Official 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon Thread.

[Belle Ella]

I'm way too long-winded to condense my thoughts into one post...

2015 Dumbo Double Dare Trip Report (for anyone that is interested)

I'll read along!

 

[Kathymford]

Before I start, this was my first half marathon, but I have 4 RunDisney 10Ks under my belt. I was in corral D, but got stuck in the area of not getting into my corral. It was basically the end of the chute for people in corrals D and E. So they didn't let us into the actual corrals until the end of E. I was pissed. Yes, it was my fault for coming late, but the corrals were way too huge this year.

So now I'm in an actual corral getting ready to be released and just as they let us go, I lose one of the rubber thingys off one of my earbuds. FANTASTIC. Oh well. At least they still stayed in my ears.

The parks were way too crowded for me. Maybe because I was actually with corral E, mostly F (since we were at the back of E), but I was so disappointed with how little running I could do in the parks. And then the water stops in the parks (at least 2 that I remember) seemed to be in the narrowest portion of the course, so even though I wasn't stopping for water, I still had to walk these portions. All of this totally put me off my game and I definitely did not run my best.

With that said though, I did finish and I still had a great time. It was the first time I couldn't wait to get out of the parks and run in Anaheim. Angels stadium was amazing and I couldn't believe all of the entertainment on the course. As a former drill team/band nerd I loved all the high school kids! And the cars went on forever and even saw a family friend from the Mustang club! Here's my experience in a photo.

I think for the first time ever, I might purchase a MarathonFoto photo. LOL.

 

[Keels]

OMG! I LOVE that Finish Line photo!!

 

[mbwhitti]

Yay, an @Ariel484 trip repot! My favorite!

 

[Belle Ella]

Speaking of, is anyone else having trouble pulling up their photos?

 

[Ariel484]

I'll read along!

Yay, an @Ariel484 trip repot! My favorite!

Speaking of, is anyone else having trouble pulling up their photos?

I looked the other day and only had a few - I have way more today. Hopefully more will pop up.

 

[Belle Ella]

Hm. It says my information isn't found. Figures after all the other trouble I was having! I suppose I can email them about it.

 

[ANIM8R]

Kind of disappointed I didn't get one of the green gym bags.

Did anybody on this thread get one of the bags? Are they nice? Does anybody remember the price? Maybe I'll try on eBay....but I kind of hate to "reward" people that kept me from buying them in the first place!

I bought those pins with the replica medals on them. Does anybody know of there were 5K and 10K medal pins at the beginning of the expo? My wife ran her first 10K and I really wanted to get here a medal pin!

Other than that, everything was pretty much picked through. Other than the medal pins, I didn't buy a single thing.

All-in-all, had a great weekend. I thought the weather was superb. Love being in SoCal. Went to the Angels game on Sunday. As we were leaving the stadium during the half marathon, I said to the attendant "See you later today!". He just gave me a weird look in return.

Sad that I missed Hades during the 10K. Hades and James Woods completely carry that movie.

Also, I was glad I didn't hear even once the any of the announcers ask "Anybody *just* running the <insert race here>?". I know they're trying to be funny but it still comes off wrong.

Speaking of which....there was a poor guy dressed as Buzz Lightyear. Between the 11 and 12 mile marker, he looked like he was struggling. One of the volunteers with a RunDisney shirt was encouraging runners going by her. She yelled, "C'mon Buzz - you should be way up there by now!" I know she didn't mean it like that, but - dang - that just made me cringe. Ugh!

Only 117 more days until we leave for WDW!!!! I hope my knees can make it!

 

[emzben25]

Kind of disappointed I didn't get one of the green gym bags.

Did anybody on this thread get one of the bags? Are they nice? Does anybody remember the price? Maybe I'll try on eBay....but I kind of hate to "reward" people that kept me from buying them in the first place!

I found a couple of eBay listings for the gym bag if you want to see pictures. When I went to the expo Friday afternoon (4:45pm ish) there were a few bags left. Maybe 8? 10 minutes later, they sold out. I can't remember the price.

