We’re now at the Main Event!! Well, yeah…the Main Event!
The runDisney Inaugural Dumbo Double Dare
Bright and early Saturday morning, it was time to head out to the start of this fantastic event! There was no costume involved, just a Sparkle Athletic skirt and a white tank. Oh, and Mickey Mouse ears of course!
The hike into the corrals was kind of a mess due to the fact that the Family 5K had the same starting line and had only started 15 minutes earlier and those folks were still clearing the corrals! So…”be in the corral by 5:45” turned into “just get in your corral NOW”!!! Good thing that I stopped for a bite to eat on my way to the start!
I will confess here that even though my bib said…F…I jumped into a corral with a bunch of …Es. I have never jumped corrals before. Trust me, it didn’t make me faster 🙂
Eventually the Start ‘gun’ went off and the corrals started slowing heading to the starting line.
The course started out on the streets of Anaheim before heading into Disney’s California Adventure – entering through CarsLand (my favorite!!) then headed through Paradise Pier and into Grizzly Peaks (home of one of my favorite rides – Grizzly River Rapids) out through Condor Flats, Buena Vista Street through Hollywoodland and going back out into the real world for a bit.
We were now a bit more than halfway through. And it was HOT. Hot and humid. There had been a water stop around mile one, but nothing since – we had been told “the water fountains in the parks are available”…um…anyway! There was a water stop coming up though!!
Cutting back into the concourse between the parks we headed into the Magic Kingdom. Walt’s first park! As always it was very exciting to run up Main Street USA – huge crowds were waiting there too! A loop took us through Tomorrowland and back towards Mickey’s Toon Town. A detour backstage took us through Disneyland’s Custodial services area where there are always lots of people out to cheer us on – they hang signs welcoming us to their area!!
Back in through Toon Town towards Fantasyland and…THE CASTLE!! Now, I’ve run through the two Disney Castles a LOT this year..and not once have I managed to get a picture of it!! One Day…
Anyway, with less than a mile to go we head through Frontierland and then back out towards the Disneyland Hotel and the finish line! And, I don’t always keep exact track, but I think this might have been my best 10K time in a very long time!!
In spite of the heat I had a great run! I topped it off by heading DIRECTLY to Grizzly River Rapids for a few turns through to cool off!! Learned you don’t get as wet when there are fewer people in the boats! Met a little boy in line at Soarin’ too, who was getting ready to run the Kids’ races and he was very excited that he was going to get a medal “like [mine]”!!
Really, coming up next is the Disneyland Half Marathon Recap you’ve been waiting for!!
Related articles
- Race Report: @runDisney presents: #DumboDoubleDare (irunonwater.net)
- Race Recap Part 3: 2013 Dumbo Double Dare Disneyland Half Marathon (prairieprincessrunners.wordpress.com)
- 2013 Disneyland Half Marathon/Dumbo Double Dare Weekend Part 1 (lifelaugheatrun.wordpress.com)
- Race Recap & Review: Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare (halfmarathonorbust.wordpress.com)
outrunningthefork 
Thanks for the link up to my recap! :).
Hope you don’t mind 🙂 I love your recaps!
I totally don’t mind–quite the opposite–I am completely honored! :).
I was more disappointed during the half that the first water stop was not until nearly mile TWO! After standing around forever and hearing the experts telling us to hydrate, it seemed cruel to make us go out on such a hot day without water for over an hour (factoring in waiting in the corrals and waiting for my corral to start).
Enjoy the cooler weather.
You too!! That was my biggest disappointment on Saturday, the lack of water! Though, they really should have had more water available sooner on Sunday too.