Mickey’s Main Street U.S.A. 5K
Saturday, September 5th, 2009

The first thing to remember about 5K Fun Run’s are that they are Fun Run’s!!! Don’t ever think you’re going to PR a Fun Run. Most of the runners there are not runner’s and especially at an event like this, it’s all about location, location, location. With that said…on with the review.

I signed my wife and boyz up for this when I first registered for the 1/2 Marathon. We had ample time to do a little training and of course, buy appropriate running gear!!! When race time came, those training days seemed to fly by…just like our vacation.

The Fun Run started at 7 a.m. and the temperature was in the low 70′s but the humidity was around 80% so it was more than a little uncomfortable. There were approximately 4,000 participants at the event and the atmosphere was much more jovial than I’ve experienced at the longer distances. We took advantage of some of the free snacks and got in the corral well before it was time to go. There was a little concern before the gun went off as a runner not far from us fainted and had to be assisted by a medical team. To Disney’s credit, the medical team was there within minutes and before we started, it looked like she was doing fine.

A barbershop quartet, Mickey and Minnie Mouse saw us off promptly at 7 a.m. With the number of people there, it took a while to get going and when it did, the going was slow. That fit perfectly into my pace plan for us. I figured my wife and the boyz could run and have fun around 15-16/min. miles.

The course started at the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure and we headed toward Disney’s California Adventure. It’s important to remember when you run within the theme parks that some of the paths get narrow and keeping an eye on who’s in front and behind you is very important. There were many characters along the route and we (along with many others) stopped to take photos with many of them.

After looping thru California Adventure we were off to run in Disneyland. The interesting part of the route is that you get to see some of the back stage areas of the buildings and attractions – sort of behind the scenes access if you will. After several walking breaks and shoe ties, we headed towards the finish line – Main Street.

Now in other years, they’ve finished the race in a parking lot which provided ample space for handing out medals, refreshments and photos. Having the finish line at the end of Main Street was probably not a great idea. Now the atmosphere was great with characters, fans lining Main Street, the music and engaging announcer – it was just there was no room for anything when you were done!!! The crowd stacked up at the medal lines and getting to the bagels, water and Powerade was extremely difficult. While half the fun is just taking in the mass of sweaty humanity, we just tried to exit with all limbs intact as quickly as possible.

Overall, the experience was more than enjoyable and running with my family was a thrill. The medals are plastic, artistic and colorful and the same can be said for the shirts. The only thing that Disney officials need to work on for next year is thinking thru the finish line area.

Disneyland Health & Fitness Expo
Friday, September 4th, 2009

With so many things going on this past weekend, I thought I’d break up my race review into three parts: the Disneyland Heath & Fitness Expo, Mickey’s Main Street, U.S.A. 5K and the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon.

The Health Expo started at 2 p.m. on Friday. Not wanting to fight the initial crowd with my wife and kids, we decided to let it play out for an hour before we went and picked up our goodies. Over the last two years, the Expo has been very well orchestrated. There were never long lines (unlike the Indiana Jones Adventure or the Finding Nemo Underwater Adventure) and I could breeze in and out within a 1/2 hour. Not this year!!! Turns out the lines at the Expo would give the Disney attractions a run for their money.

The confusion started when we arrived at 3 p.m. and noticed a strange line forming outside the main event hall and into the lobby. Since I knew the layout of the Expo from the previous years, we ventured into the hall to where we were to pick up our bibs and t-shirts. Arriving at the end of the hall, I noticed that the bib pick-up was no longer inside the hall. The long conga line that snaked thru the Expo was the line for t-shirt pick-up.

After retracing our steps back out into the lobby, we finally found our first volunteer who told us the bib pick-up was in a separate hall outside and downstairs. At this point, the conga line was outgrowing the lobby and was spilling outside. Now, I’ll give Disney credit for dressing up the ramps leading to the bib pick-up with a track carpet and Disney character silhouettes – but that’s about where my praise ends.

Wandering back up to earth’s surface, we joined the aforementioned conga line without much glee. Just when we thought there was a little hope with the line moving at an incredible speed, we were again halted in our tracks only to learn they snaked the line around a couple more exhibits. I’m still trying to put my thumb on why they separated the bib pick-up and shirt distribution. With the bibs you have multiple lines. That breaks up your participants into several smaller lines where handing out the t-shirt at the same time should have been a simple task. Every other race I’ve been to has done it like this (and so did Disney the 2 previous years).

