lvrunner's 2007 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend & Report
We didn’t leave Las Vegas until late afternoon on Saturday. It was almost 10 pm when we checked into our motel in Anaheim. Since we were only about 6 miles away from Little Saigon in Westminster, we decided to drive there for a late supper. Fortunately, we didn’t see anyone inside this Vietnamese noodle house on Bolsa Avenue chomping on raw balut (fertilized duck egg) this time. We retired early because we had to get up early on Sunday morning to do our volunteer work at the expo.
Our alarm rang at 6 am. I got out of bed and instantly realized that I was in southern California, Anaheim to be exact, where its’ hockey team won our Lord Stanley Cup just a few months ago! Still pretty hard to swallow, but what the heck, life goes on. We were only 5 minutes drive from Disneyland. We drove into their Theme Park parkade (Note to our American cousins that do not know what a parkade is? It is a Canadian word meaning a multi level structure for parking motor vehicles). I was told this is the 2nd largest indoor parking structure in the world. After checking in inside the Disneyland Hotel at 9am, we met up with Dennis and Melissa. The marathon organizers provided us with box breakfast before our shift. We were then divided into groups. Our table was supposed to be distributing goodie bags and shirts. But Jeanne’s hip was giving her problems and I wasn’t planning to stand for 4 hours giving out bags and shirts, so we talked to the supervisor and she changed our assignments. We ended up behind the bib number pick up counter. Jeanne and I were distributing bib numbers 1 to 1000 (elite runners) at our counter. Dennis and Melissa were right besides us distributing bib numbers from 1001 to 2000. After a brief orientation and instructions, we were all ready to be put to work to give out bib numbers. It wasn’t quite 10am yet and the front door was still closed to the runners. I had a chance to take a quick look around the expo. It was bigger than last year with more vendor participation this year. We were there for about 4 hours. It was busy, but lots of fun. Lots of mistakes made <lol>. My newly developed plantar fasciitis started to flare up after 4 hours of moving around behind the counter. We were told later on that there was a 4.7 magnitude earthquake at Lake Elsinore which is approximately 32 miles from Disneyland. We didn’t feel anything, may be we were too busy giving out bib numbers. Later on in the evening, we picked up Bryan (PGOG) at his hotel and headed to the Hometown Buffet to meet up with the rest of the LVMers. We had a great time at the pre-race supper. It was nice to finally meet Kie (CLDRunner) and Huichi (Kra-z runner) in person.
As usual, I never get enough sleep before a marathon. I try to get to bed earlier, but it never happens. We got up at 3 am on race day. Called the front desk earlier for a wake up call but the phone never rang. Luckily, we set up our own alarm clocks too. After getting dressed and doing the whole pre-marathon ritual – pinning the bib number, tying chip onto shoe, etc, we hit the deserted streets at 4:45 pm. Took the ART (Anaheim Resort Transit) shuttle across the street and 10 minutes later we were at the Maingate shuttle stop. After passing through downtown Disney, we bumped into Dennis just behind the new F and G corrals. Dennis gave me the gel that I asked for the night before (I forgot to bring any gel for this trip) and we parted so he could get to the corner of Katella Avenue and Disneyland Drive to greet us. There were more runners this year than last year and corrals F and G were added to accommodate everyone. All corrals had two waves. I was assigned to corral D wave 2 this year. I didn’t get into my corral until they announced “Last call for Corral A to E”. Starting at 6am, they let one corral at a time move up to the start line and with a count down and fireworks, they were off. It was almost 6:20 am by the time it was our turn to move up to the start line. We heard 3 countdowns and watched fireworks three times before I finally crossed the start line. I think starting this way was much better than having all runners start out at once. Each corral was actually separated by fences, so you couldn’t even get to the start line until they open the fences. An interesting side note here ~ the announcer would sing “O CANADA” whenever he spotted a runner with Canada or Maple leaf attire ran across the mat. He did the same to me too as I was wearing this brand new sleeveless shirt that I bought from the Running Room in Edmonton. It was really cool for him to do that!!!!
