2012 Disneyland Half Marathon

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2012 Disneyland Half Marathon
By Henry


Summary

This was my first out-of-town race in over 20 years, so the experience was much more than just one day. Disneyland is about 90 miles from my home in San Diego. The race also occurs on Labor Day weekend, so I didn't have to rush back home after the Sunday race.

Pre-Race

I left on Saturday morning for the Race Expo at the Disneyland Hotel, and parked for free in the Downtown Disney parking lot. The expo was huge, but I didn't want to stay long and wear myself out before the race. I noticed lots of people wearing their Cars Land 5K Rally medals from the race that occurred earlier in the morning. 17,000 people were registered for the the Half Marathon, the largest race I've attended in recent years. Bay-to-Breakers was the only larger one back in 1989 (100,000). My hotel was about 1.5 miles from the start, a good warm up on race morning. I brought my dinner with me, and heated it in the microwave. I didn't want any problems like I had two weeks before when I completed the AFC (America's Finest City) Half Marathon, and had to make two unscheduled stops while running. The weather in Southern California has been hot and humid for the past two weeks, so having A/C would certainly help me sleep better.

Race Day

Even though I set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. I woke up on my own at 3 a.m. to get ready for the race. Temperature was about 68° F, and clear enough to see the stars. After a few Facebook posts, and my traditional pre-race breakfast (one PowerBar), I gathered all my stuff and headed down to the race start wearing my flip flops. As I got closer to the race start at the Disneyland Hotel more and more runners converged. Sunrise was around 6:30 a.m. with the race starting at 5:45 a.m. I arrived at around 4:30 a.m. and changed into my Tarzan outfit and checked my gear at about 5 a.m. There were 7 corrals label A-G that were organized by expected finish time. When I signed up many months ago, I ran the SD Half at 2:07, so I really did expect to finish in 2 hours. Proof of finish time was required during registration, so I had no problems getting into the faster corral B.

I was expecting to see more costumes, as this was a Disney race, maybe all the costumes are in corral G. I finally found a Rapunzel and an Ariel, and was talking with them before the race started. As the national anthem got to the "rockets red glare", two red flare fireworks shot up, followed by bombs bursting in air. Fireworks at the start of a race, very cool. The wheel chairs and corral A went first, and about 5 minutes later, my corral B. Surprising the group spread out quickly, and I didn't have to do much dodging to pass (or maybe because I was running slower than everyone else). The sun would not rise for another 45 minutes, so it was dark in many sections, and sure enough, I stepped on a rock that I had to react very quickly to, OW. It took another 50 steps for the pain to go away, but I was OK after that.

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Crowds lined the street on both sides for the first mile on Katella Avenue, and the asphalt was extremely smooth. There are clocks at each mile mark, and it showed 15:49 at mile one. As we turned into the California Adventure back lot, the asphalt got rougher, and I had to slow my pace down. The CA back lot is also part of the last mile to the finish, as I noticed a 12 and 2 mile arrow sign. As we enter into CA, I slow my pace to savor the experience. This would be the only time Disney would allow me to be in their parks barefoot, as their normal policy is to always wear shoes. The water show was active, the sky still dark, and with the Ferris wheel backdrop, I couldn't resist stopping for a photo.

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At each character stop, there would be a bright room photographer along with a Disney cast member that would use your camera to take a photo. Because of the darkness, many of the photos on my camera didn't turn out as well as I expected. Cars Land just opened a few months ago, and I was excited to see the new area for the first time. More stops, more pictures, at least the lines weren't too long, about 5 people or so. As we exited CA, we headed into the back lot, and down through a tunnel to pop up in Disneyland Main Street.

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I had to watch my footing over the RR tracks, but Main Street was very well lit. Running barefoot on Disneyland Main Street heading towards Sleeping Beauty Castle, priceless. I took a picture while running as we got close to the castle. I knew there were photographers at the exit of the castle taking photographs, but with all the people, it was difficult to find an open area. Sadly for Tarzan, the race course did not go by Tarzan's tree house. The line for Aladdin, Genie, and Jasmine was long, so as I ran past them, but changed my mind and turned around and got in line. This ended up being one of the best pictures during the race. The Princess lines were long. Darth Vader was the longest. Knowing that I already lost many minutes, I skipped many lines as the course took us into Toon Town. I got one picture with a chipmunk and Daisy, only because there was no line. As we entered the back lot again, and headed out to the streets of Anaheim, I wished I could just run the entire race in the parks.

