Official 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Thread.

[zanzibar138]

Hopefully we can plan another meet up would love to meet you on person! Big Hugs you are amazing!

Yep, if I'm ever doing another RunDisney event I'll look out for you

 

[MaleficentRN]

Anyone having trouble ordering photos? I am getting a weird message when I try to check out. Ordering 2 5x7s and using the discount code.
We're sorry, but the transaction was declined with the following message:

The totals of the cart item amounts do not match order amounts.

Please review your payment information and try again. If you continue to have problems, please contact customer service.

 

[Z-Knight]

My Mom made the newspaper trying to take a selfie with Donald (Goofy was photo bombing).

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/disneyland-681288-rundisney-runners.html?pic=12

 

[kelly 1]

Anyone having trouble ordering photos? I am getting a weird message when I try to check out. Ordering 2 5x7s and using the discount code.
We're sorry, but the transaction was declined with the following message:

The totals of the cart item amounts do not match order amounts.

Please review your payment information and try again. If you continue to have problems, please contact customer service.

What was the discount code

 

[MaleficentRN]

What was the discount code

10offdl

 

[kelly 1]

10offdl

Thanks so much

 

[pamster]

Fyi, race results website

http://results.xacte.com/?kw=dlhm

Thanks for the link! I just submitted my proof of time for WDW 1/2 Marathon in January

 

[EDS19]

What a great weekend! I loved the the theme and mix of characters they had on the 10K course. During the 10K I had my Sony Action Cam stuck on the side of my head and I've put together a highlights video.
Check it out here:

When I'm keeping my head forward its not too bad to watch. But when I start getting excited and looking at everything it does get a little blurry.
(Also I was dressed like Peter Pan so every so often you will hear me "crow" but it sounds more like that little dog on the "Fox and the Hound" with his week little howl.)

 

[Belle Ella]

All in all I would say this was a great weekend! I'm glad I was able to attend the Thursday meet up at the Tiki Room. I even saw a few of you while I was working the rest of the weekend. I almost didn't notice that I start the Half right aby @Sgt. Tibbs in Corral D (which got a little hectic just before the race officially began - I felt so bad for the poor volunteers).

I already can't wait for next year!

 

[SueInBoston]

I had a great weekend and really enjoyed the races. Some of my thoughts:

-Love that Disneyland races are more intimate that Disneyworld. Being able to walk to corrals and back to hotel was awesome.
-Loved that Expo was right there as well but am very disappointed with the wait time and items selling out. I got there around 11:00 on Thursday and the wrist band wait time was 1.5 hour and downstairs wait time was about 30 mins. Went back after 5k at 9:30 and was second in line and waited 2 hours for expo to open at 11:30. Got my 'I did it' dumbo shirt and really wanted a 'I did it' 10k shirt for my daughter but none left except for very large sizes. Stopped by again after 10k on Saturday and there were practically nothing left.
-Love running through Angel Stadium, but oh boy...running into that sun was tough, tough, tough. I had sunglasses but was still running blind.
-THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND THANK YOU to Mouseplanet for the wet sponges at the half way point!!!
-The Cars!! OMG...that was so awesome, thank you for all the collectors sharing their collection!!
-The Best part!! - The spectators! I love all the High School marching bands and cheerleaders! the Boys and Girls Scouts and the extended community support!
-The Volunteers!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

Already thinking my next DL race, maybe Tink in 2017.

 

[Slogger]

Wow! What a weekend!

RunDisney continues to amaze with their events. DL Half weekend definitely exceeded our expectations. Despite the high cost to participate, the fun factor easily outweighs those costs.

Here's a brief recap of highs and lows from my and DW experience:

LAX airport-avoid next time. Hello John Wayne or Long Beach airports.
LAX/LA traffic-reminds me of driving in and out of Northern VA and DC and not in a good way
Budget Rent A Car-Shuttle Bus---didn't know the thrill rides were starting so early in our trip. Narrowly missed running over two people and 3 collisions during our 10 minute ride.
Budget Fastbreak program--YES. Highly recommend. Might still be in the queue at the regular line.
Portofino Hotel and Suites-Great location. Walked to GardenWalk, Downtown Disney, Expo, and Corrals. Tiny pool, tiny parking lot, but great rooms, comfy beds.

DL Half Expo-Whew. Longest walk of the week to get there. Well organized. Easy packet pickup, pictures, and DW was able to walk up and buy a D&B purse with no issues. (Doh!). Nice selection of vendors, love that Clif shot sample buffet, picked up our LC Anniversary bookmark, and purchased a few items. Signed up for the MaraFoto discount, thanks for the tips from previous posters.

DL Half weekend Official Merchandise Booth-Uh, Hello. Some of us didn't arrive until Friday afternoon. I knew the inventory would be slim but they had a lot of empty shelves (No I Did it Shirts, No backpacks) and most of what was left was wrong sizes or just not what we were looking for. I KNOW I should arrive earlier but RunDisney people, can we talk? Find a way to keep the people that paid a lot of money to participate in your events happy instead of allowing others to buy 6 Anniversary D & B purses as the lady in front of us did . Save some cool running merch for the people that paid you to run. Just a thought.

On the bright side, really, really, liked all 3 of our race shirts. Especially the 10k shirt. Awesome.

On our way out, we stood in line for a photo op of the castle backdrop in the expo lobby, and sadly realized we wouldn't be wearing our 10k shirts during the 10k (costume day) so no pics. Lightbulb moment--put on 10k shirts for the photo op and the next 5 groups behind us all did the same thing. LOL.
Also saw some really nice artwork at the DL Hotel and a great model of the Fantasy cruise ship.

