Disneyland Half Marathon 2011

What an amazing weekend! We are back from Anaheim and we've finished our 3rd half marathon. We drove down to Anaheim on Saturday to pick up our race bibs and look around at the Disneyland Health & Fitness Expo. After that, we checked in at our usual Anaheim hotel, the Ramada Maingate. It isn't the fanciest hotel but it is a perfect location and the staff there is phenomenal. The only drawback to staying that close to Disneyland are the 9:30pm fireworks that sound like gunshots in your room. Next year we're brining ear plugs.

On Sunday morning we woke up at 4am to give us time to wake up and make it to the start line by 5:15am. We were in Corral A this year so we actually started the race just over a minute after the official start. The course takes you through Disneyland, California Adventure and through Anaheim including running on the field at Angel Stadium. We crossed the finish line with a new personal best half marathon time of 1:54:53 -- more than 3 minutes better than our previous best and more than 10 minutes better than the 2010 Disneyland Half Marathon!

Right after we crossed the finish line.

Click the map to see a bigger/more legible version.

For me, the last 3 miles were a real challenge as my legs started to feel more and more like Jell-O. If I didn't have Carly at my side I would have surely started walking and not beaten my time. I am extremely lucky to have her as a partner. She gives me the motivation to finish these races and although I'm very nervous to do a full marathon next year, I know that I can if she is running next to me.

After the race, we had a nice breakfast and then went back to the hotel to watch TV and take a nap.  Thankfully we were able to check out more than 2 hours late! Once we were all rested up, we headed down the street for an early dinner at the one and only Medieval Times! Carly had never been so I thought what better way to celebrate another race than to watch fake knights fake battle each other with shinny weapons. Below is some video I shot of our knight's losing battle against the (lame) Green Knight.




So, you might find yourself asking, "what's next?" Well, if you really must know we are deciding if we want to run another race before the end of the year.  We're leaning towards yes but who knows really.  If we did do one, it would probably be the Rock 'n' Roll New Year's Eve Indian Wells/Palm Desert Half Marathon. Say that 10 times fast. Anyway, we'll make that decision in the next couple days so stay tuned. As usual, thanks for reading!

- Clayton