My suggestion to the Disneyland Health & Fitness Expo representatives would be this: if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Go back to the old ride because this new one doesn’t beat the original.

Overall the vendors and race wear were top-notch and I need to give a shout out to my new friends over at iFitness for the Mini Sport Belt I picked up!!! It’s a small running belt, big enough for your cards and phone, and it didn’t move an inch during the race!!!

It happens every time I travel to run in a race. “What did I forget?” On the eve before I pack up the family to spend 5 well earned days in the California sun (and smoke), I know I’m going to leave something behind. I procrastinate and pack the night before (opposed to my wife whose been packed for 3 weeks). This always leads to me scrambling to get my running gear together.

[x] Shoes
[x] Socks (different kinds for different conditions and moods)
[x] Shirt and shorts (warm and cold options)
[x] Band-aids and Vaseline
[x] Garmin and sunglasses
[x] Clif shot gels and Tiger’s Milk energy bars

Yep, I’m ready…or am I? I’ll lose sleep over it tonight although I know that anything I forgot will be readily available at the expo. Feel free to comment if I forgot something obvious. I’ll be back on Wednesday with race reports of Mickey’s Main Street U.S.A. 5K and the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon.

First, I would like to say that I emailed Disney last night about the California wildfire situation. So, at this point, I am going to take full responsibility for the email that Disney sent to registered runners this morning (until somebody else takes credit). Here’s the content of that email:

Dear Disneyland® Half Marathon Weekend Guests,

Recent news of fires in the Southern California mountains has caused an interest among runners who will be joining us this weekend for the Disneyland Half Marathon. At this time, we are moving forward with the Disneyland Half Marathon as planned. We continue to monitor the air quality situation with the Southern California Air Quality Management District (AQMD); the safety of our runners is our first priority. You can visit their Web site at www.agmd.gov to keep updated on the current situation and forecasts for race day. The location of the fires is quite a distance from our resort, and the weather forecast indicates a week of cooler weather and favorable wind patterns, so we anticipate a safe and comfortable weekend of fun.

Of course, we will keep you posted should anything change, but for now get your shoes ready for the Happiest Race on Earth! See you real soon!

– Disneyland Half Marathon Team

With only four days left until the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon, the California wildfires are starting to become more of a concern. The fires are only 35 miles from Anaheim and depending on the wind, the smoke could be a huge factor. There has been no mention from Disney about the race and what happens if the fires continue to burn. I for one, would be more than happy to run with goggles and a mask.

As of last night, they were reporting that 22% of the fire was contained so I’ll leave my faith in the courageous men and women firefighters of California that they’ll get the fires under control.

A lot of visitors to this site don’t comment on the posts but here’s your chance. Let us know which upcoming races you have planned and how things are going. I’ll start…

09/05 – Mickey’s Main Street U.S.A. 5K
09/06 – Disneyland 1/2 Marathon
09/19 – Recycled 10K (pending)
12/06 – Rock ‘n Roll Las Vegas Marathon
01/10 – Walt Disney World Marathon 

There’s only 7 days left until the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon and I can hardly control my excitement. That and the fact that my wife and kids have been packed for nearly 3 weeks now.

To be honest, I’ve never felt more ready for a race in my 3 years of running. I’ve put in over 250 miles over 4 months and am injury free – not a sprain, nick, bruise or blister (tempting fate? yep!). I haven’t missed a training run, I’m running faster and I’ve dropped over 20 pounds over the last month and a half.

I’ve checked the weather and temperatures in Anaheim are supposed to be in the low 80′s with lows in the low 60′s – perfect!!! Now my only concern now are the wildfires that are wreaking havoc in the L.A. Basin. I’m hoping for the residents of Los Angeles and for race weekend that the cooler temperatures will help assist putting those out.

Training for the Mickey’s Main Street, U.S.A. 5K basically stalled and fizzled out once the kids started school. Since it’s not a competitive race and all we have to do is finish around 15/miles (which is basically walking fast), we’re not that concerned. Of any race I’ll ever run, the goal of this race is the journey with my family, not about finishing times.

Hope your training is going well for your fall races!!!

