Wow. We had such a bippity-boppity-boo ball at the Disneyland Half Marathon this weekend. The biggest thing that went wrong was our plans to run with the 2:15 and 2:30 pace groups went astray for various reasons–I had to take a pit stop, and SBS found some kindred mother runners on the course–so, really, everything was nearly perfect–and as magical as it could be for these mother runners. Because Disney is best seen in visuals instead of words, here is our weekend in 18 pics.

The weekend started on Friday, with an exclusive run through the park–and the new Cars Land–with a bunch of awesome ladies, including Suzy Favor-Hamilton, three-time-Olympian and mom. (She’s the one in black arm warmers.)

 

Then we hit the expo. Notice the “merchandising” (read: plastic crates from Target to hold the books). Watch out, Nordstrom.

 

We took to the stage twice. Both times, Sarah demonstrated how to raise your arms, if you’re so inclined, for a great picture. Think football referee, not football goal posts.

 

We met some amazing, amazing women, including Robin, who baked Mickey cookies for us…and forgot them in her hotel room! (She subconsciously knew I was trying to limit sugar.) So I took a picture of her picture of them. Gotta love the technology…

 

Race morning! And the Fairy Runmothers have arrived! We LOVED the hats made by Kelly at Team Sparkle, but 13.1 miles of a netted bow under our chin might have been a little much to handle. So we traded them for visors–after plenty of pics, of course.

 

Who’s the cast member, who’s the runner? The man with the loincloth and not much else = runner.

 

There were plenty of photo ops with Disney characters along the course in the park, but I wasn’t psyched to wait in line for pics. So I jumped in to pics with short lines, like the Toy Story soldiers.

And the ladies of Star Wars. (We were doing some Energy Force kind of pose.)

 

And my fave: the horse and donkeys (or Shetland ponies or…?). Totally random, but seeing them made my day.

 

Once we got out of the park, I ran into Beth, a new mother runner who is taking on her first marathon at the end of this month. I hope I talked her out of her 24-mile training run next week. (She’s already done 20 and 22: She’s totally good to go for her first ‘thon.) I made her pose by this BAMR car. (They didn’t have minivans displayed.)

 

There were cheerleaders galore lining the course. So fun to high-five the pompoms!

And these cuties were about to perform as I passed them. I told them they were adorable, which they totally were.

I told these Boy Scouts to make some noise, but I think they weren’t used to taking orders from a 6’3″ fairy runmother dressed all in pink.

 

Saw these two BAMRS, friends from their days when they worked at Oakley, as we headed into Anaheim stadium. They were also adorable–and running through there was surprisingly thrilling.

 

What was super cool about the stadium is that the stands were filled. Not all the way, of course, but I expected it to be empty.

 

Meanwhile, as I was snapping away, Sarah helped Mackenzie, a mother of two, stay strong during her final couple miles.

I met Tricia and her two pals around mile 11.5; they have a fall series of half-marathons; the Disneyland half kicks off the series. The three of them have this infectious enthusiasm…I was honored to finish with them.

 

Tricia lost her mother exactly a year ago Sunday, and ran the half-marathon in honor of her. A great way to end the weekend: remembering that mom definitely equals strength, no matter how you look at it.