Running and Not Moving

I survived my first half-marathon!! Disneyland sure knows how to make anything into a party, even something as torturous-sounding as running 13.1 miles.

My parents and I flew in to Bob's Airport (Long Beach) on Saturday morning. Amanda and Matt flew at almost the same time, but they were at John Wayne airport. We rented a car and after a a minor setback when the powers that be decided to close the exact on ramp we needed to get to the correct freeway, picked them up and made our way to DISNEYLAND! Yay!! It wasn't as crowded as we were expecting for a holiday weekend. Manda heard from a reliable source that this has been happening all year. Dang economy! But then again, I like a non-crowded Happiest Place on Earth, so you won't hear too much complaining from me.

My run was on Sunday morning. I hadn't been feeling nervous at all until the afternoon before. For one thing, I misunderstood my e-mail and dragged my parents to the wrong convention center looking for where I got my packet of race stuff. We walked all the way to the Anaheim convention center, but there was church of some sort going on there. My mom asked one of the nice information desk ladies and she told us to try the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center. Did you know they had a convention center? Neither did I. But they do, so I turned in my waiver form promising not to sue should I injure/kill myself during the race, and giving them permission to use any pictures or video of me "in perpetuity and throughout the universe". So they can beam pictures of me continually to Mars and not pay me a cent. I felt a little better after being officially checked-in, but started getting nervous again in the evening. I hit the sack at the unusually early (for me) time of about 10. I was so tired from getting up early for the flight out that I had no trouble sleeping.

The next morning I woke up at 4. Yep, 4 o'clock A.M. For one thing, I was paranoid about missing the start of the race. I also wanted time to eat breakfast as there was no way I'd last that long without food. Mom and Dad came with me and saw me off at my starting point. The runners had been split into 3 different groups, 14,000 people had signed up to participate. The serious, fast runners went first. Then the semi-goods. Then the rest of us, first timers and slow people. I gotta say, though, I think I was in the most fun group. People were dressed up as Disney characters, chatting it up and having a great time. Very casual and non-competitive. When it was finally our turn to cross the starting line, it reminded me of the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Lots of runners holding up cameras to take pictures of the tightly-packed crowd, and everyone in a festive mood.

We first ran through the parks, starting with California Adventure. There were lots of Disney employees and characters out to cheer us on. Runners would stop for quick photo ops with the characters, then jump right back into the race. Lots of joking and laughing. To risk sounding like an old lady, it was a hoot! One of the selling points of this half-marathon is you get to run through the castle. Well, with such a large crowd and a relatively narrow castle opening, we actually walked through. But no one in this group was overly worried about making good time. This was more like a 13 mile party than a race. Even once we left the park, every half mile or so there was a band or cheer leading squad from a local school. Our names were printed on our racing bibs along with our numbers, so it was fun to be cheered on by name. We were also cheered on by the cops who closed the roads down, boy and girl scouts, random locals, even some Polynesian dancers!

My legs started feeling tired and heavy about the 9 mile mark. Although my pace wasn't much faster than the walkers, I am proud of the fact that I didn't actually walk. Ok, except at the water stops, it's difficult to drink out of a paper cup while jogging. Trust me. I tried it at the first one and nearly drowned myself. The nice marine layer we had keeping things cool burned off at around 11 miles and it got hot fast. I'm glad I was nearly done at that point. Had it happened much earlier I would've been in serious trouble. Dad had walked over to give me some end-of-race support, which I appreciated. The last mile lasted for-freaking-EVER! We finished close to where we started, kind of in the Downtown Disney/Hotel parking lot area. Lots of turns in this part of the course, so I kept thinking the finish line had to be just around the next corner.
No?
Oooookkaaaay, this one.
Nope.
This one's gotta be it.
Wrong again.
Are you kidding me?!?
One more corner and I probably would have broken down. Lucky for me that was the last one, and with the help of ridiculously supportive strangers cheering for me I made it! Mickey and Minnie gave me high-fives as I crossed the finish line, which made it so totally worth it. I was so relieved! I've been nervous that for whatever reason I'd have to drop out without finishing. After all my training and buildup that would have been a bit humiliating. I was slow, but finish I did. Out of the 14,000 that signed up, 10,849 runners crossed the finish line. I was the 6,628th finisher with a time of 2 hours and 43 minutes. Not too bad, but plenty of room for improvement. I'm definitely doing it again next year. Anyone care to join me?

After the race, I got a medal (woohoo!), ate some of the free food, found my mom, and headed back to the room to rest a bit before playing at Disneyland. I was very sore and quite a bit more tired than I usually am for most of the trip, but still had a good time. To help with the soreness, Dad got us a room with a big jacuzzi tub, and Amanda and Matt were kind enough to let me have the real bed while they slept on the couch bed mattress. Yep, I am spoiled :-) We got home this morning, and now it's back to reality.

My moving plans fell through today. The landlord of that beautiful house threw a last minute curve ball that made it quite a bit more expensive then he had told us it would be. Good thing we hadn't signed our respective leases yet. So I'll be staying at my apartment for now, and my poor buddy Brady is still technically homeless and stuck commuting between Layton and Salt Lake everyday. Not sure about the girl who was going to our other roomie. Although I'm no worse off than I was before, I'm bumming pretty hard. I was really looking forward to my room with the window seat and a fresh start in a new place. But no, I'm stuck here. Not that here is bad, but I had started thinking about all the things I wouldn't miss when I left. Ended up with quite the list. Now I'm not in the best frame of mind about my current situation and feeling rather restless and unsatisfied. Oh well. Hopefully another opportunity will present itself in the near-ish future. All of you who were worried about me sharing living space with a boy can breathe a sigh of relief. I will continue in my BYU-approved quarters for the foreseeable future.

On the upside, at least there's a hot tub here :-)