|
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
|
Here are some course maps....
|
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Also, yesterday, finally got airline tickets. Used kayak.com. Took a while but settled on something. Leave Saturday a.m come back Sunday around 7 p.m. Timing sucks but it is what it is. Then lastnight, I get an email. OOPS, usually doesn't happen but you have NO flight. Back to the drawing board. So, after a very long swim lastnight, I booked again. Coming back at 11:41 p.m Sunday night. Really bad but at least the next day is Labor day.
I should be stressing out about this 13.1 race but let's face it...I am training for an IronMan and it just doesn't seem to be.
So, I am excited about this race but on the other hand, I also see the fact that it will be a shorter run day and no bike. What to do?
Still, I am excited. I have never been to DisneyLand. And I still won't but at least I'll see it even if it's at a blur.
Supposedly the course is not that interesting but who cares. Added bonus is of course the Coast to Coast Challenge. I'll get the 5th anniversary DisneyLand Half-Marathon and the Coast to Coast Medal. Mucho Hardware again. I wish I could do the Wine-n-Dine Half-Marathon too but it won't happen this year. Oh well.
Spoke to Oren, brother-in-law from my sister's side, who is in CA now working on his new movie. Emailed him instructions and he is going to be my backup for pickup, just in case... Let's hope he doesn't have to do anything.
The plan. There's always a plan. This is the first time that Elizabeth and I are on vacation while the kids start school. This September is a logistcal nightmare in terms of holidays. School actually started early. They started before labor day this year. So they had school September 1 - 3 which is Wednesday thru Friday. I had a long swim on Wednesday and then rested/hung out/vacationed with Lee with no kids. Weird but doable. Does life exist without kids?
Saturday woke up early, called a car service for 4:35 am and went to walk the dog earlier then usual (4 am). He didn't mind. It was either $ 32 for Ollie's crappycab or $ 32 for a lincoln towncar and had a $ 3 coupon. Straight math there...Lincoln towncar! Waiting for the cab and started worrying. I should have given them my cell phone number as a just in case but didn't. Looking outside and it's already 4:45. Phone rings and I run across the house to get the phone. Lee already picked it up and whispering. The person on the other hand isn't sure she got the right number. The car is outside supposedly yet I don't see anything. I'm on the phone with the dispatcher and I walk outside. Nothing. I look out and with my superman super vision I see a car on the other side of Commenwealth. I tell her that I see him and that he needs to reverse or make a u-turn.
This is what I hear on the phone:
dispatcher: Client sees you. He says you need to reverse.
driver: blah blah
dispatcher: I'm not there. What's wrong with you? What do you want me to do? The client see you and you are at THE WRONG PLACE! DEAL WITH IT! Sir, hang on a second
hold music comes on.
At this point, the dispatcher comes back and I tell her that he is reversing and he needs to come back more. She says hold on and the line gets disconnected. At this point, I see him making a u-turn. I am in the middle of the street waving my arms. He crosses Commenwealth and is on my block searching every house for the address. I'm still waving. He's still going house to house. I'm still waving. Suddenly it's obviously he sees me because I hear the lincoln's engine roar and he is flying to me. OK. We're squared away. I hope the kids didn't wake up and that Lee made it back to sleep. I get in and the guy is apologetic. He's doing 75+ to Laguardia. Made it in record time.
No problem at security and to Salt Lake City, Utah. From there another plane to California. Shuttle to the hotel and we're all good. Actually landed in Cali a little early. Told Oren he's off the hook and walked to the DisneyLand Half-Marathon Expo. Got there to find out the ditz from the hotel gave me directions to get to the bible expo. Quickly found a cab and got to the right expo.
Confusing garbage over there. I went to the expo but it turns out I needed to go back outside, then downstairs and then back in. Whatever. Got all my stuff and taxi back to the hotel.
The Red Lion Hotel is nice enough. Got 2 Queens size bed and a flat screen tv but no movies to rent and no channel to see what's on. Also, initially the room was set to 81 degrees. What the HELL???? Had some issues but conquered it. Got food from various sources and tried to rest. Because of the time difference actually slept more than I am used to. COOL stuff.
Woke up at 2am (5am NYC time) and got ready. Heard other toilets being flushed so I wasn't the only one. Left the room at 4:30 and went downstairs. Wore my tech shirt and sleevies - it's 63 degrees out going to 86+. Wasn't sure about the sleevies and when I got downstairs and saw what other people were wearing, I was very tempted to take them off. Last minute I decided to keep them on. I can always take them off.
Off the bus and following all the orher idiots. DisneyLand is smaller, there's no other way to say it. Also, much less guidance. In Florida, people met us off the bus and directed us. Here, it was the blind leading the blind. People actually were saying this out loud. Found the Finish and still looking for the start. Found a port-a-pottie and that took precedence.
Found the corrals and decided on one more quick stop. It was either watering the trees or stand in line. The lines were short so stood in line. They positioned the porta-a-potties badly and some of them actually rocked back and forth upon entry. It actually looked like people were in there having fun if you know what I mean. I went in there and actually wondered how many people would get seasick in there. It was that bad.
I was in corral A, right after the wheel chair athletes. How awesome is that? Line was huge. They had us detour Corral B. March of silence. Not too many people doing the walk. Turns out they already did that and we had trouble going in. Ended up in the offshoot of A.
