Tinkerbell Half Marathon 5/10/2015

It's amazing what a little bit of sleep can do for you.  I set the alarm for 3:15 am but I managed over 6-1/2 hours of sleep the night before since I went to bed early and I woke up feeling much better than I had the night before and well rested.  I must remember this when Dopey comes around.


The bus was just arriving when I walked out of the hotel so I hopped right on.  I'm not sure if it was much shorter but it felt good psychologically to take the bus.  I got off the bus and walked over to the starting area and found the Mickey Milers again.  I didn't have a checked bag with me this time.

I was stopped for a picture on the way to the starting area.  This picture cracks me up as I look like I'm advertising Diet Coke.  "Drink Diet Coke - the Pre-race drink of champions.  You too can have fun when you run."

We had our prerace Mickey Miler Photo and then it was time to disperse and head to our various starting corrals.

I again was starting back in Corral D with Dale.  Today Donna was going to join us for the half marathon.

Here we are in Corral D.

After we found a place in D to wait for the race to start the "official 3 hour pacer" showed up right next to me.  She was way too loud and perky for my tastes.  I kept having to cover my ears as she was screaming right in my ear.  I couldn't wait for the race to start so we could get far away from her.  I do not think I would do well running in an "official pace group".  We weren't planning a 3:00 pace so we let her get ahead of us pretty quickly.

The first mile and a half runs down Disneyland Drive around the outside of the park, over the I-5 on a nice little overpass and down Harbor Blvd where we passed the 12 mile marker (wow that was a short race) before heading backstage.

All the mile markers pretty much looked exactly like this for the half.  I do like that I caught the monorail behind it.  It was not planned, I was just snapping the picture as we ran by because I thought it funny that we were at mile 12.

Immediately after entering the backstage area we came to a pretty significant incline in the tunnel to go under the bus driveway (I will freely admit that I had no idea what that was and didn't know it existed from the surface even walking in and out of the park several times).  If I didn't see it on the map I wouldn't have identified what we were going under here.   It's a lot of fun to run down, but not as much to run back up.  Things got a little tight here as this was mile 12 and they were pushing us to a single lane as the lead wheel chair participant was close behind us, but we turned before they actually got there.  

We left the backstage area and entered Disney's California Adventure Park near Hollywood Tower Of Terror where were got some awesome photo opportunities

including this one with Buzz and the Buzz girls

And here with Hamm and Rex

And we stopped for a photo on Hollywood Blvd.

We took a quick bathroom break on Hollywood Blvd and headed over to Radiator Springs

And grab a picture with Lightening and Mater

And get one with Radiator Springs behind us

And we learn that I am not slow :)

We take a quick turn back stage again and get some more fun photos with 

Hamm and Rex

These fun guys

And a toy float

We go back onstage again where we find Vidia - the Fast Flying Fairy with some Attitude.

We also stopped for this classic shot with Paradise Pier behind us

No - not that one - I'm not sure what Dale is doing or why she has 4 legs suddenly :)

This is the classic shot.  

We tried to get some bread for Donna from Ted, but settled for this picture instead.  

We hit mile 3 as we were leaving California Adventures.  All our fun and games inside California Adventures gave us a super speedy pace of 22:52 for that mile.  

From California Adventures it is a short run across the Esplanade to the Disneyland entrance.  We ran around the flag pole and stopped for a great photo with Chip and Dale (and Dale)

At the center hub we stopped for a picture with Walt and Mickey

Before a couple of pictures with Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Including one as Charlie's Angles

In contract to the Princess Half, we were actually able to run through the castle (at Princess there was such a bottle neck it was a claustrophobic nightmare shuffle)

We ran around the Carousel 

Where the Lost Boys were taking a joy ride.  

And stopped for a picture with Tinkerbell of course (it is her race after all)

I was almost surprised

to see her out on the course and not at the finish area but the line was well controlled and moved pretty quickly.  With perfect timing right as it was our turn, our friend Jenn ran by so we got her to jump into the picture with us.