 

[meg8182000]

What a week out in Disneyland I had! Still can't believe that after 8 months of planning it's all over but at least I have my first 1/2 marathon medal to show for it!

Got to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in quite a while which was fantastic! I had only ever done one other race prior and that was the TOT 10 Miler last year which I did by myself so it was so nice to have friends to run the 5K and my first half with. Wish my time had been better but honestly my feet just didn't have any speed left in them after 5 days in the parks prior to the race. Oh well, lesson learned but I did finish and never ever even saw the dreaded "balloon ladies" so I'm happy with that.

I want to thank all the wonderful volunteers who came out to supports us and those lovely people at mile marker 6.5 with the Redvines and oranges - just WOW!

OK - here is the only thing that I can really say annoyed me a little bit about the race. I was in corral E and got there around 4:30 am so I about 2 row back from the front. It did seem like every corral had the same problem - not enough room for all runners so the lines to get into the corrals if you arrived later were long. As they started to move corral D up - they were still holding my corral back with a rope. All of a sudden I see 1 man who was far back in the E line jump over the green mesh fencing and get at that back of D's corral. Well, that was all it took - a few more followed and then a few more and before you knew it seemed like everyone a the back of the E line was jumping in the D corral. Sorry but this doesn't seem very sportsman. They did start to move us up at that point and tried to discourage anymore people from jumping the line but just thought that was pretty poor on their part. I understand that honestly wouldn't affect my time but still didn't seem right.

I really did love the whole experience and now can't wait for my races next year. Already signed up for the DL Star Wars challenge in Jan. and the Princess Glass Slipper in February. So excited!

To anyone that might know - how is the Star Wars half course different from the DL half course? Will it be very different?

Also - ANIM8R - the gym bags were $50. I picked one up on Thursday morning and then kept debating that decision but it came in handy when flying home on Tuesday.

 

[Kathymford]

The gym bags were $50. They are really nice and well made. I forget the brand, but it's a pretty good one. It should last a while. It's a little on the small side, but that's good for me. I'm glad I picked one up.

Only the half marathon, dumbo and coast to coast get the replica medal pins . The 10k and 5k do not. I always hoped for one every year when I was "just" doing the 10k.

 

[hauntedcity]

@hauntedcity AWESOME pics! And you ran with the gun, so obviously it made it through TSA at the airport!

Thanks so much for sharing!

The blaster was safely packed in my checked luggage.

Carissa mentioned me twice during the race! When crossing the start line, she light-heartedly commented, "Why do we let people run with weapons?". And when I finished, she remarked again about it. I'm famous!

 

[hauntedcity]

@hauntedcity.....great pics and thanks for sharing. How long did you wait for the "queens" to get your pic? The line was very long when we ran by.

We waited... much too long. I'm not sure how long, but judging by my split times, it was probably over 5 minutes.
But it was worth it! When we were about halfway through the line, the attending cast member came by saying that they would be swapping out characters soon. Luckily, the line moved quickly.

 

[cavepig]

great photos everyone, thanks for sharing! I have a whole bunch I need to organize as there's a lot of blurry shots or the ground or my feet, oops! The best is an accidental video that I took so it's of me sort of running.

 

[DisneyFan13US]

I believe the gym bags were made by Ogio.

We enjoyed the races. My wife and I did the 5K and 10K and she did the half for the coast to coast. The only bad thing is when we got in the expo I grabbed her the wrong size coast to coast tech shirt . I grabbed an XL for me and not the M for her. Once the next race comes around, I'm hoping I can sweet talk someone into picking me up the right size at the expo.

 

[EDS19]

Glad to hear so many of you had a great time!
We had SO much fun! For us the 10K was great. We loved the theme and mix of characters on the course.
The music, on course entertainment, photo ops, etc. were all great.

I feel like the overarching theme for this race is a good "template" for future 10K's. I know last year people felt there weren't enough characters on course.
But having an overarching theme that can span multiple movies seems like an effective solution. This year we got villains from all different movies. Maybe future themes could be based on Hero's, Romance Couples (Aladdin and Jasmin, Tarzan and Jane), Long lost friends (rarely seen characters), etc.

