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!)