Anticipation and Race Day

So Saturday morning we woke up REALLY early in order to make our 7:30am flight. Ray made us a wonderful breakfast and we ate and ran. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to check in and get through security. We were sitting in the waiting area with an entire plane full of BYU fans headed on a flight to Denver. (We were glad not to be on their flight).

The flight was pretty uneventful. My mom and dad were there at the airport to pick us up. We drove out to the hotel and then walked over to Disneyland! I love Disneyland. I think it is some kind of genetic defect that affects many people in my family, but I just get happy when I get to the park. We quickly gathered fast passes and rode a few rides before the crowds get too big. We made it across to the California Adventure side also. I really enjoy the new Toy Story ride. I am not very good at it, but I like the interaction. Fun Fun Fun!

We went back for a lunch/dinner break in the late afternoon and Matt and I crashed for a nap. We had been up early and it caught up with us. Mom, Dad and Val went back to Disneyland for a few hours while we hit the pool and just relaxed and tried to get ready (mentally) for the half marathon.

That night we “carbo loaded” on pizza and then we all went to bed.

Sunday!

The day of the race!

The alarm went off at 4am and we all got dressed and ready to go. It took a while for all of us to get our stuff together and head out the door. We walked about a mile to get to the starting line or “corrals”. There were so many people there it was crazy. Since Val had participated last year, she was in corral C while Dad, Matt and I were in E. There were probably about 2,000 people in each corral and there were A-G. We ended up in the back of our corral, which was nice because we didn’t have to push through people. Matt and my dad headed off running and I walked along. Eventually I caught up with Matt when he stopped to take a walking break and we stuck together for a while. I had this big smile on my face as we weaved through DCA and over to Disneyland. There were a few narrow places that slowed everyone down, but not too badly. There were Disney characters and floats from the parade. Lots of fun.

We went out an exit behind Splash Mountain and headed into backstage Disney. We went past the horse stables and a few other places and then out onto the open road. On the road we were greeted by school bands and cheerleaders, as well as some Spanish and Hawaiian dancers. Some of the areas out here got a little boring and I kind of wished I had my ipod. I was totally loving the low altitude and the crazy amounts of oxygen they have down there.

One of the highlights was running through Angel Stadium. We ran in and were greeted by a bunch of cheering boy and girl scouts. We were on the big screen and I know I was happy that a lot of the scouts were squirting the runners with water and misters. That felt nice.

It was about this time (mile 10 – 11 ) that the sun burned through the marine layer and it started to get hot! I must have started to look like I was too hot because more and more cheerleaders were reading my name off my bib and shouting encouragement to me. We came around the corner and back into DCA. More characters and cast members were there to give some last minute encouragement. I tried to pick up the pace a little here, but I was still walking. It was only in the last 100 yards or so when I was in view of the finish line that I ran across the finish. I was done! I finished my first half marathon.