The Beginner's Guide to Disney's Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend

So, you are running or planning on running the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon or brand new Pixi Dust Challenge for the very first time and it is your very first visit to Disneyland? Then you probably have some questions! I hope this beginner's guide helps answer some of your questions about the race weekend. I am by no means an expert, but I want to pass along what I have learned!

Last January was my very first visit to Disneyland, I have always gone strictly to Disney World. Let me tell you first, that while bearing the name Disney, they are two very different creatures!! :)

You can read my race re-cap here:

Expo and Neverland 5k
Tinkerbell 10k
Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon


HOW LONG SHOULD I STAY?
When planning for your Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon weekend, the first thing you need to think about is the amount of time you wish to spend in Disneyland.

The Race Expo opens on Thursday, and because I am one of those people who like to be there right when the expo opens, we decided to fly in on Wednesday night, which allowed us to play in the park on Thursday morning and then hit the expo in the afternoon when it first opens. Many people who live in the area arrive to the expo, depending on which races they are running either late Thursday or early Friday. The expo is much less crowded than the Princess 1/ 2 Marathon Expo and offers much of the same merchandise, however, I think it may be a bit smaller.

Since my sister and I ran all three races, we planned on staying until Monday afternoon. This was enough time to do everything we wanted to do, as well as have time to just relax. There was not a minute of this trip that I felt rushed or like I wasn't going to miss out on something.

If you don't care about getting to the expo right when it opens, or if you are passing on any of the races,  I suggest arriving later in the week, as you will have plenty of time for parks around the races!

HOW DO I GET TO DISNEYLAND:
There are a few different airports that you can fly to in order to get to Disneyland, this is a big difference from Disney World. You can fly into LAX, John Wayne, or Long Beach. The John Wayne airport is the closest to the parks, but for me is usually the most expensive and always has the dreaded layover!! We found that flying into LAX was the cheapest and the most convenient for us.

Now, those of you who are Disney World regulars, are used to getting off your flight and onto the Magical Express. There is no such thing here. The closest thing is The Disneyland Resort Express which provides  transportation between LAX and the Disneyland Resort area — including Disneyland Resort and Anaheim Resort hotels. Reservations are not required, but there is a fee to ride.

We did not take this option as our hotel was not serviced by this bus. We instead took the Super Shuttle
which costs only $17 one way! You will have to make reservations for this shuttle, which you can do online. It was very easy to use, and only took about an hour to make it to our hotel. 

There are lots of other companies that provide shuttles to the Disneyland area, most with competitive rates. 

You can also, of course, rent a car and drive, but please note that you will pay around $20 a night for parking, and we did not really find it necessary to have a car during our time in Disneyland!

WHERE SHOULD I STAY?
This was the question that I found hardest to get an answer to when I was first planning my trip. Because I am so well versed in the ways of Disney World, I was completely lost when it came to figuring out where to stay in Disneyland. 

The reason is, there are so many options!! Of course there are the Disney Hotels: the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier and the Grand Californian. These are great hotels to stay at, and one day I would LOVE to stay at the Grand Californian, but I am a budget kinda girl, so we stayed "off property". 

"Off Property" is kind of a funny term here, because everything seems to be really close to the parks. When choosing a hotel I took a lot of care in finding the right location. I wanted a hotel from which I could easily walk to the start of the races, I don't like surprises on race mornings, and I wanted to know that I could make it to the start of the race easily on my own. I also wanted to be close to the parks, even though there is free transportation to the parks for racers that weekend, I again wanted to be able to get around on my own. Lastly, I wanted to be close to a grocery store, or somewhere that I could stock up on water and pre-race food. It is so nice to be able to eat what you are used to eating on a race morning (one of my pet peeves of Disney World races!). 

I really hate sharing my hotel, as it was the perfect hotel for the race, and I don't want it to be sold out when I want to make a reservation for 2015, but I have to share, because I love you guys and because the location of our hotel made for an amazingly easy race weekend!

We stayed at the Best Western Stovall's Inn, which was to our surprise quite a nice place! From the outside it looks old and gross, but the rooms are actually very nice. They all include a fridge and microwave, and plenty of space for a couple of racers and all their race gear (costumes!!). 

