Tinker Bell Half Marathon Recap

I set out all the things I needed for the race the night before.

Fairy tutus. Check.

I filled my hydration belt with water. Ipod fully charged.

My wake-up call the morning of the race was 4am. We had to be at the starting line and at our corral at 4:30am. I live close so it didn’t take long to get to our corral.

The starting line was in front of Paradise Pier hotel.

I was chilly at first so I used all our tutus as my scarf.  The husband dropped us at starting line so we had plenty of time to stretch and take pictures.

The race started right on time at 5:45am. There were a lot of excitement and festivities at the starting line.

Time to Go Go Go!

We ran Mile 1 around the parking structure and was surprised to see a slight hill so soon.

Miles 2-5 was inside Disneyland. The part I was looking forward to the most.

We ran thru the backlot area first, then inside the park.

A lot of the characters were out supporting the runners and there were plenty of opportunities to take pictures with them too.

Happy times running thru the castle.

We were so excited and were fully distracted with our surroundings at the beginning of the race that we barely noticed that we have been running for 5 miles.  We were having so much fun.

After we exited the park, we ran thru the shops and restaurants at Downtown Disney.

During miles 5-10, we ran around the Anaheim downtown area.

I actually have not been around this area for a long time so it was fun to see all the changes and new shops that opened up.

There were plenty of local support too, local bands and dance groups were    entertaining us near the mile markers

This guy was live on the radio the whole time he was running.

At mile 8, Cher and I shared a packet of Gu. I love this chocolate flavor.

Then I started chanting in my head “I Tink I can, I Tink I can!!”.

Towards the end of Mile 10, my legs were starting to feel heavy. I haven’t taken any walking break yets and I was getting tired. But the street entertainment distracted me from my own thoughts.

Hula girls and the Army band gave me the needed boost too.

At Mile 11, I started alternating running and walking for 30 second intervals.

As we entered California Adventures Park, I knew were getting close to the end so I picked up my legs and starting running again.

We did it!

We received our beautiful medals at the finish line.

I made sure to  stretch and put ice on my knees afterwards. I also ate banana and protein bar while Cher and I waited for the rest of our friends to finish.

This was the first time I ran a half marathon race with friends and it was so much fun. I hope to run more races like these in the future.