I adore the fact the Tink was sticking her tongue out behind our backs.  

We left Tinkerbell and figured we needed to make up a little time, so we ran around the Materhourn and into Tomorrowland without stopping.  In Tomorrowland, my watch beeped to single a mile.  Mile 4 was a super speedy 25:05 long.  we were also about 2 tenths of a mile from the mile marker.  

We passed the Storm Troopers but didn't stop at this time for a picture.  

We did stop for one with Rosetta and Iridessa

And were again able to grab Jenn to join us.  (Side note, I don't have a clue what Rosetta and I are looking at)

We exited backstage behind It's a Small World and tried to get run over by one of the Disney Steam Engines.  

 We ran through much of this stretch of backstage area the day before on the 10k and did not stop for any additional pictures of the ride cars today.  We were trying to make up a little time after our very slow miles 3 and 4.  

We came back onstage in Toon  Town

And decided to get a picture with Mickey's frontside instead of the backside at his fountain.  

Donna stopped for an awesome picture with Donald and Pluto and Dale and I ran ahead to the restroom.

We took the Big Thunder Trail around to Adventure land where we met an awesome pirate

Stopped for a picture in front of the Haunted Mansion

And a Selfie with Pooh in Critter Country before leaving Disneyland and heading backstage again.

Backstage we ran into poor Smokey the bear.  He was missing his arm and looked like he needed a hug and a kiss. 

We loop around through Downtown Disney and turn onto Downtown Drive where we are cheered on by 300 of the Red Hat Ladies.  They were pretty awesome and so full of energy.

We were at the halfway mark for the race when we completely left Disney Property and headed out on the the streets of Anaheim.

The Streets of Anaheim were well the streets of Anaheim and not a whole lot different than running a any other streets.  There were some spectators out and some bands out.  It was time to get serious and pick up the pace here.  

According to the official results we were at 1:55:56 at the 10k mark which is an 18+ min/mile pace. 

Since there wasn't much to see or do the next 6 miles seemed to move pretty quickly.  At one point I stubbed my toe into a reflector and rolled my ankle.  Ouch.  I walked it off for a walk interval and seemed fine.  It was a little tender but didn't hurt any worse to run than walk and wasn't particularly painful so I just kept moving forward.  

Donna was starving so she ran into the 7-11 and grabbed some donuts.  

Yep - Donuts on the course were a must

For the rest of the course we were pushing 13:15 - 14:30 min/miles.  Still taking it easy as Dale's knee was tender but defiantly no more true shenanigans.  

We came back by the mile 12 sign again, this time it was really mile 12.  We had to go back down and up that lovely incline.  It was even more fun to run down it this time (and even less fun to run back up)

We came back around the backside of Radiator Springs and Paradise Pier again.  There were people on Katella Ave poking their heads through the ivy on the fence cheering.  It was really funny to suddenly hear someone and see a face peering out at you.  

Somewhere in here we ran into the most adorable Tinkerbell and Peter Pan who were giving our Pixie Dust.  Of course we had to stop to get some so we could fly to the finish line.

We crossed over Disneyland drive and into the finishers shoot where we got a shout out from Rudy as we crossed the finish line.

We made up a lot of time on the back half of the course and finished in 3:35:22 or a 16:26 pace.  According to my Garmin with our our stops and weaving we ran 13/7 miles at a 15:44 pace.  :)  

Showing off our Tinkerbell Half Marathon Medals before we picked up our Coast 2 Coast and Pixie Dust Challenge Medals.  Thanks Dale and Donna for making this a fun race!

It was a lot of fun and a great race.  

Post race

All the Bling

They fixed the snack issue from the day before and were handing out little gift bags with a Luna Bar in it and then they had the rest of the snacks that were supposed to go in the Snack Boxes in bins.  The volunteers were handing these snacks out.  They still strangely only had blue Power-aid.  

