Love Me Some Disneyland

I know my blogger friends will understand the love for Disney parks, even if my other friends don't. Now that I run Disney races, I'm rarely at Disneyland or Disney World unless there is a race going on, but it's always fun. Races just make it that much better.

Anyway, like all of the other people in the blogosphere, I'm getting super hyped for Dumbo Double Dare. I'm not really sure why there is such extreme excitement over this race more so than the other runDisney events, but I'm just as stoked as everyone else.

Since there's two days of racing and the expo, my trip is 5 days long. The great thing about giving yourself that kind of time is that you don't have to rush to do everything. It also gives you a chance to check out some stuff that you might otherwise bypass in favor of the faster "adult" rides, such as Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and Radiator Springs Racers.

I know several people have written posts about their Disneyland favorites and must do's, but there's several lesser known attractions that are pretty cool, too. And there's definitely a few that I'd like to check out.

The first one is Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sully To The Rescue. I love this ride. It's so cute and if you go at night, there's rarely a line. I didn't even discover it until a couple of years ago. It's hidden in DCA in the back in Hollywoodland. It's a kids ride, but really cute. The details are really cool, as well.



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If you want a good laugh and want to experience some very vintage Disneyland, hop on the Disneyland Railroad. It's loops the park beginning and ending at Main Street, USA, with stops at Mickey's Toontown, Tomorrowland and New Orleans Square. I really recommend riding the whole loop at some point, not because this is the greatest ride ever, but because some of the scenery is so out dated, it's funny. You'll see what I mean if you check it out.

 

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Another ride I love that masquerades as a kiddy ride is Goofy's Sky School in DCA. It looks like a little kid coaster, but it's pretty fun. It's certainly a lot more fun than Gadget's Go Coaster in Toontown.

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Another ride that is easy to skip is the Storybook Land Canal Boats in Magic Kingdom. Sometimes there's a long line, so I don't always ride it, but if you happen to walk by and the line is short, give it a try. You ride through different miniature towns from old Disney movies. It's pretty cute.



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I think I want to check out the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island this year. I haven't gone to Tom Sawyer Island since probably the 90's. Back then, it was just Tom Sawyer Island. I think it might be fun to do something I haven't done in a long time.

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And if you're dying to have a Dole Whip, I'll tell you where to find it. You need to go to Magic Kingdom and visit the juice bar right outside of The Enchanted Tiki Room. I don't know if I would recommend actually going into the Enchanted Tiki Room, but that's where you'll find the magical Dole Whip.

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And of course, don't miss any of the main attractions, like Indiana Jones (I think this is probably my favorite ride of all time).

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I'm so ready to go, I could leave right now! By this time next week, we'll have our 10K medals around our necks. See you there!

Oh, and if there are any other hidden gems you think I should check out, let me know!

It's The End Of The World As We Know It...

...And I feel fine! Anyone else have R.E.M. stuck in their head all week? No? Just me? Hmmm, let me help you with that. You're welcome.

I thought about doing a meaningful post about the upcoming Mayan Apocalypse as a metaphor for the current state of America. Then I got all depressed. So instead, I will blog about my usual randomness because there's some really cool stuff happening right now.

Also, since the world didn't end, looks like I'm still going to be running the oh-so-scary Goofy Challenge. I had a little Goofy doll that I kept on my desk for motivation and my desk is so disorganized right now (okay, so that's a lie. It's disorganized every single day.) that I lost track of him. I found him upside down on top of a stack of needles. Is that weird? I swear it's not weird in this office considering we sell veterinary drugs and equipment.


Oh, hello there. Just hanging out on some needles.

 My dear friend, Ari, threatened to "slice a bitch" if I didn't get myself back on the running wagon, so I actually ran last night. It was only 4 miles, but it was freezing and I was exhausted. I didn't leave until after 8:00. That might be because I tried to take a decent pre-run picture, for like, 20 minutes. I have my priorities. And none of them looked good, anyway.

Since my Stranger Danger scare, I've tried to run with Tara or run in my mom's neighborhood, so this lovely gem was taken in her bathroom, not mine.




Super cool gloves AND super cool iPhone case.
The paintings are not mine.



Christmas lights!

