See Part One – The Expo and Paradise Pier Suite here.
I didn’t sleep well on Friday night and I was wide awake before my alarm was set to go off at 5:30am, so I got up and got myself ready. I was meeting up with my friends Nerissa and Jared outside Paradise Pier Hotel at 6:00am to get to our corrals for the 6:30am start time. We were in Corral G and I knew from last year we wouldn’t get started until about 7:00am. One thing we didn’t consider was the 5k was happening right before, and some areas were blocked off, and we got a little lost! There was a moment of panic but we found our way. By the time we got to the corrals we couldn’t get back to G, so we hung out off to the side and somehow got swept up into Corral D. We spotted all Corral letters on people’s bibs so we just went with the flow and got started around 6:50am! The first two miles were through the streets of Anaheim so we pushed ourselves to run as much as we could since we knew we wanted to go slow and take lots of pictures as we ran through the Parks.
Between mile 2 and 3, we entered through the back of Disney’s California Adventure!
Running through the empty parks in the early morning is simply really cool. I’m not sure how else to describe it. For a Disney geek, it’s one of the most fun experiences you can do.
We stopped for a lot of pictures! This was Nerissa and Jared’s first Run Disney event and we took it really easy.
Soon enough we exited DCA and were entering Disneyland! I’m so glad we ran through the Esplanade and the front entrance this year, instead of entering through the backstage side entrance. That was cool as well, but I always get chills when I enter Disneyland and read the sign … “Here you leave today and enter the worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.”
We knew we were going pretty slow but somewhere around mile 5 someone ran by yelling out that the sweepers were getting close! The sweepers mark the end of the race, and if you fall behind you get picked up and don’t get to finish the race. We ran in little spurts to try to get ahead.
Our final time was 1:47 but we went reeeeeally slow. It doesn’t really matter though – you get the same medal as everyone who finishes faster!
The rest of the day consisted of ice baths, eating, and nursing a sinus headache – ouchie. Mr. BFT arrived via train later in the day and we basically were lazy and enjoyed our suite.
Next up: The main event – Disneyland Half Marathon!