Running Through Walt's Original Magic Kingdom **COMPLETE 10/9** - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I know it's been forever since I've updated, but I just read through the whole thing, and I was pleasantly surprised that I really don't have much left to finish. The race was on Sunday, and we left on Monday morning, so really, only the race and our post-race activities. I'll hopefully be finished with it by the middle of next week (or so...)
I thought I still needed to upload my pictures, but am happy to say that not only are the uploaded, they've been resized, too, so I'm ready to go!
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 09-14-2012 at 07:14 PM..
The race started at 6:00 a.m., which is very typical for a RunDisney race. I don't remember much about that morning, except that it started very early.
We walked through DTD to get to the Esplanade. I saw one of my favorite guys along the way:
The pre-race area was set up in the parking lot near the Disneyland Hotel. We'd seen it on arrival day, when we dropped folks off at the DLH. Our Tour Guide Mike running group was assembling, and we got the traditional shoe and group photos:
Apparently, I did not get the "dress as Minnie Mouse" memo. However, I was happy, because my outfit matched the color scheme of the race, right down to my yellow hat!
Since DLR is much smaller than WDW, the walk to the corral area was not nearly as long as we are used to. However, I was disappointed with the way that the corrals were set up. Corrals A-C were on one side of the intersection, and Corrals D-whatever were on the other side of the intersection. There was supposed to be a space in between the two sets of corrals, and there were CMs there who were trying to keep everybody organized, but it really wasn't working. We were in Corral C, and there were lots of people around us in Corrals D, E, F, etc. I am a rule-follower, and this was really ticking me off. If your bib does not say Corral C, then find the corral you're supposed to go in get out of my corral!
OK, rant over. There was the usual pre-race pep talk, characters, and fireworks...and we were off!
It's always fun to run by things that we've previously walked past.
The backside of Tower of Terror
Main Street train station: doesn't it look so small compared to WDW's?
continued in next post
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 09-14-2012 at 07:51 PM..
We'd run through California Adventure first, and before we knew it, just after mile 2, we were in the Magic Kingdom! Usually, running down Main Street, USA is one of my very favorite parts of a RunDisney race. Somehow, I don't remember much about it this trip. I didn't even get a decent picture of the front of the castle. (I hadn't uploaded it before because it was so bad; now Photobucket won't let me upload it. You'll just have to take my word for it! )
From Main Street, we take a right into Tomorrowland (just like in WDW)
Through Fantasyland, past the backside of the castle. I did not remember that we got to run through the castle, like we do at WDW, but the picture that Photobucket won't let me post shows me that we did.
Into Frontierland, past the Mark Twain Riverboat, where we were cheered for enthusiastically:
Past New Orleans Square, into Critter Country. Just ahead was Splash Mountain and a quick stop for a photo with Tigger and Pooh.
We also ran through ToonTown, which was fun, since WDW no longer has such a land. People were running past us, but we took some time for a few photos, knowing this was a unique part of the course and would never get the chance to run in ToonTown in Florida.
See? Nobody is stopping but us!
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 09-14-2012 at 10:10 PM..
The "fun" part of the race was just about done, and it was almost time to head out onto the streets of Anaheim. But before we left the park, we got to go backstage.
Unused cars from California Screamin'
Naked giraffe
The streets of Anaheim were pretty boring. It was almost like running a race in a normal place, like Ann Arbor, or Milwaukee. They did try to have bands or dancers every mile or so, but I remember this stretch of the race being boring and HOT.
I was in the flag corps of my high school marching band, so I had to take a picture of these good people!
There was a stop for water and Gu, which is a gel-like substance runners take for fuel, and I was very unhappy to see that the Gu was all gone. We were by no means in the back of the pack, and they definitely should have had enough for every single runner in the race. Lots of people went without fuel for that second half of the race, if they were depending on Disney to provide it. I usually bring some along with me, so it wasn't a huge deal, but I was still disappointed in Disney for running out. It happend again during the half portion of the Goofy challenge this year, and I remember sending an email to RunDisney, but I can't remember which race I complained about.
One of the highlights of the DL race is the opportunity to run through Angel stadium. I'm not much of a baseball fan, so it didn't mean as much to me, but it did break up the monotony of the city streets.
It was pretty cool to see so many people in the stadium, for the express purpose of cheering for the runners!
That is pretty
We left the stadium and headed back to the boring streets again. However, we knew we would be back in Disneyland before too long!
(continued)
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 09-14-2012 at 10:32 PM..
This picture really doesn't do these trees justice, but they were so beautiful. We definitely don't have trees like that here at home.
Only a couple more miles to go!
Heading in the right direction!
This looks familiar...we're almost there!
Passing the Disneyland Hotel again...
The end is in sight!
I didn't know I could have stopped for a picture with these characters, but I could have. I learned this lesson so I'd be ready at my next big Disney race!
Medal time for me
DH's turn
We met up with many of our friends in the family reunion area before heading back to the hotel for a shower. We had a brunch date with a bunch of characters and we had to look nice!
That is the end of the pictures I've uploaded, and Photobucket will NOT cooperate tonight. I'll try to finish up tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
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Last edited by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince; 09-14-2012 at 10:49 PM..
Wow, the race takes you all over the place! How do you comfortably carry a camera while you're running?
I just put the strap around my wrist and go! I've carried it for both of the marathons I've run, so it's no problem to carry it for 13.1 miles. I do remember that the strap got really sweaty, though, during this race!
Wow, I had no idea you'd be out on the streets of Anaheim for the race, but I guess it makes sense, seeing as how Disneyland is a relatively small area. Congrats on finishing!
I somehow get the feeling you're saying Milwaukee is boring...... I kid, I kid!!!
Oh, how I remember that race all too well. I agree the beginning corral situation was not quite as well managed as they do at WDW. I also agree, it was quite boring to run on city streets. But you know what? I ran much faster than I had before and finished that race with my best time ever!! (I've since beat that twice, but that was an awesome feeling) I took the same pictures, just about. Except inside Angels stadium I waited in that line to get my photo of myself on the jumbotron! As a baseball fan, that part was awesome!!
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Here is the photo that I couldn't upload last night:
See the people running through the castle? That's the only reason I remember that we did it. I can't figure out why, though, because running through the castle is usually one of the highlights of the race!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, I had no idea you'd be out on the streets of Anaheim for the race, but I guess it makes sense, seeing as how Disneyland is a relatively small area. Congrats on finishing!
Thanks, Cheryl. This was not one of my favorite RunDisney races, but I'm glad we did it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
I somehow get the feeling you're saying Milwaukee is boring...... I kid, I kid!!!
Oh, how I remember that race all too well. I agree the beginning corral situation was not quite as well managed as they do at WDW. I also agree, it was quite boring to run on city streets. But you know what? I ran much faster than I had before and finished that race with my best time ever!! (I've since beat that twice, but that was an awesome feeling) I took the same pictures, just about. Except inside Angels stadium I waited in that line to get my photo of myself on the jumbotron! As a baseball fan, that part was awesome!!
I can see why you might get a PR during this race, because there is not a lot of fun stuff to stop and see! I didn't know we could have gotten our picture up on the jumbotron!
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However, I was happy, because my outfit matched the color scheme of the race, right down to my yellow hat!
We were in Corral C, and there were lots of people around us in Corrals D, E, F, etc. I am a rule-follower, and this was really ticking me off. If your bib does not say Corral C, then find the corral you're supposed to go in get out of my corral!
(I hadn't uploaded it before because it was so bad; now Photobucket won't let me upload it. You'll just have to take my word for it! 
)
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I kid, I kid!!! 
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