Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2014

Jan 19, 2014 22:00

Look at me, writing a post about my weekend before the weekend is even over!

(Basically all of these pictures are from other people [mostly Janine] so if you also have her friended these will be familiar pictures!)

So this weekend was the Tinker Bell Half Marathon at Disneyland! After taking last year off, I registered to run it this year, because Disney was offering a special pink and purple Coast-to-Coast medal if you did both the Tink and the Princess. Oh, Disney. You are so creative at coming up with new ways to take allllll my moneys. A little group of us made a weekend out of it-- Ron and Janine, Betsy, Amber, and Michelle all flew out for the race.

Rogue and I drove up on Friday and, after a quick stop to pick up my race bib, met up with Betsy and Amber for dinner. Yelp led us to an *awesome* local Italian restaurant (Carolina's) a short drive from Disney proper. We had many shrimps and SO MUCH CIDER. So much. (Very Chumba. Much Wumba.) Cider, with bonus creeper Betsy:




I am totally going back there, is what I'm saying.

J9 and Ron showed up and checked into our hotel-- it was the Marriott right next to the Anaheim convention center, and it looks like it'll work perfectly to stay there for Celebration VII next year. Yay! This was our view:




We turned in early because we were hoping to cheer Amber on the 10k the next morning. Janine and I both woke up randomly at 5:30, and the race was at 6, so we threw on shoes and sweatshirts and took off for the start line! We got there *just* as the race started and were able to catch Amber as she passed!




Then it was over to the plaza between Disneyland and DCA to catch her again, where we also found Betsy and Michelle. We cheered like crazy for all the runners. I had brought last year's sign again (Running: it's not just from the cops anymore) and it was extremely popular.




Then it was off to the bend just before the finish line, to find Amber one last time!




We cheered and screamed like crazy for all the runners. Lots of good costumes on the 10k; my favorites had to be the two girls dressed as Mousercise! I wish I had been able to find them afterward and tell them how AWESOME they were.

Another great group-- Wreck-It Ralph! Their Fix-It Felix ran in actual blue jeans and a tool belt!




After Amber finished, we went back to the hotel for breakfast & to change to go back over to the expo. Janine and I wore our twinsie shirts! We trade it back and forth based on who's done a full marathon more recently. I'd had custody of it since January, but Janine did the Marine Corps Marathon in October so I returned it to her.




Janine was VERY HAPPY with her bib number. Ron, not so much. (They let the boys start in Corral B this time, instead of C, so that was good.)




Janine got some shoes at the expo, and we waited in line at the KT tape place for awhile so Janine could get her ankle taped up. We played Heads Up while we waited. (Great game, perfect for line waiting.)




But the line was taking forever, so we bailed and went for pretzel snackies, then back to the hotel to get dressed for tea.

And what kind of tea, you ask? Why, a Star Trek tea, of course! At first it was going to be "wear a random costume" tea, but somehow it became "everyone bring their Star Trek costumes" and it was excellent! The other people at the tea room were confused, but entertained.










The tea room (Tea and Teacups in Yorba Linda, found via Yelp) was very nice, and all the food was delicious. We all got the full high tea, since we were carb-loading for the next day. Yeah, that was the reason. Definitely.




Best part of Star Trek costumes: you look accurate when you're using your phone. It's even better with an iPad.




And finally got a decent picture of me in my new Anovos TOS Trek dress!




And then-- pajamas and Cards Against Humanity! Betsy and Amber, plus Janine's friends Mark and Autumn, all came over, and we had a couple hours of silliness.




Then bed. Because we had a 4 am wakeup the next morning. And I actually started awake at 3:15, grabbed my phone to check the time, and then suddenly Janine said "It's 3:15!" and I was so confused because HOW DID SHE KNOW???

Our hotel was super convenient to the start line, so leaving the hotel at 4:20 got us to Corral A with just the right amount of time before race start. Janine, Betsy, and I were...DC Ladies of Awesomeness! (Betsy made all three costumes. Janine is still wearing her warmup jacket.)




Ron was Tony Stark in a tutu.




Betsy was rocking it out.




The race was fun! I'm out of shape, only just getting back to running regularly, so I knew I was going to be slower than usual. I hadn't run 13 miles at once since the Skirt Sports half back in June. For the first half of the Race, all three of us stayed together, talking and laughing and being our general ridiculous selves. Apparently we amused a number of other runners! We didn't stop for many pictures-- just this one in California Adventure...




And then we saw RAPUNZEL AND EUGENE in Disneyland and *had* to stop.




They changed the course this year and the first ~6 miles are all in the parks/on property. Then to finish the race, you go out on the charming streets of Anaheim. Shortly after we left the parks, Betsy and I couldn't keep up with Janine anymore, so she took off and B and I slowed down to a pace we could maintain for the rest of the time. No pictures from the rest of the race, because there wasn't much to see. I did love the HUGE group of Red Hat ladies leaving Downtown Disney, and then there was another giant line of cheerleaders, dance teams, and marching band members later in the race. I felt like I was high-fiving people for a solid quarter-mile!

But here are two funny signs spotted by our group on the race:




"I trained for 6 months to hold this sign!"




And SUPERHEROES TRIUMPHANT! We finished in 2:14-- good enough to re-qualify for Corral A-- and Janine finished in 2:05. Yay us!




These three dudes ran in princess dresses and they were AWESOME!




This guy had a tiki hat. That he ran with for 13.1 miles.




Then we walked back to the hotel, went straight to the hot tub, then to breakfast, then to shower and pack, and that was it! All the East Coasters had planes to catch, and we wanted to get back home in time to watch football. But we had to stop on the way for victory In-N-Out...




And that was the end of Tink 2014! Princess (and pink Coast-to-Coast medal), here we come!

Race Stats:
Chip time: 2:14:03
Pace: 10:14/mile
Overall: 1269/11490 (top 11%)
Age Group: 238/1997 (top 12%)

race, friends, disney

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