The NYC Marathon announced the fate of the 2012 runners the other day, as well. I, for one, am very happy with the outcome. It seems as if I may be in the minority if you look at their Facebook page. The constant complaining has to stop, seriously. Anyone that was supposed to run in 2012, will be given the option of a refund or guaranteed entry in 2013, 2014, or 2015. You have to pay the entry again, though. That part sucks, but I get it. The waiver you sign clearly states no refunds for any reason so the fact that they are allowing a refund at all means something. I plan on running. I want to run in 2013 and Tara wants to do 2014, so I guess we'll see how that shakes out.

Or 2013, 2014, 2015

To make life even more awesome, runDisney added an event to their Disneyland Half Marathon. In addition to the half marathon, there will be 10K on Saturday. Doing both is the Dumbo Double Dare. It's a lot like their Goofy Challenge with 2 races and 3 medals, but a helluva lot easier. I'm totally in. How could I not be!




Seriously, how cute is a Dumbo medal going to be?!

 The Competitor Group announced the medals for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona. A lot of our team that was supposed to run in NYC decided to make this race their first full marathon. I wasn't going to do it because it's not my favorite race and it's a week after Goofy, but I want to cheer on my team mates, so maybe I will do the half and then wait to watch them cross the finish line for the full.



Bling, bling, bling.

 I came into work today and a present from one of my clients was waiting for me. Packed with tons of candy. Running fuel!!!




She labeled each one as, "before work, "during work,
and "after work". I love my clients.


So lots of fun and exciting things are happening. And Goofy is in 20 days. GULP!

Paranoia

I was going to continue my annual convention recap with all of my awesome pictures of our VIP Disneyland dinner with all of my clients and pictures of the actual convention.

When am I going to get to wear these again?

Disney open bar? Yes, please.

I took lots of cool pictures, but my paranoia started to kick in half way through the second part of my post and I decided against posting pictures of clients - even though I have some really good shots! So I have to stick with non people pictures...

It got me thinking about all of the things that people post on the net. Generally, I'm not shy nor do I have a secret life but I have to be careful when it comes to my job and the privacy of my accounts. I started thinking about the ripple effect of a client stumbling upon my blog and seeing their picture, and so on.

I have really good relationships with them and I'm friends with a lot of them of facebook not to mention hearing all about their personal lives over the phone, so it's not like it would be all that weird to blog about a cool experience with them at Disneyland...but in the end, I decided against it.

Does anyone else think about things like this or is it just me?

I think I'm overly tired. Today was the last night of the convention, but I still have a bunch of work left to do. It's been almost a week since I've seen poor little Lou! I hope he remembers me.

I'm off to get some sleep. Maybe I will have some actually training stuff to post soon.

Disneyland Half Marathon Sept 2012

Once upon a time, in a land far away called Anaheim...

The Disneyland Half Marathon is my favorite race. (Although Tinkerbell may climb into the first place slot since the weather is so much better and the park is 100 times less crowded.)

In 2010, I ran my very first half marathon at this race. I had wanted to PR at the 2011 race, but I got really, really sick in the middle of the race and literally walked the entire second half. (No way I wasn't getting my medal or my Coast to Coast!). Also, I was distracted by a lot of real life stuff at that time, so my training was, well, pretty lacking.

Anyway, I really wanted to PR this year. Then I had some more life drama and didn't run for the two weeks right before the race. Oopsy. But all of my marathon training before that saved my ass. And I got my PR!!! Happy 3 year runniversary to me!

So, there's not a lot of pictures for this recap. Sorry about that. The course has been different during the park portion all 3 years that I have run this race because Disney California has been under construction for several years. I think I like this year's course the best.

And for some reason, I didn't even take pictures of anything at the start line. Maybe it was because I was cutting it close, time wise, and I was trying to find a friend of mine that was assigned the same corral. By the time I finally pushed and shoved my way over to her, it was almost time to start.

I don't remember all of the course differences, but I do remember that we ran through the castle going the other direction. It also seemed like we spent more time on Disney property this year and the back stage route was different.

My favorite part of the back stage section is running by the horses, of course. There was a pair of draft horses playing together in the turnout and cast members had brought a couple of horses up to a gate for pictures and it was really tempting to stop for a pic with them, but I was on a mission!!