The best part however, was that the racer's village was right across the street. SERIOUSLY!! We were able to wake up, get race ready and walk to the bag check area in less than an hour. We only had to walk across the street and less than a block away was bag check and…..wait for it……wait for it……THE FINISH LINE!!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing to finish a race and be back at your hotel (in the shower!) in less than 10 minutes!! 

The start of the 10k and the 1/2 marathon were only about 2 blocks from the staging area/finish line/bag check. Which made getting to the races a piece of cake! 

This hotel is located about 2 blocks from Paradise Pier, 3 blocks from the Grand Californian and about 4 blocks from the Disneyland Hotel (where the expo is located). 

We chose this hotel mainly because of its location to the finish/start lines of the 10k and the 1/2 marathon. The 5k, however, starts on Main Street in Disneyland, which is a bit of a walk from our hotel. 

In order to get to the parks from our chosen hotel, we had to walk to the Disneyland Hotel (about 4 blocks) and then through Downtown Disney. The entire walk takes about 35 minutes (?) but is very enjoyable! We loved walking through Downtown Disney everyday, and planned most of our meals in this area. There is also a Monorail station located in Downtown Disney, which takes guest right to Tomorrowland. 

I have to say that the walk from our hotel to the start of the 5k (and to the parks in general) is not nearly as long as the "death march" from the Epcot parking lot to the start of the Princess 1/2 Marathon! It is much more pleasant too!! :)

There are lots of hotels located around Disneyland, and it is very important that you research the location of the hotel with the location of the start and finish of the races. I didn't mind walking further to the parks, because of the easy walk to and from the races. It was for me, of course, a race weekend! The parks were just a perk!!


WHAT KIND OF PARK TICKETS SHOULD I GET?
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are the two parks that make up the Disneyland area, and if you are, again, a WDW regular, you will be shocked by the ease of visiting these parks. Both parks are small in comparison to WDW. I have heard that you can fit 3 Disneylands into the Magic Kingdom parking lot and still have room to park 300 cars!!! 

That being said, it is very crowded! I never feel too crowded by people in Disney World, but in Disneyland there were times I felt almost claustrophobic! 

While the layout of Disneyland is very similar to the Magic Kingdom, there are slight differences and some different rides! We spent a few hours each day in this park. But we really enjoyed Disney California Adventure. I think because it was something completely different! 

Disneyland and CA are separated by a plaza, which I would compare to the size of the bus depot at the Magic Kingdom (maybe?). You can seriously walk from one park to the other in a matter of 2-3 minutes, which makes getting a park hopper ticket completely worth it!

We went with the park hopper at the very last minute, and I am so glad we did! It is so easy to move from one park to another, and it is nice to head to the more open spaces of CA when Disneyland gets too crowded! We purchased a 4 day park hopper pass, and were very pleased with the our decision. Of course, because Disneyland and CA are so much smaller than Disney World, we had plenty of time in the parks, but it was nice to be able to take it slower and just have a relaxing visit. I think that you could see both parks in one day, but you would feel really rushed. If you are concerned about spending too much money, I would buy a two-day pass (not a park hopper) and visit one park each day. You will have plenty of time. If you can afford it, do the park hopper! :)


During this trip I completely fell in LOVE with Disneyland, I hate to admit it, but I think I like it more than Disney World (gasp!!). I like the smaller size of the parks and the general area, and this being my first Disneyland race weekend, I have to say that it felt more relaxed than WDW race weekends, and I felt much more in control of myself (I didn't have to rely on Disney as much!). Overall this was my favorite RunDisney weekend ever and I am looking forward to heading back in 2015!!  

If you are visiting Disneyland for the first time, I suggest you do your research, I know I spent at least a month researching all of my options, and I am sure that I came away with the best trip for me. My flight and hotel together were less than $500, which made me very happy (more money to spend at the expo!). 

Please leave me any questions, as I want this is be a living document, I will update and add answers to your questions!

2014 Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Re-Cap

 I cannot believe how long it has taken me to get this post up!! I guess, writing my re-cap was just really hard because I just don't want to admit that Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend is over! I loved it that much!!

This was the race that started it all for my sister. If you remember back to April of last year, my sister had never run a race, and she was very "anti-race". I begged her to travel with me to Disneyland to run the Tinkerbell 1/2, and she flat out refused! She wanted nothing to do with racing. So, I devised a plan in which she wouldn't be "racing" at all, but helping me pace myself, and she would run with me. She went for it and we got signed up.

