Disneyland 10K 2013- Part 3- The Big Day!

We've reached Part 3 of my recap- the day of the Disneyland 10k!

On Saturday morning we woke up around 4:30am and got ready.  We were going to meet my friend Mindy on the way to the starting line around 6am so that we could do the 10k together.  On our walk over, we became a bit worried about how hot and humid it already was.  It was very unusual for California weather!
When we got to the starting area, we didn't see how we could possibly make our way through the crowd to the corral we were assigned to so we waited on the side for a few minutes for our corral to move up.  By this time we were starting to realize that the humidity and heat wasn't going to let up.  We were starting to get sweaty before the run even started!

Here's a photo of my husband Jared and I waiting next to the corral area.

Team Pop Century!

Originally I was going to try to dress like a character but in the end decided it'd be more fun to match my hubby so we both wore our Pop Century shirts. I also wore my first ever Team Sparkle skirt!  The skirt was so sparkly and fun to wear!  I definitely need to add more sparkle to my wardrobe! I also sported my new headband and we both wore our New Balance shoes we got at the Expo!  Because I love nail art, I also had a tie-dye design on my nails to go with the Pop Century theme!

After stretching and waiting for a few minutes we noticed that the people running by had all sorts of corral letters and weren't separated at all so we decided we may as well join in.  I hope they improve on the corrals in the future so it's less confusing and better sorted.

And just like that we began our first 10k!

One of the things I really liked about the 10k route was that you run through the boring part first and then end in the parks!  We decided that we'd try to run during the start so we could get to the parks faster where we knew we'd end up stopping for lots of photos.

The route went by our hotel!

I got pretty excited as we got closer to the parks.  We entered Disney California Adventure (DCA) through a side entrance.

It was so much fun to jog through DCA!

Getting my kicks on Route 66

The fountains for World of Color were turned on at Paradise Pier!

Mr. Potato Head made me miss my couch potato days!

Caught up to the trolley!

After running through the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, we exited DCA and headed through the tunnel that goes underneath the road and then we were on our way to Disneyland!  It was so neat to be backstage and go through areas of the park that are usually closed to the public.

Approaching the tunnel!

In the tunnel

Backstage area

It was some time after this that my body started to remember that it was still fighting a cold.  I told Jared and Mindy that I was going to slow down and started walking. I focused on pushing myself forward because I really wanted to finish.  Jared and Mindy continued to take photos and I was so glad because they got some great ones that I love!

Keep moving forward!

Walking right down the middle of Main Street, USA

It's a Small World after all ... unless you are running, then it feels enormous!

I was happy when we ran out of the back part of Disneyland and into more backstage areas.  There was so much to see especially for us huge Disney fans.  We took lots of pictures and took our time walking through this area since we hadn't been back there before.

We've seen this from the train many times but have never been able to walk up to it before!

Taking a break by our favorite bobsleds!

One of my favorite surprises was Circle D, the stables where Disneyland keeps their animals.  We were even more excited when we saw that they had animals out to meet us!

Clarabelle

One of the horses from Main Street

While backstage I was still feeling pretty miserable when I finally realized that I wasn't sweating enough and that was probably why I felt so bad.  I don't usually sweat as much as one should so I started pouring some of the water on my back and splashing some on my face and neck.  I wish I had thought to do this sooner because it was after this that I started to feel MUCH better.
By the time we left the backstage area, I was feeling very refreshed which was a good thing because we started to hear that the carts that pick up stragglers were getting near.  We never actually saw the carts but we moved quicker the rest of the way.

I spy Mile 5!  The Mad Hatter never looked more attractive than he did next to this sign!

Here's me in front of Pirates, feeling pretty good now!

We left through another side exit (yay more backstage fun!) and then we were on our way through Downtown Disney!  We knew we were so close to the finish now!
Here are Mindy and I running towards Disneyland Hotel.

Then we saw it- the Finish Line!  We made it!  I was so excited.  I linked up arms with Mindy and Jared and we crossed that finish line together.  We did it!

The feeling after you finish the 10k definitely makes it all worth it!  We picked up our snack packs from the runDisney volunteers and headed back to the hotel with a great feeling of accomplishment.

So that was my Disneyland 10k experience!  It was a lot of fun and I was happy that I pushed through to the finish even when I felt like quitting.  I'm happy to report that my husband and I had such a good time that we started looking for other runs to do.  We are sticking to 5ks mostly since the 10k is just a tad longer than we prefer but we'll consider more runDisney 10Ks.  In fact, I signed up for the Tinkerbell 10k!  My hubby is skipping that one but my friend Mindy will be there too so we'll be able to complete another 10k together!  I'm looking forward to it!

In case you missed it here are the first two parts of this recap:
Part 1- The Days Before!
Part 2- the runDisney Expo

Here's my post about my tie-dye nail art I did for the 10k!
Pixie Dust Nails- Pop Century Tie-Dye Nail Art

Interested in reading more runDisney recaps?  Check out the ones below!
Budget Fairy Tale (by my running pal Mindy!)
Delovely Details (She also has a recap of the awesome Disneyland Half Meet up!)

Disneyland 10k 2013- Part 2- the runDisney Expo

On the Friday before the 10k, participants of the runDisney events could start picking up their race packets and visit the Health and Fitness Expo.

My husband and I took that day off of work so that we could have plenty of time to check into our hotel and explore the Expo.  We planned to have an earlier start but ended up spending the morning finishing packing and taking it easy.  I was still not feeling that great so the extra rest was helpful.  We live close to Disneyland but had booked a room at the Hilton so that we wouldn't have to deal with driving and finding parking on the morning of the race.

