On Sunday, I ran my second Disney Half Marathon, this one in
Disneyland to complete the second part of the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge. It was another fun Disney experience,
with a lot of extra unexpected magic!
I say unexpected because this race, as is becoming the
“norm” for me, was not lining up to be my best. I have been running consistently, and in July started
following the training plan for the Dopey Challenge I’ll be running in
January 2014 in Disney World. Like all
of Jeff Galloway’s RunDisney plans, it’s 3 alternating days of running,
beginning with fairly short distances that gradually increase on the
weekends. July was going to be an
“easy” month for me, distancewise, so I decided to focus on core strength,
something I always say I want to do, and then never seem to follow
through. This time, because my
summer was relatively calm, I was actually in a great groove, going to yoga and
Pilates classes almost daily, and core strength classes twice a week. I was really feeling the difference in
my running and loving the noticeable improvements. At the end of the month, I did my first 20-mile training run
and finished feeling pretty good, even the next day.
Then August happened.
My kids younger three were in a show, my oldest flew home to see the
show and celebrate her 20th birthday, and we were hosting the cast
party at the end of the run. A few
days later, I moved my 2nd oldest into her dorm in DC, then drove up
to NY to help my oldest get settled into a new apartment (and transport home almost
as much stuff as I dropped off at the dorm in DC…). A few days at home and we were off to LA. I’m pretty certain I didn’t make it to
a single yoga class, or even to the gym.
The only thing I know for sure is that I did run three days a week, but
I think my longest was 5 miles. I
really would have liked to have gotten one more 10 miler in there, but by the
time I had a window of opportunity, it was too close to race day. I was tempted, but I resisted.
My youngest daughter was traveling to Disney with me, as the
race was close to her 16th birthday. I warned her, I didn’t know if I’d be up for doing anything
other than just hanging out and resting.
When I ran the Princess Half Marathon in Orlando in February I was by
myself, it was my first half, and I really had no interest in walking around
the parks before the race. I
figured this might be the same kind of deal. Plus, I’ll be honest, the whole idea of LA and an unfamiliar
Disney park on Labor Day weekend was a bit overwhelming. I’ve been to Disney World many times,
and it’s always a tactical mission to see and do as much as possible without
getting stuck in long lines. We’re
good at it, but it can be exhausting!
As luck would have it, a couple of days before the race I
was meeting with my friend, Curtis, who is from CA. Key pieces of advice: get a rental car; if you only go to
one park, go to the flagship, Disneyland; and be sure to ride the Indiana Jones
Adventure. That right there was a
game-changer—three key decisions made for me by someone with experience!
We got a rental car for 4 days that was
less expensive than one cab fare from the airport, and the drive to Anaheim was
really easy and quick (I was expecting bumper-to-bumper). We got a fantastic deal on park
tickets, and decided to go the day before the race and wing it. If we went to the park, walked around
and enjoyed the sights, and at least did the Indiana Jones ride, we’d call it a
win.
We drove to the Disneyland Hotel to pick up my race bib and
t-shirt, only to find no available parking. Cast members were directing us to different parking
structures, but we decided to try the Downtown Disney lot right next door.
TIP:
Three hours of free parking, plus 2 more hours if you have your ticket
validated. We were starved, so we
headed over to House of Blues, enjoyed a delicious lunch, and scored 5 hours of
free parking just a few steps from the race check-in and expo. Win!
Some lines at the check-in were crazy, but I got lucky—no
one in my line! Got my race
number, had to stop at the computers to print out a proof of time (forgot that
I registered in January, before the Princess, so they had me in the wrong
starting corral).
Got that
straightened out, then got my HUGE t-shirt. TIP: While the
t-shirts for the Princess half ran small (women’s race… I had to trade my S for
a M), this is a co-ed race with men’s shirts. HUGE. I was
lucky that one of the volunteers quietly swapped my S for an XS (they were all
out of XS at the swap table!) We
walked around the expo a little, but the lines were super long, which probably
saved us a lot of money!
We spent the rest of the day walking around Downtown Disney,
went for dinner at a sushi bar, and it was FINALLY getting dark out so we could
go back to the hotel and collapse!
We were up early the next day and at the Disneyland gates by 8 (still
feeling like East Coast time).
We
found it a very quick easy walk from the hotel—no need to deal with driving,
parking or even the shuttles. Our
hotel was just a block from the parks—another win! I booked very last minute because—my life—and we got so
lucky! TIP: For hotel accommodations, always check the links on the
RunDisney site. I booked very last
minute for both Disney races and got really nice rooms very convenient to the
race venues for a bargain rate!
I was worried a day in the park might not be “a day in the
park,” but it turned out to be a lot of fun! It wasn’t really crowded, there were no lines for rides, so
we rode ALL of them, and I probably drank at least six 20 oz. water
bottles! I tried to choose wisely
for meals – scrambled eggs for breakfast, a chopped salad for lunch, but I
think I had ice cream for dinner.
