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."
This was my 3rd time running this race and after we run the WDW 1/2 in January and the DL 1/2 in September, that is it for me and Disney races. I was in the B corral and was able to get going and not have to do alot of weaving except at the first water stop which was pretty congested. Felt great all along the route, mile 11 felt a bit of fatigue but took a GU and pushed on. At mile 12, a new HM PR was in sight, came around the last corner and sprinted to the finish. New PR 1:57:44 I was pleased for hitting a new PR especially at Disney race. I didnt hear about them closing the corrals but I do know they were really checking your bib before letting you move on from the checkpoints.
ReplyDeleteBob - way to go with the PR. That's awesome! Congrats.
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