Well, I’m pretty sure this is the longest it has ever taken me to write a recap after a race!
I really do prefer to get my recaps done as soon after a race as possible so I can actually remember them, but between flying home from California, moving and starting a new job all within a week after the the race I’ve barely even opened my computer, let alone had time to write posts! (Also, apologies in advance, but this post will be pretty photo driven since I’m exhausted and can’t wait to get in bed!)
I’m hoping that once we’re fully settled I’ll be able to better figure out how to work blogging into my schedule – for now, bear with me as I adjust to my new life here on Cape Cod!
So, I think the best place to start with any Disneyland race recap is mentioning how much I LOVE how close the hotel is to the start! I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, and I literally left my room at 4:45am for a 5:30am start, it was great!
I met up with my friends Daniel and Tana in the hotel lobby and we walked over to our corral together.
Photo by Daniel Wanderman
We had decided that since none of us were racing for time and we wanted to stop and take pictures along the way that we’d stick together and have fun (which was probably a good plan after the amount I ate and walked the day before!).
We started off on some streets outside the parks before entering California Adventure around mile 2.
We quickly came upon our first character, which to my excitement was a green army man! (I had been quite disappointed that there weren’t any out for the 10k the day before.)
Of course I stopped, dropped and did my 5 push-ups and we were on our way!
Photo by Daniel Wanderman
We stopped for a quick photo in front of the World of Color fountains & lights…
Photo by Daniel Wanderman
…where I took this AMAZING photo of Daniel and Tana!
Seriously, just look at the “ear” placement on Daniel – could it be any better?!?
The funniest part is I swear I didn’t do it on purpose!
No one believes me, but we really did just throw on the brakes, snap some pictures and go – we didn’t even notice it until after the race! (Daniel’s dad made the brilliant suggestion that due to my newly discovered ear placement talent maybe we should re-name this blog “Live, Run Grow Ears!”)
Through Cars Land we ran into Mater and Lightning McQueen…
…and their friend Red!
Our last stop before leaving California Adventure was a quick photo with Jake (and only because my 4 year old god-daughter has now had pirate themed birthday parties for the last 2 years and is dressing as Jake for Halloween, so this one’s for Paige!).
We ran out of California Adventure, across the Esplanade (which is one of my favorite parts of the race – so many great spectators!) and in to Disneyland!
Along Main Street we stopped to see the 3 Caballeros…
…took a picture in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle…
…and I did more push-ups!
Now there’s a quick story behind this green army man push-up picture…since there was no green army man during the 10k, I decided to make a second push-up stop during the half marathon to make up for it!
Well, of course I get behind “that guy!” who was apparently doing AS MANY PUSH-UPS AS HE COULD DO.
Not cool.
We waited awhile, but by the time he got to 30 we were getting frustrated and Daniel told me to just jump in and “face-off” against him – so I did! I did my 5 push-ups and we were on our way again!
(**And “that guy!” kept going until he did 50! Remember as we’ve discussed, proper “green army man push-up” etiquette is no more than 5 and go – there are other people waiting and no one cares that “that guy!” can do 50 push-ups!)
Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters were waiting by the carousel and “yelling” at everyone who went by! They even yelled at us to sit for our picture (which could be why I look a little awkward in this one!).
We ran through the Castle and Frontierland and went by where the petting zoo residents live on our way out of the park!
For the rest of the race we were on the streets of Anaheim.
I know a lot of people don’t like that much of the Disneyland races are through the city, but I really do think runDisney does a good job or getting local entertainment out there – like these hula dancers!
After the hula dancers were the vintage cars – supposedly there were over 300 of them!
I apologize for not having any pictures of the cars, but this is where my race took a nose dive.
Literally.
I was running along checking out the cars when BAM! Next thing I know I’m on ground.
My toe hurt, so I can only assume I tripped over something (and when I looked back there was a track of some sort in the road…), but it happened so quickly I really have no idea what happened!
I’ve fallen running before (clearly I’m not the most coordinated person), but never in a race. And the other times I’ve fallen the whole thing happened in slooooow motion and I saw the whole thing coming so that by the time I even hit the ground I was over it!