We had fun meals at Steak House 55, Goofy's Kitchen, and the Surf's up Breakfast at the PCH grill. (Along with other meals in the parks).

And here are a few pictures from the 10K:

 

[ANIM8R]

The gym bags were $50. They are really nice and well made. I forget the brand, but it's a pretty good one. It should last a while. It's a little on the small side, but that's good for me. I'm glad I picked one up.

Only the half marathon, dumbo and coast to coast get the replica medal pins . The 10k and 5k do not. I always hoped for one every year when I was "just" doing the 10k.

Thanks. I'm glad you picked one up, too!

Thanks for confirming about the medal pins - the only reason I asked is that the marathon weekend in January had medal replica pins for all the races including the 5K and the 10K. We did get my wife the 10K magnet with the villains on it...was just hoping to get her a pin, too.

Thanks again for the info!

 

[cavepig]

Don't forget to download & print your certificate http://mydisneymarathon.com/disneyland/multimedia/certificates/ plus they have a lot of photos up on there too.

 

[chrisaman]

I saw the line jumpers when corral D moved up as well. People can really suck sometimes.

What a week out in Disneyland I had! Still can't believe that after 8 months of planning it's all over but at least I have my first 1/2 marathon medal to show for it!

Got to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in quite a while which was fantastic! I had only ever done one other race prior and that was the TOT 10 Miler last year which I did by myself so it was so nice to have friends to run the 5K and my first half with. Wish my time had been better but honestly my feet just didn't have any speed left in them after 5 days in the parks prior to the race. Oh well, lesson learned but I did finish and never ever even saw the dreaded "balloon ladies" so I'm happy with that.

I want to thank all the wonderful volunteers who came out to supports us and those lovely people at mile marker 6.5 with the Redvines and oranges - just WOW!

OK - here is the only thing that I can really say annoyed me a little bit about the race. I was in corral E and got there around 4:30 am so I about 2 row back from the front. It did seem like every corral had the same problem - not enough room for all runners so the lines to get into the corrals if you arrived later were long. As they started to move corral D up - they were still holding my corral back with a rope. All of a sudden I see 1 man who was far back in the E line jump over the green mesh fencing and get at that back of D's corral. Well, that was all it took - a few more followed and then a few more and before you knew it seemed like everyone a the back of the E line was jumping in the D corral. Sorry but this doesn't seem very sportsman. They did start to move us up at that point and tried to discourage anymore people from jumping the line but just thought that was pretty poor on their part. I understand that honestly wouldn't affect my time but still didn't seem right.

I really did love the whole experience and now can't wait for my races next year. Already signed up for the DL Star Wars challenge in Jan. and the Princess Glass Slipper in February. So excited!

To anyone that might know - how is the Star Wars half course different from the DL half course? Will it be very different?

Also - ANIM8R - the gym bags were $50. I picked one up on Thursday morning and then kept debating that decision but it came in handy when flying home on Tuesday.

 

[Slogger]

Kind of disappointed I didn't get one of the green gym bags.



Also, I was glad I didn't hear even once the any of the announcers ask "Anybody *just* running the <insert race here>?". I know they're trying to be funny but it still comes off wrong.

Speaking of which....there was a poor guy dressed as Buzz Lightyear. Between the 11 and 12 mile marker, he looked like he was struggling. One of the volunteers with a RunDisney shirt was encouraging runners going by her. She yelled, "C'mon Buzz - you should be way up there by now!" I know she didn't mean it like that, but - dang - that just made me cringe. Ugh!

That's a good observation....I didn't hear any "just" announcements either. Seemed like they tried harder to ask who was running this race, or was Dumbo, or C2C or Legacy. Maybe the "spy" on this forum is giving them good intel, LOL.

Saw several people struggling during the Half and offered to help. Thankfully no adverse cheers from the supporters.

Glad you have another runDisney event to look forward to. Sadly, we won't be doing any in 2016.