Half-Marathon Part 2 - In which I get up really early and begin a run with 15,000 people

Warning: This is a picture-heavy post. Really picture-heavy.

When last we left our heroine, she was trying to get some sleep before the biggest athletic feat she had ever attempted. I actually slept pretty well, despite my body waking me up at 2:30 and my brain telling it to knock that off. I was able to fall back asleep and woke instead at 3:30, a half hour before my alarm but I knew I would need the extra time. I tried to get up and start getting ready quietly so as not to wake up Hubby, who's plan for getting ready involved only throwing on his clothes and a hat. By 4:20 I was pretty much ready to go.

Hydrating - very important 

They tell you never to wear new clothes for a race. I didn't listen. I should have.

We left our hotel and started the short walk over to the park. The closer we got, the more people we joined, until there was a steady stream of racers making the journey to the starting area. 

 Fueling

 Guess I was anxious

 Some of the crowd

 Hubby said to pose. What I am really thinking here is "Please don't leave me. Once you leave, I have to wait in a crowd of strangers for an hour and then run 13.1 miles."

Me and my support team

Once we got over to the general area of the starting line, we talked a bit, I stretched a little, used the bathroom, and we wandered towards the corrals. Too soon, it was time to leave Jon and find my corral. I hugged him, teary, as he whispered lots of words of encouragement in my ear. Finally I broke free and headed through the gates to where everyone was lining up. I'm really bad at goodbyes, and I was getting nervous. 

Getting into my corral took a while - things bottlenecked at a certain point while people tried to figure out which way they were supposed to go. I was in the second to last corral, and once I got the found that it was only half-full. That changed rapidly. The race was scheduled to start at 6, starting with corral A (obviously) with each subsequent corral leaving 5 minutes after. Which meant that my corral wasn't scheduled to leave until 6:25, and I was in the corral (at the organizers insistence) by 5:25. So I stood around for an hour, taking pictures for groups who needed a cameraman, but generally feeling lonely as I listened to the pairs and groups of runner chat with each other. I really wished someone had signed up to run with me.

The sea of people waiting in front of me - there were many many more to the left and behind.

One thing I didn't get a picture of that was really cool was when they sang the national anthem. At the point where the man sang "And the rockets red glare" red fireworks shot into the morning sky - it was really beautiful and the crowd just went crazy. There were also more with "the bombs bursting in air." Beautiful moment.

The race started on Disneyland drive and headed out onto Katella, one of the four roads bordering the resort. Then we hooked a left on Harbor, which ran us (eventually) right by my hotel. Hubby was standing out in the road waiting for me - I loved seeing him! He shot a video - forgive the unflattering nature of it please.

So a word about my new running skirt that I (foolishly?) wore. I had a running skirt already that I had been wearing to train in, but it was boring and grey and when I was at the expo I saw this one from runningskirts.com which was totally cute. I tried it on, it fit, I loved it. Now, it is an inch or so shorter than the one I am used to (which is not the same brand) but I thought it would be fine. Well, when I started running, the compression shorts underneath started riding up a bit. Which does happen with my other skirt. But the difference is the length - way more of my thighs were visible than I am comfortable with, and things were rubbing together a bit higher than I am used to (but I did Body Glide up there too just in case, so that was covered at least) and I spent a lot of time in the first mile or so pulling things down as I ran. Not my favorite thing. Eventually I got used to it, or it got better, or I just forgot, and fidgeted with it much less (unless there was a camera coming up that I knew about.) Who can say if my other skirt would have been better? I just know that I spent more time being concerned with it than I would have liked. This shouldn't deter you from purchasing one of their skirts - they are great and comfy and I will continue to wear mine. It is more a statement that you shouldn't try something new on race day - which I had already heard but apparently didn't take to heart.

Anyhow, next we headed into the parks - first California Adventure and then Disneyland. I planned to stop and snap pictures with some of the characters - I wasn't going for time or anything, and just wanted to really enjoy the experience. One of my favorite things about going through the parks was all the maintenance and cast members who stood along the route to cheer us on. Some pictures are blurry - I was running after all!

 Phineas and Ferb - my family loves this cartoon so I had to stop!

 Coming into Disneyland - so exciting!

 Darth Vader had a long line, so I got a pic from the side. The storm trooper kept going over to try to pull people out of Darth's line to take pictures with another trooper - it was funny.

 Flora, Fauna, Merriweather, and Princess Aurora were on the carousel

 Maleficent kept harrassing people, telling them they should be running

 Going through the castle!

 Backstage - some really cool stuff back there

 Ignore the times on the mile markers - they weren't accurate to me since I started a half hour after they did

 Toontown

 Me and Louis

 First hydration station - ah, Powerade, nectar of the gods

When we left the parks and hit the streets again, we were at mile 4 already. Those first few miles went by so fast and were so easy. It wasn't until we got out to the road that I realized how much background music and noise there had been in the parks - suddenly it was almost silent save for the pounding of feet and heavy breathing. 

 Lots of people walking already - it was a real challenge for me not to walk when everyone else was, but to run until I really needed to walk a few steps. This is when having someone with you comes in handy, to encourage you and feel like someone else is suffering too.

 There was entertainment every mile - dancers, bands, cheerleaders yelling - so fun!

 "Why am I doing this again?"

 Crazy costumes - these guys had the teapot, saucer, and candelabra, and knocked into me trying to pass.

Once the sun came out, the temperatures started to climb. Those first few miles had been in the lovely overcast Anaheim morning, but alas, it was not meant to last. Just after mile 6, I made a video, knowing that my husband would enjoy watching it, and figuring that if I was crazy I could post it here. Apparently I am.