This time not only was it NOT slow motion, but I didn’t see it coming and I don’t really even remember it. All I know is Daniel was kind enough to scrape me off the ground (THANK YOU!) and grabbed my sunglasses which had flown off. A quick scan revealed a bleeding shoulder and elbow and pain down my right side. I walked for a few minutes, but quickly decided I needed to just keep running and stop thinking about it.
Honestly, if Daniel and Tana hadn’t been with me there is a good chance I would have just pulled over to a spot on the curb and sat down and cried.
After that I really wasn’t in the mood to be running any more. But, I also figured running was the fastest way to be done, so I put a smile on my face and kept going!
We made it to Angels Stadium where I just started being silly in an effort to get over my fall crankiness…
…we ran around the field that was full of screaming fans…
…and then were back out on the streets for the last few miles!
I had text Jason a few times since I fell, so I knew he’d be waiting under the Sorcerer’s Hat right outside the Disneyland Hotel.
I was honestly so excited to see him and even more excited to know the finish line was just ahead!
**And I just now realized that I never said that Jason did not run the half. As I mentioned in the 10k recap, his knee was really bothering him during the 10k and we decided the half would be a game time decision for him. He ended up limping around the park after the 10k and woke up with it still hurting the morning of the half, so we decided it was best for him not to risk further injury by running.**
As much fun as I had, I was honestly so glad to be done with this race.
From the time I face planted in the middle of the road on, I just wanted to be finished running.
I have to admit, I really do love Disneyland and the Disneyland Half Marathon. I’m not sure what 2015 has in store for me yet, but I would love to get back out there for a race sometime in the future!
Has anyone else fallen during a race??
How do you get over something like that and keep going?
In case you missed them, here are the rest of the posts from my 2014 Dumbo Double Dare:
Live, Run, Grow 
I faceplanted real hard during the 10k in Carthay Circle after a run in with the trolley tracks (also not my first time falling while running, but the first time during a race). It was one of those slow motion falls. Since it was in the park there were several cast members trying to convince me to step off the course to go to a nurse’s station, but I sprung back up and tried to get myself, my torn bib and bleeding arm back together. My friend that was running with me for the 10k ran ahead of me on the half and told me not to feel so bad because he saw a woman go down on the train tracks by the classic cars… I wonder if it was you he saw.
Haha yup, that definitely could have been me that your friend saw! I’m sorry to hear you feel too and hope you’re ok!
Ouch! Sorry you fell. That’s tough to get over mid-run. But you got some great shots! That “hidden Mickey” picture of Daniel is perfect! I love when they have the petting zoo animals out and running through Anaheim is one of my favorite things about Disneyland races! I think it’s so much more interesting/engaging than the empty roads at WDW races and I love the entertainment/bands/cheerleaders they get out. I have to do this race one year!
I agree, I much prefer the streets of Anaheim to the sort of boring/ empty back roads through WDW (unless there are characters out!).
So sorry you had that bad spill Danielle. I have been fortunate and not suffered a race or running fall, but during my first marathon (Mickey Marathon 2013), I saw a woman take a terrible fall in Hollywood Studios, and luckily there happened to be a cast member nearby who was with her in a moment to help out. Scary for sure. Glad you at least got to enjoy the 10k with Jason. I too love the Disneyland races and look forward to running Tink next May!
Thanks Pam, Jason and I had a great time during the 10k and I’m glad he didn’t push it for the half – certainly not worth doing any permanent damage!
Ouch! Sorry you fell. Thankfully I have never falling while running, although there’s a first time for everything, and it’s not probably going to happen sooner rather than later, haha! Glad you were able to shake it off and still have a good time.
Thanks, hopefully you can managed to stay on your feet a little better than I can!
Ouch! I haven’t fallen but I have gotten cranky during runs and there’s nothing I can do to get over it except finish the race. At least you can say you got a war wound during the race and lived to tell the tale 🙂
Haha, yup, I have a pretty nice scar on my shoulder : )
I definitely think that running to finish is easier than quitting to deal with the pain. I’m all signed up for the Princess half and decided not to do tinkerbell this year, but I hope to do a disneyland race at some point!
I haven’t done either Princess or Tinkerbell, they are definitely on my “to-do” list though! Can’t wait to hear what you think about Princess!
DO EET! Run in 2015! IT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!! Jason can try again! Maybe I can convince Doug to do it too!
