Another day, another 2:30 AM wakeup… which I will be nostalgic for come Sunday when the Marathon starts a half hour earlier.
By this point, we all know the drill — I whine a bit, I post a few photos, and we all go home a little more pixie-dusted, a little more tired, a little more whatever. So let’s skip some, cut to the quintessence, and send me off to a juice box and nap. When you behave like a misbehaving toddler…
We begin with a sign series. I was obsessed over “adult beverages” only being served AFTER SIX AM… feels like there should be a “last call” for when we first arrive at 3:15 AM-ish.
Somebody REALLY wanted the nutrition facts info to go wide/viral… They had about FIVE of these billboard signs around the venues. I’m honestly surprised I didn’t see them on the actual course route.
Two character costumes — the first guy is the Devil Judge from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (RIP FL, Ride In Pride CA!). The second guy, look at the lower right hand corner… is he in blackface?! I couldn’t figure out what character he was — there were some Powerline types from A GOOFY MOVIE that has a certain generational level appeal I guess… but I don’t know the movie well enough to say if he’s a mouse that’s a fan/groupie of that movie’s musical act? Felt like blackface to me… which in this era means it probably was. Yeesh.
As for my costume, I wish it had been warmer so I didn’t need the black pants as a layer. I at least went short sleeves… which made my arms super cold at the start and through most of the race. Anyhoo, I was supposed to be DIPPER PINES from GRAVITY FALLS. This guy, for what it’s worth:
A number of cast members DID recognize me… Nick had no idea who I was and I’m sure the majority of the people along the way thought, “What’s up with that dude’s weird hat?” But at least I wasn’t in blackface!
Tomorrow, it’s on with the half marathon. Warmer temps, possible showers. No costumes from here on out for me. But I hear my running pal Nick has an epic one planned for the marathon. B-T-dubs… he shot the Spaceship Earth through the Shinto Shrine pic above and was kind enough to airdrop me a copy. I did shoot behind the scenes footage for him so quid pro quo.