Tag: Dumbo Double Dare

Dumbo Double Dare 2013: The 10K
This morning I was up before 4 a.m. to get ready for the first leg of the Dumbo Double Dare, the inaugural Disneyland 10K.    I tend to be a morning person anyway so this didn’t throw me off much — I think I prefer this to night races, at least that’s been my experience so far.

I’ve been watching the weather forecast for a while, and I have to say, if accuracy in forecasting matters I’m not sure how any of these meteorologists stay employed.   Every day for at least a week, the temperature has been significantly above forecast — 99 on a day where 90 was the forecast high, for example.

The forecast for this morning was about 73 degrees, and one of the first things i did when I got up was check the temperature.   81.   Well, it’s not going to be a PR day, that’s for sure; and visions of the Tower of Terror race came back to me.    (Actually, this is my third runDisney race — Tower of Terror 2012, WDW Half 2013, and now Disneyland Half 2013, and all 3 have been “unseasonably warm”.    I hope things balance out and give me 40 degree temps for the Wine & Dine half in November, that would be spectacular.

The bus service was a pleasant surprise — I’d asked drivers a few times over the past few days where the bus stops were going to be, and they were not really sure, which made me a bit nervous.   But when I got downstairs, there was a prominent runDisney sign in the lobby indicating our pick-up was in front of the Embassy Suites (right next door).   So I walked over and joined about 8 people already waiting; we had a full busload of 25+ by the time the bus pulled up 10 to 15 minutes later.

Our dropoff was about half a mile from the starting corrals — a nice stretch and warm up pre-race, but I suspected it would seem far longer after.   (Actually, not too bad today, but the real test comes tomorrow).

The Disneyland 5K ran before our 10K started, so they sent the 5K runners ahead to the corrals while the 10K runners were held in a pre-race staging area, with entertainment, water, backdrops to have photos taken, and tents sent up by various charities and race sponsors.   I stayed near the water tables to get extra fluids in me, the high temp and high humidity combination made me want to make sure I was hydrated, even though that probably meant I’d be making a pit stop along the way.

Pre/Post-race assembly area

Pre-race entertainment

Follow Mickey to the starting corrals

The 5Kers took off – I heard they were a bit late starting but I hadn’t memorized the schedule so I didn’t notice the discrepancy.   We then made our way over to the corrals.   I was in corral G and honestly — I never saw it.   I saw balloons for D, E, and F   (A, B, and C were off in a different direction) and started making my way to the back of F where G was supposed to be.   I never saw it, but eventually started seeing G bibs mixed in with the Fs so I just merged my way into the crowd.    By this time the early corrals had already begun running so we started surging forward to get to the start.

I started my Garmin at 6:37 a.m. so that’s when my section of the mob was crossing the start.   Sunrise has been just a few minutes earlier, the temp had dropped a few degrees (79 now) but was still uncomfortable.

Our first two miles was on surface street. We started on Disneyland Drive next to the Disneyland Hotel, and proceeded south.   We crossed Katella and turned left to run in front of the convention center, where the D23 Expo banners were still hanging.

I had a run-walk strategy of run 20 seconds, walk 40, which was slower (more walking) than the ratio I’ve used in past races.   But I thought it would give me a better chance of finishing strong.   As it turned out, the race was just too congested for any sort of strategy other than run when there’s pavement in front of you, walk when there are people in front of you.   I tried to avoid doing too much running side-to-side, but occasionally when there was obviously clear space ahead I’d occasionally make a detour to the side to get around a slower group.

We continued down Convention Way to Harbor, and made the left to take us toward the parks.    We entered Disney’s California Adventure through Cars Land.    Mater and Lightning McQueen were out for photos.    Disney employees waved us ahead with checkered flags — I appreciated the well-themed encouragement.    Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree was whirling to add a little fun and background music to the run.   For some reason I missed getting pictures of any of this, but here are a few backstage shots as we headed into DCA.

Coming into DCA

The back side of rock

From there we continued onto Paradise Pier, and made a big loop of the lagoon.   The World of Color show was going … obviously it loses a lot during the daylight, but I loved running to the music and enjoyed glancing over at the fountains.   I saw the first race photographer of the morning along here but I’m not sure if he got me.   Mickey’s Fun Wheel was also going — in both parks, a few rides were operating (riderless) just to add a little kinetic energy to those of us who were losing ours.

