Disneyland 10K Recap

After months of anticipation, the moment had finally arrived for me to run my first RunDisney event.  And it arrived with an early wake-up call!  To make sure the runners are out of the park before they open, the races start at 5:30am.  I arrived to the pre-race area around 4:30am and had a great time people watching-- I definitely got some ideas for some costumes for future races.  I was running with Team Lemon, supporting Alex's Lemonade Stand, for this event so I was wearing my team shirt.  I paired it with an awesome Sparkle Athletic Skirt and my favorite ProCompression socks.  

"The Gibbler" Socks are my favorite!

When it was time, I found my way to my corral.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was excited to see an ASL interpreter for all the start line festivities.  I was impressed with the prompt race start-- it's frustrating when you plan hydration, bathroom breaks & such around a start time and the race starts late.  5:30am came the runners were off!  (After a very odd rendition of the National Anthem-- still trying to decide how I feel about that!)

The Start Line Post-Race-- I forgot to take a pre-race picture.

The first two miles of the course are outside of the parks.  After mile 2, we entered California Adventure, making our way into Cars Land, one of my favorite areas of the park.  As a huge Disneyland and California Adventure fan, I was a little emotional when we entered the parks.  I was so excited and happy that I may have gotten a little teary eyed. We ventured through California Adventure and made our way into Disneyland. 

One of my favorite spots in California Adventure

Once we hit Disneyland, we ran through various parts of the park and behind the scenes. One of my favorite things was seeing all the action behind the action.  I also loved all the race support from the staff at the parks and the ChEAR Squads. At mile 5 we were running through the castle. That was as awesome as I'd imagined it would be!  I didn't stop at any of the character stops during this run-- I'm not a big fan of the villains and there wasn't anyone out that I "just had to get a picture with."  

After running through Disneyland, we made our way to the finish in Downtown Disney.  The crowd support was great-- I love people who will get up early to support the runners.  As with everything else about the race, the organization at the finish line was on point.  Once we finished, we could either make our way through a corral to get official finisher pictures taken or make our way through the other corral, skipping the picture crowd.  Although I went the picture route, I think it's great that they have this option.  I also loved that our post-race snacks were in an easy-to-take box. 

The Bling!

I had a great time at the Disneyland 10K and it was followed up by a fun time at the We Run Social meet-up in Downtown Disney.  For a great recap on that, check-out Carlee's blog at http://www.carleemcdot.com/.   After the meet-up, I was off to get some sleep before the Disneyland Half Marathon. Recap on that magic coming soon!

Happy Running!

Jenn13.1