It felt really good to be walking all day, and we left the park before
8, so I was in my bed by 9!
Just not asleep.
In fact, far from it.
I don’t know why—I didn’t have any coffee all day, we did a lot of
walking, but at an easy pace, so I wasn’t sore or anything, and I felt sleepy
around 9:30, but just could not fall asleep. Too many thoughts running through my head. I know I was awake at least until 11,
and my plan was to be up between 2:30 and 3. Not good.
Alarm went off at 2:30, my brain was not having it. At 3 I still couldn’t wake up. At 3:15 I realised that for the
Princess Half, I was ON A BUS at 3am (granted, I had a longer trip to the park,
but still…) I dragged myself out
of bed, had to improvise something to wear because my costume plans had fallen
apart last minute. TIP: No matter what you think you’re going to wear, always bring
an extra set of running clothes, just in case. I didn’t do any yoga or eat a great breakfast – just
stretched a little and ate an apple.
This was a far cry from the calm and careful preparations on race day
for the Princess Half, but I kept reminding myself of the other time I ran a
half marathon on little sleep after eating lots of birthday cake frosting the
day before. How bad could this
be? I just wanted to finish.
I walked over to the park (SO thankful for that short, easy
walk!!) and after a little confusion, found the corrals. What a zoo! After all the fuss about changing corrals at check in, it
looked like they were pretty much directing everyone to the same corral.
The cool thing was, Jeff Galloway was
headed for the same corral! Once I
knew I was in the right place and everything felt familiar (in the dark, this
corral looked just like the one at the Princess Half) I was beginning to
relax. I was running with a small
group, all a lot younger than I am, and there was some talk of keeping our pace
up, and time goals. Had to shut
all of that completely out. I just
wanted to finish. Lots of deep
breaths, lots of reminding myself of my favorite running mantra, “You have
nothing to prove. You’re out
here.”
After two very hot days in the California sun, the predawn
air felt cool and mild. We had to
wait a little over 30 minutes after the Corral A start and finally we slowly
started moving towards the starting line and we were off! And somehow, against all logic, I was
feeling really good!
I had run all my past long races in Brooks Pure Flows, but
for this race a Brooks rep convinced me to try their Ghost 6. Just as light and comfy as the Pure
Flows, but I swear, they bounce!
And on this particular morning, I really felt that extra spring in my
step. I figured it was probably
because I still wasn’t fully awake.
We started off doing 2:1 (run:walk) intervals and after a
few miles, dropped it back to 1:30:1:00 (I think. To be honest, I wasn’t watching the time. Someone else was doing that and I just
ran when they said run.) The only
problem was, typical of Disney races, the crowds. I can’t stand to run close to anyone else. I’m so paranoid that someone’s going to
trip in front of me (me, the queen of tripping!), or accidentally throw an
elbow or some crazy thing that will cause a freak pile up and I’ll be in the
middle of it. So every time we
ran, my goal was to find an open space.
As soon as I was out of arm’s reach of everyone around me, I could relax
and just run.
One of the many great things about this course was ALL the
high school bands and cheerleading squads all along the race route! I lost count of how many groups lined
the roads, cheering and giving us all high fives! What an energy boost!
Another cool thing was discovering Jelly Belly Sports
Beans! The Brooks rep who helped
me find my super bouncy shoes bought me a pack to try. I don’t mean gave me a free
sample. I mean, he was telling me
how great they are, and he went up to the register at the running store and
pulled out his wallet and bought a pack and gave them to me. That was back in July, the day after my
20-miler, and I had kind of forgotten about trying them (I only take something to eat on my longer runs). But when I was packing for the race, I
realised I didn’t have any regular gummies on hand, so I threw them in my
bag. I figured, they’re jelly
beans. How much upset could they
cause?
So I ate one about 30 minutes before the race start, and
then I had one or two at each water station (they say to eat them with plenty
of water). First of all, they’re
delicious! They taste like a
margarita with salt, so that’s awesome!
They have the texture of a regular jelly bean—not gummy or gooey, and
the only thing different is the saltiness, but like I said, if you like
margaritas with salt, you’ll love these!
Somewhere around mile 7 or 8, I got separated from my
group. I thought they were just a
couple of steps behind me, but at some point I didn’t notice that the crowd
closed in and I lost them. And
turning looking over my shoulder was proving hazardous in that narrowing
stretch, so I just had to keep moving.
I felt fine just running, but I knew I needed to stick with intervals if
I wanted to feel fine at mile 13.
I didn’t have an interval timer, so I just went back to the way I kept
track when I first started running—music.
For each new song, I’d walk the first verse and chorus, then run the
rest of the song. It’s not a perfect
system, and there are always times I forget to walk, or it feels better to keep
moving but just at a much slower run, but it gave me some kind of
framework.
