“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them”, said Walt Disney.
My Mom may not have been dreaming of running 13.1 miles, but she had the courage to try and she succeeded.
Running, to me, is an amazing thing. It can fill so many different spots in your life: fitness, inspiration, challenge, stress relief, achievement. Anyone who has ever had the courage to face a starting line would understand.
I saw 17,000 courageous runners at the DisneyLand Half Marathon this weekend.
At 5am on Sunday morning, Rudy and I started our start line show. We gave our usual energetic encouragement to the runners and had the chance to interview actor Sean Astin before the race.
The national anthem was sung, the “big cheese” took the stage with us, and the runners took off.
I heard a lot of comments from runners that this RunDisney course is their favorite. My Mom loved the course. The race starts and brings the athletes through DisneyLand and Disney’s California Adventure. The runners then take to the streets of Anaheim and the Santa Ana trail. Along Cerritos Blvd there were over 200 classic cars lining the street, which was a favorite of my Mom’s. She also loved when they ran over the warning track at Angels stadium.
13.1 miles later and Rudy & I were ready to greet the racers at the finish line.
Chances are if you ran the race you may have not noticed the announcers. You heard us, but you probably didn’t see us. We sit at a table about 5 feet in front of the finish. Here’s what our “desk” looks like during the finish:
A special shout out to our PA Ryan for the frequent coffee refills. You rock Ryan!
Now let’s talk about Mom. I am SO proud of her for finishing her first half marathon in 2:45!
My mom is a masters track athlete and National champion, but not a distance runner. She is, however in great shape and took a good race plan into the run. She followed the Galloway run-walk-run method from the start. She did about a 2:1 ratio (2 minutes of running to 1 minute of walking) from the start. Her pace stayed constant at 12:30 the entire race and she finished happy and strong. I am so proud of her! If you have any questions about the Galloway method PLEASE ask me. I use it too and can’t say enough wonderful things about it.
There are rumors that Mom is aiming for a Coast-to-coast medal now that she has her first half under her belt. Wine and Dine anyone?
After my mom’s “victory” we headed into Disney’s California Adventure to celebrate. That medal deserved to be displayed. It was very cool to see so many runners in the parks with their medal on. It has me even more inspired for the Women’s Half in November.
Our main reason for heading back to DCA was to see the Aladdin show. Beauty & The Beast is my favorite show at DisneyWorld, so seeing this musical version was a must. It was FANTASTIC! The energy of the show was so high and the Genie was hilarious. He even make a Snookie joke. Jersey Shore humor always gets me. I’ll be back to see this show on my next trip for sure.
Dinner was at the Wine Country Trattoria. Look for a full Disney Dining recap on What I Ate Wednesday next week.
Congrats to all my runners and one more congrats to my mom. I’m so proud of you!
Tell us: Have you run a half marathon? Would you? If so what was your favorite race ever?
Love and fit family,
Carissa & Kyle
