TinkerBell Half Marathon Weekend

And just like that it’s over.

What an amazing weekend. I am pretty sad that it is over…

The weekend kicked off with a huge customer service win from Best Western Pavilions. We stopped by to see if we could park on hotel property before we could officially check in. The absolutely wonderful young lady working at the front desk didn’t bat an eye, pulled up our reservations, and filled out the parking pass for us – and then proceeded to check us in at 8:45am. This is the 2nd time we have stayed here, and I can’t recommend it enough. Free Parking, Free “Grab and Go” breakfast, and definitely within walking distance to the Parks and Start corrals for the races!

From there we headed to the Expo so I could pick up my Bib and check out official merchandise. I knew from past experiences; official merchandise goes fast. I really debated on skipping the bib pick up until after we had shopped; but we decided to divide and conquer. WO headed to the merchandise line, while I went downstairs to pick up my bib. Kudos to runDisney for what seemed like a better system for helping guests line up for official merchandise. The queue for it was in an upstairs ballroom, and they issued wristbands. They released the queue in stages, helping avoid congestion downstairs in the expo. The merchandise was adorable, I loved the new designs, and I luckily got the things I really wanted – a wine glass – as well as a jacket and tank top. But, as I was prepared for – the official merchandise went quickly… and quickly ended up on eBay. I think in looking through most comments about the race weekend, this is the biggest complaint. While I was waiting to meet WO in the merchandise area (I still had to wait in the line myself and couldn’t join him) I watched people buy 5 or 6 of each item. I really wish that there was a system that gave runners priority on commemorative race items like the wine glasses and mugs, other than pre-order (honestly, registering is expensive enough without adding on extra items) or instituting a limit on the number of items you can buy in a single transaction.

It was nice to really go through the Expo slowly for once. Since it was just the two of us, and we weren’t planning on heading into the Parks on Thursday, we took our time. I met and spoke with Jeff Galloway, who is an amazingly sweet man, as well as really went through all the booths. We also made it a point to sit in and listen to some of the speakers – mainly Jeff and the one I was looking forward to the most – Margaret Kerry. It was great to listen to her tell stories of what it was like to be the reference model for TinkerBell. The highlight of the Expo for me was chatting with her! She is such a firecracker – and a fun fact for me was finding out she also voiced one of my favorite lines from Peter Pan… “We were only trying to drown her…” (said by the red headed mermaid in reference to the Wendy Bird.)

Race day was great. It had rained off and on Friday and Saturday, so I was a little worried about having to run in the rain, but heading back to the hotel Saturday night – the sky was clear. I was excited to be starting from Corral C this time. I wasn’t so crazy about the start time. I don’t remember if it started at 5:30am when it was in January, but by the time they released my corral, the sun had already risen. By the time we were coming through the Paradise Pier area of California Adventure, the lights were already off on the Fun Wheel. Running through the Pier area all lit up was one of my favorite things last time! But I will say the cast members working the photo stops were great! They had everything down to a science – one cast member per runner, they would take your phone, make sure the camera app was open, chit chat with you, and as soon as it was your turn, they would snap your pictures, hand you your phone/camera, wish you luck and head to the back of the line. They had about 5 – 6 cast members at each stop it seemed like (I admit, I didn’t actually count)

I started out way too fast, which seems a little typical for me and I almost didn’t stick to my planned walk ratio. My plan was run for a half mile and then walk for 1 minute. But when I hit that first half mile point, I almost didn’t stop. I ended up not being super strict about that ratio – but made sure I walked at least once each mile, and through the water stations. I love the TinkerBell course, since you run almost 5 miles in the parks. Once you get out of the parks there are really no narrow, hilly spots like Avengers. There were so many high school bands, cheerleaders, and even the residents of the area sitting on their lawns cheering us all on. I managed to stop for quite a few character pictures, and was very surprised to see WO at a couple of places along the route I didn’t expect. Especially as he called out “Do you want your sunglasses?” at mile 9 1/2!

I finished with a time of 2:38:30, which was well above my expectations. I hit all 3 of my goals. And the best part I felt great when I was done. My first half marathon, I was pretty sore that day and for a few days afterward. But this time, I felt great! I am having to force myself to have a recovery week and not run until Saturday.