Tinker Bell Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Sunday, January 20
Anaheim, CA
Half Marathon #75 (!!)
California Half #4
Weather - Chilly at start, mild, sunny

Friday

Because I'm weird about not missing work if I don't have to (I KNOW), I scheduled the latest flight out. Which meant I did NOT leave work early. I picked A up at gymnastics, stopped and picked up Subway, and met my dad at my house, who then drove us to the airport. The terminal was the craziest EVER. Like 6 flights leaving all at the same time, billions of people, and all the agents talking over each other. Flight uneventful, A passed out.

Our flight landed around 10:30. I think we pretty much went right to bed? Well, after watching some bizarre show called "Lost Girl" - has anyone seen it? WEIRD.

Saturday

The kids actually let us sleep until like 7:45. CRAZY. Lounged around, had delicious waffles and coffee for breakfast. We decided to expo early, maybe around 10. Only Heather's oldest wanted to go with us, everyone else stayed home. Parking wasn't too bad and expo wasn't too crowded. There was nothing I saw to buy (a first).

Headed back to the house after a stop at Trader Joe's (can you believe I had never been to one?) We watched Catfish (BEST SHOW ON TV) and then had Chili's for lunch. We had to head back to the expo/Downtown Disney area so that I could pick up my bib for Team AFSP.

While waiting for the kids to eat cupcakes, I spotted Dave!

Downtown Disney was a zoo, and after a quick trip to Build-A-Bear, we headed back to Heather's. She made delicious mac and cheese and BACON. Then we finally decided to tackle our race outfits. After you see it, I know you will be STUNNED to know that we didn't really do so great in the planning department.

So I bet you are wondering...

1. DID YOU REALLY WEAR LONG SLEEVES? Yes.
2. DID YOU REALLY WEAR LONG PANTS? Yes.
3. DID YOU REALLY WEAR A SKI HAT? Yes.
4. WHAT ARE YOU??? Um. I was Adorabeezle and Heather was Swizzle. We did the best we could. (We ran with our friend Krissy, who was Vanellope)

So lights were out... early-ish. I think we had plans to be in bed by 9 or something, but I think I was still awake at 10:30.

Sunday

Alarm goes off at 3:13. 3:13!! Disney fun started at 5:00, and we still had to drive to Anaheim, park the car and get to the start. I think we were out the door just after 3:30. We made a very important stop at Donut Star, where we picked up donut holes, coffee and diet coke. Yep. 

Parked the car... um, around 4:10? Then walked (FOREVER) to the start area. We used the bathroom. Well, we had to wait a bit longer than we needed to because a girl CUT IN FRONT OF US. After Heather confronted her, she said "but my line wasn't moving." WHAT.

We saw Skinny Runner and Sandy on our way to the start line. Pretty much walked into A corral right as the gun was going off.

Goal? Fun. All of the pictures. Possibly go for a Disney PR??? Heather and I joint running Disney PR was currently 3:20ish at Tink 2012. We had warned Krissy that we were SLOW and "FUN" (her marathon PR is something insane like 3:42 - which is practically what we ran WDW half in...)

Neither Heather nor I wore a watch, so I have no clue what we ran pace-wise or where the pictures were on the course. We stopped for every single one.

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE RACE PICTURE.

We had been leapfrogging with Dave - and we finally got a picture with him (and Nadia - who is ALSO a speedy fast runner):

Heather suggests we do yoga poses... and then only I do... 

It's a Small World LOOKED AMAZING

And then the magic stopped. I think we left the Magic Kingdom around mile 6. We had a quick run through Downtown Disney, where I had to stop and use the bathroom again. We ran past the red hats - who were the CUTEST AND MOST FUN EVER.

Then it was ALL running until we finished. Boo. Other than having to stop and stretch my calves somewhere around mile 7, we actually ran the whole course. Arguably, faster than I wanted to. The second half of the course runs through Anaheim and is under-whelming. Somewhere around mile 8 or 9 I was sure I was going to spontaneously combust or burst into flames. Why on earth I was wearing so much clothes, I will never understand.

The finish this year was WEIRD, we had a weird out and back through the parking lot. LAZY COURSE PLANNING, DISNEY. And then high fiving (Daisy?) at the finish with a finish line jump that I do not think was caught on camera. (Edit: See below)

I DIE.

We collected our food boxes and then headed back to the car.

My 100th race of 13.1 or longer (and 75th half marathon) - was a success.

Run in memory of Bob (1974-2012)

Bib #2102
Overall Place - 7225
Division Place - 1381
Official Time - 3:11:22 (Disney PR for Heather/Becka!)
5K Split - 44:17
10K Split - 1:52:20
15K Split - 2:28:35

Tink and Coast to Coast Medal

• FUN FUN FUN
• Costumes are the best, but man, I need to plan accordingly. I have never even worn that much clothes to race in Colorado. I was the sweatiest human ever.
• So glad Krissy ran with us and didn't give us a hard time for being slow. She was FUN!
• The course is... just ok. The first half, in the park, is GREAT. The part not in the park? BORING.
• Fueled on gummy bears and one Clif at mile 9ish. I think I'll continue to fuel with candy, although I haven't tried it in races where I actually have to RUN.
• Disney races are really organized, we didn't run out of water, powerade and there were potties at all the aid stations. 
• Did not have the over-crowding issue we had at WDW. Even though we were SLOW, the course is not as narrow and it was not as frustrating to navigate.
• Donuts as pre-race food is great. Again, I think we will continue to do this.
• Not wearing a watch is pretty great. I kinda wish I had used mapmyrun just to see my splits though.
• Our pictures are The Best.
• Final fundraising amount - $651.00. THANK YOU EVERYONE.

After the race, we stopped at Souplantation for breakfast. Wearing bibs and medals and everything. We are hilarious. We got back to Heather's, showered, and took the kids to the pool. Then we picked up Krissy and her mom and sister and met up with #vanawesome (minus Sandy) for Heather's first trip to Pho.

It was so nice to see all my friends out there. Food and company was GREAT! We stayed a few hours, then dropped Krissy and family back at the hotel. Dinner was ordering in pizza. I can't remember the rest of the night, but I think we went to bed early, like 9:00.

Monday

Up stupid early for 7:05 flight out of Orange County. The end.

Random lessons learned:

• I don't want to fly out late Friday night for these races. It is worth taking that whole day off and coming in late Thursday.
• I also do not like flying OUT early. That was stupid. 
• I have not slept in weeks. I'm exhausted and I should sleep more.
• I'm sure there are more lessons, like not wearing ALL OF THE CLOTHES, but I can't remember what they are.

I'm totally running this one again.