As we turned the corner on Ball Road, the sun was just rising, right into our eyes. Tarzan wore no hat or sunglasses, so I used my hand to shield the sun in order to avoid bumping into other runners. The crowd cheers were back, "Go Tarzan". Road surface remained good, not as nice as Katella, but nothing to slow me down. Seems like all the schools in the area had their cheerleaders and marching bands out. The course snaked it's way towards the Honda Center, south, east, north, east, south. East was bad, as the sun was blinding. I knew we would be finishing west, so I was looking forward to that. There was hula dance group in one section, and there was a lone dancer performing hula as everyone was watching (possible video recording too). Tarzan stopped and joined in, wiggling hips to the delight of the crowd. As we headed further east, there were about 100 classic cars lining the street on both sides, with the owners cheering us on. I guess if you are going to line the streets with cars, and pretty much close the road, you'd want to do it on a section of street that wasn't used much. Of course this meant the surface was extremely rough, and I had to really focus on good form to make it through this section that was several blocks long.

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The asphalt finally got better, then we headed on to the Santa Ana River trail, a dirt path, but much nicer than the old asphalt I had run through earlier. On to the parking lot of Angel Stadium, then into the park itself, where more crowds are in the stands. The dirt warning track isn't as fine as Petco Park (San Diego) which I ran on last March. Little rocks about a millimeter or so were sticking to my feet, and this was not comfortable. After we exited, I brushed off my feet, but now my hand was all dirty. Quick rinse at the next aid station, then about 3 more miles to the finish heading west. At this point, my muscles were getting sore. I focused on good form, because I knew that when I'm tired, I tend to land more on my heel, which ends up tender after a race.
Mile 12, back on to the Disney back lot, but the asphalt got rough again. I knew it would not last long since I was here at the beginning of the race. I managed to find enough energy to sprint to the finish line, but slowed down just before the line to give a high four to Mickey and Minnie.

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My legs were slightly sore afterwards, but my feet felt great. I grabbed my gear, and changed out of my Tarzan outfit for the 1.5 mile walk back to the hotel. Lunch at the Cheesecake factory to celebrate, then back to the hotel for a nap. Later in the evening, the stroll in Downtown Disney wearing my new medal (along with many other runners), I can actually walk normally.

Finish and castle photos taken by brightroom, with a little creative editing to make me standout better. Click on the image to view larger.

The Morning After

I slept well, and woke up at 5 a.m. I felt that a barefoot walk to loosen up my muscles (not that they were that tight) would be good after a half marathon. I headed towards Disneyland and figured I should be able to walk a few miles. After about 100 yards, I felt like running, so I did, it felt good. Then I thought it would be fun to run through Downtown Disney. It was still dark, and I was hoping that I would not have to go through the security check near the ticket booth like the previous morning on race day.

The check point was staffed now, and there were a few people in line. After a few moments I realized that they were not letting anyone through. The man and lady on the Disney staff were just waiting for the opening time.

Me: Could I just run through to Downtown Disney?

Man: If you are just going to go through, sure.

Lady: He's not wearing any shoes!

Man: Sorry, we can't let you in there.

Me: I just ran the half marathon yesterday without shoes.

Man: That must have been a mistake, we have liability policies.

Me: OK. (I just turned around and continued my run without Downtown Disney.)

Turns out because the Disneyland Half Marathon is a USATF sanctioned event, competition rules apply. Too bad the 5K is not sanctioned as I was hoping to do that next year before the half. My recovery run goes well, I ended up running 3.1 miles. After a shower and breakfast, I checked out of the hotel and had a refreshing drive back home.

http://www.hjchome.com/BarefootBlogDisney2012.html
 
Way cool.
Too bad that's the only way to be barefoot there, we have to feel sorry for our brethren that are unable to run.
Is Henry Caveman or was that a different BFRunner from CA?
 
He's Henry, San Diego Chapter Prez. There's also Barefoot Caveman. And then we have another Henry too.
 
Getting away from kilts, huh?
 
I notice the people running in shoes seem so colorless... Also, I'm quite certain, they too had to watch their footing over the railroad tracks, especially since they couldn't feel their footing underneath.
 
Fun! Am I reading your correctly, that as a USTAF (or whatever) there is an actual policy that says no barefeet???? Or is that just the horsehocky they guy was telling you?
I thought he was saying that the rules ALLOW for bare feet. and that the unsanctioned 5K could ban them.
 
never got into kilts because as far as i know i'm not of any scottish descent.