Disneyland 2014 10K Report and Video

While in Disneyland a few weeks ago we participated in a few runDisney races. Dave participated in the 10K and Holly participated in the Dumbo Double Dare - which is a combination of the 10K day 1 and the half marathon day 2. This also earned her another Coast to Coast Medal.  Here is the report for the 10K with video.

Dave's 10K Report
In some cases Disneyland's smallness can be a benefit and this is certainly true on runDisney event days. Guest staying on property have a pretty easy time getting from their resorts to the race start lines near the Disneyland Hotel (getting back to your hotel is a much harder task). We were able to get up at 4:00am for a 5:30 start time and make it to the start area with lots of time to spare.

The 10K was themed to the movie Lilo and Stitch so the tropical/Hawaiian theme was a given. What we all forgot about was that the Elvis theme also comes with Stitch. Our National Anthem send off was performed by an Elvis impersonator really overacting the role. Points for trying.....

Holly and I decided we'd do the race together and we wouldn't just stroll it like we normally do for a short runDisney race. I'd walk and Holly would run/walk and we'd maintain a decent pace. We've never really done this together before and we figured out why. I don't do a run/walk and find it unnatural. I also don't talk and pretty much prefer to zone out while exercising. This really doesn't make me a good race partner. Plus my sweat rate and need to stay under a certain heart rate adds to Holly's stress. At one point in Fantasyland we were that couple having a disagreement on course. Lessons learned for next time.

The first two miles of the course were off Disney property. We went by some hotels and through the Convention Center. We entered California Adventure through the back door by Cars Land (Mater and Lightning were out) and rounded over to Paradise Pier, through Condor Flats, up through the Hollywood area and then out a back way to the Esplanade (area between the two parks).

We crossed into Disneyland under the train tracks and made our way up Main Street towards Tomorrowland. Holly was expecting to see Darth Vader or Buzz Lightyear this morning for a character photo stop.   Not this morning.... We rounded over to Fantasyland and found Cops and Robbers Chip and Dale hanging out with an Elvis impersonator - think Jailhouse Rock. We spent some time backstage before heading back into ToonTown to go to Fantasyland and through the castle.

In Frontierland/New Orleans Square Stitch in an Elvis outfit and a random Hawaiian lady were available for photos. We waited at least ten minutes in this line. After we snapped the photo we headed towards Critter Country and backstage again. We exited Disneyland near the ticket gates and finished the race moving through Downtown Dinsey. We both got shout outs from our race announcer friend Rudy.

Overall the course was pretty good. The boring portions were over with early while it was still dark. A lot of time was spent backstage, which in my opinion is one of the reasons you'd do a runDisney race. The character stops were limited - which is something Holly wasn't happy about. We believe the rationale is they wanted to open the parks on time and having a lot of characters would cause runners to linger longer than desired. There were plenty of chances to take pictures along the course of rides and buildings.

Here's some video from the 10K.  We had audio issues with the camera so some of the comments are very fuzzy.  As we enter into Disneyland we are commenting on how someone liked our new matching shirts, but how we hated them because they were hot and they just stuck to us in the rare California humidity.