What a great weekend vacation! Running a half marathon isn't exactly most people's idea of a vacation, but that was only part of what we did. Enjoying the beautiful weather, riding the rides at Disneyland, eating and drinking well, and seeing an old high school friend all made up the rest of our time in LA. The trip didn't start out very well though. We were flying on US Air, and we learned very quickly why our first class seats with them cost the same amount of miles as coach on Continental – lousy service and old planes. The flight attendant was beyond lousy. No drinks before we took off, only one in the air during a flight of about two and a half hours, and a bag of chips or a package of crackers to eat. Definitely a far cry from the excellent service Continental provides. Our short, 50-minute flight from Phoenix to Orange County was much better. That flight attendant was on top of her game and gave us wonderful service.
As an aside, the Orange County airport is quite a nice place. One of the prettier airports I've ever been in. From the hand-rolled tissues behind the faucets in the restroom to the eight separate security lines and x-ray machines (I'd never seen TSA screeners with an empty line), you can definitely tell it sees some high dollar travelers.
Saturday, we got up and went off to pick up our race packets. Tried to take advantage of the free shuttles running from the hotel to Disneyland, but when a bus the size of a car rental shuttle showed up to get the 30 people waiting it line, we decided to drive instead. Packet pickup was a breeze. We were done in less than 10 minutes, including separate stops to get bibs and then shirt/goodie bag. We stuck around longer to do some shopping and eventually left with a new pair of Asics, two pairs of flip-flops, two pairs of post-run slides, and some Sweaty Bands for Heather.
Lunch was at the Mexican place in Downtown Disney. Our waiter knew we were from out of town because we were the only people sitting outside. Apparently, 85 and sunny is too hot for the locals.
Saturday night, we drove up to Little Tokyo to have dinner with one of my good friends from high school, James Richards, and his wife Linda. We've been in email contact for a while, but hadn't seen each other in 15-20 years, and it was great to meet her and catch up with him. Lots of good conversation about yoga, LA, and our life as expats in Russia. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to get back to the hotel to rest up before that pesky race the next morning.
Race day started out great, aside from the 345am alarm part. A bus showed up right when we stepped outside the hotel doors, so we were plenty early for the start. Even after walking to bag drop, hitting the porta-potties, and sitting around waiting for the corrals to open, we had 30 minutes to kill before the race started once we got in our corrals. I sat on the curb and watched all the bemused faces of people reacting to my costume. Thankfully there weren't any Marys there ready to unload on me for daring to be so frivolous while they were racing.
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| On our way to the corrals |
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Unfortunately, I missed out on the one I really wanted. The line for the Star Wars stormtroopers was about 15-20 people long when I went by. That was too much time to stop so early in the race. I made do with waving at them with my wand and continuing on my way, enjoying all the sights, sounds, and cast members out there cheering us on. One thing Disney does right is getting hundreds of their employees out there all the way along in the parks.
Once we left Disneyland, we had four miles through the streets of Anaheim to slog along before we got to the next attraction, the Angels' baseball stadium. Disney did the best they could to get lots of local high school and middle school cheerleaders and bands out there to keep us entertained. I had a blast interacting with them. There's something about a crazy guy running with a pink tutu and a blue wig that makes those young girls go frantic with squealing and shrieking and laughing, and I totally fed off their energy. My pace picked up 20-30 seconds per mile while I was going past them slapping high fives and smiling for their parents' cameras.
Without any characters to stop and take pictures with, my focus ended up back on my running, and I gradually found myself out for more than just a fun run. I knew I'd never break two hours after stopping for pictures in the parks, but I couldn't stop myself from trying to get close. Steve was right. This was a long way to go for just a training run. I didn't go all out. I settled into a comfortable 9:15-9:20 pace and just cruised along.
Running through the stadium was one of the coolest things I've done during a race. Coming down the tunnel, you could hear a dull roar in front of you, and once you entered the outfield, Wham! You got nailed by this huge wall of sound from all the people in the stands. The team's announcer was calling out people's names and numbers as they came in, and when you rounded the area behind home plate, you looked up to see yourself on the Jumbotron! What a great experience.
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| The other Jumbotron celebrating the runners |
There wasn't much to see on the way back to the park. There were some wonderful Mexican dancers in traditional dress, several more groups of cheerleaders and bands, and even a troop or two of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, but that's about it. The only real excitement for me came right after mile 11 going through the tunnel under the highway. I saw a guy dressed like Elvis up in front of me, and I told myself that there was no way he was going to beat me. At least I thought I said it to myself until the guy next to me said "there's no way I'm getting beat by you!"
That wasn't the only time I was told I was a target for people. Just past mile 12, a guy came up to me and said his friends had been chasing me for four miles. At that point, they were about 100 feet in front of me, so I told him I was going to try to chase them down. He told me to dig deep and go for it, and off I went. I missed catching them by about 30 feet, probably because I hammed it up for the crowd in the bleachers during the last few tenths of a mile finishing chute. I finished in 2:07, not bad for a guy who stopped to take several pictures and ran the whole way in a princess costume. Even Mary might let me get away with that.
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| Gotta like a ribbon that matches your hair |
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| They had better tiaras, I had better hair |
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| Heather's wig fell off after a few miles |
I even got to meet up with a few friends from one of the Disney online communities after the race.
After a shower and Heather's nap, we went back to the park for margaritas and lunch. I wish some place around here offered up California-Mex instead Tex-Mex. The green cilantro rice was to die for, and Heather loved the vegetarian black beans that didn't have the pork or fat that they're often cooked with.
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| Hydration station |
Properly rehydrated, we spent the rest of the day riding rides and wandering around people watching. After a snack of wine and cheese, it was off to bed and home the next day. It's always really hard to leave such nice weather after a great weekend, made even more so by the rain and thunderstorms that we found waiting for us back in Houston.
