Running for Adventure – Disneyland Half
Running for Adventure
Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend
I am a cold-weather runner to my core. Give me a day that’s 70 degrees or below and I’m in heaven, AKA the treadmill is my best friend between the months of June and August. Though I initially wasn’t planning on participating in another runDisney race this year, when they announced that the theme for this year’s Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend would be Pixar I absolutely couldn’t resist. But training in for a half marathon in the Tennessee summer? Yikes! The combination of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness that comes with the territory of training for a half marathon never quite goes away, no matter how many races you do. Each race is different and will inherently come with its own challenges. 
We need to look those challenges in the face and say, I WILL NOT GIVE UP. I will be honest, I was completely unprepared for how this training cycle went. Between the elevated temperatures, humidity, and unexpected breaks in training my body felt like I had just started running again. Over the past three years I have altered my training plan and always felt good, but this cycle hit me where it hurts. Although I wanted to run and scream for the hills, my light at the end of the tunnel was that I was going to run at Disney!
For this race weekend, the Pixar theming was broken down as Up for the Kids Races, the Incredibles for
the 5K, Monster’s University for the 10K, and Toy Story for the half marathon. I was very happy that I had decided to just participate in the half marathon considering my training issues. Upon walking into the Expo, all my problems had simply floated away and all I felt was so much excitement for my race! I cannot begin to explain my pure joy upon seeing that my half marathon bib had the blue sky from Andy’s room, Toy Story themed writing, Buzz, and Woody on it! Toy Story is my jam. Didn’t everyone believe their toys came to life and had real conversations after watching that movie? We all remembers the Furbies, the little furry gremlins that would come awake at night just to say, ‘Feed Me,’ in that very creepy voice that reminded me of the aliens from Toy Story. Yeah, despite that nightmare toy, Toy Story was and still is one of my favorite movies of all time. As you can tell, I was quite excited for this half marathon!
The Expo is a runner’s haven from running shoes to everything a runner could possibly need for the race, including some sparkly skirts! If you ever wanted Disney inspired shoes, look no further than New Balance. Every year they come out with four new styles to fit everyone’s Disney fancy. This year’s styles are Toy Story Mania, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Mad Tea Party. Looking for runDisney race merchandise? Head over to the official runDisney store to grab everything from jackets and shirts to magnets. I have a collection of Mickey shaped race magnets on my fridge, it’s a tradition. Of course, one of the reasons that people participate in these races is the bling! *All ‘bout that bling, ‘bout that bling* RunDisney has the medals from past, current, and future races on display at each Expo and, after the oohhh’s and aaahh’s, people who weren’t planning on running now decide to. It’s a great motivator! Going to the Expo is one of my favorite things to start off my race weekend because of the energy and excitement that you feel throughout the venue, which only gets multiplied by the fact that you are at the house of mouse. Come race morning, no matter if it’s the half marathon or the 5K, you can feel that energy, excitement, and anxiety radiating through every individual as we wait for that countdown to start. This race was absolutely no exception.
Most of my runDisney experiences have been at Walt Disney World so, besides the Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend last year, this was only my second time running at Disneyland. Although I have been to the parks apart from the races themselves, I enjoy the differences that come with running each coast. Unlike Walt Disney World, Disneyland is situated within Anaheim and its properties (Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney) are all connected so that you never actually leave the bubble. Where Walt Disney World property holds multiple hotels that each have bus transportation to the races, Disneyland has three resorts on property and a multitude of hotels bordering its gates that you can walk from to get to the start line. From a race perspective, the accessibility is much easier; however, from a coordinator perspective, a race at Disneyland is more complicated than those at Walt Disney World. Each race in Florida can stay on Disney property the entire time, whereas races in California are, for the most part, in the city of Anaheim. Even though you don’t have any Disney theming or characters once you leave the property, it is wonderful to see the city locals as well as dance groups and marching bands come out to support the runners. One of the coolest things on this route was getting to run the bases in Angels Stadium! That is special to this race, so if you’re a baseball fan this is your race!
