The race announcers, Carissa and Kwame, kept talking about this as the 3rd year of the Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland. I’ve been here each year and I can tell you this wasn’t always the Light Side. The very first year it was the straight up Star Wars Half Marathon weekend — it was the ONLY Star Wars runDisney event at the time. Since then, they’ve expanded to the right coast and added the Dark Side Half Marathon weekend at Walt Disney World, an expansion that lead to the CA race being rechristened the Light Side Half Marathon. But to call this the 3rd Year of the Light Side is… well… disingenuous. And I’m not trying to be a spoilsport; I’m a legacy right now, having forked over my cash three years running. But I guess I take umbrage at the “retroactive continuity” or “retcon”-ing of the race.
Wait… am I using that correctly? They’re re-writing the past to fit the future continuity of the event. Maybe that’s just “trumping the facts.” Nah. That doesn’t work either.
It’s amazing how well the Los Angeles freeway system works at 3 AM. You really can make decent time when there aren’t that many cars on the road… even when there’s closed roads due to mudslides and seemingly never-ending construction projects on ramps, roadways, and lanes of the freeways. The biggest slowdown was at the parking structure payment. It’s odd to think that because I expected the rate to be comparable to the Florida theme park rates of $20 per vehicle that I would be pleasantly surprised at “only” being charged $18 for the Anaheim privileges.
Again, something has Disney spooked as security and metal detectors are in full force this weekend; perhaps this is the new normal. It’s a sad thing but I suppose as soft targets go, the happiest place on earth would rank pretty high up there. I guess I’m glad they’re doing something but it all feels a little more “for show” than actually doing anything other than slowing us all down. Maybe that’s the cynic in me…
While waiting around the corrals to open, I took advantage of the photo opps Disney had set up. More than anything, I was fascinated with the “instructions” on how to pose with the backgrounds…
But I was really glad to get my picture taken:
The imperial march to the corrals proved uneventful… though I did grab my traditional “Downtown Disney” shot for my Mom. I’ll never understand why Florida decided to rebrand their Downtown Disney as Disney Springs. I get they wanted to focus on the water aspects of that area but why not call it Disney Springs AT Downtown Disney… Downtown Disney is akin to Main Street, USA, or Tomorrowland in the parks — it’s just another land and some things should just be called like they are. But the Disney Theme Parks are ever, never changing… like the future, always in motion is the Disney experience.
I tried grabbing a selfie at the 10K start line… a runDisney race photographer had me do it again to try and snap a photo of me taking a selfie. All I could think about was Holly Hunter in “Broadcast News” lecturing her cameraman not to stage the shot or news; that the rebel should feel free to put his shoe on or not, whatever he wants to do. Still, I kinda hope somewhere on social media there’s a photo of me fake-selfie-ing with my Star Wars VCR tape iphone case showing.
Something else I was thinking about as Carissa and Kwame read off the sponsors of the event — the AT&T logo kinda looks like the Death Star.
As chilly a dark morning as it was (my car’s outside temperature said it was 48 degrees), I was kinda glad I was wearing Poe Dameron/FN-2187/Finn’s jacket for the race. Standing outside, amongst the reported 13,000 runners in today’s event, I was still a little shivery. Thankfully it only took a few seconds to get the race coordinates from the navi-computer and we were good to–
As a run, the 10K proved to be sparsely charactered — whether I just missed some of the photo spots or I just expected more of the gang out and about, I don’t know. It’s a lot to pack into 6.2 miles so I get that maybe they can’t have TOO many character spots… but it still felt a little underwhelming.
Here though are the shots from along the way…
The medal for the 10K is a spinning BB-8. I grabbed the usual, usual post-race pics (and the not so usual shot of the signed “Post-Race Water” — who knows what would happen if you had the post-race water pre-race!) and even re-did the backdrop photos to highlight the bling:
Rolling back to my car in its $18 parking space, I passed by the concession stand. You know what they say — if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. I have no idea what they were charging but it was too rich for my blood… and so I opted to break all kinds of rules and have the “pre-water” as a “post-race” beverage. I wasn’t escorted off property by Stormtroopers; the world didn’t explode. So I guess it’s ok.
How nice that runDisney has set up a race merchandise tent so we can obtain a tangible memory of the run on our way out. Clever, Accountaneers!
I was back home by 7:44 AM. I will say, though the West Coast branch of runDisney charges for parking, their recovery box is way better than the Florida offerings:
As I prep for tomorrow’s half marathon, just a housekeeping notation — my Garmin says I ran the 10K in a 47:25:03. As the single sun rises higher in the sky, I gaze at it from my homestead, contemplating the adventures that await on the morrow. And also that I need to get over to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters…. no, seriously. I need a plug for the United Arab Emirates as I leave for Dubai on Tuesday.
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Post Script Note 1: Looks like the UAE uses the same plug as the UK and I’ve got plenty of those from my days working in Kent. Or at least I think they use the same plug. I used the website www.whatplug.net. With a URL like that, how could they NOT be experts?
Post Script Note 2: I have to apologize for this post. It has come out all wrong… like a prequel to the half marathon adventure, it’s wooden and doesn’t quite have the swagger and zing I was hoping for. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
