Disneyland 10k (Race Recap)

Anaheim, CA
Saturday, August 31
Weather - Sunny and Warm

So. The Disneyland 10k. I had EVERY INTENTION of skipping the Disney magic over Labor Day weekend. Even when the Dumbo Double Dare was announced, I was horrified at how much money it cost. I passively sat and watched as the race sold out... and THEN I LOST MY MIND. What if I wanted to run??? So before the day was even over, I had signed up with a charity group, Lazarex, so that I could run. (Thanks AGAIN, everyone that donated and helped me get to California!!)

Anyway.

So race morning. There were four of us in the room, the Heathers and me and L. The other Heather was not running the 10k, so we were trying to not wake her up. We had planned the night before to allow enough time to get coffee in Downtown Disney before the race, which started at 6:30. We left the hotel on schedule and walked along the 5k course to get THE MOST DELICIOUS LATTE every from Haagen Dasz. As we were heading (leisurely) over to where we assumed the start would be, L informed us that since the race started at 6:15 that we should hurry. It was 6:16 when she said that. Huh. Heather and I thought the race started at 6:30. So we are wandering around (still fairly leisurely) looking for the start. We thought it was going to start at Downtown Disney, but all we could find was the finishing area for the 5k...

And then we see the tail end of people walking to the start. That might have been the start of alllll our problems in this race. Our costumes were much better on the first day, so we had planned on a 2ish hour 10k (not knowing in advance that would put us "a little behind pace") and take all of the pictures.

L has some sort of hip/leg injury, so we were running slower than usual anyway. The first aid station was at mile 1 (outside the park) and finally entered the park somewhere around mile 2. We took a decent number of pictures, and I am the MOST OBNOXIOUS HUMAN on earth... see me prance... see me photo bomb... However, look how HAPPY I AM!!

So we are in line to take a picture with Monsters Inc. (behind the tallest guy ever in the entire UNIVERSE):

When we notice... there are not many people behind us. Now, we had been in line for probably close to 10 minutes, and we knew we were taking it easy, but I don't think that any of us imagined that we were THAT far behind. And sure enough, the crowd thins and we see the bike sweepers. They don't tell us we are in danger of getting pulled, but that we are "a little behind pace." Well. What does THAT mean? So we still took our picture, but figured maybe we should try to, I don't know, run a bit.

I'm the only one doing the monster pose.

We finally end up on Main Street, the location of the second aid station... at like mile 4.2??? Why so far in between aid stations?? It was so hot!! And apparently, they also ran out of cups. So, they gave us GIGANTIC bottles of water and suggested that we "share with a friend." Seems wasteful.

As you can tell, our costumes were in theme with the 10k - Alice in Wonderland! So we HAD TO stop and get pictures with all of the characters (which, by the way, it really didn't seem like there were THAT MANY on the course):

We are approaching the castle and in line for a picture with the Tweedles, when we for REAL see the sweepers. Not just the guys on the bike, but the ACTUAL GOLF CART SWEEPERS.

Dave ran up behind us and ASSURED us we would have time to get a picture in. Meanwhile, the sweepers are SCREAMING at us - "RACE OR PICTURE - YOU HAVE TO KEEP MOVING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET PULLED." Everyone else in line believed them and took off. We (riskily) chose PICTURE (and then run REALLY FAST):

Turns out... there was only ONE guy behind us, otherwise, this magical shot of us with Dave exiting the castle makes us FOR REAL the last people on the course. Hilarious.

 

We are now well aware that the sweepers, in fact, DO pull people off the course in the park, so the whole myth about - "if you are in the park, you are safe" IS A LIE. We ended up having to actually run that last mile, stopping only for the random aid station that was at mile 5.5. Turns out, we passed a decent number of people and we CRUSHED our 2 hour goal (which again, would have apparently put us outside the course limits. Oops.

So... how did we do?

Bib #22392

Official Time - 1:52:41

Official 5k Split - 55:25

Overall Place - 7562/7828 (look at all the people we passed that last mile!!)

Gender Place - 4917/5133

Division Place - 806/841

Garmin Time - 1:52:39

Moving Time - 1:24:54 (see, we stopped A LOT)

Mile 1 - 13:05

Mile 2 - 13:52

Mile 3 - 24:32

Mile 4 - 23:29

Mile 5 - 14:01

Mile 6 - 19:12

Mile 6.43 - 10:20 (hey, look at that!!)

Thoughts:

• We really felt like we had to get in for the inaugural. I will not run again... running both was... over $300??? That's insane.
• I am REALLY bitter about the stupid unisex sized shirts. According to the results, in the 10k, over 5,000 runners were women, and barely 2,000 were  men. THAT JUSTIFIES GENDER SPECIFIC SHIRTS (jerk of the week - the person that decided unisex was finnnnnne).
• The aid stations were placed VERY strangely. First one only a mile in and then well over 3 miles to the second one. And the last one was only about 2/3 of a mile from the finish. WHY?
• Related: At least they didn't run out of water, but it seemed SUPER wasteful to have to run with those giant water bottles.
• Disney is the fun fun FUNNEREST. I had the most fun ever, even IF I almost got pulled (Most stressful EVER).