Tinker Bell Half Marathon

This past weekend I got the exciting opportunity to run a Disney race. I have seen advertisements for various Disney races each month in the Runner's World magazine and I would think how fun it would be to get to do one. Months ago I noticed the date of a new Disney race. Tinker Bell Half Marathon - Jan. 29th. It was a date around the same time we were planning a family Disneyland vacation. I talked to various family members and we decided to plan our vacation around this run. I also called my friend in California, who is a runner, and recruited her and her dad down as well. Hey, everyone likes a Disney vacation right?

When it came time to register me and my sister Stacey were right on it. My friend and her dad were right on it. My dad however, well he wasn't right on it. He was busy with work and just didn't commit. The race filled up quickly and within days it was closed. My dad actually missing the deadline turned out to be a good thing because a work commitment ended up being on the same weekend as the race.

I was already in the beginning stages of training for the Ogden Marathon but Stacey was just beginning to train when she realized she had some unusual back pain. After various doctor visits it was decided she couldn't run the half. But instead of giving up the large registration fee, her husband Mike decided to run it for her. Mike is a much faster runner than I am and I didn't know if I would be running with my friend and her dad because I didn't know if our pace was similar. I thought I would be running this fun run solo but then Mike said he didn't want to run it fast and offered to pace me. So I set out for a sub 2:00 goal.

RACE DAY:

The race was set to begin at 5:45am. My earliest race ever! My alarm went off at 3:00am. Luckily our hotel was directly across the street from Disneyland so we didn't have far to go. I was in the hotel lobby at 3:30 eating a yogurt and by 4:15 we were over in the staging area. At 5:00 we made a long walk to the corrals.

Bright and early in the staging area

Announcers getting everyone pumped

Ava made me good luck wings so I could fly! Luv her!

That sub 2:00 goal lasted until we got to the starting line. I was assigned to corral A but my sister was assigned to corral B. You can go back but not forwards so I was going to go back to B. But then they announced that all guys had to be in at least corral C (it went to corral E)(this was a women's focused event). We were told that there were 22,000 registrations but I read in articles that there were 17,000 runners. I'm not sure of the real numbers but it was a ton of people. After talking to a few seasoned Disney runners we realized that it was going to be tough keeping our goal pace at the beginning because of the number of people and also that they have a lot of entertainment along the course so people will stop and take photos. At that moment I knew I didn't really want to go for a PR. I wanted to enjoy this race and have fun. So instead of packing my camera in a belt I decided to carry it on my wrist and have fun along the way.

While in the corrals they had huge jumbotrons to watch and the announcers announced two celebrity runners in our midst. Megyn Price from Rules of Engagement (jer and i love that show) and Sean Astin from Goonies, Rudy & Lord of the Rings. Jer actually watched Megyn Price give an interview the day before. But anyways...I thought that was pretty cool.

In our corral passing the time

Walking forward as they release each corral

Finally the start time came and went and they released corral A. Then corral B. Then it was our turn.

Tinker Bell made an appearance to send everyone on their way

And then she was gone

And we were off!

Now remember some of the pics are going to be blurry. It is a race you know!

They had a ton of things to look at along the way. In the parks they had characters and parade floats where you could stop and have a professional actually take your picture. I never waited in any lines for a picture but did snap a few as I ran by. This is the Tangled float.

Making our way up Main Street in Disneyland.

At the medical tent (mile 9ish). I desperately needed Vaseline for my underarms. Dang Tinker Bell outfit.

Running on the streets of Anaheim. Making our way back to California Adventure. The streets were lined with tons of spectators, cheerleaders and bands from various high schools, a military band and other dance groups. It definitely helped to keep you moving.

I'm all smiles now, but after mile 9 I started to feel fatigue. At the start of the race we were running about a 11 to 12 minute pace because of all the people. Plus I kept stopping for pictures. And a few bathroom breaks. But by midway Mike realizes we might be able to make up time if I pick up the pace. Uh OK. A few times I realized we were running in the 7's but he mostly kept me at 8:35. At one point Mike said, "If we go all out for the last few miles we might have a shot of getting close to your goal." I laughed and said, "I'm already going all out!" After mile 10 I just couldn't do that pace much longer. Plus I knew it would be really hard to get under 2 and I didn't want to kill over. So you will see my smile disappear.

Running the streets of California Adventure. I don't really remember much of it. :) I was tired.

Looking for that finish

Mike easily ran ahead of me to get his picture taken. He ran this run like he was sleeping. UGH! I wanted to slap him at times. He was a great pacer keeping me motivated and taking care of me.

Look at that crowd! It was amazing to see so many spectators that far back from the finish line.

Goofy and Pluto were cheering me on at the finish line!

Ahhh I did it. Looks like I'm gonna say the F word, but I didn't. :)

I don't even think Mike broke a sweat

Even though I didn't make my initial goal....hey with 17,000 runners to zig zag around, 2 bathroom breaks, 1 medical tent stop, I think my time was pretty darn good. Oh and having Mike around was great. Not only was he a great pacer, he was my own personal photographer along the way. Thanks Mike for all the great pics!