Of course, she needed to actually run a race in order to have a time to submit to RunDisney for corral placement, so her very first 10k was in August. It was at this race that she got CRAZY about racing (and very competitive!!).

Fast forward to January 19, 2014 --

We had just finished running the Neverland 5k and the Tinkerbell 10k the two days before this race, and now we were up at 3am again, to run the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon!! Only 13.1 more miles stood between me and the amazing Tinkerbell medal!! I was so excited for this race, as it was going to be my first 1/2 marathon that I actually had someone to run with!!! I was very excited!

Anne and I got ready in record time, and made our way to bag check, and on to corral B. Anne had a time good enough to be in corral A, and while I knew it was killing her to fall back and be in B with me, I was overjoyed to be able to run with someone!!

As we waited in the corral to start, I was amazed with how "fresh" my legs felt!! I wasn't tired, or sore!! This was going to be another GREAT race!!

We were right at the front of corral B and it didn't take long for us to be called to the starting line. After the count down we started running!! I know I had tears in my eyes, I was just so excited to have another chance to run in the beautiful weather (55 degrees!!) and through the parks again!

For the first mile, we ran on some roads outside of Disneyland, these included a few small "hills", but I really don't remember too much of this part of the race, it was dark, and I was just trying to settle into a pace that would be happy for both Anne and I. Anne was struggling with her (bought the night before!) RunDisney tutu, and ended up taking it off and throwing it to a very excited spectator! She is not a costume girl!

About 1.5 miles later we entered Disney's California Adventures! Here we stopped for our first character stop, and I noticed that Linzie from @SeeSharpRun was right in front of us!! I took a quick pic with him! The first character line was short, and didn't take us very long to get through. We then devised a plan that Anne would run up to the character line and wait, I would run and catch up to her. This worked for much of our time in the Parks!

This is probably the reason I loved the Tinkerbell races, you actually run through the parks for an extended amount of time! We ran in the parks for just over 4 miles!! It was so much fun!!

Anne and I stopped for just about every photo op during these 4 miles, and it was funny to watch the time on our Garmins tick by! We actually "ran" mile 3 in 25 minutes!! hahaha! I think seeing this time really got to Anne, it got into her brain and she just panicked!

After meeting Cinderella, Rapunzel and Finn Ryder, Anne took off, saying she would wait at the next stop. When I got to the next character, she was nowhere to be found, so I ran to the next character, and again, there was no Anne. I knew, I knew she had left and I wouldn't catch up to her again, so I settled in to run my own race.

For about 2 miles, I was mad, I was really mad. Usually when I run mad, I run fast, but this time I was trying to choke back tears, I had really wanted to cross the finish line with my sister.

As I made my way down the streets of Anaheim, I got over it and just enjoyed the rising sun, and the views!











Some people complain about running on the streets of Anaheim, that it "isn't' Disney", which is true, unlike races at Walt Disney World, which are run all on Disney property, Disneyland is small, and the city of Anaheim hugs Disney on all sides. Disney cannot have their characters outside of their property, so after mile 5.5 there are no more character stops. I didn't know how I would feel about that, but I was shocked by how the city supported this race!! It was really awesome!! There were very few spots without spectators, and there were multiple places set up handing out food -- I ate the best orange slice I think I have ever had, I even thought about turning around to get another one!!

I had a really great time running this part of the race, I didn't worry about character stops messing with my time, and I was just able to run! It felt really good!

I was able to admire the costumes that everyone was wearing, and chat with a few other runners. At around mile 10 I caught up to a woman who was wearing one of those skirts that belly dancers wear, the ones that make noise, you know those? Well, it annoyed me so badly!! I couldn't focus on anything else but the noise her skirt was making, I actually thought about hitting her!! That's when I knew that I had to get this race over with!

At mile 12 we were back on Disney property, backstage of DCA, and the bottom of my right foot started throbbing. I didn't know what to do, it hurt so bad!! I have never had this type of pain before, and it was bad!! It hurt really bad when I ran, and not as much when I walked, so I walked a while. I didn't want to have to walk across the finish line, but I was in so much pain!!! I just wanted to take my shoe off!

I started chatting with a girl who was also walking, she gave me some encouragement, and at about mile 12.5 I high-fived her, and started running towards the finish line.

The crowd was amazing, and it helped me not focus on my foot!! I sprinted through the finish line, as tears streaked across my face! I think I was crying because I was sad that the weekend was over, that this race that I had planned for so long to run, was over, but I was so proud of myself for finishing!

