My second half marathon was the Inaugural runDisney Avenger’s Super Hero Half Marathon last November. I was so excited to sign up for this race, especially since WO was going to run it with me!
From the time the course map was released, I was a little disappointed in what the race was going to look like. I was comparing it to the only other runDisney half I had run, the TinkerBell which has just under 6 miles on park property. The Avenger’s course had us out on the streets in about 3 miles. It did have a nice break toward the half way point, when we ran through the Anaheim Stadium, but for me the time spent in the parks is so much more distracting, it helps me forget how much more I have to go! I tried to get more excited as I learned more about the planned entertainment.
Race day was pretty crazy. I hadn’t realized how many more people the Avenger’s Half was going to accommodate. I was able to use my proof of time to get placed in Corral G, but since this was WO’s first, he was in the last corral. For us to run together, I did have to move to that corral with him. We did manage to get to the very front of that corral, but there was still a ton of people ahead of us. Between the people and the weather; the race ended up being a lot harder than I was expecting.
A runDisney race means costumes of course. I knew that we wanted a couple theme, and that I had very little chance to get WO into anything over the top. After some thought, race costumes were decided – we were going with what I like to call “The Original Disney Super Heroes” Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. Yes, we even managed to get Rufus out on the course with us! As you can guess, the course was full of the Marvel characters, but we got a lot of love from Cast Members, the cheerleaders along the route, and other runners for our costumes. I even had another racer stop and ask to take a picture with me. I admit it, it was the highlight of the race for me.
We started off strong, and had a plan in mind for the pictures that we wanted, both on our phones and the ones we were willing to wait in line for. But we really changed that plan once we hit the first character that was on the list for pictures. We stood in line for 20 minutes to get a picture with Hawkeye (it was definitely worth it… but WOW!) After that, we focused on forward momentum. We stopped for a few selfies, but characters that we knew we could see later that day in the parks were off our radar. After finishing the park portion of the course, we headed down Harbor Blvd, and faced the biggest challenge of the race – the WIND. The winds were strong enough that the mileage signs were blown down, and the water stations were just about blown away as well. A HUGE shout out and Thank You to those volunteers that were still there, making sure the runners were able to get water when we needed it – even if they didn’t even have tables to set the cups on!
The wind and crowds also made the trail portion of the course really hard. There were many places we were forced to walk or run on the side of the trail to get around may of the walkers, even if they were only walking two or 3 people across. I was really hitting a wall, and knew we were well behind my goal pace, so the forced walks were really frustrating for me. The crowding stayed pretty heavy through Anaheim Stadium. Once we were out – even though we were still dealing with the wind – we definitely had more room to run. In the end we crossed the finish line in just under 3 hours. I was hoping to PR again, but was not expecting the crowds and bathroom breaks (or the 20 minute wait for Hawkeye) The one regret I really have is not stopping for more pictures with the cosplayers that were lining the route in areas!
Running as a part of a team was very different for me, what was nice is that I pushed myself a bit more, but it was also frustrating having to take breaks when I wasn’t necessarily ready to. I also was worried about WO, it was his first half, so I did spend a lot of time checking on him, since because of the way the course was laid out, a lot of the time he was running behind me instead of alongside me. But I suppose we crossed the finish line together, and didn’t kill each other along the way! I am looking forward to our next race together; which currently is scheduled to be the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in November.
Ahmed on
Yes! I saw the AC Marathon too and that medal looks awesome! I want to do next years for sure. They also have an April Fool Half Marathon and that medal looks pterty sweet too.