Avengers Half Marathon

One week after the Ragnar Relay I had a Disneyland Half Marathon that I had signed up for. It was an Avengers Half Marathon so I had to get myself a Hulk T Shirt. I apologize for the copyright marks all over my picture but I didn't have a picture of myself running so I swiped this one off the internet.

I wouldn't normally do a Disney Marathon but Justin and I had run the one in January at Disney World and if we did a Disneyland race in the same calendar year we got a fancy "Coast to Coast" medal as well. How could I pass up a free medal? Justin's friend Matt ran both races with us as well.

Disney knows how to make a big production. Here is Justin and I at the starting line. They had a big show going on. It was quite exciting.

Phil Cheung also signed up for the race. Justin, Matt and I showed up the night before and stayed in a Motel. I had to get up far too early as it was and I didn't want to get up any earlier than I had to. Phil chose to sleep in his own bed and drive up the morning of the race. I met him at the starting line.

Some how Justin, Matt and Phil ended up in Corals D & G. Even though I am the slowest of them all I was in Coral B. That gave me a twenty minute head start over them all.

There is nothing like the feeling at the starting line. Your adrenaline is high and you hear the count down going and you're feeling strong and ready to run. I love it. This was my first half marathon also and it is totally different than a marathon. At the marathon I was quite nervous because 26.2 miles is a long way. I was worried about how I would do. After two of those a half marathon was no big deal. I knew I wouldn't be fast but I also knew that it would be relatively easy.

The way I trained for the half marathon was I ran a half marathon every Saturday for two months before the race. I was ready.

The course started out running through the park. It was a lot of fun running past all of the rides.

I fully expected that we would get to run through Cinderellas castle. After all, we ran through it during the marathon in Florida. I took this picture of it along the way but we didn't get to go through it. I suspect that the path is too small and it would be a congestion point. It was quite early in the race and people were still bunched up. It was quite frustrating trying to get past all of the slow people. Yes, there were several hundred people slower than me. Here you are in the middle of a race and you have to walk because the people in front of you are walking.

Finally I was able to get past all the slow people and it was smooth sailing.

Somewhere around mile seven Justin caught up to me and we took a quick picture of the two of us. I was reluctant to post this picture because I look quite stunned. I suppose it was an accurate picture however because that is about how I felt. Actually I felt pretty good but I was in the middle of a run. 

 

Shortly after that I saw the Angels "A" in the distance. I knew we would be running through the stadium. It was shortly after this picture that Lisa sent me a text telling me to quite stopping to take pictures and go for a PR. I had been sending updates along the way. I wanted to have fun since I was sick when I ran the marathon in January and I thought I was dying during the run.

And before I knew it I was in the parking lot. 

And then I was running across home plate. The picture in the park was taken right next to home plate. 

And the next thing I knew I was receiving my two medals. Matt and Phil never did catch up to me. Matt because he had a sore ankle and Phil because he likes to stop and take pictures with all of the Disney characters.

In case you can't tell, Phil is dressed as Hawk-eye. While that costume probably felt nice and warm at the start of the race when we were all freezing, it had to have been miserable during the race. Once I got going I had no problem staying warm but I would have been way too hot dressed like that.

I am not sure why that guys bum is in my picture. 

I have decided that I love to run half marathons. They are fun and easy. The only problem with a marathon is that I have to spend at least seven or eight hours a week training for it and that is far too disruptive in my life.

--------------------trivia----------------------

The last time the Cubs won the world series, 

Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico were not yet states.

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