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Hobby Forum Index » Running » Disneyland Half, detailed report...
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| Michelle... |
 Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:10 pm |
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OK, I'm home now, so here is my full report of the Disney Half Marathon
and some surrounding events.
After an uneventful six-hour drive to Anaheim, my friend and I checked
in to our hotel early Friday afternoon. After unpacking, we got on the
ART (Anaheim Resort Transit) bus to get to the health and fitness expo.
The expo was poorly laid out; we had to go to one end to pick up my bib
and timing chip, then we had to find the verification table to get the
chip verified. Then we had to walk almost to the other end of the hall
to get my shirt and goodie bag. After that, I had to go to the very end
of the hall to get my souvenir limited edition Disney HM pin. The pins
cost extra, but I ordered one anyway.
A friend of mine in the area invited us to be his guest at a Mensa
Regional Gathering in the area. We spent a very pleasant day there; I
got to schmooze with some people whom I had not seen in years. One of
the highlights was a talk by <a href="http://www.verbivore.com/">Richard
Lederer</a>, the author of <em>Anguished English</em> and other books.
We left there about five PM, and after cleaning up at the hotel, we
walked to a California Pizza Kitchen, and had the worst experience of
our entire trip. We got there about ten to seven, and was told there
was a twenty-minute wait. Forty minutes later, I asked the hostess how
much longer it would be, and told her that we had been waiting twice as
long as she said we would. We got seated within the next five minutes.
A few minutes after that, a waitress showed up and took our order; she
returned almost immediately with our glasses of water. Some thirty
minutes later, I told a waiter that I wanted to speak to the manager.
Five minutes later, I told another waiter the same thing. I could see
him speaking to the manager, who came over fairly promptly.
I told the manager that it took us forty-five minutes to get seated
after being told that it would take only twenty, and that it had been
about forty minutes since we were seated and had not yet been served
even bread. He personally got us bread, and about five minutes later,
the waitress brought our order. (Don't order pasta at CPK; they make
excellent pizza, but lousy pasta.) He explained that they had never
been as crowded as they had been that night. I wondered whether they
knew that some 15,000-plus people were in town for an event at
Disneyland, but didn't ask him.
About the time we finished eating, he came by and asked how things were.
I asked him to have our waitress bring the check. He brought it
himself. My friend and I decided that we weren't going to leave a tip;
it might not have been the waitress' fault, but she certainly could have
checked back with us to let us know the status of the delay, and to
bring us bread. The manager came back to take our payment, and my
friend asked him for his business card, saying that she wanted to
contact corporate. He immediately gave me my credit card back, and
crumpled up the bill, shoving it into his pocket, saying that he would
take care of the bill, and we didn't owe anything. He then asked my
friend if she still wanted his business card, and she said she did. He
then asked us to make sure we told corporate that he didn't charge us
for the dinner.
We finally got out of there after nine PM, and walked back to the hotel.
This entire situation would have a repercussion during the race. After
we got back, I laid out everything I would need for the race, so I
wouldn't have to do it in the morning. I left a wake-up call for three
AM, because I wanted to have enough time to go to the bathroom before
the race; I didn't want to have to stop at a porta-potty during the
race. But I wasn't able to fall asleep until about 11:30 PM or so, so I
got 3 1/2 hours sleep at the most that night.
Finally, Sunday morning, and the race! We got on the bus to the park,
and halfway there, I noticed that I had forgotten my cap. Fortunately,
it was mostly overcast that day, and I didn't need it. The starting
area was fairly well laid out with more than adequate signs, and after
checking my drop bag, I found my starting corral without any problems.
When I registered, I gave them an estimated time of 2:50; that was the
fastest time I could give them and not have to document it. It's also
the time that I honestly felt I could finish the run in. My PR for a
half marathon was 3:02:14, but this was a flatter course, and I was
better trained. I was hoping to do it in 2:45, though. My bib said I
was in Corral D, in the second wave. Corrals A, B, and C were the first
wave; D and E, the second, with F and G in the third wave. First wave
started at 6 am, with each wave starting ten minutes after the one
before it. I was surprised to be placed so far forward; I would have
expected to be in Corral E or F. I wound up starting about halfway back
in the corral. According to my GPS, I pressed the start button at 6:14
am.
Shortly thereafter, the race began. Mickey and Minnie were at the
announcer's platform, and shortly after we passed the starting line, we
ran under the monorail; the train was parked there, and Daisy and Donald
were waving to us from the windows. When we ran through the park, we
were greeted by a variety of Disney characters, and other "cast members'
(i.e., employees). Some runners stopped to take photos of the
characters or even to have their pictures taken with the characters. I
don't understand this; it's a race, why waste time for that sort of
stuff? You can always get pictures with the characters almost any time
in the park. Some runners were dressed as Disney characters too; I saw
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, a guy wearing forest-green shorts and a
Robin Hood cap, and two people dressed as Tinker Bell; they were running
together, one man and one woman. I admire any guy who has the sense of
self assurance to dress as Tinker Bell.
OK, now for the race itself.
We started On Disneyland Drive, and headed South to Katella Avenue,
turned right and went to Harbor Blvd., then North to Disney Way.
Shortly after turning North, we reached the one-mile mark. My GPS read
12:47. I thought that was too fast; I had been planning to start out
slower. I have a habit of starting too fast, and I had been working on
slowing down at the start. That went out the window. I tried to slow
down for the second mile.