I won't bore you with all of the mile by mile details. Plus, I don't remember them. I do remember that the really long stretch of boringness on the streets of Anaheim was different this year because people had brought out a bunch a fancy classic cars to line the roads. Miles 5-9 are incredibly boring and the cars gave me something to look at.

Traditional Mile 10 pic

Running through Angel Stadium is great, too. It's almost as cool as the park portion of the run. And then back to Disney we go! I knew at about mile 10 it would be easy to PR. But now I wanted to break into the 2:30s and I did it by the skin of my teeth. Seven seconds, to be exact. But who cares, right?

My sister has come down to see me cross the finish line, which was cool of her!



I ran in my first Sparkle Skirt!

We also went to Rain Forest Cafe in Downtown Disney so I could inhale some breakfast. And wow, did I inhale it. Also, they kept bringing us more and more toast. Which was weird and would have been awesome if I could eat toast...

After breakfast, I went back to the hotel and tried to nap, but I couldn't sleep, so I went down to the Magic Kingdom to hang out with my sister and her husband, Adam.



Melissa and me. Not sure why my hair looks like that.

I also discovered that Disney is really accommodating to people with food allergies. So I had some gluten free pizza at Pizza Port in Tomorrowland. It's probably the best gluten free pizza that I have had.

I tore off a chunk before I remembered to take a picture..

We mostly took it easy and wandered around. I have to say, that the iPhone 4S has a pretty damn good camera (until something requires a flash.)

My next Disney race will be the Goofy Challenge in January so I couldn't resist the Goofy statue pic!

So excited to finally have a new PR. It's about time...

Also check out my recaps of the Cars Land 5K Rally and The Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Expo.



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.

Then we were off to bed to we could get up early for the Cars Land 5K Rally in the morning...

More soon!

Free Disneyland Half Marathon Poster

For all of my fellow Disneyland Half Marathon runners:

You can pick up a cute free half marathon poster at the expo. You have to go to their website and sign up. You'll get a confirmation email that you print and bring to the expo and voila! You get a cute poster. Enjoy!

Getting Out of My Head

The last couple of weeks have been really difficult. I'm trying to get out of my head by pumping myself up for the Disneyland Half Marathon.

I've barely run in the last 2 weeks and I know I'm going to pay for that on Saturday morning when I attempt our scheduled 15 miler. I've never run more than 13.1 miles and that's strictly when racing. I missed last week's run due to being at a horse show (Sadly, Bam stayed home, but I went anyway.)

I've just been...out of it.

It just seems like the last year and a half have been filled with loss and other sad things. I won't go on and on about my tale of woe, but I'm ready for some happiness, that's for sure. So I suppose a trip to Disneyland will help distract me from other things. Plus, moping at the barn is not doing me any good. (Although, the amount of wine we seem to consume up there really does help!)

Guess how many glasses we consumed before this picture...

How about a trip down memory lane? Here's a picture of my sister, Melissa, and me at Disney World in 1995. Do you remember when characters still roamed the parks without designated meet and greet lines?



How sweet are my shorts? Jealous?

Here's a more recent picture of us on the other coast at Disneyland in 2009.

The 2010 Disneyland Half Marathon was my very first race. I'm so glad I picked a Disney race for my first half marathon because I probably would not have done so many otherwise.

This year, I convinced my mom and sister to do the 5K on Saturday and I'm going to do this half on Sunday. I was really hoping for a PR, but since I've hardly run in the last 2 weeks, that may no longer be in the cards. I need to drag my sorry ass back out there!

2011 Coast to Coast!

I already got my Coast to Coast this year after Tinkerbell.

Love this picture!

And one of my favorite pictures from the Princess Half Marathon 2011:

I'm really looking forward to seeing the new Cars Land. The 5K is Cars Land themed, so I'm assuming a lot of the course runs through there. Different parts of CA Adventure have been under construction for the last couple of years, so the course through the parks was different in 2010 and 2011. Of course, it's really hard to tell from the map.

The map for the 5k is a lot more detailed. I've never done a Disney 5K, so I'm excited that this seems to be almost entirely withing the parks. Very cool.

We're also making a family vacation out of the trip with my mom, my sister and my brother and law. Luckily, my mom likes to travel in style, so instead of staying at a cheap place down the street, we're staying at the Grand Californian. Woot!

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I know we'll have a good time. I mean, how can one not have a good time at Disneyland?