The course was the same as last year. I saw Dennis at the corner of Katella Avenue and Disneyland Drive ringing the cowbell. Thanks, Dennis!! I was worried that my PF would flare up again, I tried my best not to run fast and not to land on my left heel that much. It was already hot 30 minutes into the run. Corral D had way too many walkers. I had to weave in and out to avoid bumping into them. Some walkers were walking 4 abreast. I didn’t take too many pictures inside Disneyland this time as I took a whole bunch last year already. Last year, I didn’t see any Powerade station until Mile 7. This year, they had them starting at the first water station. Unfortunately, my PF finally started to flare up at around mile 10 after we left the Angel Stadium. I came to a slow jog in order to prevent more damage to it. I saw Melissa and Dennis at mile 11. Melissa had a table set up there with oranges wedges, frozen grapes and ice cold bottle water. Thanks, Melissa! Although I was thirsty, I sucked on a piece of ice instead as I didn’t want to visit anymore porta-potties. I passed the finish line at 2:45 with a flared up plantar fasciitis. Jeanne was in her volunteer polo shirt and had her event ID tag around her neck. She was able to get into the finish line area and meet me just outside the food tent. They had the same kind of food as last year, the usual banana, oranges, bagels……etc. The line up to take finisher photos this year was not too long at all with more photo stands set up this year than last year. There was actually an empty photo stand so runners can take their own finisher photos. We didn’t see other LVMers in the finish area. After chomping on some food, we headed back to the shuttle stop, saw Bryan and his friend from Vancouver. Bryan said it was just too hot to run a race. I agree with him, with the humidity, it seemed hotter than what I am used to running in Las Vegas, and it was definitely hotter than the Los Angeles Marathon back in March. We got back to the motel, showered and drove up to Mimi Café to meet up with the rest of the gang. We all had a great time there and after lunch we had our group picture taken, said goodbye to each other and parted our ways.
All in all, it was a good run and event, except for the heat and my PF. The half marathon was much better organized this year. A big improvement from last year’s inaugural event. And the highlight of the weekend was the pre and post meals with most of the So Cal LVM boarders, greeting old friends and meeting new ones. Again, I would like to thank Dennis and Melissa for their support along the course. And my lovely wife Jeanne for helping to take some of the pictures. I can’t wait until next year so we can do it all over again!!
EXPO
PRE RACE SUPPER
RACE DAY
2006 Corral Area Map
2007 Corral Area Map ~ They added two more corrals this year, corral F and G. Many runners
with sub 2:00 finish time were mistakenly placed in Corral G which made up with walkers mostly.
I had a lady at the expo asking me why she was placed in Corral A wave 1, she put down her
finish time was 2:45!!
Here I was at the back of Corral D, I was assigned to wave 2.
Time for Corral D to head up to the start line!
The announcer would sing "O CANADA" when he saw a runner with Canada or Maple Leaf logo
attire ran pass him!! Cool!!!!!
You took mine, I took yours!! 3 minutes into the race and Dennis already ringing the cowbells.
Look, he had 3 altogether. Thanks, Dennis!!
1st water station before we headed into Disneyland. Pretty crowded eh!!
Here comes Bryan!
Hello Bryan, good job! Oh! nice tank top too!!!
Hello Huichi, nice hat!!!
Here comes Robert!!!
Bye Robert!
Nice costumes!!
It was the "Happiest Race on Earth" untill I got here and looked up at all those light poles.....WTH!
So sad!!! Oh well..... I think I did a 7:00 min. pace for 2 minutes afterwards!!
I felt much better as we entered the parking lot outside the Angel Stadium, lot of high school cheerleaders!!
More crowd support here just outside the Angel Stadium!
Hey! I am on the Jumbotron too!!!
Here I am a bit closer!!
I like this shot better than the one from last year!!! Seems like they haven't cleaned up the mess
from last night's game yet!
Here is Melissa's table at Mile 11!!! Thanks, Melissa!!!
Here is Dennis at Mile 11 with the cowbell!! Not too far from Melissa!!
Thanks again Dennis for doing that!!!
Here comes Bryan again!!!
Go Bryan Go!!!
I missed taking this shot last year.....I had to this year!!! The only word missing was "INAUGURAL"!!!
I forgot to take a picture at the finish line with Mickey and Minnie, but here is where we got our
medals and blankets.
The usual stuff at the finish line except at LVM!!!
Tons of food!!!
We can take our own finisher photo!!!
POST RACE LUNCH
End of report.
- David
