Race Report - 2015 Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare

Expo Friday

This was my fourth consecutive Disneyland Half Marathon, and my third time for the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, Disneyland 10K on Saturday, followed by the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sunday. Last year was difficult due to a recovering Achilles tendon injury, limping all the runs. This year, I'm recovered, but still lack the speed. Temperatures cooler than the past couple of years, which is important since the runDisney races are always in some sort of costume. Pirate outfit for the 10K, and Tarzan was back for the Half.

Arrived earlier around noon time this year, since my daughter did not have school to attend. The hotel room was not ready yet, but we were able to park the car in the hotel lot. Just over a half mile walk to the Disneyland Hotel where the Expo is held. My daughter would be doing the Half Marathon this year, and now that she is an adult, she has to pick up her own bib. This year the verification is different for the Double Dare, a picture at the Expo would be used to insure the runner is the owner of the bib. The Cigna booth had a nice green screen photo booth set up. Late lunch at Earl of Sandwich in DTD, then back to the hotel to check in and unpack. Wanted to limit the amount of walking to keep the legs fresh for the races, so no shopping today. Dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company (1.5 round trip walk) on a lovely evening. A few 5k medallions (they're plastic) being worn by people, so there's a runDisney presence in the area.

Disneyland 10K

Theme this year was Villains, but I couldn't think of an outfit I could create and wear, so I just put together a quick pirate outfit in 5 minutes using only a scissors. Some makeup (sports "Eye Black") to give me that pirate look, and a Jack Sparrow hat to top it off. Actually very comfortable, and with the cooler morning temperatures, I the first few splits were pretty fast: 11:06, 12:46. Always helps to be in the first corral A in the front row. Restroom stop inside DCA, then more stops for pictures. I was suppose to take it easy anyway, and the first two miles on the streets of Anaheim were too fast to qualify for easy. The mile markers for the race were villain themed. I only took a picture at mile 5 because there was no line. Probably should have got them all. My daughter sent me a picture of mile 6 before the race started, which looks great in the dark.

At mile 5.5 just before we entered DTD, another barefoot runner passed me, then I sped up to talk with him for a while. As we passed mile 6 (did not notice the mile marker), he increased his speed, but I could not keep up. I maybe could have, but I had another race tomorrow. We got a picture together after the finish. He was also doing the Dumbo Double Dare, and would be running barefoot for that as well. He is from Arizona, and had been running roughly the same number of years (six) barefoot as I have. Overall finish in 1:23:51 a 13:32 min/mile pace.

Disney Saturday

Finished early enough to get back to the hotel for breakfast. Few people eating when we arrived before 8 am. By the time we were finished eating, more runners showed up. Starting up front does have it's advantage, even though I took longer to finish due to all the stops. Kept with the limited walking theme, the afternoon plan was to head to DTD, lunch (La Brea), shop (Disney Store), movie (Ant Man), dinner (Raintree Forest Cafe). Got back to the hotel by 7 pm. Lots of 10k shirts and medals being worn by people around Downtown Disney. I wore my black tank top, since it was warm, so no runDisney apparel indicating I ran that morning. Early bedtime was not a problem, since we all woke up early for the 10k.

Disneyland Half Marathon

Last year my daughter ran the Disneyland 10K, her first 10K. This year the stakes were higher, her first Half Marathon. Even though I was assigned in corral B, I decided to move back to corral E, so that we could run the entire race together. As I found out yesterday, getting into the corrals early is helpful. I've never been in a corral further back than C for a Disneyland race, so it was strange not being able to see the start area. I was trying to time the intervals between corrals to estimate when we would start, but it was not very consistent. Our Net time was 33:36 off the Clock Time, so about 8 minutes between corrals. The strangest thing was that there was actually some twilight when we started. I've been so used to starting in the dark in past runDisney races.

As we headed down Disneyland Drive, in preparation for the turn to Katella, I noticed the first turn coming up too early. WTF, the course changed. I never bothered to look at the course map for this year, because it's always been the same every year. Heading in to the backlot of Disney was always challenging, since the road surface is usually not smooth. I encountered some broken sections of asphalt which appear to have been under repair. It was still early in the race, and my legs fresh, so no problem negotiating the rough patches. Knowing that the course changed was not making it easy to plan my restroom stop in the park, as I had no idea if we would pass the same areas as previous years. Both the DCA and DL course was modified so the exit to Anaheim would be the same distance. Some of the paths were quite narrow. Even though we were running slow, it was still faster than most of the walkers, but there were many times we had to slow because we could not pass. No character stops, unless we found Little Mermaid characters, since my daughter was Ursula themed.

