Tinkerbell 10k - May 9, 2015

The alarm went off way too early at 3:45 am.  I was under a false impression that you didn't have to get up as early for a Disneyland race as a Disney World race.  I would say that it was slightly easier because my body should have thought it was still on Central time and 5:45 am but since we were up so late the night before I only ended up with about 4-1/2 hours of sleep and I was very tired.

I got ready and started walking to the starting area.  I had a gear check bag today for the 10k as I was planning to clean up and change clothes after the race so I could meet the family for the 8 am park opening at Disneyland.

I dropped off my gear check bag and found the Mickey Milers.    We were #TeamShenanigans Strong this morning.   I had a B coral placement, but I had decided to drop back to Coral D to run with my friend Dale.

  After our team picture, we headed out to the corals.

In our Coral as we moved to the start line.  Dale and I got a Mickey Milers Team Shenanigans Shout out from Rudy as we crossed the start line.

The first mile and a half were out on the streets of Anaheim, CA and very much like any normal city race.  

Except we ran into Captain Hook before heading backstage at Disneyland.

I find it very funny that we are both pointing different directions - almost like we are Tweedledee and Tweedledum.  

Of course we had to stop to say hi to the Disneyland Indian Chielf

And try to figure out what he was looking at.

And a quick wave to Chip and Dale

Before getting to Mile 2

We wanted to take a ride on the Carousel

But settled for a picture in front of the Castle.

I'm not sure if Dale had enough and was just going to dive into Masteros mouth or what

But I was attempting to backstroke away from him.  

Unfortunately our invitations to the Tomorrowland Preview were lost in the mail, so this was the closest we came to it.  

May the Force be With you on your Race

These are not the Droids you are looking for.

A little preparation work for the Small World Challenge in August.  

We caught Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow smooching in Toon Town

Mile 3 - half way there so time for an upside down photo.

I loved running backstage.  There were so many interesting things to see.  From ride cars to the sign shop, to the Imagineers Field Trailer, the next mile was full of interesting things you would never get to see otherwise.  

 

Walt Disney Imagineering Office.  My dream job.

Trying to convince  Dumbo to give us his magic feather so we could fly to the finish

4 miles down as we enter Disney California Adventure

Yes we forced random cast members to pose with us.  

My yellow cone hurdles.  I'm not sure why Dale has it though.  LOL

Appropriate store name for us.  Or maybe it should be off the wall?

Hollywood

We ran into our friend Jill around Mile 5

And had some fun on Paradise Pier

But no spinning Ferris Wheel's today

Then we ran into Shane and Stephanie

And raced around Radiator Springs

Of course I had to take a picture of the Transmission Structure on the backside of Radiator Springs

Mile 6 - almost there

Just a band and some high fives left before 

MEDALS of course!

Showing off my medal in front of the Disneyland Park entrance.

  The 10k Medal

The course was awesome!  So much time spent onstage or backstage.  The backstage running is probably my favorite thing about running RunDisney Races.  We had a lot of fun on a great course.  For the record, my final time was 1:36 - far from a PR but much more fun this way.  

The only downside to this race was the Snack Boxes (or lack there of) and Poweraid.  I don't drink Poweraid during a run, but I found lack of it on the course odd.  I know a lot of people do drink it or expect it and you would normally see it on a 10k course.  I also was surprised that they only had one flavor at the finish.  Even more surprising was the fact that the only food offered was a single banana. For the price of a Disney race the typical Snack Box seems cheap to me compared to a lot of races, but not having the Snack Box was really just not acceptable.  I heard there was an expired item in the snack box and they couldn't give them out.  I find it hard to believe that a company with Disney's resources couldn't have come up with some sort of alternative for the 10k that morning.  But I'm not going to let the lack of a snack box damper my day.  After I got my medal and banana, I grabbed my bag from gear check and headed over to find the family.  

The Pixie Dust Challenge Begins Day 1 May 8, 2015

I know I still need to finish the Princess Half Marathon weekend recap, but I am going to start with Tinkerbell now while it is fresh.

It's time for the Pixie Dust Challenge Weekend and time to go get my Pink Coast 2 Coast medal.  This time I am headed to California for my first race at Disneyland and I'm taking the family along to celebrate Mother's Day with me.  

We had a flight out of Houston Hobby at 9 am so it was an easy trip to the airport Friday morning.  We got parked and checked in without any issues.  We made it through security and found our gate with plenty of time to relax for a few minutes before boarding.

I like flying west.  Our flight leaves at 9:05 am and we arrived at Orange County at 10:30 am.  This gave us the opportunity to get checked in and got to Disneyland on Friday.  Our flight was uneventful which is always the way I like a flight. We landed in Orange County on time, found our bags and got our rental car.  It was a short easy drive to Disneyland from the Orange County airport.  Unfortunately our room wasn't available yet, but we were able to go ahead and park our car and get some lunch.  After lunch James and the girls went to go get our groceries and I walked to the Disneyland Hotel to visit the Expo and get my race packet.