A loop around the west side of the park brought us to Mile 3, just in front of Soaring Over California.    We continued across in front of Carthay Circle and headed down toward Tower of Terror, where we exited the park.

Here we descended and ran through a tunnel I didn’t know existed — I’m not sure exactly where it’s located but it seems it must be running under the shuttle bus drop-off area at the East end of the Esplanade.   Coming back up, we were in backstage areas surrounding Disneyland — I saw Cast Scheduling and Cast Costuming buildings, along with others that weren’t as prominently labeled.    We went from backstage to the Esplanade, through an open gate, and then under the train tracks onto Main Street USA.

Head toward the light

Cast Costuming, Cast Scheduling buildings

This is starting to look familiar

Running down Main Street was obviously a highlight so I stopped for a few pictures, then made the turn into Tomorrowland and continued around to it’s a small world.   From here we went backstage again, and passed a succession of interesting areas — vehicle maintenance, parade floats, seeing the backside of various areas such as ToonTown, etc.    At this point I checked my timing and realized I had enough of a buffer that I didn’t need to fear the sweepers … so I started taking more pictures, talking to those around me more, and just enjoying the morning walk.    I’d still take off at a jog when there was clear space in front of me, but that wasn’t happening all that often.

Main Street USA

Train Roundhouse and Monorail Barn — all 4 trains were visible but this photo really only captured one.

A nice display put on by costuming shop

Loved seeing vehicles awaiting maintenance.

Doom buggies

Bobsled

More bobsleds

Parade floats

Makeshift petting zoo

Custodial employees lined the backstage route to cheer us on. Now I want to go back and pick up that water cup I dropped.

Behind Mickey’s Toontown

Mickey’s Toontown backdrop

We came back onstage into Mickey’s Toontown and made our way through Fantasyland. Dumbo was running, appropriately. Of course, getting a picture running through the castle is one of the great shots everyone hopes to get, but I think after some couple decided to quite literally jump in front of me and mug for the race photographer’s camera I probably missed that opportunity.

We headed through Frontierland and then were backstage again .. I remember seeing what I assume is an employee commissary and Imagineering, as well as the back side of Indiana Jones.   We then came out into Downtown Disney for our final mile (or so).    A lot of the early finishers had made their way back here to cheer on those of us bringing up the rear, and with that motivation I did a bit more running along this last mile than I’d done for miles 4 and 5.    When I turned the corner past the ESPN Zone, I could see the finish line, and kept my slow jog going until I crossed the timing mat.

From the finish, we were herded through the finisher chutes where we picked up first our medals, then Dumbo wristbands for those racing again tomorrow, then water.   Race photographers were there to take pictures with the medals, the lines were a bit long but I felt it was worth the wait.   Then we picked up our runner refreshment boxes and were turned loose into the wild to reunite with family and friends.    I’m solo on this trip and while I know several other people who were running today, I hadn’t made any plans to meet up with them. So I decided that heading back to the hotel for a shower and some rest was the way to go … and then see what I felt like after that.

A few hours of rest and I made my way back to Disneyland, wearing my 10K race shirt and finisher’s medal.   I hadn’t checked out the photo ops available in Fantasy Faire before, so I thought this would be the perfect time.    I got pictures with Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora, took in a few rides, and then decided to head back to the hotel again rather than spending more time on my feet.

10K Finisher’s Medal

10K Finisher’s Medal and ribbon

I’m very happy with today’s result — and more than a little worried about tomorrow’s.   It’s supposed to be cooler, but I have zero faith in the forecasters on that.   We are scheduled for an earlier start and that will also help with the heat and humidity.    I think I will again start by trying to do 20:40 intervals, although in the early going it’s quite likely there won’t be space enough to stick to any predetermined pattern.

Should be an interesting, and challenging, morning.   Looking forward to it!

Related articles
- Disneyland Half Marathon and 10k Courses Are Here! (lifelaugheatrun.wordpress.com)
- DDD Race Goals (prairieprincessrunners.wordpress.com)
August 31, 2013
Dumbo Double Dare 2013: Race Expo

I started off 2013 by running in the WDW Half-Marathon in January.    I knew that if I completed that (it was my first run of that length), that I would than want to do the Disneyland Half over Labor Day weekend, as completing both of these in the same calendar year earns the Coast to Coast medal.

Injuries prevented me from training for the WDW Half the way I intended, but I did complete the race, and so set my sights on DL.