Sorry you had such a rough fall, but glad you had friends to keep you going. And that picture of Daniel is amazing! I think it was your inner Disney guru that allowed for that picture to subconsciously happen. Also, that jackass doing the push-ups isn’t even doing them properly! His form is horrible! If your gonna be a total tool and do (or act like you can do) 50, then do them RIGHT! …just sayin. Want me to kick his ass? lol
Kellie’s right. Now you just have to run it again in 2015 with us.
And we all know, what Nicole says, goes!
Haha, we’ll have to see…we’ll probably need to start watching our budget a little more now that we’re living off of one salary (non-profit salary at that!).
And I don’t even want to know what you think of my push-up form…it’s terrible!
But seeing as you now live in your “vacation house” you NEED to take a vacation somewhere else…i.e. DISNEYLAND. Specifically for DDD next year. You know you wanna! Vacations are important in life 😛
And don’t worry about your form. You work hard for your 5 push-ups. It’s douches who are all “look at me, I’m so awesome I can do 50 push-ups” that need to be called out on their lack of awesome and they in fact suck 🙂
Strange but true, the one time I did this race a woman fell in basically the same area you did. Right on her face and her nose started bleeding.
Oh yikes! I’m pretty lucky I only got the back of my shoulder…it could have been worse!
Great recap! Few things. First, are you SERIOUS about the guy doing 50 push-ups? When there’s clearly a line? And it’s clearly meant to be a “take a quick picture and move on” kind of thing? Seriously?! Glad you got your #NardiChallenge pics, though, haha…I thought it was kind of funny that the army men appeared more than once on the course.
Second, sorry you fell! I’ve fallen in training runs a million times (okay, maybe not a million, but it has definitely happened!). It really does sort of throw you off your game, and if it happened in a race, I’d probably want to cry, too! Especially if I had already been struggling, which I definitely was by the time we reached the cars. Glad you picked yourself up and still managed to have some fun, though!
Also, it sucks Jason didn’t run with you, but sounds like you guys made the right decision. Hope his knee is on the mend!
Lastly, I’m totally jealous of your photos. They look GREAT! And I “LOLed” when I saw the ears…I was like…how did she do that?! Too funny that it was accidental!
Oh, that’s the best part – buddy doing 50 push ups didn’t even have anyone taking a picture, he was just doing them!
Second, I’m glad I’m not the only one who occasionally falls running!
I’ve not fallen during a race, but I have tripped during runs and it NOT fun! I’m sorry your run took a nose dive (sorry for the pun, couldn’t help it!), but you got lots of great pics and BLING!!!! Holy Moly 4 medals since I see a coast to coast medal there! I’ll hopefully be earning the pink one next may 🙂
And yes 50 is too many pushups, rude dude!!!
Thanks, I’m glad that despite falling and being cranky I still kept going (and got a few good pictures along the way!).
Great recap and congrats on Dumbo and C2C. This was my first time running at Disneyland after more than a dozen races at Walt Disney World. I got my Coast to Coast also after completing Goofy in January. That sticks about the fall. It was a pretty rough terrain outside the parks. The picture with your friend with the Ferris wheel ears was hilarious. I too like to do my recaps ASAP as I forget quickly. Check out my recap when you get the opportunity.
Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be sure to check out your post as well!
Ouch!!! I recently fell in a race (on the Golden Gate Bridge no less!). I ended up walking a good portion of the classic cars section because I was afraid of falling – the roads were ridiculous! Glad we literally ran into each other!! That is an amazing Mickey shot!
Right?!? There were so many hazards along those roads – and none of the WDW recorded messages saying “CAUTION RUNNERS”. I’m sorry to hear you fell at a race too (but secretly relieved I’m not the only one!).
I can’t believe I never read your recap previously….okay so now for my real comments
That photo of Dan and Tana w/ World of Color is awesome sauce.
The photo of y’all sitting cracks me up for so many reasons…you are making a weird face and look like you’re photo bombing, Dan could sit on his leg during a race?!, and Tana looks all cute and stuff.
So so sorry about your fall. That would have made me lose it I think. To get back up and keep going is really awesome.
When we were sitting at breakfast looking through our pictures I was laughing so hard I was crying when I saw the one of Dan in front of the Fun Wheel! I literally couldn’t have done that if I tried!
And yes, the photo of us with the stepsisters at the carousel is the most awkward thing ever!
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