Walking by the 10k start line on the way to the Expo

The Expo was an Expo.  By Friday it wasn't crazy busy.  I didn't care about the limited edition merchandise and I had a friend who picked up a magnet and pin for me the day before so I was not worried about merchandise running out.  It actually looked like I could have picked up the pin and magnet on my own.  I know others had merchandise issues, but I was able to get an I Did it Pixie Dust shirt and there was still plenty of stock of those.  I didn't really look at the official merchandise to see what was or was not in stock come Friday.  Bib and shirt pickup was smooth and easy.  I got my pink coast 2 coast bracelet, my race bib and my 3 tech shirts.  I tried on the Tinkerbell New Balance Shoes but decided they didn't fit quite right.  I picked up some socks, the ART (Anaheim Resort Transit) bus tickets and headed back to the resort.  While on the bus, I finally got the call that our room was ready so we were able to get checked in and our luggage unloaded.  

My pin and magnet

It didn't take us long to drop our stuff off in the room, repack a backpack for the park and head down to get the bus to Disneyland.

We were starting our Friday off with a trip to the original Disneyland park.

We started off in Adventure Land to grab our first set of Fastpasses to Indiana Jones.  Ticket and Fastpass confession.  I missed the convenience of Magic Bands.  I hated having to carry the tickets in a lanyard around my neck and although I complained about the 3 fast pass limits, I will admit except for the disconnected fast passes, we never grabbed or needed more than 3 sets during a day.  I also hated having to backtrack as that just meant more miles on my legs.  I'm sure I'm in the minority however.  

As we were getting our Fastpass, the girls spotted the Tarzan's Treehouse and wanted to go explore.  

Yes the Treehouse.  Who would have thought that the Treehouse would be a huge draw for my 5 year old.  She loved it.  

After the Treehouse we walked over to Critter Country and rode Winnie the Pooh.   We had just enough time at this point to take the train around the park leaving from New Orleans Square.  This was a nice introduction to the park and was a nice way to sit and relax for a bit.  We got back to New Orleans Squarer and it was time to check into the River Belle Terrace for our Fantasmic! Dinner package reservation.  

(I'll be so happy when we can get back to natural smiles again)

As we were waiting for our table, we chatted with some of my Mickey Miler Friends who were also waiting for their dinner table.  The Fantasmic! dinner package was a little pricey, but at least the food was good and with race mornings and limited showings of Fantasmic! it was the only way we could have seen Fantasmic! easily.  There was enough food there however that we could have easily split 2 adult entrees between the 4 of us.  

After dinner it was time to go use our Indiana Jones FastPass.  Alice was too short to ride as it was one of 2 rides with a 48" height requirement.  She was perfectly happy to lead me through Tarzan's Treehouse another 4 times (yes I said 4 times - with all those stairs the night before my first race).

  Megan and James finished riding Indy and Megan didn't want to ride again (it was a little scary for her) so I took the Fastpass to ride on my own.  I love that ride.  I had a bit of a weird experience.  I was assigned the first row and was the first person put into that row.  This would have put me into the "drivers seat" so to speak.  As I was waiting for my car to appear, this guy started pushing me so that when the gate opened it plowed past me so he could get that seat.  I really didn't care one way or another but it was very odd.  He also spent the whole ride acting like he was part of the ride or trying to be like Indy.  Just a weird experience.  

When I finished riding Indy, I found James and the girls.  They found some new hats (James wasn't going to continue the Treehouse loop, so took them shopping) they liked so we picked those up and then walked over to Fantasyland as we had a little time before Fantasmic! started.  We decided to ride the Storybook Canal boats.  We all enjoyed it, including the new updates since the last time we rode it 6 years ago.  (think Frozen and Tangled etc).  I impressed the boat driver with my knowledge of useless Disney Trivia.  

After the Storybook Canal, it was time to pick up some popcorn, stop at the restroom and head over to our viewing location for Fantasmic!  We went to sit down for Fantasmic! and I realized that Alice's Alaska Cruise Hoodie was missing from the stroller.  :(  We loved Fantasmic! (or as Alice calls it Mickey's Dream).  I was so worried looking at the weather forecast that we would get rained out, but it turned out to be perfect weather for the evening.  When Fantasmic! ended, we packed up the stroller and started to head out.  As we walked out of the Fantasmic! viewing area I saw something sitting on the wall and it turned out to be Alice's Jacket.  I felt like we got a huge dose of Pixie Dust right then.  The Fireworks were cancelled for the night due to the wind and it was definitely time to get back to the room.  We decided to walk back to the room and Alice slept the whole way (I was very jealous).  I can't believe the girls were still in good moods and high energy through Fantasmic!, since it was really 11 pm Houston time by the time the show started.

The girls went to bed and I found/laid out all the running gear I needed for the 10k the next morning.  It was a long day and we were all very tired.    Tomorrow would be a very early morning and a busy day.

Total steps 25,431 or 10.7 miles.