Ok. This is a quick update as I have to run… but then, don’t I always?
Here’s a photo album’s worth of pictures, ‘cuz they’re each worth at least 10 words though not the full 1000 to be sure. I’ve tried to provide a few choice commentary quotes as I uploaded them:
The first image: where I parked for the 10K yesterday. The second image: where I parked for the half marathon today. The 10K had 13,000 registered runners while the half marathon listed 16,000. It’s deja vu all over again.
Ditto on the parking… no “comps” for the halfers I see…
More photo backdrop fun pre-race… albeit I didn’t have any pre-race water, despite the signage. The cast member snapping the Wampa shot always took a selfie with people’s cameras so they knew who their photographer was… when I noticed this I insisted on getting a selfie with her on mine!
Speaking of signage, I know I posted this yesterday (Oh, Yogi… it is like deja vu all over again…), but the instructions for the trash compactor shot are even more hilarious as I hadn’t noticed that there’s a white cut-out showing you how to pose.
As for my photo before the race… I can only hope that it does make me a lot thinner. I don’t know if it’s the angle or the hour but good gravy Marie I look more like Porkins than I would ever want to!
Once more onto the corrals…
The National Anthem was played by these three guys — I was excited that they were changing things up… but honestly whether it was the hour or the temperature… they sounded pitchy. And I know NOTHIN’ about music other than I know what I like.
What’s the difference between being “a good neighbor” and “owning the neighborhood?” In California corrals go without fireworks because Disneyland is land locked and has to be a bit more respectful of its neighbors. In Florida, each corral gets a firework salute to start off with a bang.
I paid $78 plus tax for the one-week photo pass with Disney as each day was $39… so it would be the same cost for the week. This would be a a great deal if I had time to wander into the parks during, oh, operating hours, rather than running through at 5:45 AM. California is oddly cheaper than their Florida counterparts on this service though — a week long PhotoPass in the Sunshine State is $149 if bought in advance or $169 bought after the fact. Weird. In any case, there were unfortunately not a lot of character moments. Again, one of the few downsides to the size of Walt’s original theme park and the good neighbor policy of Disneyland is that there is only so much real estate to run through without looping back and forth. We were in the parks for roughly the opening 4-5 miles before hitting the streets of Anaheim so much like the 10K yesterday, there weren’t as many photo opportunities as I would have liked. But I flashed my bib for the photopass photogs and character attendants also snapped a few with my iPhone for me. Here are the results:
I should point out that some of these shots are “exclusive” to my iPhone as there weren’t any official photographers and I was relying on the gracious cast members volunTOLD to be along the course cheering us on and course marshalling.
The cast members were as usual great… including Chad the horse who I think I met yesterday as well. But that might have been a horse of a different color…
Once on the streets of Anaheim, I actually found myself with a number of self-shot or kindness of strangers-shot photos:
I actually passed this guy cheering along the course telling him how much I loved his costume. I then ran back because, I mean, a rebel pilot SHOULD make a run on the Death Star, am I right?
Heading into the home stretch, I crossed the finish with a time of 1:34:58.
Wandering through the finishers’ chute, I had a few official “I Did It!” shots taken (to be posted later once they’re uploaded to my DisneyPhotoPass… no iPhone pics were allowed with I Did It! backgrounds). I did however shoot a selfie at this sign… apparently this is how I self-medicate!
With the sun rising, I snagged a few more backdrop shots, this time sporting the bling of the Half Marathon medal plus the Rebel Challenge and Coast to Coast medals. And I grabbed another selfie with my friendly selfie prone cast member!
I had asked this guy behind me to snap me at the Half Marathon backdrop… this is what happens when one fails to check how a stranger did in Photography 101. On the plus side, I think I have his thumb print and thus can steal his identity. Swell…
A few final shots of the post-race reunion area before I headed for the exit… Those are some sweet Death Star balloons, huh? No idea how much they cost — like all the concessions, the price remained a phantom menace…
Exiting through the gift shop, I was struck by how really crappy the merch was this year — the graphic design and color schemes were just… unimpressive. Most unimpressive.
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Post Script 1: A few of the Official Pics have been uploaded… including this one. Seems like the one to go out on…