Being as big a Toy Story fan as I am, you know I had to do it up for this race! I dressed as Bo Peep so I 
was in A LOT of pink! I am not a pink kinda gal, so this was very different for me. My husband said he could spot me out of the crowd though! I run with a smaller Camelbak so I attached stuffed Buzz and Woody to it to look like the scene from Toy Story when Buzz is trying to help Woody onto the moving truck. Woody was flying all over the place as I ran and I could hear, ‘Hang on Woody!’ throughout the course. Mission accomplished! Now, remember how I told you about my training issues with the heat? Yep, well, couple that into race day because it was a balmy 82 degrees with 63% humidity when I started the race. I was sweating before the race even began! We started the race under a yellow flag warning and were all urged to slow down our pace. Our saving grace was that they had moved up start time to 5:00AM instead of the normal 5:30AM so we had about an hour before the sun came up (based on where I was in Corral B). When the sun came out it was brutal, so those in the back corrals are TOTAL ROCKSTARS! My pace was off from the start, but I wasn’t going into this race worrying about time – I just wanted to finish. I had both a Clif gel shot and a Clif bar with me as energy and at every water spot I drank Powerade instead of water. I hate Powerade but I knew I needed the electrolytes, that’s how much I was worried about heat exhaustion. HYDRATE WITH ELECTROLYTES AND WATER! No kidding around. If you don’t like to carry anything with you that’s fine, but you need to take a cup at every water/Powerade stop. Exhaustion sneaks up on you quickly and I’ve done one race where I was on the verge. The sweep list from this race was the largest I’ve seen in a runDisney race by a considerable margin and I saw plenty of heat casualties along the route. Based on after race reports that I have heard, everybody was struggling to maintain pace and slowed down to an average of 10 minutes past their regular half marathon finish time.
The race route through the parks was amazing! Disney California Adventure had all the neon lights of Cars Land on and a colorful water show playing near Paradise Pier! Dug, Russell, and Mr. Fredrickson were waiting for the runners to stop and say hello. Across the courtyard in Disneyland Park, the carousal and Dumbo were spinning around with invisible riders while Bullseye danced atop the Golden Horseshoe. We ran through the castle, getting to be princes and princess for a few split seconds before we traveled to see Buzz in the world of tomorrow. Our time in the parks would culminate in running right up the middle of Main Street U.S.A. Once outside the property, we zig-zagged down the streets of Anaheim to Angels Stadium and back to Downtown Disney. After two plus hours of run/walking, I finished! *Cheers* THAT was difficult but so enjoyable at the same time! Can I brag about how awesome the medal from this race is? It has Buzz, Woody, and Jesse with Andy’s blocks on the front and the back is signed by ANDY and says, ‘To Infinity and Beyond!’ Ooooohhhh! Not only did I receive the race medal, but I also got the 10th Anniversary Coast to Coast medal for participating in the Princess Half Marathon Weekend in Florida in February. Now that is enough bling to make anyone want to run a half marathon!
After walking (very slowly) to get some food in my empty stomach, we went back to get ready for a day at the parks. Believe me, your feet will be killing you but adrenaline will get you through the extra 10 miles of walking you will do that day! As we were walking back to the parks, we stopped for a second and I could hear ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ playing in the background. Such a magical moment! All I could do was smile, hug my medal, and think, ‘This is going to be a good day.’ What do you suspect was the first ride we went to? You guessed it! Toy Story Mania! How could I resist after completing the Toy Story Half
Marathon? Not only did we go on Toy Story Mania, but we got the Bo Peep car and I FINALLY beat my husband at the game! *Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh*
Overall, it was an amazing weekend and I even got to celebrate my birthday! I would absolutely recommend this race weekend to anyone. These races are so inspiring and there are people of all talent levels who come out and participate. It doesn’t matter where you start from but only how you feel when you finish and that you even started in the first place. If you have ever thought of participating in one of these race weekends but think you can’t do it, I’m telling you that YOU CAN! You can’t predict what it will be like on race day, but if you are prepared for anything and plan accordingly while running you will not have any problems. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOU WILL SOAR! Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have an interest in runDisney races or would like to plan a Disney Destination vacation around a race! Check out more information and tips to get started with your running adventure. 
Caitlin DeLucio
is a travel professional with 101 Dream Vacations, she lives in Tennesse with her husband. They enjoy their quality time and making memories at Disney along with other destinations. Contact her today to start planning your next vacation.