Part of the storyline for Dr. Strange posits that in the mystical realm there are acolytes and disciples of competing philosophies for time, space, life, the universe, and everything. In that regard, perhaps the banter of the race announcers and their Marvel Universe stars was the very model of subtle wink-wink, nudge-nudgery. This is because I’m pretty sure whoever wrote the give-and-take is a devoted acolyte of Bruce Villanch, the go-to gag writer for countless awards shows and the creative force behind The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978).
runDisney has this idea that they need to tell a story with each event, that as part of the character meet-and-greets of the themed weekends there’s some reality to the make believe, some throughline for the running. It’s something my brother and I have long wanted to do with a Batman Marathon wherein the Joker is literally blowing things up around you as you run the race so you really, REALLY should keep moving. No doubt the permits from local authorities and the cost of rebuilding destroyed city blocks in the interest of really selling the mayhem would prove challenging for race directors but I think it’d be worth the effort.
And yet, runDisney doesn’t fully commit to the notion of their narrative throughlines. They pay lip service to the First Order harassing local runners during the Star Wars Half Marathons. Or that Hydra is plotting to steal the tesseract that some runner possesses in the corrals. But that’s mainly all there is – lip service. A few banter-y moments of on and off a raised stage projected onto a jumbotron and then you’re just running along and occasionally meeting a character for a quick photo op on the course… but it’s not like the characters are imparting a new piece of the narrative. If it is it’s a quick, “Let us know if you see any Stormtroopers!” or “Run well, my friend – together we shall defeat the forces of Hydra!”
So for the Dr. Strange 10K, we had The Avengers show up to say hello, including recent recruit Spider-Man. They had to dash off to, I think they said, fight crime or something and our announcers were left to riff. Some acolyte guy with the raccoon eyeshadow wandered in, threatening the announcers and us with the wrath of the big bad Dormammu.
The acolyte wanders off, our announcers riff on how terrifying that threat was, making no mention that the guy really misapplied his eye shadow, and then Dr. Strange materializes from a whisp of fog machine smoke. The movie camera must have added a 10 layers of Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange seemed, um, underwhelming in person. But he assured us he conjured some protection thingee or other that would enable us to run well, provided we continued to train and do our parts.
Maybe it’s charming, maybe it’s lame, but it is a tradition of the runDisney races for these beats to occur, whether as time filler/killer as we await the race start, or as part of the “every mile is magic” mantra. There are days when I love it and there are days when I just shake my head.
***
Dressed in my 1960s TV Show Penguin tribute, I felt I was as sure a super villain as could exist. After all, is there anything more nefarious that crashing a Marvel-ous party as a DC Comic convict? The answer is yes, yes there is since Disney charged me the full $18 parking fee. I arrived at 3:50 AM. SPOILER ALERT – I left at 7:05 AM. So I was onsite parked for 3 hours and 15 minutes. That works out to about 9.25 cents per minute. Seems a bit steep to me. Especially since the runDisney events in Florida have complimentary parking. More land I suppose.
But I digress. Here then are a series of photos from the morning, complete with the odd caption/commentary as we go along.
Thor thought I was steampunk. I wah-wah-wah’d and the photog knew who I was channeling.
***
Since the Penguin’s real name is Oswald Cobblepot, it only seemed befitting that Oswald The Lucky Penguin should race through Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’s domain.
Captain America — the former posterboy for the 10K now relegated to the 5K. As I am finding more and more, it’s best not to discuss politics.
Spider-Man was all jimmini jillickers. Tucked away around a corner, if you weren’t watching out for that Spider-Man you might’ve missed him. He needs to spin a web, so he could be catching runners just like flies.
***
Two shots of the some real superheroes — Disney Cast Members.
***
Around Disneyland:
***
When meeting Black Widow, I got awfully flustered and stuck my cigarette in my eye and my monocle in my mouth. There may be no more accurate depiction of me in the world.
***
I can only assume this is an astral projection manipulation of matter Dr. Strange. ‘Cuz the Cumber doesn’t match the Batch if you know what I mean… although I don’t know what I mean so if you do, let me know.
***
Into the home stretch and some medal shots.
***
There are a few other photos I could probably post but it’s been a real pain getting things uploaded today. Not sure if there’s a disturbance in the force, I’m electrically charged from mystic vibrations, or if it’s just one of those days.
Either way, posts are going to be a bit erratic the next few days. I’ve got the Avengers Half on Sunday morning, a four hour drive to The Las Vegas Marathon in the late afternoon at 5 PM, a three hour drive to Hurricane, UT for a marathon Monday morning, followed by six more days of races. Why I sign up for these kinds of challenges I’m not entirely sure — who do I think I am? A superhero?