Tinker Bell Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Sunday, January 19
Anaheim, CA
Half Marathon #99 (!!)
California Half #6
Tinker Bell Half #3
Weather - PERFECT

Thanks to the blog, I knew that we were going to have to wake up ridiculously early to get to the 5:00 am start. Like last year, we were up at 3:13 am. (!!) We left just after 3:30 and made a stop at Donut Star for a donut and coffee (for real, I might as well just copy the first part of last year's recap).

We parked at 4:11 and started the long trek to the start line. We stopped at the first set of port-o-potties we saw since there was virtually no line. We were in our corral about 10 minutes before the start. A MIRACLE!!

We actually DID go into the race with some goals:

A - Faster than I ran the Baker's Dozen this year (sub 2:48:57)
B - Sub 3:00
C - Disney PR (sub 3:08ish)

Now, it's interesting that we were looking to take SO MUCH time off our Heather and Becka Disney PR. HOWEVER, for the first time, it was just going to be the two of us running Disney without either of us being injured. So.... we started in corral A (where we belong, obviously).

I haven't had a really great run since I got back from Texas. I was thinking MAYBE we could hit our B goal, but our A goal seemed impossible. It was a bit chilly at the start and Heather had given me a throwaway shirt that I actually kept on for the first mile, which went by decently fast. We hit the first aid station around 1.5 miles in and then, we were in the park, MY FAVORITE.

We planned on stopping for ALMOST every picture, deciding not to stop only for those with crazy long lines or those characters we don't especially love (Country Bears, I'm looking at you). We had the most fun EVER EVER EVER EVER:

There were a few character pictures that didn't really come out, which was sort of a bummer, but we got a lot of great pictures anyway! I had finished a decent sized coffee before the race and really had to pee and wanted to use a real bathroom, so we stopped near Pirates of the Caribbean. Everything in the park was fun and magical. We managed to catch our friend Julia in Downtown Disney although SOMEHOW she didn't see us. Not sure how she missed us, we are the most fun and loud people ever during Disney races.

Like all Disneyland races, one of the highlights for me is the Red Hat ladies. They took up pretty much the whole section of street near the Disneyland hotel. THEY ARE THE GREATEST. Aid station just past mile 6, and then we were headed into Anaheim. And shockingly, it was still dark outside. We were well on our way to having a super speedy and great race.

Heather hasn't been running much, so she warned me that her brain might break at any moment. SPOILER: It did NOT!! I didn't especially feel wonderful, but the pace seemed ok and we were still able to hold a conversation, so that was nice. There were donuts on the course again around mile 8. The Clif station at the mile 8.5 had plenty of gels left and I grabbed a raspberry and espresso one, although I didn't actually take either one.

It's amazing how much less crowded the course seemed than in previous years. Maybe, it was because we were actually running, and we were mostly with OTHER people that were running. The sun finally started to come up somewhere between miles 10 and 11, and I put my sunglasses on around mile 12. Although, to be honest, I could have skipped them altogether.

The last mile went on FOREVER, although this course has always run long for me.

We for REAL killed our goal.

Official Time - 2:41:23
Official 5k - 38:20
Official 10k - 1:29:27
Official 15k - 2:02:29
Garmin Time - 2:41:23
Garmin Pace - 11:48
Garmin Moving Time - 2:19:58
Garmin Moving Pace - 10:14
Mile 1 - 10:21
Mile 2 - 12:43
Mile 3 - 13:01
Mile 4 - 21:39 (This obviously, was the bulk of the pictures)
Mile 5 - 13:37
Mile 6 - 11:15
Mile 7 - 10:47
Mile 8 - 10:35
Mile 9 - 10:33
Mile 10 - 10:37
Mile 11 - 10:25
Mile 12 - 10:19
Mile 13 - 8:57 (!!?!)
Mile 13.68 - 9:39

Thoughts:

• Holy cow, I love Run Disney so much!!!
• Well stocked aid stations with water and Powerade at all. Friendly volunteers! The aid stations were spaced perfectly, no issues.
• Plenty of bathrooms on the course.
• Heather and I picked The Best costumes this year, Mike and Scully might be our most successful costumes yet!
• The course changed in the park a bit this year and some of the turns seemed more narrow, sharp and awkward. However, since we were the FASTEST EVER we missed a lot of the congestion that might have otherwise made this more frustrating.
• Starting in A really seems to make all the difference. I'm hoping/thinking that next year we may be able to take off another 10 minutes or so off our PR, especially if we can continue to get more efficient in our picture taking!
• The race shirt is great this year - dark pink, and fits better than any other Disney race shirt I have. Should have a picture, but I don't. Womp.
• Heather and I are legacy Tink runners, so I will be back to run next year, of course, on the new date, mid May!