One thing I remember from running is, for the most part, not really realizing how long I had been in motion. That was a good thing. So, we're six miles in, and I am still running, and haven't died or passed out, nor do I want to. I passed a medical tent and didn't even need to stop in. Successes in my mind! Part 3 will wrap the race up. Tune in later, followers, when you can hear our heroine say "How much farther until the finish line?!"

Half-Marathon Part 1 - In which I arrive, shop, and eat.

It has been a few days now since my first ever half-marathon, and I have been hobbling around, trying not to fall asleep at any given moment, throwing myself back into reality, trying to come up with the words to adequately express my experience this past weekend. And failing I think. Whatever I say will fall short of really sharing the experience with you all. Not to mention that I don't know how to pare it all down! I can see now why bloggers break their half-marathon (or marathon) recaps down into several posts. It becomes a bit like watching a slide-show of someone's vacation - you as readers can only take so much at a time. Or at all. And yet there is a desire to share every little thing that happened, because, for me at least, this was something of a monumental weekend. So all of this has been holding me back, until this morning.

This morning I was able to see the professional photos and videos from the race, and all I found myself thinking was how bad I looked, how funny I run, how I don't look like I belong out there, and why did I think a running skirt was a good idea with my legs? I got really down on myself. And that? Is completely unacceptable. Because I ran a half-marathon. 13.1 miles. I didn't quit, I didn't die, I finished. And I should feel nothing but pride in myself for that, regardless of how long it took me or how bad I think I looked while doing it. And the best way to remember those great feelings I had during and right after the run is to relive it through posting about it.

I am going to break it down, though, because it is a lot. So today we will start with the Health and Fitness Expo at the Disneyland Hotel and surrounding events of that day. Hubby and I drove down Friday and stayed in Sherman Oaks with a best friend of mine from High School - we swam in her pool, relaxed in her hot tub and visited - it was lovely. Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, got our stuff together and headed off to Anaheim for the expo.

Going to the expo was a requirement of the race - you had to pick your packet up there with your bib, and also your goody bag and t-shirt. Pick up for packets was downstairs, and wasn't at all busy when we got there, so I was able to just walk up and get mine.

I was surprised at the tears I had to hold back when I had this in my hand. It was the first step to actually doing the half-marathon that weekend, and the emotion just washed over me. I never thought that I would be doing this, and the reality of it hit me hard.

The goody bags were upstairs with all of the vendors, conveniently placed along the back wall of the expo so that racers had to walk by all the booths to get their stuff. They really know how to rope you in and get you to buy stuff!

I had ordered a medium technical shirt, but it was too big (always nice to say) and so I had to exchange it for a small. Then it was time to look around at all the stuff.


The expo wasn't as large as I thought it would be (although I've never actually been to one, I've read a lot of posts since Saturday that all agreed this one was smaller than normal.) The ladies from Running Skirts were there, and I took the opportunity to try on a skirt in person (I have issues ordering clothes online) and ended up buying one. It was really comfortable and cute. (Later I would find that it bothered me a bit when running, but that was more of my own issue than anything to do with the skirt. If you like running skirts, you should totally give these girls a try - they are well made with compression shorts underneath and really move with you and are pretty comfortable overall - and they aren't compensating me for this review at all. I bought my own skirt and these opinions are mine. They don't even know who I am.) I wish I had been able to buy a pair of their super cute compression socks, but I was on a limited budget. Maybe later.

I also went through the booth for One More Mile, and ended up with a tank that says "Running is a mental sport and we are all insane." Cute. Hubby bought me a 13.1 magnet for my car, and a sticker that says "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." It is a John Bingham quote. They have a lot of shirts with cute quotes on them. I also liked "Race day strategy: start slow then back off." That pretty much sums up my speed!

After perusing the expo for a while, we headed out to eat some lunch. There is a Mexican place in Anaheim that we love, and that was where we headed.

Before 

And after

From there we went to Target and then to check into our hotel, and unfortunately were given a smoking room. Apparently the discount site that I booked through doesn't guarantee non-smoking, and they were booked solid, so there was no switching rooms. It wasn't pleasant, but eventually we got used to it enough to survive. We rested a while, then swam and hot tubbed, relaxing until time to got walk around Downtown Disney and get dinner.

I'm awake, see?

Hubby is a root beer fan (although this one turned out to be a Vanilla Cream Soda - oops!)

Mmmm, Haagen-Dazs

Then it was back to the hotel to get things ready for the early morning start and try to get some sleep. I was really tired, having not slept too well the night(s) before. My body had started showing signs of anxiousness - nausea, headache, etc. I just hoped to sleep it off and be as ready as possible for the race.

Race Swag

Race outfit all laid out

Here I Go

It is 4 a.m. on the west coast. I woke up at 3:30 - 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I am mostly dressed, mostly Body-Glided up, and mostly excited to go and do this thing. I need to be over at Disneyland by 4:45, and am taking the 20 minute walk over there so that I can warm up. I am a little nervous, but really looking forward to seeing everything and just taking it all in. The next time you all hear from me, I will officially have run a half-marathon.

This girl

This morning Hubby and I are leaving to drive down to Anaheim for my half-marathon. I feel a little sick to my stomach and have a bit of a headache, which I am hoping I can attribute to staying up late getting ready and getting up early to get going. I am really excited about the race, about seeing one of my best friends from high school, about going to Disneyland for a day. But mostly about the race. I have come so far from the girl last year who was scared to try to run a 5k. That girl thought she couldn't do things. That girl was afraid that people would know she wasn't a runner and shoo her away. That girl wasn't able to be proud of herself. But this girl knows that she can finish a half-marathon. This girl doesn't care that she is slow, that she will probably be in the last part of the group to finish - she knows that she is still a runner. She put in months of training even when she didn't want to, despite the stress going on in her everyday life. And this girl is going to be extremely proud of herself for doing all of it.