I have learned running has no need for perfect.
As we approached mile 10, I saw we were headed into the LA
Angels Stadium. The parking lot
was full of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, again, all along the way cheering and
offering high fives, which was so much fun. And then the stadium entrance. Now, I’ve run through a stadium before when there was no
game happening. It’s a big empty
place, and it’s kind of neat to be there when the it isn’t packed, so that’s
what I was expecting around about 8am this Sunday morning, right? Guess again! The place was packed with more kids, bands, cheerleaders,
families, and school groups. The
stadium was roaring with cheers and applause! There was even a legit announcer!
Such an incredible amount of energy and at such a great point in the race! That was one slow mile, because getting thru the stadium meant the course
narrowed almost to single file.
But it was totally worth it for all that amazing support from a bunch of
people I’d never really get a chance to properly thank. Really an overwhelmingly exciting
experience for this mom.
And as we
exited the stadium, we passed the 10 mile marker!
At this point, I knew finishing was not going to be a
problem. Heck, I didn’t feel the
least bit tired or sore or anything.
I definitely didn’t feel like I had just run 10 miles! I still had plenty of energy to run
around people in search of my clear space. And now, because we had driven and walked around the area
some, it was starting to look familiar again—I knew where I was and I knew we
were close to the finish!
Much of the next two miles were out in bright sunshine. I don’t mind running in all kinds of
heat and even humidity, but the bright sunshine drives me crazy. I can’t keep my eyes open! My goal at this point was the quest for
shade! Walk breaks were much less
frequent. And then I passed mile
marker 12, and remembered my daughter would be waiting for me at the
finish. I took off! I could not wait to get there and see
her smiling face!
I was drinking plenty of water, enjoying my magic beans, and
flying! I cannot tell you how
GREAT I felt the whole race. I
mean, not just “I felt pretty good considering I had less than 4 hours of
sleep. I mean, I felt GREAT. I figured I’d have that spring in my
step for a while, then start to tire.
Nope. In fact, my last mile
was my fastest of the whole race! I
crossed that finish line and could have kept running!
Looking back at it, I really think the new shoes made a difference. Still very much a “minimal” or “neutral” shoe, but with more structure, support and cushion. I think the Sport Beans were key, eating them before the race, and continuing to eat them throughout. I felt very comfortable doing that, because they’re so small, not hard to chew or swallow, and you don’t get a full feeling from them at all.
I also think a big part of why I felt so good during that
race was what I did before the race: REST. I was kind of beating myself up about being off my full workout
schedule for a few weeks and “only” running, and running shorter distances at
that. In retrospect, I think that
probably put me in the best position to run this race well, strong and
comfortably. In fact, the week
before the race I did over stretch my hamstrings in dance class and really felt
it for a couple of days.
I debated whether to try and run in CA before the race and
decided against it. It was so hot
there during the day—much hotter than the 5am start or even the 9am finish, so
it wouldn’t even be a good preparation for race day conditions. Instead, I did a lot of walking, drank
a TON of water, and had two full days of rest before the race. I definitely felt like I was running on
fresh legs that day, right up until the last step. I can’t really say that was my plan. That was more like what life was
dealing me at the time, but I’m glad I just took it and didn’t try and squeeze
in my own plans! Sometimes my
crazy life is more sensible than any plan I could dream up.
One last thing—if you’re doing a “destination” race, choose
your travel companion carefully. For
me, that means someone who understands I might get uncharacteristically quiet,
and while I might not say, “I don’t know if we should… I’m running
tomorrow,” or “I have to get up
really early tomorrow,” that’s what’s going thru my head at every turn. When I did the Princess Half, I went by
myself and that was kind of a neat experience, just being alone with my
thoughts for a couple of days, race or no race! But I found it was so great this time to be with someone who
will suggest doing something fun to get me OUT of my own head, so that I am
able to relax and more fully enjoy the time leading up the race. While I was double checking race
details, trying to figure out what I might wear, and what time I needed to get
up, she was checking the Disneyland website, figuring out how early we needed
to be at the gate, which rides we should look for, and getting familiar with
the layout of the park. She was
easy and flexible, and really fun to hang out with. She had no agenda, nothing
she insisted on doing. She was
happy to walk in circles with me as we criss-crossed Downtown Disney and then
Disneyland. In fact, the only
thing she seemed to have on her mental checklist was a souvenir for her brother
and sisters. And as I was zipping
through that 13th mile, all of this dawned on me, that she had been
there to support me, completely and unselfishly, just being open and easy about
everything, and sharing in the fun.
And I could not wait to get to that finish line and give her a great big
hug!!
Next stop: Disney World Tower of Terror 10 Miler! We’re running it together and we’re
already getting our costumes together!
Stay tuned…