Race started. I was hoping to go with either the 1:40 or the 1:45 pace group but I was behind them. Oh well. Now, I pride myself on finding the best path and don't you know it, instead of running behind a sea of people, I ran on the side bypassing everyone. Passed the 1:45's and the 1:40's. Didn't mean to. Somewhere between 1/2 mile and 3/4 mile, I realized it was a pace I couldn't keep. Let the 1:40 pass me and ran with the 1:45's. A girl was running with us breathing like crazy. Sounded like a pervert on a phone. Told her to take a breath.
Saw a cop near his motorcycle. Unlike NYC cops, they carry what I assume are sub-machine guns. Looked like the AR-15 but I don't know. Couldn't stop to ask.
First 3 or 4 miles are out and then into the park. Kinda cool. After that, there were sections that you couldn't tell where you are. Wasn't like Florida where it was between parks but still Disney. It was street running. I could have been in NYC.
In the park, there was a volunteer who said careful as I jumped off a step without realizing. They should have put a ramp, a sign, a carpet - anything people!
Started talking to a guy who came up from behind. Similar to me. Looking to talk on a run in a great mood. Turns out he did a half-iron the week before, he's doing a ridiculous bike next week (200 miles and the second 100 is the hilly part) and his name is Erik. I mean the similarities...And he's supposed to be on the plane with me to Utah, his stomping ground.
So, the race is basically this: The first 4 miles was DisneyLand, then regular boring streets with a turn at every block, then between miles 8 and 9, you pass the Honda center, a little trail section near the aquaduct(!?), into Angeles stadium to run the bases (1st -> home -> 3rd base) and then outside eventually getting back to DisneyLand.
I let Erik go after Angeles stadium. That part was good. Saw us on the jumbotron. Didn't actually run the bases, rather the area near - I don't know how to explain it. That part was really cool.
Got to a tunnel/underpass kinda thing. They had about 6 different cheerleading squads in the front, followed by another 6 at the end. The noise in the tunnel was deafening. It just raised your heart rate up and up. The roar is what I always heard about and expected 1st Avenue to be once you get off the Queensboro Bridge during the NYC Marathon. Didn't happen in NYC but did in California.
Ran into DL and eventually across mile 13. An older guy running, stopped running and grabbed his leg, tottered and collapsed backwards. I think he wanted to sit and stretch but he went harder then he wanted. Ran and crossed the finish line. Got both medals, picture taken and some fuel.
Stopped at medical and put some ice on my hip flexor in the shorts. One of the female medics saw me putting the huge bag of ice into my shorts and I shrugged and said to her, "It's ice, I'm not happy to see you" to which she laughed.
I keep comparing it to FL but what can I do. Maybe FL's got it together because they are so huge. Here we had a long walk to the buses. Long walk in to DL and then out and in where we had to go through security. I'm trying to leave and security is checking bags?!?
Meanwhile remember the sleevies? Still had them on and was happy about it. I was freezing at this point.
Empty bus and a quick ride to the hotel. Quick shower and a call to the front desk that was not answering. Annoying. Called the super shuttle only to find out that they have no vans available. Went to the front desk for help. They tried but nothing. No supershuttle for me at $ 16 or another one for $ 22. I get to pay $ 50 for a cab. I am pissed. Why didn't the ditz tell me the night before to book it ahead of times? Turned a great half-marathon day into an annoying one.
Get to the tiny airport where TSA confiscated my tooth paste. They're just doing their job, I get it, but I passed through a major airport and they didn't stop me...Whatever.
Erik never showed up and I gave my aisle seat to a newly wed couple who obviously just got married. They are (under) training for a marathon in 3 weeks. His longest run for this race has been 10 and hers has been 13. They are going to be in a ton of pain the next day. Then I started talking to my new seat mate and she's a runner. Good runner too. Already did Boston. Cool stuff.
Got to Utah and switched to a much bigger plane (757). Hip flexor giving me issues. After Goofy I was fine on the plane but this new hip flexor pain training for the IM, the plane ride wasn't great. Actually went to the galley near the lavatories to stretch. The stewardesses were there. Asked if they mind, if I use their floor. They thought I was joking until I laid on the floor and proceeded to jab a finger into my hip flexor (right side near groin area). Once I turned red in pain, they stopped laughing. Got up like nothing happened, trigger point therapy, said my thanks and walked away like nothing...
We were supposed to land at 11:41 pm (which sucks) but the pilot was in a hurry and I was walking in the terminal at 11:05. Called a car and was home by 11:23. Cool stuff.
Spent Monday with the family. We all just hung out. Did nothing. Didn't even take the car out of the garage.
All in all it was a good day/race. Got my DL medal, got my Coast to Coast Medal and had a relativly easy training weekend. Didn't bike and only ran 13.1. Loved it.
Oh yeah, Erik and I connected through Facebook. Love the internet.
I just realized something. I clearly gotta get it together. I was sure I didn't PR so that I stopped pushing a little at one point. Well, it seems that Disney are my best (PR) races. Hell, I PR-ed at Princess and missed a Marathon PR by nine seconds with Goofy. Well, I missed a PR here by 6 seconds! Oh well.
One more thing....Jamie (http://runningdivamom.blogspot.com/) talked me into a bondi band. I sheepishly tried it. Took a lot of courage to go to the booth. Bought 2 black ones. Raced with it under my hat and rode with it on Tuesday. Good stuff.