We continued north on Harbor until Disney Way, where we turned left into
a back road behind California Adventure. At about a mile and a half, by
water station 1, I started sucking on a Luna Moon. I took a cup of
water and then a cup of PowerAde. Throughout the race, I was drinking
from my own bottle, which contained NUUN. Shortly after the water
station, we headed into the park, ran through it, visiting every section
of it. As we ran on the boardwalk part of Paradise Pier, I shouted,
"This is the reason I run: I got bored of walking." That was greeted
by a number of groans. My GPS read two miles shortly before we reached
the two-mile sign. As the race progressed, the discrepancy between the
GPS and the official signs grew larger. Other runners also commented
that the distances between mileage signs was greater than what their GPS
read. My GPS read 13:12 for the second mile. All the mile paces I'm
showing here are from the GPS. the 5K splits are from the timing mat.
We eventually got through California Adventure, and headed into
Disneyland proper, running through all the "lands". My third mile was
12:51. My race plan was out the window; I was going faster than I had
planned for this stage of the race, but I felt good and decided to just
let my body dictate the pace.
The 5K timing mats were in the park. My official 5K time and pace were
41:19, and 13:17 respectively, with a predicted finish of 2:54:07.
We left the park, onto Disneyland Drive, heading north, right at the
four mile sign. During this fourth mile, I suddenly notice that we were
running through the archway of Sleeping Beauty's Castle; I had not
really noticed much of the scenery of the park, other than the
characters, some of whom were on their parade floats. I ate a packet of
GU when I had been running forty-five minutes, and stopped using the
Luna Moons. My four-mile pace was 12:40.
We turned right on Ball Road, heading East. At about 4 1/2 miles, the
late dinner from the night before caught up with me, and I had to make a
stop at a porta-potty. Fortunately, one was open, and I didn't have to
wait. It did cost me two minutes, though. Shortly after that, we ran
on an overpass over Interstate 5; it was very steep, and I had to walk
up it, but I walked as fast as I could, at about a 14:15 to 14:30 pace.
When I got to the top of the overpass, I could see a sea of runners
ahead of me. A friend of mine had told me that she doesn't like long
straight segments of a race, and I finally understood what she meant; it
just looks so far. But coming down the other side of the overpass, all
I could see again were the runners directly in front of me. Shortly
after the overpass, I reached mile 5: 14:20. Even with the two-minute
penalty in the porta-potty and walking those few hundred feet, I still
did better than a 15-minute mile.
We then ran around the streets of Anaheim, never going more than a block
at a time, before turning. I did the sixth mile in 12:47. The 10K
split was 1:22:28, with a pace of 13:16, and an predicted finishing time
of 2:53:54. A negative 5K split, by one second, but negative
nevertheless.
About a few hundred feet into mile seven, I drank some more water and
PowerAde, and shortly thereafter, felt like throwing up; it passed,
quickly, though. No dizziness or vertigo, just a feeling of throwing
up. The seventh mile was at 12:37.
At an hour and a half, I took another GU; I squeezed half the pack into
my mouth, and almost threw up. I spit it out and threw the packet with
the remaining GU away. After that, all I drank was water at the water
stations and the NUUN in my water bottle. I didn't take any more GU or
even Luna Moons.
Mile 8 was in 12:32. When we reached mile 8, I did some quick math;
13.1 minus 8 is 5.1. 5K is 3.1 miles, so all we had left was three
miles. Usually, I'm better at math than that.
Mile 9 was 12:19, during this mile we passed around two sides of the
Honda Center, where the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim play. (For those who
don't know, they're a hockey team, owned by Disney.)
The 15K split was 2:01:59, with an average pace of 13:05, and a
predicted finish of 2:51:30. Another negative 5K split, but this time
by eleven seconds.
Mile 10 took us through the parking lot of Angel Stadium, where the LA
Angles of Anaheim play. Our racing path through the parking lot was
lined cheering squads, almost without any breaks. There were other
cheering squads and bands throughout the race, but this was the most
densely packed with them. Whenever I passed cheer teams, I'd stick out
my hand to high-five them. And I noticed that I tended to pick up the
pace when I did that. My tenth-mile pace was 12:47.
Mile 11 was 12:28, and mile 12 was 12:42.
Mile 13 was 13:11; I was tiring a bit. I pressed the lap button on the
GPS at 3.11 miles (missed pressing it at 3.1 even) to get the GPS 5K
time. The pace for that .11 miles was 13:09, and the total elapsed time
was 2:48:37.
I crossed the finish line at 2:50:39 on the official clock, and at
2:50:41 on the GPS. The GPS said that I had run 13.29 miles for a pace
of 12:50 min/mile. My official pace was 13:01 min/mile.
I had predicted a 2:50 finishing time, and came within 39 seconds of
that prediction. My previous PR for a half marathon was 3:02:14, so I
beat that by 11 minutes and 35 seconds.
If you had decided to donate a dollar for each minute I beat my old PR
to my Team in Training fundraiser, that comes to $11.50. You can donate
<a href="www.active.com/donate/tntdms/tntdmsMSteine">here</a>.
--
13.1 Because I can |
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| Michelle... |
| Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:24 pm |
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In article <michelle-5B2FDA.20103403092008 at (no spam) news.west.cox.net>,
Michelle <michelle at (no spam) michelle.org> wrote:
Quote: I crossed the finish line at 2:50:39 on the official clock, and at
2:50:41 on the GPS. The GPS said that I had run 13.29 miles for a
pace of 12:50 min/mile. My official pace was 13:01 min/mile.
I had predicted a 2:50 finishing time, and came within 39 seconds of
that prediction. My previous PR for a half marathon was 3:02:14, so
I beat that by 11 minutes and 35 seconds.
11/34 in Age Group. 3855/6407 women. 7393/10849 overall, out of 14,000
registrants. 55.5% Age Graded.
--
13.1 Because I can |
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