We went over to the Hilton in the afternoon and checked in.  We hadn't stayed at the Hilton before but I must say we were both very happy with our experience!  The lobby there is big and fancy looking and I'm a fan of their lounge.

Hilton Lobby

Mix Lounge at the Hilton

Our room was nice and clean and up on the 12th floor. We had a nice stay!

Our room

View from the room

We have no complaints except for their parking garage.  The garage was crowded and when we left, the staff at the front desk told us we wouldn't need our parking ticket but then the staff at the parking gate told us we did.  Despite the parking confusion it was great!  We would definitely stay there again.

After taking a quick break to cool off (it was crazy hot outside), we headed toward Paradise Pier Hotel. My friend Mindy was staying there and we were going to meet her so we could all go to the Expo together.  It turned out that her room had been upgraded to an amazing suite (hurray for pixie dust!) so we went up to take a look!

Party at Mindy's!

After admiring the suite we went to the Disneyland Hotel so we could pick up our race packets!

  

My husband and I found the booth for 10k participants and picked up our packets there.  I had heard there was a long line earlier but we got there at a good time because there was no wait at all!

Along with the packets, we also received the commemorative pins we ordered!

After that we headed over to the Health and Fitness Expo!

 
We picked up our shirts first before visiting the other booths.  Here's what they looked like!

There were a lot of booths there to visit!  It was interesting to walk around and see what was there.

We spent most our time at the New Balance area trying on their special runDisney shoes. My husband and I like that they have Mickey or Minnie on them!  Unfortunately they didn't have my size in the Minnie or the Mickey shoes but my husband lucked out and was able to get some Mickey ones!  I continued to look at the other shoes and found some I really liked that felt great on my feet.  I had injured my foot early this year when we started training and ended up getting shoes that were great while my foot was healing but not so great once it was better.  I was eager for new shoes so I bought a new pair I found at the Expo!  I don't recommend buying new shoes and running in them before breaking them in but I liked these New Balance ones so much that I went for it and felt fine at the end of the 10k!  The shoes were definitely an impulse buy and unplanned but I had no regrets!  I love our new shoes!

My husband's Mickey shoes are in the front.  My shoes are right behind them!

A closer look at my hubby's shoes.  Mickey helps you fun faster!

After that I walked around more with my friends and hubby and they helped me find a headband to wear the next day.  We stopped by the Steakhouse 55 lounge for dinner and then my husband and I went back to the Hilton.

I had not been nervous at all about the 10k but on the night before it, all kinds of nervousness hit me hard.  Despite my goal to go to bed early, I went to bed late and once I was in bed I did NOT sleep at all.  I literally was up all night tossing and turning. I finally fell asleep for about an hour during which I had a nightmare anyway.  I was happy when it finally was time to get up and get ready!  The night was rough- in fact I think the night before the 10k felt worse than the actual 10k itself!

My next post will be all about my 10k experience!

In case you missed it, here's part 1 of this recap:
Disneyland 10k 2013- Part 1- The Days Before!

Disneyland 10k 2013- Part 1- The Days Before!

This past weekend my husband and I did our first runDisney event- the inaugural Disneyland 10k!

I had read about a few bloggers' experiences doing runDisney events the year before and it made me start considering doing one myself!  Since all these blog posts helped me learn what a runDisney event is like, I decided I'd document my experience as well in the hope that it will help others also.  So here goes- let's start at the beginning!

When I told my husband about wanting to do a runDisney event early this year, I was happy to find out that he had interest in it too because it's so much easier getting yourself to train when you have a partner!  We wanted to start off with a 5k since we hadn't done any kind of running event before but we were tempted by the 10k because this is it's inaugural year at Disneyland. On the morning we had to make our decision, my husband randomly received an email about the Angels 5k and that was what ultimately helped us choose!  We would do the Angels 5k in March and the Disneyland 10k in August.  We were hoping that by doing the 5k in March, the 10k would be slightly less scary when the time came.

For our training, we really didn't have a lot of time for it with our work schedules but we tried to go for at least one walk/jog on the weekends.  We weren't really focused on setting any records at the 10k because we planned to take full advantage of the run through Disneyland by taking lots of photos while we were there.  In fact when we'd go for our jogs we'd yell "photo spot!", stop to take a picture, and then continue.  I guess you could say we just trained to be able to finish despite our lots of stops for photos.  :)

Training- photo stop while running by Angel Stadium!

We did this for a few months and August snuck up on us quick!  Before we knew it, we reached the week before the 10k!  Unfortunately this was around when I started to feel a tickle in my throat.  Before I knew it the tickle turned into a stuffy nose and a lot of sneezing.  I even sounded like Batman or at least that's what my hubby kept telling me! 

I stayed positive and tried to get extra sleep.  I was going to do the 10k with my summer cold if I had to.  I got a little nervous when the the cold hit my chest but I spent the Thursday before the 10k taking medicine regularly and dressed super warm despite the hot weather outside!
 
I don't usually stay this positive when getting sick has such bad timing but I had a happy memory that kept me going.  When I was younger, there was a year when my dad trained for a full marathon.  Shortly before the event he caught the flu!  He decided he would still try to carefully run that marathon anyway.  I still remember him grabbing my hand when he ran by my family near the end of his run.  I linked arms with him and we crossed the finish line together. It was such a huge achievement for him to finish that marathon while he had the flu but he did it!  I didn't quite understand what a big deal it was at the time but I definitely do now!

When it came time for my 10k and my cold hit me a week before the event, I didn't worry too much. I just kept thinking of my dad and that time he finished that marathon despite all odds! 

So that was how my days leading to the 10k went!  My runDisney weekend started with the Expo on Friday when we went to pick up our running bibs.  I'll write about the Expo in my next post!