10k-took the ART bus to Downtown Disney. Fun walk from there. We saw some great costumes including the Churro lady. Started in corral B. Corral starts so much faster than WDW. A quick jog around Anaheim and most of the rest of the race was all about the parks. Loved it. We stopped for photo ops. Just about EVERY...SINGLE....ONE... Posed with the neon lighted car from Cars, got a nice pic in front of Flo's Café, many pics on each side of the World of Color fountains and Mickey Wheel, trolley pic with conductor, and then we did back-to-back-to-back villains (one was Hades, one was the guy in the tophat from Princess & Frog, one was an evil queen). Obligatory castle shots, it's a Small World, and how about that Haunted Mansion? Wow, that really looked cool. Photo with the Fox and other graybearded red hat guy but don't know his name and then off to the finish. Nice 10k medals and Disney snackbox. We goofed off a lot but still finished under the allotted time limits.

Quick breakfast at the Mexican Taco place and Mrs. Slogger got some Starbucks in the world's longest Starbucks line. Great weather and fun day! More to come!

 

[hauntedcity]

What a great weekend! This was my first race at Disneyland (after several at WDW), and my wife and I had a blast.

Some Expo thoughts:

• We arrived around 1:30pm on Friday and we never even tried for the official merch. I was happy with my 3 Dumbo Dare participant shirts and just didn't feel like waiting in that line.
• The expo was much smaller, and very crowded, but there were great exhibitors. We made several stops, and got great stuff
• Jeff Galloway is the best.

Some 10K thoughts:

• The 10K course was great! We got lots of pictures.
• This was our first time ever seeing Cars Land and it was a really cool introduction.
• Crowd control after the race was lacking compared to WDW. We weren't sure where to go and we got conflicting info from different people. That's pretty much my only complaint.

Some Half Marathon thoughts:

• We started in Corral C and the first mile was very congested. As run/walkers, I'm sure we were a little part of the problem, but I've never been as nervous at the start of any race before.
• Lots of character pictures! In fact, at the time we left the parks, were were averaging almost 19 minutes per mile! That's A LOT of pictures stops.
• I enjoyed the city streets much more than I expected. I think that's because it was so wonderful to have so much running room after the narrow lanes of the parks.
• Loved the classic cars. I'm not a "car guy" but these were beautiful machines and it was a great visual distraction.
• Angel Stadium was very uplifting. My wife said she was holding back tears as we were cheered on by everyone in the stands.
• I've never received multiple medals at the end of an event before. What an amazing feeling to wear the Half, Dumbo, and Coast-to-Coast medals around my neck.

Some Park thoughts:

• I love Disneyland!
• We last visited 10 years ago, and California Adventure is amazing.
• CROWDS WERE MUCH LARGER THAN EXPECTED. We were expecting TouringPlans.com estimates of 2-4, but we actually saw crowds up to 7 on their scale. We only got to ride Radiator Races once, because even the Single Rider line got up to 45 minutes!
• Paint the Night parade...... maybe my favorite parade ever???

 

[Slogger]

Here's a few pics from expo day on Friday Sept 4th.

 

[Slogger]

A few 10k pics...let me know if I named my villains incorrectly!

 

[Slogger]

Last of the 10k pics

 

[Keels]

Just got back home.

Man - what a weekend.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the weekend I've been thinking about since December of last year FINALLY happened.

And that I survived a two-race weekend.

The half was easily the worst race I've ever run in my running journey (I'll cover all the reasons why on my training journal), but ... it also turned out to be the best race I've ever run.

I'm a baseball-loving nerd, and running through the tunnel and then onto the field at Angels Stadium, with the screaming masses cheering just for you - well, that's the closest this gal will ever come to experiencing what baseball players are lucky enough to experience every day. I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life.

We had some OUTSTANDING meals - Steakhouse 55 brunch, Carthay Circle dinner and then Napa Rose Chef's Counter. Amazing and worth every penny.

The downside? I only had one corn dog and eight Dole Whips. #SadFace

 

[Belle Ella]

The downside? I only had one corn dog and eight Dole Whips. #SadFace

You slacker, you!

 

[Keels]

I KNOW! If Dole Whips had a FastPass, that would be my first stop.

I did get M her first Dole Whip float AND a button that said she was celebrating her 1st Dole Whip float.

Not her first half marathon ... the Dole Whip was a bigger deal.

 

[racecarslasersaeroplanes]

View attachment 122570 View attachment 122571 A few 10k pics...let me know if I named my villains incorrectly!

Very cool! I got a pic with Dr. Facilier, but must have just missed Hades - were they in the same spot? I guess Hades couldn't stay outside for as long.

 

[pamster]

I love reading about everyone's experiences as well as seeing your pictures!

I just have to get this off of my chest about the one slightly negative experience during the 10k:

When the runners were leaving Disneyland by Splash Mountain (past mile 5.5?), a Cast Member shouted, "COME ON, RUNNERS! WALKING IS CHEATING!" He might have said something else prior to that, but I only caught the end. I shot back: "Hey! I don't see YOU doing this!," while another runner commented, "Says the person who's just standing there!"

I'm sure the CM was trying to be encouraging, but I wasn't impressed, especially since the official runDisney training guide suggests the run-walk method.

/end complaint about a first world problem haha

I loved my first rD experience and now have 3 friends committed to running the DL 10k with me next year!

@Keels - my best friend and I had our first Dole Whips (in float form) on Thursday night! I might have thought of you at that time