Disneyland Half Marathon "The Most Stressed Out Race on Earth"

Yesterday I wrapped up the Disney Coast-to-Coast Half Marathon duo. In spring, I did the Disney Princess Half Marathon; yesterday was the Disneyland Half.

I love Disney. Some of my happiest memories are family vacations to Disney World with my cousins and nieces. Growing up I thought the Polynesian Village was the greatest place in the whole world.

Disney bills the Disneyland Half Marathon as the "Happiest Race on Earth". Wrong, it was the "Most Stressed Out Race on Earth". There were lots of weird things that made the whole event more high-strung than it had to be. For example, they decided to close the starting corrals about 30 minutes before the race. Anyone who was stretching or making a port-o-let visit couldn't get back to their spot and had to go to the back of 18,000 runners. The first part of the race was a mess of faster runners trying to weave through the pack. It was an odd choice by Disney, since runners who've been hydrating for a hot race day are going to need to pee before an event.

I had a nice run and felt strong all day. It didn't get hot until mile 11 and I pretty much walked it in from there. It was a disappointing event, because I expected it to be super-fun and it just wasn't. I did dig running through Angels Stadium. The most amusing thing all day was a sign on the course, "Run faster. Mickey just raised admission prices again."

She Ran Calling Wildfire

Again with the equation of wildfire+race= problem. Not a problem that's nearly on the scale of losing your home to the fires, but still annoying.

This weekend, I'm supposed to run the Disneyland Half Marathon. With the wildfires burning, the air quality in Anaheim is veering toward sucky. Last year I was planning to run the Pasadena Marathon when wildfires forced it to be rescheduled.

Between my race calendar, Steve's calendar and work, there's not a free weekend for a Disney reschedule. Here's hoping for clean air on Sunday.