Heres a little (long on photos) re-cap of our Disneyland 10K! It was pretty amazing!!
We arrived before the sun was up, and it was HOT and muggy from the time we stepped out our door. It was in the 80's from about 5am. Crazy. We walked onto the Disneyland Resort grounds and there was Disney Radio type music playing all around instead of the normal Disney attraction atmosphere music. The area was full of runners headed to their places and meeting up with friends and family, and over the speakers was also announcements for us runners from the usual voice of Disneyland. It was exciting, and our adrenaline was rising! : )
(The below photo was walking to Downtown Disney area for the start. This was part of the 5K race that was before us)
The area where us 10Kers were waiting for the 5K racers to start and clear the race shoots. There was water stations, restrooms and music. It was a mix of energy and sleepyness, haha ; )
Almost time to line up!! My heart was racing a bit!
This race was HUGE! We were about half way between the people in the front and back of the line up!
In our paces, ready to tackle this race!!
(Thanks again for the pic Tiffany! <3 :="" p="">
Quick little video of the start! Wish I took more. Maybe next time : )
Run!!
There was confetti all over the ground from the start cannon, it was fun to run over!
Starting out was tough. There were so many people all packed together it took almost a mile for it to sort out and be able to run without being stopped a bit by the crowds. Which was fine for us, we weren't trying to be first or anything. : )
Such a beautiful morning we had!
Mile 1!!! I got so pumped after each mile marker! It really kept me going : )
Coming around from Harbor and the Convention Center into the back of DCA. Brody stayed with me the entire time, cheerfully cheering me on every sec! It meant the world to me for my first time at a race like this. : ) He's more than I ever could have hoped for!! <3 p="">
They had the World of Color fountains going for us, and some of the rides that having music and spin. It was an ADD runners dream!! So much to look at and distract you from the fact that you are running! haha.
Mile 3 with my love! : )
(the times are from when they said start, we were pretty far back so these times aren't OUR times) : )
I love this one. Brody running down Hollywood Land in DCA
There were SO many photo stops. We would just pause for a min and take our own. : )
Going into one of the tunnels backstage. This leads from between DCA backstage and comes out to the center between the parks.
It was pretty fun to run through a huge backstage tunnel! There was a spot where the AC was coming out full blast....I slowed down a bit there. haha
Water stations in Town Square DL. Very cool to be able to run down Main Street too.
Brody running down Main Street...we then turned down Tomorrowland and backstage behind Small World.
I LOVED seeing the train out! This was the same engine that we recently took a tender ride in, where you sit up with the engineers.
He was doing the whistle and it was steaming! So fun for us!
These next few are my favorites, backstage where you could see where they store props and ride vehicles. It was so cool!
California Screaming and Toon Town cars
Matterhorn and Haunted Mansion cars!
Christmas parade floats. All floats were on and music running...it was really fun!
At this point in the race I started to have some more trouble with panic and my breathing, and had to stop to speed walk a little more to get control of my berating. Again, Brody was nothing short of a life saver for me! : )
We got to see the stables!! I've always wondered about where they keep the horses and other animals. It was such a nice big area!
Some of the horses and there was a tiny cow...but he didn't make the photo. sorry. He was cute though.
Mile 5 in Fantasyland!! Almost there!!
Running through the castle with that view was awesome!
Such wonderful memories and triumphs were made this morning! : )
<3 p="">
There was a time between here and the photo below, that I had a really hard time. I felt like I just shut down and I felt like I was going to stop breathing and pass out (panic stuff), Brody gave me another great pep talk....and then from where we where backstage behind Splash Mountain heading toward the tram area...we could hear the cheers from the finish line, and I just started crying, and got another little wind of the right energy that was enough to finish!
MILE 6!!!!!!
FINISH LINE IN SIGHT!!!
Crossing the finish I lost it and was sobbing and then crying for about 10 mins after, haha. It was SUCH an amazing feeling to have accomplished that race, and I broke all my personal best times! All of them! It was very emotional, exciting and a feeling I will never forget! This was such a huge deal for me to finish!
Dealing with panic for many years now, working out was almost impossible with my symptoms, but at the same time, I was being told it was the best thing for me. It was tough not only physically, but more emotionally for me. I worked with my doctor on this for a very long time, took small steps, but felt a running goal like this would help a lot. I was able to work toward this day slowly, very slowly, and was able to do a 10K from barley being able to run/walk around the block at the start of it all. I can't even put into words how amazing the feeling was to accomplish this, it still makes me tear up typing out the accounts of the day. It's just amazing, so amazing! : )
Brody did awesome!!! This was his 2nd 10K (his 3rd will be this week Oct 24th) and I couldn't prouder of him as always! He showed no signs of being tired or slowing up, he probably could have finished in a killer time! But I am so happy that he stayed with me, it was such a cool experience to do together. : )
Isn't it beautiful?! : )
We got these boxes full of little snacks at the end, plus a banana and energy drink.
Then we headed right for one of our favorite places! The Denny's by our house. : )
Waiting for us at home, was a congratulations sign and nice cold drinks (which was perfect!!) from our cute little niece. : )
We headed inside to shower and get ready for the parks....but of course crashed and took nice long naps first! : )
Then hit the parks to celebrate!! : )
From a beautiful sunrise and the parks, to a beautiful sunset : )
When Pluto saw our metals, he gave us a HUGE hug! haha, I love this pic!!
From one of the areas we ran from backstage in DCA from : )
Whooo Hooo!!!!
Celebrating that night was SO fun!
On of my favorites : )
We thank everyone who supported us that day, it meant the world to us. This was a very, very special day, and I look forward to continuing runs with my everything! : )
