On Running the Disney 1/2 Marathon: From A Professional Disney Lover

I like to think of myself as a professional lover of all things Disney, so when I heard about the races that are put on by Disney, I had to sign up.

It was spring break when I decided I was going to do The Avengers Half Marathon. I got online the morning they started selling tickets and they were selling like crazy! I called my friend, Molly, to force her to do the race with me but she wouldn’t pick up. As the number of participants increased, leaving fewer spots available, I stared at my phone awaiting Molly’s text or phone call. I broke out in a nervous sweat, my eyes glued to the screen.

My phone began to buzz. My hands fumbled with my phone as I attempted to quickly answer. I had forgotten that Molly was vacationing in Hawaii, and because of the time difference, I woke her up. Not really sorry, I suckered her into doing the race with me. Her grogginess was on my side, as she couldn’t really think straight about all the money she was going to have throw down for this trip.

She would later find out (she claims I never told her) that the cost of the marathon tickets did not include park tickets, only a slightly discounted price.

First lesson learned: Research the race you are doing before signing up. Know how much money it is going to end up costing, and how fast tickets sell out for it.

The race was on November 16, so I had a little less than 8 months to prepare. 13.1 miles: piece of cake. I played soccer when I was younger. That has to count for something…

As I started running, I realized it was not an easy feat. I couldn’t even run a mile on my first run. I gradually built myself up to be able to run three miles consistently over summer. By then, it was August and I knew I had to kick it into high gear. I had three months left and knew that I could do better. Before going on my trip to Europe at the end of summer, I was up to four miles.

By the time I got to school, I got bogged down with assignments. With having such a long break from working out when I went to Europe, I wasn’t as motivated to hit the gym. It was also so much farther from my home now that I wasn’t living in the redbrick dorms. Of course, none of these are very good excuses, but I just couldn’t get myself to go to the gym the first week of school. Because of this, the day I did go back was pretty bad. With such a long break, I did not run as well. I got fatigued more quickly and just felt sluggish.

Second lesson learned: Make time for training. You signed up for this race and need to dedicate yourself.

Finally, it was the week before the big race. I didn’t feel at all prepared. I hadn’t tried to run farther than 4 miles and just kept reassuring myself that I would be able to run farther if I was running through Disneyland and California Adventure. This race was technically for fun, but I kind of let myself down by not training harder.

We ended up going to Disneyland on Friday and taking a break Saturday. I was happy about this decision, because my feet were sore just from walking around the parks and Saturday gave them time to rest.

On Saturday night, we got a hotel room so we didn’t have to sleep on my friend’s apartment floor the night before the race. Fighting back the tears, we set our alarms for 3:40 a.m. and tried to act like that was a totally normal time to wake up in the morning. It wasn’t too hard waking up that early, probably because I never went into a deep sleep from being so nervous about the race. We got to our corral at about 5:00 a.m. A lot of people were in costumes, mostly themed after Marvel super heroes; a lot of people went all out. We saw some Lokis, a few Black Widows and a lot of Captain Americas. Captain Americas in athletic gear? Yes please.  

Third lesson learned: If you are doing a themed race, dress up!

We ran four miles straight, mostly through Disneyland and California Adventure. We stopped once during that portion to take a picture with the dwarfs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sitting on the lit up carousel. Everything was beautiful in the parks; it was still dark and everything was lit up. All the Christmas decorations were up and it was (cue the cheesy Disney girl in me) MAGICAL. They also had Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Thor available for pictures, but the lines were very long so we (regrettably) passed.

Once we were out of the parks it was a long haul through LA to the Angels Stadium. It was very windy and dirt kept flying up in our faces. They had local high school bands and cheerleaders in different sections of the race, and that really kept me going. Nothing like a bunch of 15-year-old girls shouting in your face.

We ran all the way through the last two miles because we wanted to end strong. I have never run slower in my life. On any given day, I probably could have walked faster than I was running. I just kept thinking about the cinnamon roll that was waiting for me in the park.

When we passed the finish line, my legs had never felt so unstable. They were shaking and all I could think about was sitting down. Before we could relax, we had to wait to get our medals and try to find the bus back to our hotel.

Fourth lesson learned: It is a long walk back to where the buses are, so be mentally prepared and keep the thoughts of chopping your legs off to a minimum.

After getting back to the hotel, showering and relaxing for a bit, I felt completely revitalized. I was pumped up because we were going to the parks again and that cinnamon roll was calling my name, but by the time 6 o’clock rolled around, I wanted to collapse into a puddle of churros and Minnie ears. I felt like an old woman the way I was walking around. Molly and I powered through and tried to do as many rides as possible, but we did not last very long.

Fifth lesson learned: Disneyland is worth it. Tell your legs to shut up.

Would I do some things differently next time? Yes. I want to start training for another race and really do it right this time. That means setting up a training schedule and really sticking to it. This half marathon was definitely the hardest thing, physically, I have ever done. It was also the most fun I’ve had running.

Would I do this race again? Duh. Especially if Captain America is there!