I seriously skipped over to get my medal!! It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love this medal!!

I met up with Anne at the same place we met the day before, and at first I got a little angry with her, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. Her excuse was that she "lost me" but I know she needed to run her own race, and just took off. I'm still sad we didn't get to share the finish together, but I understand.

With that said, she only finished 8 minutes before me…..so……

Oh well. I'm over it!

We collected our checked bag, in which we had put our other medals from the weekend, and we got a few pictures taken with all of our medals on!

My sister also had a special surprise for the at the end of the race. All week she had told me that she had something and that it would probably make me cry. She was right! She gave me a vintage (1950's) Tinkerbell charm that she had put on a Alex and Ani bracelet. The charm was very much like the one my mom got as a child in Disneyland. It melted my heart, and if I had had the energy to, I would have bawled. I held it together though. This bracelet means the world to me, for so many reasons!!

Even with all the post-race excitement, I couldn't forget about my foot, it was still throbbing in my shoe, so we made our way back to the hotel, had some breakfast, showered and got ready for our last day in the parks! Once I released my foot from my shoe, it was better…..thank goodness!!

We spent the rest of the day at both Disneyland and DCA, it was super crowded, and we actually had 2 rides shut down just before we got on them (after waiting over an hour in line!!).

It definitely wasn't our favorite day in the parks, but we made the best of it!!

My final thought about Disneyland's Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend are simple, it was a magical experience! And even though I have only run 2 RunDisney races (PHM and Tink), I am declaring Tinkerbell as the winner (although I am going to let PHM weekend impress me if it would like to!).

Tinkerbell is great because:

1.  time spent in the parks during the run (the 5k is completely in the parks - start and finish!)
2. getting to the corrals is much easier than at WDW, less walking
3. it is a smaller race, not so crazy
4. the weather!! No HUMIDITY!!
5. smaller parks mean less time spent on your feet in between races!
6. everything is much closer: expo, hotels, parks, etc.
7. the great people of Anaheim who come out to cheer on and support the runners
8. the medals!! They are HUGE!! and BEAUTIFUL
9. California!! I love California!!

I seriously have to run this race weekend again! I know many people had issues with parts of this race weekend, I did not experience any of these issues, and I overall had an amazing time that I will never forget!! It was amazing to travel with my sister, and experience Disneyland for the first time with her. I am so glad she decided to run this race "with" me!! I hope we can do it again in the future!!

Now, it is time to focus on Princess 1/2 Marathon weekend, and earning my coast-to-coast medal!!

Tinkerbell 10k Race Re-Cap

After all of the excitement of the Neverland 5k, I didn't think that the weekend could get much better, but it did!!

My sister and I spent the day after running the 5k at Disneyland! We were lucky enough to walk right onto many of our favorite rides! We called it an early day, went back to the hotel to change for our dinner at Napa Rose.

Before our reservation though, we hit the Expo again, this time to be taped by KT Tape professionals. I use KT Tape for just about all of my races and long runs over 5 miles. I think I do a good job taping myself, but I wanted to be taped by a professional, just once!

The line for being taped was INSANE!! Seriously, we waited over an hour. After just about giving up, it was finally our turn and I had pretty "Tinkerbell" green tape applied. I was happy to see that I apply my tape pretty much the same way as the professional taper did. The only difference was that she used the KT Tape adhesive spray, which made it really hold tight! (I need to get some of that!)

After finally being taped, we headed over to the Californian Grand Hotel (beautiful!!) and our most anticipated dinner at Napa Rose!!

We had the best time! The wait staff was wonderful, and the food was out of this world!! I started with the Signature Pizzetta, which was to DIE FOR! It was also huge and I got to take over 1/2 of it with me (a great post-marathong treat!!)  My sister enjoyed a whole basket of their gluten-free vegan bread along with the Apple Salad! She hadn't had bread in over 5 years and REALLY enjoyed it!!

For our main course, I ordered the Truffle Stuffed Chicken, and my sister allowed the chef to "surprise" her with a vegan feast! We were both speechless! The food was just amazing!! We ended the evening with house made ice cream for me and sorbet for my sister!

We pretty much rolled back to our hotel, and fell into a food-induced coma!! We were beyond stuffed!