But wait — there’s more!   runDisney announced that this year, in addition to the half-marathon, there would also be a 10K race added to the weekend lineup.    And, if you chose to run both the 10K and the half-marathon back-to-back (the 10K on Saturday and the half on Sunday), then this earns you the special Dumbo Double Dare medal.

My initial thought was that, with only a single half-marathon under my belt, running a 10K and half back-to-back was something that could wait.    But then a friend pointed out that you only get one chance to run an Inaugural event — and this would be two, the inaugural 10K and the inaugural Dumbo Double Dare.    So when registration opened up, I jumped right on it … which was a good thing, as the Dumbo was sold out in just a few hours after registration opened.

The Expo

Notice how I conveniently skip over all the training and preparation.    Just like I did I real life.     (That’s not entirely true, but my longest long run coming in to the weekend is a little over 10 miles in July.    After that, things got hectic with buying and selling houses, preparing for a cross-country move, attending the D23 Expo, and miscellaneous other things that always seemed to be more compelling than going for a run).

Friday August 30th was Expo day.    The only must-do task for the day is simply to pick up a race bib.    But like many (perhaps most) people on Friday, I wanted to hit the Expo (merchandise area) before the registration — after all, they aren’t going to give my race bib away to someone else, but someone else could grab the last limited-edition runDisney shirt if I didn’t get there early.

Just about everyone I’ve talked to, or seen post online, agrees — the Expo was a disaster.    I’m not sure how, given that runDisney knows exactly how many registrations were sold, they could be so completely unprepared for the crowd that appeared this morning.     Maybe they thought the crowd would spread out over the two-day expo — but by their history of constantly running short of high-demand items, they have guaranteed that everyone who can is going to show up at opening before the merchandise is gone.   And this fustercluck will only reinforce that behavior for the next Expo.

The lines were disorganized — ask where the end of the line was, and you’d frequently get people pointing off in opposite directions.   The merchandise line and registration line were jammed together so it was difficult to discern which was which.    Nearly all of the line was outdoors in full sun, and it was quite hot.

I lined up nearly an hour before the Expo opened, so I was in pretty good shape.   After we were admitted to the Expo hall, I made my selections fairly quickly and proceeded to get into the checkout line — which was comically poorly thought out.    After switching back and forth a few times, the line outgrew its designated area, and extended across the show floor.   Now, all the people trying to get into the hall to shop had to cross the checkout line to do so — really poorly planned.   An area was set up for speakers right in the middle of the floor, as if someone tried to locate the most inconvenient place for it and was successful.   The checkout line crossed this area as well, leading to complaints from people trying to see and hear the speakers that the line was noisy and distracting.

Getting in early meant I made it through checkout in about half an hour.   In the early afternoon I heard the line was over two hours, and at some point they actually closed the shopping floor to allow the cashiers to work through the backlog of people trying to check out.

A lot of this stuff could have been put online ahead of time rather than turning the expo into a free-for-all like your worst Black Friday nightmare.   The lines could have been sized appropriately and laid out more intelligently.   Limits could be put on purchases — I saw many, many people heading to the checkout with armloads of shirts.    I mean, they’re really nice shirts and all, but nobody needs 10 of them.     If the shirts, pins, hats, and other merchandise was made available online for purchase, runDisney would probably sell far more of it, and pocket quite a bit more money.   There would then be no reason for the eBay resellers to clog the expo buying up dozens of items for resale, and it would turn into a better experience for everyone.

So, roughly 90 minutes of standing in line (to get into the expo and to make purchases), and I have a few shirts to show for it.   I still haven’t done the only must-do task for today, which is pick up the bib, so I head to that line next.    While I was in the Expo the lines have grown, and the organization of the lines has descended into chaos.   I got into the line I was directed into, only to have it stopped cold while some other line was merged in and went ahead of us.    Someone in front of me was livid, insisting the people in our line had been waiting longer, but having just gotten in the line myself I have no idea if that was true.   (I certainly hadn’t been waiting long at this point).     I didn’t time it, but I’m sure I spent less than an hour in the registration line.   Probably not a lot less, though.

Once the line actually made its way to the actual registration area, things started to hum along more smoothly.   The single registration line fed into dozens of individual lines — first you head in the general direction of your event (5K, 10K, Half, or Dumbo), and then once you’re in the right area, there are different registration lines based on your bib number.    (If you followed instructions and printed out your waiver ahead of time, then you had your bib number … if you didn’t, then you went to the penalty box in the middle where workstations were provided for you to print out and sign your waiver, then head off to the appropriate line).

