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.
Fabulous! I’ve been following your tweets all weekend, and it got me SO revved up for the Princess Half in February. I’m thrilled you guys had a such a great time – now I can’t wait to experience the fun of RunDisney myself!
Great pics!! Looks like you had a blast.
Love the photos!
So this begs the question…will you please come run with us at the Princess Half-Marathon in February?!?!?
Looks like a great time! My 2nd half marathon will the Walt Disney World Half in January, so this was great motivation!
the soldiers were my favorite when I ran the princess half in orlando several years ago. they were stationed on a ramp. and were yelling orders. it was just what I needed to get over the ‘hill’
Looks like you had a GREAT time!!!! Love all the pics! You look much better than me in pink!!!
Question for anyone:
I know the books need publicity, but does anyone else have the problem on an iPhone or iPad that the book marker promo (‘get the books…)gets in the way of content and it can’t be moved off, it merely opens to the advertisement? I can never read through the entry without adjusting text all the time…am I missing something?
Thanks!
Hey Ami–Thanks for your feedback. We’ll see what we can do about it. Dimity
Great pics, but please Dimity your LEGS! OMG amazing legs! :)
Makes me want to cross the world to run in Disney sometime! Seems to be such fun!
xoxo
Mariale
So much fun! You ladies are just awesome! I love how you keep it real and how you celebrate and motivate! Thanks!
Fun! I love runDisney! Great pics! Especially the jumping one.
Winks & Smiles,
WIFEY
Looks like a blast! And I will keep the referee pose in mind for my next race. :)
I loved every step of the race.Disney really puts every dollar that you spend to work. For instance I loved all the water stops and also how the employees stop what they’re doing to say your name and clap for you.I also loved the new added Classic Car section as we ran toward the Honda Center, last year that area was vacant.awesome addition this year.
Loved meeting you two at the booth.Please please send me your address so I can mail these cookies before they get stale.
I met you at the expo and ran with you part of the time in the 2:15 pace group Sarah! Ended up with a time of 2:13. New PR for me, six minutes faster! Whoo hoo! Having that pace group to run with was SUPER helpful.
If I didn’t love you so much I would hate you just for your amazing legs. Jealous!!!
Oh this is wonderful! Disney puts on a great race! I was grinning ear to ear!
That looks like so much fun! This race goes on my running bucket list.
LOVE! Saw you running out of the castle, but we were in line for Aurora and Prince Charming :D
The first 12 photos made me smile… the last one made me cry!
Beautiful!
Love this!! You make me wanna put on pink sparkly things and RUN!!! Love, love, love y’all!!!
You ladies have way to much fun with ALL of us “ARM”….Luv how you have united so many of us. Well done on you run!!!!!! See you both in Oct :).
How awesome! I ran the Disneyland Half last year and in ’09, it’s an amazing race…please say you will come back and run it again, I’d love to meet you!!
Dimity it was great to meet you at the Expo!!! …I’m not sure why I was in such awe of your height, since I’ve read your books and followed your blog/FB for years so I knew you were tall. I agree with the other comments, you are in amazing shape (I want arms like yours)! Again, you’ve both been such an inspiration, was I grateful for the opportunity to say thanks to you! Hope you loved the race; the Disneyland Half truly is a magical experience. :)
It was such a blast. I got my Coast to Coast medal too. I stopped at every charcter to get pictures and then some. I documented the entire race. I even got passed by the sweeper in line for Daisy Duck. He was yelling ‘Get your pictures and get going. You have until mile 4 to be ahead of us. So I got my last pic in the part and put it in gear. Loved the stadium too. Loved all the cast members cheering for us and the cars and the kids and the dancers.
Loved seeing you all again at the booth and talking about clean eating. Yes I ran the race on just eggs, blueberries and a small piece of chicken. And thanks for posing for a picture that my hubby took so he cold give to me. And I ran kidney stone free this time.
It was a magical weekend. See you in San Antonio in Nov
Love the pictures! Thanks for sharing the experience with usM
It was a great race! Disney knows how to do it right!! I had a Disney PB and the elusive negative splits. Woot woot!! so glad you had fun!!
Great photos! I love the “fairy runmother” costumes! Was that Tarzan-loincloth-dude running BAREFOOT?!? The last photo was very sweet. Thanks for sharing them all!
Loved all the photos. Very motivating!
I had a fantastic time at Disney and was completely motivated by hearing you guys speak the day before. I completed my fourth half marathon, this time four months pregnant (and now that I think of it, 3-4 of them I have been preggers, is there a theme?) in a really respectable time, allthewhile hearing you both in my head. I can’t wait to dive into the books and the website now.
Love the photos! Thank you! I am running my 1st 1/2 in January… The Tinkerbell! Loved all of your photos – especially the one of the little horse and the donkeys… it is my dream to tour their stables and hug the Disney horses! Kind of random but I do! Thank you for your postings! Very encouraging to a newbie!
Oh my gosh it looks like such a BLAST! Thanks so much for sharing your pictures, you both looked amazing! This race is SO on my bucket list. You’ve totally inspired me.