Disneyland Star Wars Half Marathon

I did it!

The half marathon actually went really well. I got up around 3:30 AM (after lying awake more or less since 1 AM, too full of anticipation to go back to sleep), got ready and headed out from the hotel around 4:15 AM. Followed the crowd to the starting area and hung about until it was time to go get corralled at 5 AM. I was in the last corral, J. I didn't realize there would be a wave start, with five minutes in between corrals. It ended up being nearly 6:30 by the time I crossed the starting line, and I was freezing! It was around 50 F at that time of morning, and I was wearing only my long-sleeved event tee-shirt and leggings. I hadn't wanted to wear a jacket, knowing I'd be warm enough once I started running, but I hadn't counted on standing around in the cold for two hours before I'd finally get to run!

The race started on Disneyland Drive, wended its way through California Adventure Park and Disneyland Park for about four miles before heading out into the city streets of Anaheim and Garden Grove. It was a good course, nice flat streets. They even switched us back and forth between which side of the street was closed to run on, so we didn't get pains from running with the same leg "downhill" the whole way.

I started out with a few minutes' advantage, being in the middle of the pack when my corral started, so the official 16-minute pace limit didn't start until the last of the runners crossed the starting line a few minutes after me. There were crew at each mile marker announcing how far ahead of pace we were when we crossed, and I managed to maintain about a 15:30 pace, getting a little bit farther ahead of pace as I went along.

The sun came out as the day wore on, but it was still cool and breezy and the sunlight didn't bother me too much. I felt good the whole way and didn't get too tired. My official time was 3:22:53, which makes it my second best half marathon. Pretty decent time, especially considering all the lapses in my training! And I even had energy to go enjoy California Adventure Park after the race.

I did get a blister on the inside of my right little toe, where it was rubbing against my 4th toe. I suspect it was because I'd re-laced my running shoes and left the laces looser near the front of my foot, trying to keep my toes from banging against the end of my shoes and getting sore. The good news is, my toes didn't get nearly as sore as they were getting on long runs. But I got a blister instead. Oh well!