I felt like the Expo was smaller than usual. I don't know if that is normal for Avengers or a function of this being the last runDisney California event for a while. When I got to the Expo around 4:15 or so last Friday, there was still plenty of merchandise available although I did snag the last Men's XL I Did It shirt for the half. There were plenty of race ornaments. I thought about getting one, but decided to think on it some more and wound up completely forgetting. I really like the backdrop they had for this race just outside the ballroom where runners and others could get their photos in front of the race themed backdrop. Light Side had this as well. Something I would like to see runDisney fold into the WDW races.
It felt really strange to me to be running just the half. I didn't quite know what to do with all the extra time on Friday night since I was not getting up for the 10K Saturday morning. As much as I love Disney 10Ks, I think choosing the half only on just 3 weeks of training was the right decision.
Now for race day itself. The more I run the more I come to know that some training sessions are just more difficult than others. In the midst of those days, I've wondered what it will be like if that ever comes during a race itself. Well, I think I know how that feels now. Between only 3 weeks training and sinus congestion, I wasn't feeling my strongest. I knew that my training was good enough to finish, but I wondered what race day would be like. I've come to understand that so much of training is to prepare your body for race day itself. I did get a few photo ops in, which I was happy about. The collectors fortress cages over in Hollywoodland, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, and Black Widow. I also stopped for a photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Christmas tree. I did have a scary coughing spell over by Paradise Pier, but survived it. I learned from that to take a swig of my drink to keep my throat wet
before it gets too dry.
I was happy with my times in the park. I did have a 20 minute mile, but that included 2 photo stops and the aforementioned coughing spell, so I wasn't too worried. For whatever reason, I went really slow after leaving the parks. I think I settled for don't fear my time, fear the balloon ladies a little bit too much and managed to turn in another 20 minute mile, although that may have actually included the photo stop with Black Widow and the Christmas tree. Maybe it wasn't such a rough mile after all. Either way, I picked my pace back up to roughly 15 minutes give or take per mile, which I know is good enough.
For anyone who fears the sweepers, just monitor your rough time from mile marker to mile marker. If you're running roughly 15 minute miles each time, then you're fairly safe. The miles stretched on, but soon enough came Angels Stadium. At 10.5 miles, I knew that I was in the home stretch. I told myself that I had one more training session to go, the approximate distance I had just run the Wednesday before and I would finish. The long runs always seems a little bit harder each time as I build up mileage, so I worried about how this one would go with that last build up being required to push me across the finish line. I also pretended that it was really April and I was on the home stretch of Dark Side after an insanely busy time at work. This helped me push through.
I felt like the water stops were good, though maybe not as enthusiastic as I'd seen at prior
Disneyland races. I appreciated the on course entertainment as well and was very excited to see a single Star Wars cosplayer by the MousePlanet cheer station. Woo hoo! In some ways, this was perhaps my most emotional finish because of the 3 week training.
Takeaways from training for and running a half in just 3 weeks as a 3 hour plus half marathon runner. As long you can more or less successfully start off a 5 mile run at race pace, it's possible, but far from ideal. At about the time I normally start to try and increase my speed, I was also attempting to incorporate a half marathon into that mix. My goal was to finish which I did. At the same time, I heard about some elements of the 10K (bifrost tunnel) that I would have loved to have seen. Given how challenging the early few miles of the half were, I believe that signing up for the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge on just 3 weeks training would have been too much. Still, I accomplished my primary goal which was to finish and hit some stretch goals of character photos.