Disappointed exiting the Castle, as the photographer was wiping his nose, but his camera was not ready. We stopped to get our own picture, since we were not likely going to stop anywhere else. I ran into a barefoot running friend from Florida, and we chatted on an off for the next few miles. Even before exiting Disneyland, the sun was already shining bright. Temperatures were still cool, but Tarzan was staying in character, and did not wear sunglasses. Our pace was around 15 min/mile at mile 5, still good, but unsure if we could keep that pace the whole way. I remembered the road asphalt getting rough just after mile 7 and that was always a challenge. To my surprise, the entire area was re-paved, and much smoother. Not super smooth, but comfortable. Just before we entered into Angels Stadium, I spotted 4 Porta-Potties off the side of the course about 100 yards with no lines. Maybe everyone was focused on entering the Stadium and did not notice. They may not have been part of runDisney, but the Stadium. Always good to make a quick pit stop when you can.

The energy gel station was just before we entered the stadium. I had my daughter grab some extras, and I grabbed some as well. Because I was the fuel carrier, my back pocket bulged. I needed to store my phone there, so I have to move some gels into other not as easily accessible areas. The dirt in the ballpark tends to stick to my feet, so I washed them off with water at the next aid station. We passed the UC Irvine (my daughter's school in a few weeks) band and I perform the anteater hand sign, zot, zot, zot.

Mile 10 is a big milestone. At this point we headed west with the sun on our backs and towards the finish. At mile 11, we approach the I-5 freeway, and things started to look familiar. Once on Disney Way, you can almost smell the churros in the park. At mile 12 we got to the backlot and the rough asphalt. I ran on the side concrete edge as much as I could. Even though I was going slower than my normal pace, my legs were getting too tired to run faster on the rough surface. When barefoot, you take advantage of whenever the course offers.

Last few hundred yards to the finish, and my daughter was sprinting. I suggested she high 4 Mickey before crossing the finish line, but someone else runs between us (also to high 4), so I have to slow slightly, and finish a few seconds behind. Official finish time (for me) 3:18:52.

As we approached the medal distribution, I had her wait until I could video the event. There's only one first time Half Marathon finish, so this was truly an event to remember. We even had the medal engraved, something I've never done. Wait time for the engraving about 40 minutes, so that changed the plan to get back to the hotel. My daughter's feet were hurting, so I offered my flip flops which I had in my Gear check bag. My feet felt good after the race, so never bothered to put them on. A few more photo requests, as I'm still the barefoot Tarzan.

We finally got the engraved medal, and we started to head back to the hotel, just over a half mile away. My daughter moved slow, but not limping. Since we had to checkout of the hotel by noon, and it was already 11 am, I decided to run back as Tarzan and shower first. The temperature is warm (not hot), so I had no problems wearing the wig back. Actually that was the plan, since I did not bring a change of clothes.

My wife stashed some breakfast in our room before she left to meet us at the finish. Good thing, as we got back after breakfast had been served. Some eggs, sausage, and bagels are good recovery food. We would normally go out for lunch after the race in Anaheim, but with the late breakfast, we decided to head back to San Diego, so that we could go to the 5 pm mass at our church. A quick stop at home just before 3 pm (traffic was heavy), and lunch/dinner at Home Town Buffet.

Summary

The runDisney races were always the highlight of my year, but since I've been visiting cities on the Rock 'n' Roll TourPass thsi year, the excitement was not as high. Disneyland has four races weekends during the year, January (Star Wars), May (Tinkerbell), September (Disneyland), November (Avengers). Some of those races are the same weekend as Rock 'n' Roll. The TourPass allowed me to register for any race for one price. You have to pay for each runDisney race, with a challenge race costing $350. The TourPass is $479 for any race in the world.

Some of the people I know I only see at runDisney races, and my daughter loves to run in Disneyland. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series has a race in Virginia Beach over the Labor Day weekend, but that's a long way from San Diego. I'll likely continue the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, and perhaps get the Coast to Coast medal in the future.