The Unlikely Competitor: Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Expo

My (non running) friends think it is weird that I spend so much time at Disney Parks. I'm an adult in my 30s with no children, yet it's one of my favorite places to be...unless it's a holiday weekend like Labor Day. Then everything is ridiculously crowded but I powered through. Because I'm an athlete...or something like that. And the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend happens to take place on one of the already most crowded weekends of the year.

Anyway, my mom hasn't been to a Disney Park since probably the late 80's and she wanted to do the 5K. I hate to say it, but bling whoredom runs in my family. My mom doesn't care about times or splits or pacing. She wants a medal, which is kind of cute considering that the rest of my family would rather have their eyes gouged out than run a couple of miles. So my mom shows up for 5Ks and hobbles through them with her bad knee. And when I say "hobble", I'm not exaggerating. Her times are usually over an hour.

When I come across races that have a medal for a 5K, I drag her along so she can have her own bling collection. That's how it came to happen that my annual trip to the Disneyland Half Marathon turned into a family vacation. So my mom, my sister and my brother-and-law trekked out to Anaheim for a 5 day vacation. My sister is a good sport, but even bling doesn't get her excited to run.

I learned the hard way the last two years doing the Disneyland Half that if you want a shirt or a jacket, you need to go to the expo first because everything sells out quickly. We arrived on Friday right as the expo opened, so I was able to grab a new track jacket, a cute glittery v-neck shirt and a glass with the DL Half logo on it. I think my new shirt is currently in the drier, so I'll spare you the pics, but trust me, it's cute.

Mob scene. For real.

After I spent a ridiculous amount of money on things I don't need, we ended up back at the parking structure to get our 5K numbers and my Half number, but not before I bee lined over to the RunDisney booth to check out the Goofy Medals for January. There was a crowd, so I didn't get a chance to get a decent pic, but the marathon medal is bigger in person than in this picture. It's pretty damn cool. I wasn't in love with it at first, but I do like how different it is from any of the other RunDisney medals.

Yes, please! I'll take some of these!

Off to the packet pick up...

More mob scene.

I never stop and take my picture at the little sets they have set up, so this year, I made it a point to do it. I'm glad I did, the backgrounds are so cute!

Me with my sister, Melissa.

My sister, my mom and me with our 5K bibs.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out in Disney California Adventure.

I love the Little Mermaid ride. Not necessarily because the ride is that amazing, but there's rarely a line and I love the soundtrack which plays throughout the entire ride. The Little Mermaid Ride is also opening at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World and I can't wait to check out the differences when I'm there for the Goofy Challenge.

We stayed for the World of Color show, which is amazing. If you ever go to Disney California Adventure, you must see it. The music is great (I'm a Disney soundtrack nerd) and the animation projected onto the water will blow your mind. Super cool.