I had to work on Thursday AND we were flying with a companion certificate, we were very limited in the flight choices we had. We were supposed to leave DTW before 8pm and get into LAX about 10pm. We were delayed about 30 minutes but they were able to make the time up during the flight. We landed a little after 10pm PST. Now at this point we had to get the luggage and get to Avis to get the rental car. Overall it was not a bad experience but LAX is under construction was so it was not the most pleasant experience and the traffic at the airport and getting to Avis was a little bit much so late at night.

We did have a funny. I was assigned our car, a white Kia. We got the bags in and were just getting into the car when another group walked up. Seems they were assigned the same car. Well, we were in it and we just left.

We got to Anaheim in about 35 minutes and overall not bad. We checked into Paradise Pier. We had to wait a few minutes. It was late and the person working seemed distracted but he was pleasant enough. Our room was on the 12th floor and near the elevator which was nice later in the weekend. I have to give a huge shout out to Leigh from the Mousekeplanners. She did great getting us into the room block here.

The room was super cute. It had 2 queen beds and a sofa. The beds had the cutest beach ball pillows on them (only $65 if you chose to take it home with you). We had a view of the parking lot BUT it turns out it was also the last 1/2 mile of the half marathon!!

We both crashed because we were so tired.

Friday I was up kind of early since I was still on our time. I was ready and headed to the expo about 9:40am. I had not planned to camp in line but I knew I wanted official merchandise. Jeff decided he would run to CVS with the car and get water, Gatorade and pop for the weekend which was SO NICE to have.

I got to the expo and I was in complete shock. There were people EVERYWHERE. runDisney had put green tape on the group to keep people in lines. There were lines for getting your packet and another for the expo. I jumped into the back of the expo line figuring I could get my race stuff later since we were so close. Once the line started moving shortly after 10am it was a mad house. I got lucky and a nice girl in line worked with me so we both got the things we wanted. I managed to get a Dumbo zip up, a Disneyland Half jacket, a Coast to Coast shirt, 2 straw cups, a Dumbo magnet and 2 sweatybands. Then I got into line. WOW, it was a line. It went to the back wall of the expo. After about 30 minutes I was so thirsty and still did not have my bib. I was happy since at one point I was right near Jeff Galloway as he was speaking!! It was so neat. Jeff came over to the expo and stood in line to pay for me while I went to get our park tickets and my race stuff.

It was at this time I started to see posts that the expo had been shut down for overcrowding which was completely understandable. I got in line outside and waited for about 20 minutes in the sun before I gave up. I was hungry and defeated. I asked at information how I could get my park tickets and she told me how to get into the basement area where the tickets and bibs were without standing in line. I followed her directions and there was NO LINE for park tickets or for bibs. The entire hold up was the t-shirts that had to be picked up in the expo. It was out of control. I got my tickets and my bib and joined Jeff in line. At this point he was almost to the front after over 90 minutes. I was so excited to find out a running friend was in line behind him so I got to meet her in person and her delightful daughter.

I finally got my official merchandise and we had park tickets. We went back to the room, grabbed a drink and it was time for the parks!!

Setting my race goals (with some runDisney thrown in)

This weekend I set out for my third half marathon. For some reason I am really excited about this which surprises me kind of since it involves a 4.5 hour car ride to get there and anyone who knows me knows that is not my favorite thing at all.

I know it is not the weather I am looking forward to since it is 60% chance of thunderstorms, it is not the car ride but it is the chance to run a race without snow, without characters and with a chance to see and feel Niagara Falls as I run.

Goals:

• A Goal: Sub 2:30--my plan is to start with the 2:30 run/walk pace group. I don't know what intervals they are going to use so I am not sure if I will stick with them. 2:1 has been working well for me and I think I want to stay with that.
• B Goal: Sub 2:42--This is my current Personal Record so I want to beat it since I was having leg craps and the sleet and 20mph winds messed with me last race.
• C Goal: Sub 2:52--I mean come on, I have to beat a race I stopped for pictures at right?

We will see. Now I am going to finish getting ready and I am going to dream of the Dumbo Double Dare medals that have officially been released!

What I have learned about runDisney Races

I think some people find Disney overwhelming and I know that the runDisney events are not exception to this. In just over a year I have read a lot about the various races and I have experienced the 2013 Princess Half Marathon. This in no way makes me an expert but I am going to try and help people out.

1. Some Disney races sell out REALLY FAST, while others do not. There are some things to note with this. Disneyland only holds 2 race weekends a year (Tinkerbell and the Disneyland Half/Dumbo Double Dare weekend). This means for those going to for a Coast 2 Coast medal there are only 2 chances to make this happen. Also Disneyland races take a smaller number of runners. Because of this it is no surprise how fast things sold out for the Disneyland Weekend events (even the kids races sold out fast). Add to it that BOTH of the Disneyland events are over holiday weekend; Tinkerbell is MLK Day weekend and Disneyland Half weekend Labor Day weekend so people can travel easier.

2. Disney races are EXPENSIVE but there are things that are special for Disney. How many races have character stops along the course and fireworks for each starting corral.

3. Starting Corrals are a source of confusion and anger for many people. Disney requested an estimated finish time. Prior to the 2014 races, you did not have to provided any proof to support your estimate unless you planned to finish in under 2:45. What this led to was a lot of people putting down 2:46 even if they had no plan to finish that fast. It put slower people in the middle of the corrals and led to some backups in places. It looks like Disney has fixed this by now requiring proof for anything under 3:15 (the max is 3:30) so hopefully in the upcoming races it will help the field to be seeded better to make for a better experience for everyone. Now, it might lead to more people being swept but that is number 4. Also, time must be submitted by the deadline since no time estimates will be taken at the expo.