I got all my stuff and left the finishers area.  It was crowded and I wanted to get a shower and get back to California Adventures to join the family for the rest of the day.

It was an awesome race.  One that I would definitely consider running again.  

Discover the Magic Tour - 5/9/2015 Disneyland

With the race over, I raced over to the entrance to Disneyland so I could meet the family for early entry.  I managed to beat them there, so I entered the park so I could go change and clean up before they got there.  Somehow I had no problem with entry on my ticket but they had problems with theirs (same tickets - same language) but they gave them an early entry ticket so they could get in too.

We headed over to Tomorrowland to enjoy our extra hour.  We started on the Astro Orbiter.

Lots of fun and nice views Disneyland.

After Astro Orbiter we went over to Buzz Lightyear and rode it 3 times in a row.  I love that you get feedback at Disneyland when you actually hit a target.  The only way you know in Disney World is if you see your score go up.  

After we rode Buzz a couple times it was time for Alice to ride her very first real Roller-coaster (Goofy's Barnstormer doesn't count).  She was finally tall enough for most of the rides at Disneyland including Space Mountain our destination this morning.  I like Space Mountain at Disneyland 100x's more than the one at Disney World.  For starters you can sit side by side at Disneyland which made the ride more enjoyable for both Megan and Alice and the ride at Disneyland is smoother than Disney World.  I always feel like my back gets slammed into the seat at Disney World.  Both girls loved the ride.  Alice was all smiles when we got off.  Love this picture.  

After Space Mountain we finished up our Magic Morning at Star Tours.  The girls and I loved it.  James does not like Motion Simulators and did not enjoy it as much.  They wanted to ride again, but it was time to go check in for our Discover the Magic Tour.

DISCOVER THE MAGIC TOUR

I'm trying to limit the stuff that the kids get/have so for their birthday's this spring we decided to give some experiences instead of stuff.  So for Megan we booked the Discover the Magic Tour at Disneyland for Saturday May 9th.  https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/discover-the-magic/

Our tour was to begin at 10 am and we were supposed to check in around 9:30 am.  So after Star Tours, we went back up towards the entrance to the Tour Gardens to check in.  After we got our name tags, we walked up Main Street to grab a quick snack before our tour started.  

The Tour was so much fun.  It is geared for kids ages 5-10 and my children were right in the sweet spot of the age recommendations.  

The tour starts out in the Tour Garden with our tour guides Marcia and Colin.  Marcia tells us she found a set of keys this morning on her way to the tour and she thinks they may come in handy.  She asks the kids what keys might be good for.  They come up with doors, treasure chests, cars etc.  She asks them to look around and see if they can find something the key might open and Megan with her Eagle Eyes, finds the first treasure chest.

Inside the find a clue that looks like a ping pong paddle that sends us to the Frontierland entrance.  So our tour is now off to Adventure land in search of our treasure.

At the Entrance to Frontierland we found another treasure chest, but the lock was missing on this one and our clue was missing.  But we found a lot of pirate gear including swords, flags, hooks and a spyglass.  We figured the Pirate's must have stolen our clue so we went off to the Pirate Ship Columbia to see if we could find our clue. 

 On the way there we acted like Pirates - but we had to be polite pirates.  :) Arrrr!

Soon enough we found where the Pirates had hidden our next treasure chest and figured out which key went with it.

In our treasure chest, we found another clue - this one with elephants on it that led us to the Tree House in Adventure Land.

Megan said she knew how to get there so Colin told her to lead the way.  But on the way there, he stopped us and told us that since we were such good Pirates we were going to find a secret pirate door and ride Pirates in the  Caribbean.

Our group was so large that we commandeered 2 boats and took off our our Pirates Adventure.  I love Disneyland's Pirates.  Awesome, awesome ride.

When we finished up our Pirate ride, we continued to the tree house where we found our next clue.  This one sending us To Infinity and Beyond.

