This weekend was my 2nd Team in Training event this year. The Disneyland Half Marathon was by far the most fun I have had at a running event. It was me and about 14,000 other runners. Disney knows how to do it right! It started at 4:30 Sunday morning. I began the 10-15 minute walk from my hotel room to the Disneyland Hotel to meet my team. The walkway to Disney was brightly lit with upbeat music playing. The same thing at the start line, which featured a giant video screen. The 13.1 mile run took us through both Disneyland parks. We were greeted by Disney characters and cheerful employees. A lot of runners stopped for photo ops with the characters. I tried to stay focused, but there was a lot to see along the way. I could have probably cut a few minutes off my time, but I would have missed out on some of the experience. I stopped to take a few photos with my Blackberry, and even responded to one of my teammates on Facebook after the first 5 miles. Once we hit the streets of Anaheim, we were greeted by high school marching bands, cheerleaders, Mariachis and Hawaiian dancers. Then we ran through Angels Stadium. WOW! The energy level in that stadium was right up there with Disneyland. I just had to stop and take a couple pictures. There were people in the stands cheering us on as we ran around the outer edge of the field. There was an announcer calling out runners' names, and a camera pointed at us, displaying us on the Jumbo-tron as we made our way down the field. Then there was the lady with the "cancer survivor" sign high-fiveing as many as she could as we left the stadium. She's the reason a lot of us were out there. Among the dozen or so groups raising funds for cancer, Team in Training had about 250 or so runners out there, 29 of us from San Diego! And there was the cool Mickey Mouse medal at the finish line. My finishing time was nearly identical to my time at the AFC Half Marathon 3 weeks ago (2:03). The half marathon was just the start of my day. I spent the next 10 hours at Disneyland with my family. I expected it to be overcrowded during Labor Day weekend, but we made it on a lot of rides, and I saw many runners proudly wearing their medals at Disneyland that day. Not me - that's one heavy medal! If you're looking for a run that's more fun than work, this is the one.
This weekend was my 2nd Team in Training event this year. The Disneyland Half Marathon was by far the most fun I have had at a running event. It was me and about 14,000 other runners. Disney knows how to do it right! It started at 4:30 Sunday morning. I began the 10-15 minute walk from my hotel room to the Disneyland Hotel to meet my team. The walkway to Disney was brightly lit with upbeat music playing. The same thing at the start line, which featured a giant video screen. The 13.1 mile run took us through both Disneyland parks. We were greeted by Disney characters and cheerful employees. A lot of runners stopped for photo ops with the characters. I tried to stay focused, but there was a lot to see along the way. I could have probably cut a few minutes off my time, but I would have missed out on some of the experience. I stopped to take a few photos with my Blackberry, and even responded to one of my teammates on Facebook after the first 5 miles. Once we hit the streets of Anaheim, we were greeted by high school marching bands, cheerleaders, Mariachis and Hawaiian dancers. Then we ran through Angels Stadium. WOW! The energy level in that stadium was right up there with Disneyland. I just had to stop and take a couple pictures. There were people in the stands cheering us on as we ran around the outer edge of the field. There was an announcer calling out runners' names, and a camera pointed at us, displaying us on the Jumbo-tron as we made our way down the field. Then there was the lady with the "cancer survivor" sign high-fiveing as many as she could as we left the stadium. She's the reason a lot of us were out there. Among the dozen or so groups raising funds for cancer, Team in Training had about 250 or so runners out there, 29 of us from San Diego! And there was the cool Mickey Mouse medal at the finish line. My finishing time was nearly identical to my time at the AFC Half Marathon 3 weeks ago (2:03). The half marathon was just the start of my day. I spent the next 10 hours at Disneyland with my family. I expected it to be overcrowded during Labor Day weekend, but we made it on a lot of rides, and I saw many runners proudly wearing their medals at Disneyland that day. Not me - that's one heavy medal! If you're looking for a run that's more fun than work, this is the one.
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