4. Disney does require you to maintain a 16mm pace otherwise they will remove you from the course. The balloon ladies are real and start as the last people and walk at 16mm. If you fall behind them, a bus will come and get you and you will be taken off the course. You do still get a medal as of 2013 even if you do not finish. With the old way of placing some people were able to be placed into earlier starts to give themselves up to 20 minutes extra (or 1-2mm). With this new way, that cushion will be eliminated so I am interested to see if more people will be swept.

5. Disney does often have preregistration for certain runners. This is usually Annual Passholders, Disney VISA credit card holders and Disney Vacation Club (DVC members). As of now, this links were made available to these people BUT they also had a feature to share the link on social media sites when you registered making it open to everyone. Personally we are members of all three groups and I wish Disney would provide this perk just to members by either requiring a code or not allowing it to be shared. I know this upsets some people but I think it is a great perk for those willing to spend the money.

6. Bib transfers and deferrals are also confusing or a course of confusion with Disney. Disney does not allow bib transfers. A runner can defer to the same Disney race next year but cannot transfer names. Now that does not mean that it does not happen it just means that the runner and seller run a risk of being banned from Disney races (though I don't know if anyone ever has been). For an explanation on deferrals and how Disney appears to be changing things, see this post on Margaritas, Miles & the Mouse

I know there are a lot of things but those stick out to me!! Happy racing.

runDisney Announces the new medal for Disneyland weekend and I AM EXCITED

Overall, this has been a down week. It is the end of the school year which means a ton of things going on and that have to get done, I have been struggling with some feelings/insecurities and I have been unsure about how this year will go with all the races I have scheduled. I think I am just in one of those places that everyone gets at times.



Saturday was a highlight day for me. I was able to complete just over 12 miles. My pace stayed below 12mm and while it is not amazing, it was consistent and I think I have to be able to maintain before I can focus on dropping time. I really had a great time though. The kids had breakfast with my mom so I ran from there. Being in the old neighborhood was nice. I also spent a while up at the hill so I could use the 1 mile loop. Everyone there was super friendly and it was so nice to see people out and about. There were several couples out running/walking together, people who looked to be on break from work and there was even a boot camp thing going on. It was GREAT and I plan to spend a lot of time there next weekend when I do my 14 mile one. I plan to do that one on Saturday again since it worked so well.

Now that 14 miles is a whole thing. I need to do something to improve at Niagara Falls. Galloway recommends a 14 miler which I never did. Maybe it will push me over to improving some!!

Today runDisney sent a message to those attending the Disneyland Half weekend to watch for an announcement about an hour later. It turned out that it was the announcement of the medals for the races that weekend. It included the Disneyland Half Medal (which is the same D as last year with a new ribbon), the new 10K medal and the Dumbo Double Dare Medal. They are amazing. There was also the 5K medal but I am not registered for that since it did not look like you could do the 5K and 10K because of timing.

For now, I am going to try and focus on the good and not the things that I am missing or am sad about. Only another month before summer is here with lots of time for the kids, running and refocusing. Until then: DISNEY MEDAL DREAMS!!!

And runDisney does it again!!!

Last month runDisney announce a new challenge. This one takes place during the Marathon Weekend in January. It involves 4 days of running and over 40 miles (actually 48.6 miles to be exact). It is called the Dopey Challenge and involves a 5K on Thursday, 10K on Friday, 1/2 Marathon on Saturday and a Full Marathon on Sunday. It encompasses the Goofy Challenge that has been around for awhile that is the 1/2 and full in the same weekend.

The announcement of the Dumbo Double Dare for Disneyland weekend was new and exciting. It was exactly 1/2 of the Goofy Challenge and it was something most people can image doing whereas Goofy is just Goofy. Some have questioned if the Dopey Challenge is too much. For me while I hope one day to be able to do at least part of this challenge, it is just not possible for me to miss 3 days of school at one time in January, well actually to miss that amount of time ever.

Well today runDisney just announced the Glass Slipper Challenge. This is a 10K on the Saturday of Princess Half Marathon Weekend and the 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. In addition to that, if you are able to complete the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in January and the Princess Half Marathon, you will earn a special Coast to Coast medal that runDisney released today. The old Coast 2 Coast will still be available but you can only get the special one if you do Tink and Princess.

This was the announcement that appeared on the runDisney Twitter feed today. It has created quite a buzz in the Disney running community.

I am so excited to do the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge in August/September and earn my Coast 2 Coast medal for doing Princess. Now this has added one more thing that I want to do. I am afraid that it is not possible to do everything but I do not want to miss out on the chance to do something special that is happening now.

The first good thing is that Tinkerbell weekend is MLK weekend and again in 2014 we have the Monday off so it would be possible to travel to Disneyland to complete the race weekend. I could also do Princess again in the same way I did it this year. It is going to require me to depend on my running friends since it will be impossible for me to get into town early enough to get to the expos to get my race stuff. Missing the expo will be sad but the races are the most important right?

Now there is the cost. These are not local races and it involves travel expenses. I am glad I have about 40 days to decide anything. I am also glad I have such a supportive family.

I am going to be dreaming of this for now though.


For more information here is the official runDisney Blog Post