Well, I’m two weeks out from the Disneyland 1/2 marathon and am so excited to get out of Las Vegas, I (and the family) can hardly wait!!! So far training has gone by the books and to my own astonishment, I’m injury free (knock, knock).

Yesterday was my longest run of my training (11 miles) but I stretched it to 13.1 – why not? The morning was relatively cool (80º) with overcast skies and a slight breeze. I had made up my mind to go hold an easy pace out and back just to get the enigma of the distance out in the open and put it behind me. After 2 1/2 miles, everything was going fine…and then I met Joe.

It was at the time that I heard somebody gaining on me from behind. I had just passed over the Red Rock Bump and was going slightly downhill so I wasn’t completed surprised that somebody would be cruising up behind me but I wasn’t totally prepared for what happened next.

He slowed down and introduced himself as Joe. Now you can just tell from looking at certain runners how fast they are and Joe – he was a machine. With introductions over, we covered our running histories and upcoming races; training regimens to nutrition and supplements. It was a great distraction that I don’t get to enjoy that often since I run alone. Because I run alone, I don’t ever get pushed like I got pushed on Saturday. Without fully realizing it, Joe had brought my pace well under 9 min./miles and we were still climbing uphill. Once I fully understood that we had just done a little over a mile at that pace and I was about a 1/4 of the way thru my run, I knew I had to back it off. Wishing Joe well, we went our separate ways.

I was spent. I had gone much faster than planned and struggled to my 6.6 mile mark to turn around. Since the out is uphill, I was dying to head back and hopefully coast most of the way home – but there was a problem. Joe was running for 2 hours (not distance) and I knew he was going to be coming back my way. With my bravado getting the better of me, I challenged myself to see how long I could hold off the ultra marathoner. As it turns out, not that long. With about 4 1/2 miles left, familiar foot falls sounded behind me and Joe greeted me once again.

I was proud of the fact that I hung with Joe (or to state it simply that Joe slowed for me) and we shared the road until we had to go our separate routes home. I wish I could say I broke my PR but I did not – far from it exactly but I did see what I could take physically which to me was a lesson I will take with me on all my races. Running alone is great. I love the solitude – but running with somebody that’s going to push you over your comfort level is much more rewarding.

Now Joe, if you read this please don’t get the wrong impression. I really did appreciate the comradeship and quicker pace. I hope to see you out there again and this time, I’ll be ready for ya!!!

The Disneyland 1/2 Marathon course has been released. I would say FINALLY but I haven’t checked in a long time and to their credit, it may have been posted for quite awhile. As a fan of all things sports, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the course route. I’ll explain…

In 2007, the first year I ran this 1/2 Marathon, the course wound around the Honda Center, along the Santa Ana Trail and then looped thru Angel Stadium. We entered thru an entrance in the outfield and ran down the first base line, rounded home base and then exited down the third base line. It was a total “geek out” moment for me as I’d never been to Angel Stadium. They had a camera on the runners and up on the huge video monitor. To add to the coolness of this moment, they had an announcer behind home plate who would call out peoples names based on their bib numbers.

Last year, the Los Angeles Angels were in town and that meant no running thru the stadium. Talk about a letdown!!! Disney then replaced our baseball running experience by routing us underneath the “the Big A”. Ummmm, no, not the same thing!!!

This year the Angels are again on the road. Rejoice runners!!! We now get to run thru the “Big A” AND make our victory lap thru the stadium. Let’s just hope that this trip down memory lane doesn’t include the weather from 2007 where the race was almost black flagged due to the heat and humidity.

Click here to view a larger map.

Now that I’ve taken up running as a lifestyle, I feel it’s my duty to encourage as many people as I can to do the same. I’ve encouraged a couple of people into full time runners but I now my biggest fans are joining my team. My boyz and I started training for the Disneyland 5K (the day before the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon) this week and we couldn’t be having more fun!!!

I’ve read different sites that frown on excessive training for kids so we’re taking it easy. We’re starting out training a couple of times a week with slight increases in time and distance. This week we plan on doing a little over a mile and we’ll build gradually for six weeks. I’ll see how our training goes and I’ll post our training regime if it proves successful.

I’ve already promised both of them that they can post on how they’re doing in their training and I will let them do the review of the 5K after we run. Why should adults get to be the only ones promoting running? Keep an eye out in a couple of weeks to check out how they’re doing.