Half marathon #2 of 2013 is in the books. And it was AWESOME.
At last year's Tinkerbell, I finished under 3:30 for the first time EVER. In July, I PRed again with a time of 3:06 at the Jungle Run.
This weekend? 2:47.
YEAH BUDDY.
The course was nice and easy. They actually changed it this year, and I thought it was better. Most of the first 6 miles were on the Disneyland premises (through the parks, Downtown Disney, etc), which meant that the most grueling part of the course (for me, anyway - around the streets of Anaheim with little cover in the later-morning heat) was much more bearable and was over more quickly.
It wasn't without its share of frustrations though. I would like to issue this request to all runners everywhere, of all levels and abilities:
I IMPLORE YOU, please be mindful of race etiquette. Obviously, I support walkers, and generally I'm fine with "non-serious" stuff like tutus and stopping to take pictures, but PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IN RUNNING - if you're going to walk, walk to the right. If you're going to walk IN TUTUS, please do not walk three abreast spanning an entire narrow roadway because your tutus make your hips take up twice as much space as normal. If you're going to stop and take pictures, do not come to a dead stop RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the roadway, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, while I'm coming at you almost full-speed. Please, just PLEASE, remember that this race is not for you alone - there are over 15,000 of us, with different skills and different goals, and some of us really, really care about our finish time. I should not have to bust up my knees trying to dart around you and your frilly fairy wings, waving your iPhone around in the air.
Speaking of my finish time... my timing chip did NOT record it. This is the most upsetting part of all. I ran the best race of my life so far, and it did not get recorded, so for all intents and purposes, it looks like I did not finish the race. At least Becca's did, so I have a reference point (we finished together, there are photos of us). I am mostly worried because I am trying to complete the Coast to Coast challenge - the only reason why we're bothering to GO to Florida next month is to complete this challenge (otherwise, I would stay close to home as usual), so if they tell me my run was invalid, my head might explode.
But okay, now that that negativity is done, it was an otherwise really awesome, really fun weekend with my bestie. Highlights include:
- Cars land!
- The Mad Hatter's Tea Party (which is this steampunky-looking cover band that plays at CA Adventure Park)
- The 50/50 burger at Slater's in Anaheim Hills (as well as their pumpkin dipping sauce with their sweet potato fries)
- Splash Mountain
- Seeing the fireworks show at night at Disneyland
- It's a Small World, Christmas-style (which was closed last year when we went)
- Getting a new sticker for my car
- Bacon-wrapped asparagus skewers
- The smell of caramel corn and churros (though, no, I did not eat any)
- Getting Jolie her first set of ears:
All in all, an awesome weekend. Next stop: ORLANDO.
More photos:
At last year's Tinkerbell, I finished under 3:30 for the first time EVER. In July, I PRed again with a time of 3:06 at the Jungle Run.
This weekend? 2:47.
YEAH BUDDY.
The course was nice and easy. They actually changed it this year, and I thought it was better. Most of the first 6 miles were on the Disneyland premises (through the parks, Downtown Disney, etc), which meant that the most grueling part of the course (for me, anyway - around the streets of Anaheim with little cover in the later-morning heat) was much more bearable and was over more quickly.
It wasn't without its share of frustrations though. I would like to issue this request to all runners everywhere, of all levels and abilities:
I IMPLORE YOU, please be mindful of race etiquette. Obviously, I support walkers, and generally I'm fine with "non-serious" stuff like tutus and stopping to take pictures, but PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IN RUNNING - if you're going to walk, walk to the right. If you're going to walk IN TUTUS, please do not walk three abreast spanning an entire narrow roadway because your tutus make your hips take up twice as much space as normal. If you're going to stop and take pictures, do not come to a dead stop RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the roadway, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, while I'm coming at you almost full-speed. Please, just PLEASE, remember that this race is not for you alone - there are over 15,000 of us, with different skills and different goals, and some of us really, really care about our finish time. I should not have to bust up my knees trying to dart around you and your frilly fairy wings, waving your iPhone around in the air.
Speaking of my finish time... my timing chip did NOT record it. This is the most upsetting part of all. I ran the best race of my life so far, and it did not get recorded, so for all intents and purposes, it looks like I did not finish the race. At least Becca's did, so I have a reference point (we finished together, there are photos of us). I am mostly worried because I am trying to complete the Coast to Coast challenge - the only reason why we're bothering to GO to Florida next month is to complete this challenge (otherwise, I would stay close to home as usual), so if they tell me my run was invalid, my head might explode.
But okay, now that that negativity is done, it was an otherwise really awesome, really fun weekend with my bestie. Highlights include:
- Cars land!
- The Mad Hatter's Tea Party (which is this steampunky-looking cover band that plays at CA Adventure Park)
- The 50/50 burger at Slater's in Anaheim Hills (as well as their pumpkin dipping sauce with their sweet potato fries)
- Splash Mountain
- Seeing the fireworks show at night at Disneyland
- It's a Small World, Christmas-style (which was closed last year when we went)
- Getting a new sticker for my car
- Bacon-wrapped asparagus skewers
- The smell of caramel corn and churros (though, no, I did not eat any)
- Getting Jolie her first set of ears:
All in all, an awesome weekend. Next stop: ORLANDO.
More photos:
We signed up for a team bib, but ended up not using it. I thought our regular bib with the timing chip would have our team name instead of our real name. Oh well *shrug*
Cool mesh bag they gave us
This year's participant shirt :)
Souvenirs from the expo - a Belle tank for the Orlando race next month (Princesses Half Marathon, and Belle's my favorite princess) and a 13.1 sticker for my car
Ferris wheel from below!
View from the top!
This was a display at CA Adventure Park. I'm a HUGE fan of Once Upon a Time, so this was exciting and I had to take pictures of it. This is the Evil Queen/Regina's costume.
Snow White's dress
Maleficent (YEAH Kristin Bauer Van Straten!!!)
Inside the Beast's library
I took the "Which Disney character are you?" quiz...
I am disappoint. Not my favorite. Also, I'm not a thing like Cinderella.
Post-race!
Then there were two :)
Welcome to the Magic Kingdom