They asked if we were ready to go to Tomorrowland and Alice said no.  So they decided maybe we should try to find a shortcut to Tomorrowland with a little less walking ;)  LOL  So we grabbed another boat to take a shortcut through the Jungle.  Unfortunately our short cut was a long cut as our Jungle Cruise skipper took a wrong turn and brought us right back to Adventureland.  :) 

No one was complaining though because we had a great tour through the jungle.

We took a quick bathroom break here before taking the long cut to Tomorrowland.  When we got to Tomorrowland they taught us the Space Cadet Secret Salute so we could go ask Buzz what he might know about our clue.  So we got to ride Buzz Lightyear and then found the Rocket where our next clue was located.

As you can see, our next clue sent us looking for a big footprint.  On the otherside was a picture of the Matterhorn.  We found the next clue box next to the Churro stand because the Yeti is a huge Churro fan.  :)  (Side note - unfortunately the Matterhorn was down for refurbishment during our visit.  I guess we will just have to go back sometime to ride it as I love that ride and can't wait to see the new changes for Disneyland's 60th)  

The Yeti Footprint

Our last clue Box

Putting the Puzzle Together

We were sent to find Mickey in Toontown

We had to wait for Mickey to finish filming before we could meet him.  And we told him all about our adventures.

He was very impressed with our solving his clues.

And had the kids close their eyes so he could give us all a surprise

My 2nd medal of the day - the Discover the Magic  Tour Medal

And we got to take pictures with Mickey

Good thing I have photo-pass pictures coming because I accidentally set my camera to soft for these pictures.  

Mickey had to get back to filming so we said goodbye but we still had one more surprise left.  

We were given frozen apple juice slushies in souvenir cups to end our tour.  

All in all it was a great tour and the kids had so much fun.  It was a lot of walking however, especially after having run a 10k already today.  

We said goodbye to tour tour guides and our team and went to find some lunch in Toon Town.  First I stopped to grab a set of Fast Passes for Roger Rabbit.  We had Hot Dogs and Pizza in Toon Town Square.  The Pizza was surprising good.  

 We took a few pictures around Toon Town before heading over to ride Gadget's Go Coaster.

As you can tell, Alice loved it.  

It was time for our FP at Roger Rabbit so we headed over to use it.  

We loaded into our Taxi

Took off, made it around the first corner when the ride was stopped and we had to be evacuated.  

 They had to restart the ride before we could reload and ride again

 More pictures outside in Toon Town

At this point the plan was for me to go to get FP from Big Thunder Mountain (we tried to ride the day before and it was offline) and then meet the family at Autopia in Tomorrowland.  Can I mention again how much easier it is to not have to go from one side of the park to the other to get Fastpasses.  :)  I got the FP - they were for 5:20pm I believe.  I walked back across the park and was able to join James and the girls in line for Autopia and was reintroduced to stairs.  I started to realize just how much time I'd put on my legs already and how tired I was getting.

We had a nice leisurely drive around the park.  My chauffeur Alice did a nice job steering the car and only tried to run me off the track twice.  :)   

We left Autopia and walked over to see what the lines at Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain were like.  Haunted Mansion line was insane as it was the first day it was reopened with the newly returned Hat Box Ghost so we decided to skip that one.  At first glance the Splash Mountain line didn't look too bad but it appears there was some sort of guest security incident in the line.  I was past my tipping point at this time and waiting in line was not going well for my tired legs.  We decided that a snack sounded like a much better plan.  We went to the stage door cafe for a Funnel Cake. After our snack we thought about going over to the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island but after waiting a few minutes for the raft, we decided that waiting around for Big Thunder wasn't worth it and we should just go back to the room and find out if the pool was heated.  

So we took the bus and went to the pool which was heated and soaking in the pool and hot tub for a little was just what was needed.  We went back to the room and had dinner and went to bed.  I am pretty sure I was in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 9.  The week before the trip and the early morning 10k had taken its toll, but it was a great day.  

Total Steps 37,042 steps 17.1 miles - yes it was a busy day.