After this, still not done.   Now the line leads out of the registration area, and back into the Expo hall … this time to pick up race shirts.   Fortunately this area of the hall was nothing at all like the runDisney retail area — it was organized and moving quickly.    Once again you sorted yourself out based by event, and then again by shirt size.   Once I found my line there were only about 10 people ahead of me, after less than 5 minutes I had a bag (that I’ll use at the bag check if I have anything to check at the races) with all 3 of my shirts (10K, Half-Marathon, and Dumbo).

I’m excited for the upcoming runs, but the debacle of the expo is not getting the weekend started off in an appropriately magical way.   I’m glad I went early as it seemed to only go downhill through most of the morning.    Reports indicated that the registration lines weren’t nearly as bad later in the afternoon, but I didn’t hear whether the expo merchandise area ever recovered after their afternoon shutdown.

August 30, 2013
I love it when a plan comes together

Sometimes the stars align just so, and something magical happens.    This may just be one of those times in my life.

Almost a year ago, tickets went on sale for the 2013 D23 Expo.   Since I’m planning on writing a lot more about the Expo over the next 3 weeks, I won’t go into anything about it here, other than to say buying the tickets put a stake in the ground as far as my schedule … I knew exactly where I was going to be on August 9-11 of 2013.

I bought those Expo tickets while I was training for my first ever runDisney race, and my first run over 5K – the Tower of Terror 10 miler, in late September of 2012.   That race led me to try another — the WDW Half Marathon in January 2013 — and that in turn led me to sign up for back-to-back races over the upcoming Labor Day weekend — the inaugural Disneyland 10K on August 31st, followed by the Disneyland Half Marathon on September 1st.   (The two races together comprise the Dumbo Double Dare challenge, and doing the Disneyland Half during the same calendar year as the WDW Half earns me the Coast-to-Coast Challenge medal, so I’ll be sporting some serious bling come Labor Day.    I hope I can stand up!

That’s another topic for future posts, but once again, I’ve got a firm schedule commitment, again in Anaheim, this time for Labor Day weekend.

Now, at the same time I’m making all these plans for Anaheim, I’m also thinking about a cross-country move — to get closer to family and friends, primarily.   It’s an idea I’ve been kicking around for several years, but with real estate in the tank recently it wasn’t feasible to sell my house for enough to make it worthwhile.    But recent recoveries in the market changed the equation … I talked to my Realtor and we decided to give it a shot.   The house went on the market, and 8 days later it was under contract.    The market was stronger than I realized.

I followed this up with a trip to Atlanta, I called it a house hunting trip but honestly I would have been satisfied just to eliminate a few areas from consideration and narrow the focus somewhat.   Finding neighborhoods, and not necessarily “the” house, was my goal.    But again, things went better than expected, and by the end of last week I was under contract on a house there.

Now is when the timing falls into place beautifully.   I need to be out of my house here in early August, but the house I just purchased is under construction and will not be ready until mid-September.     So I’m homeless for most of the month of August.     But, I do have a few prior commitments in Anaheim … so you can probably see where this is going.

Early in August, the movers will come in, pack up my house, and roll away.    I’ll board a flight for Anaheim and enjoy the D23 Expo.   And then …. I’ll stay.    My job affords me the luxury of working from anywhere I can get an internet connection, so it’s not (exactly) an extended vacation.    I’m hoping to find a nice coffee shop or similar location to use as my office for nearly four weeks, while every evening is a chance to enjoy the Disneyland Resort at a leisurely pace I’ve never experienced.   I’ll need to keep up my training … a lap around the resort perimeter is just about the length of my daily runs, anyway, so that shouldn’t present much of a problem.   After the Dumbo Double Dare on Labor Day weekend, I’ll fly to Atlanta, where I’ll stay with family for the last couple of weeks before moving in to my new home.

I’m really looking forward to living — however briefly — in Anaheim.    The Expo should be amazing, I’m hoping just to finish the races upright, and the time in between should be a great chance to get to know every little nook and cranny of the Disneyland resort.

So, Disneyland friends — any suggestions?    Where’s a great place to set up with a laptop and get work done while still being part of the magic?   What are the places to see and things to do when you’ve got more than just a couple of days to run through the parks?    Anything else you’d recommend for a short-term Anaheim area resident to make sure not to miss?

July 22, 2013