Oh and my friend and her dad that I recruited from my old town in California? I didn't see them at all. They did really good though. Their finish time was just a minute after ours.

Whatever Week

Two weekends ago Me and Todd were supposed to run around 6 or 7 and my dad around 10 but with our various schedules it just wasn't happening together.

Todd said he was going to run on the treadmill at the gym but I have never known him to run on any treadmill so I didn't believe him. My sister was even at the gym and I told her to keep an eye on him to see if he really did it. She left before she saw him head towards the treadmills. But later in the day I received a text picture from him saying he tried but had to quit because of his IT band. You can see he got 2.51 miles in.



I didn't even end up running much at all. A whopping 1 mile. I just didn't have the time or motivation. Not a good thing since I had a half marathon race I was doing the next week.

Tom was the warrior. He went out and tackled 10.14 all by himself! He did it in 1:48 which is a 10:39 pace. Way to go!

The following week we were all out of town. Todd was in Cabo, which I dare say he didn't do any running. I was at Disneyland and got 1 day of running in Downtown Disney but I figure all the days of walking counts for a lot. Tom was in Chicago and went out for a run in downtown.

Hopefully we can get back on track because the miles are just going to get longer!

Mine & Todd's 13

At The Starting Line

Today Todd and I set out for 13. Tom is living it up in Bear Lake. Hopefully he will get a run in one of these days.

We did a route that was a favorite of mine and Tom's last year. We started at the top of 89 and ran all the way to Stacey's via Gentile & Bluff. I knew I was in trouble when at the beginning Todd just took off down the road. About a block in he turned to me and yelled what was the matter because I was so far behind. I told him I was just adjusting my gear but really I didn't want him to know I couldn't keep up that early in the run. Finally I got my body warmed up and we got in a rhythm. But I knew it was still too fast. I wanted to try and push myself so I didn't say much. I just focused on trying to keep up. But every time I looked at my watch we were running between 7:30 and 8:30. At the 6 mile mark we stopped to take off our jackets and then took off again. Todd started pulling away from me. By the time we crossed over the railroad tracks on Gentile, around 6.5, I told him to just go ahead. I knew I needed to let him go or I would end up suffering too much. He pulled away and I was so grateful. Finally I slowed down to a pace I was more comfortable with, just over 9:00, and my side ache finally went away! I had to refocus on me and just getting to the finish. I told Todd how to get to Stacey's house but I never know if he is listening so I wasn't sure he would go the right route or not. But within another mile or so I had actually caught up with him. We ran the rest of the route at about a 9 min pace and kept with our 5:1 ratio. By the end I was completely drained and there is no way I could have done more or gone faster. Todd felt really strong other than his knee started bothering him around mile 10. I am thinking it is his IT band. He could barely walk at the end. I told him I know all too well how bad it hurts so he needs to start figuring it out now or it will just get worse. But I have to say this was probably his strongest run. He kept saying how good he felt.

**STATS**

(Todd finished 12 seconds ahead of me)

Distance: 13.14 miles
Time: 2:03:12
Pace: 9:23/min/mile
Temperature: 21 degrees
Time of Day: 9:30 a.m.

Gettin' Back in There

Our training is a bit screwed up. Well actually I'm right on schedule but Tom and Todd are behind. Tom's had injuries and Todd leaves on the weekends. This week I pulled my team together and told them we had to do at least 8 today because we need to jump to 13 next week. This means they will have skipped their 11 mile run. We'll see how it goes. We have a lot of stuff going on it is gonna be hard coordinating these runs but I don't know if I trust them to do long runs on their own. Todd revealed a few runs back that he doesn't run during the week. The only running he does is with us during our long runs. He says going to the gym and doing sports conditioning and lifting weights is just as good. I say that's great but it's not the same. You have to muscle train and get used to using your running muscles for long periods of time and maintenance runs are important. He basically rolls his eyes when I tell him this stuff but after today I think he just might start listening. If not it's gonna get harder and harder on him with the long runs.

Tom did really good today considering he has had some injury issues.

We did a route that was similar to the one we did a few weeks ago. Starting at my dad's we head to McKay Dee Hospital and go around but instead of going all the way around we headed up Harrison Blvd and then weaved the neighborhoods until we hit Glassman Way. We headed up and over 89 to the neighborhoods around there. Then we made our way back. Just after hitting 7.55 Todd announced he was done so he headed home while Tom and I put in another mile. The route was good and hilly other than we had to dodge ice on the roads. It takes a lot of energy when you are jumping puddles and ice chunks.

**STATS**

ME & TOM
(Todd called it quits about a mile prior)

Distance: 8.5 miles
Time: 1:26:37
Pace: 10:12/min/mile
Temperature: 27 degrees
Time of Day: 10:45 a.m.