Another easy early morning wake up! (Gotta love the 2-hour time difference! So much easier than WDW races!). And we were off to the 10k!

The starting line was just across the street from our hotel, so we really didn't have to rush to get there. We stopped for a dance or two at the racers "village" and then made our way up to corral A!!

Just like at the 5k, we were practically in the front of the corral! It was so much fun looking back at the 10, 000 runners and being so close to the starting line stage!

I was really excited to run this race! I love the 10k distance, and I was excited to see what my legs could do on race day 2!!

It wasn't a long wait, and we were off. As planned my sister waved good-bye and she was gone.

The first mile of the 10k was the exact same as the 1st mile for the 1/2. There was a "hill" on which I heard a lot to grumbling, and many people stopped to walk! Then we took a right into the back-stage of Disneyland!

There were many more people running around me during this race, than during the 5k, and that gave me some comfort (running the 5k practically alone was kind of unnerving!). As I made my way through Disneyland, I made sure to stop for lots of pictures. This was going to be a slower run for me, and I wanted to just have fun with it.

It was again a great course!! I love running through the parks, and the Tinkerbell 10k did not disappoint!! There were so many Disney employees lining the course cheering on the runners, along with many non-employee spectators!




There seemed to be a lot more photo opportunities during this race than during the 5k (duh, it was a longer course!), and I did some "character sprints", quickly getting from photo-op to photo-op. It all went by much too quickly, and too soon we were out on the streets of Anaheim for our last 2 miles.

I have to say (and it won't be my last time!) that the city of Anaheim does a great job supporting these races!! There were so many people out cheering us on, the crowd support was outstanding!!

At this point the sun was just coming up, it was still cool out (55 degrees) but the sun was warm, and I started to sweat!!

The course loops around the streets of Anaheim for a few miles and then takes runners to the finish line in the Simba Parking Lot (the same finish as for the 1/2 marathon). I was so excited to cross that finish line and get my 10k medal!! I was smiling from ear to ear!!

It was another great run for me!! Really gave be a boost of confidence! Even though it was not a 10k PR (don't know if I'll ever have another one of those!), it was about the same pace as my last 10k but this time I stopped for tons of pictures!! Win-win as far as I am concerned!!

I completely am in LOVE with this race and this course! It was so much fun!! Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon weekend was just blowing me away!! I couldn't wait for the 1/2 Marathon the next day!!

I know there are many people out there who say that the 10k had some problems, that "too many" people got swept off the course, etc. I cannot say one bad thing about this race!! It was simply perfect!!
The course was exciting, full of character stops, and support! I didn't think it was overly crowded, but definitely felt like it was more of a Disney Race than my lonesome 5k!! The medal is gorgeous!!

















As far as my running is concerned, I was very happy with how I did considering all of the pictures I stopped for, and for how long the lines were for the photos (longest wait was 15 minutes!!!).  I only walked once (just enough time to turn my music on for the last few miles!), which is really good for me!!


I was worried about running multiple races back-to-back because I really didn't train very well for back-to-back runs in December (I did really great in November though!). But my legs felt awesome! No soreness, no issues!!

After the race we walked across the street to our hotel (so nice to be so close!), showered, and headed out to the parks! We spent most of the day exploring Disney's California Adventures, and just taking it easy.

After dinner, and the realization that no restaurant would ever be as good as Napa Rose, we called it time for bed. I think we were both sleeping before 7pm!! It was a good thing, though, we had a 1/2 Marathon to run the next day!!

Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Expo and Neverland Family 5K Re-Cap

I cannot believe that Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon weekend is over!!! It was a weekend of firsts and a ton of fun!!! It was the first time I had ever run Tinkerbell, my very first trip to Disneyland and my first running trip with my sister (it was her first ever Disney race!!) It was so much fun that I am going through a bit of withdrawal, and thought it was high time to get my recaps up!!

This race weekend was a blast!!

It all started on Thursday, with the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend Expo.

I have to say that I was a little nervous about this expo because of the stories I had heard about the Expo at Disneyland's last race!! 3 hour waits, and a complete shut down!! I was a little panicked about the entire thing! But I have to say that RunDisney did a fantastic job with this expo!! The didn't fix the problem entirely, but at least they tried something new, and as far as my experiences go, it worked!!


Anne and I got to the expo about an hour early. We were shuffled underground (into what I assume is a parking garage?!) where we were separated into the following lines: Official Merchandise, Packet Pick-Up, New Balance Shoes, and Expo Shopping. The lines were not terribly long, there were about 50-60 people in front of us for the Official merchandise. We waited in line for about 20 minutes and then we were shuffled over to another line, and about 20 minutes later we were escorted upstairs to the lobby of the conference center where we waiting in line again. RunDisney started letting people into the Official Merchandise area about 20-30 at a time. It didn't take long and we were also let inside. This was the real killer, because once inside, we waited in another line, but we could see the merchandise!!! It was such a tease!!

Again, it didn't take long and we were inside the Official Merchandise area! I bought 2 car magnets, and a headband! There were lots of cute shirts and I was IN LOVE with the jackets, but just didn't want to spend the $80. RunDisney had a ton of merchandise!! Checking out took all of 5 minutes and then were we off to see what else we could buy!!

I bought a sweatshirt from Endure, a tank from Sparkle Athletic (and I picked up my Schwings!) and that was about it! I thought I did very well!! Of course, I was thinking the whole time that I have to pace myself, PHM weekend is just around the corner!!!

We then made our way back down to the parking garage to collect our packets! We both were running all three races, so we would have to stand in 3 lines each. It took us less than 15 minutes to get all of our packets, with the longest line being the 5k pick up line!! I was very impressed with the speed of these lines.

Back up to the expo (they had a separate door for Expo Only entrance with NO WAITING!!) and we collected our race shirts! These shirts are probably my very favorite race shirts ever! They are cute and fit extremely well!! I was very pleased!! And again, there was hardly any wait time!! Woo!!

After spending the day at Disney's California Adventure, where we were lucky enough to ride the famous Cars ride 4 times with very minimal wait, we had dinner and got to bed early! It was a great first day in California! The weather was perfect! We were so excited about our up coming races!!

We woke up super early (thanks to the time zone change!) and got ready for our 5k!! Getting to this race would be our longest walk (the start and finish of the 10k and 1/2 were directly across the street from our hotel!!), as it started right on Main Street in Disneyland! We walked just over a mile to the start, but it was so magical!! The walk through Downtown Disney was full of twinkle lights and excited runners!! Once we got into the park, it was amazing!! The castle was all dressed up with lights, and the DJ was getting the crowd moving!

Thanks to our early wake up, we were RIGHT at the starting line!! There were no corrals assigned for this race, so it was pretty much first come, first serve! We were right up front, and got to watch the entire starting line show!! It was awesome! Tinkerbell flew through the sky around the castle (which was totally amazing!!!) and of course there were fireworks!!! It was very magical!! Such a different start than the Princess 5k, where you start in a parking lot! This had true Disney style!!! My favorite start of any race ever!!

With all the excitement, it wasn't a long time until the race started! I took off really fast!! It surprised me, at first, but then I remembered that I have been running on snow and ice for the last 3 months, and that running on clear roads was MUCH easier!! I was flying!

We ran past It's a Small World right away! It was so cute all lite up!! I was running so fast, that I actually caught up with my sister (that never happens!!) and she couldn't believe it!! Of course, she had to run faster than me, and she took off!!

As we looped thought the park and back-stage, it occurred to me that there was really no one running around me!! This was REALLy strange for a Disney race!! I was pretty much alone!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! I had clean roads, and was running though Disneyland all by myself!! The second thing I noticed was that were not very many character stops as I remember from the Princess 5k.

I did, however, make it a point to stop at every character and get my picture taken! It was great because there was no lines, or just one or two people in front of me!!

My time in Disneyland ended much too quick and I was off to Disney's California Adventures! I love this park!! It is so pretty! Still I was pretty much alone on the course, and I started to worry a little about being lost! lol!

Stopped again at all the character stops and kept my pace as I hit the finish line! I was overcome with joy when I saw my time! I had PRed AND stopped at all the character stops!! It was an awesome feeling!! I caught up with RunDisney's very own Carissa for a photo (she is so sweet!) and had a chance to finally meet @AccordingtoKelly who high fived me on my PR!! I was glowing!!




Overall this is my most favorite 5k ever! Such an amazing course (very limited time spent in the back-stage areas!)! Running through 2 parks, and having the starting line and the finish line actually IN the park was amazing!!

I had such an amazing time, and it was such a great start to this amazing weekend, I could barely wait for the 10k!!!!