Avenger's Half Marathon

Ugh, I've been home sick for a couple days and it's beginning to grate on my nerves.  Fingers crossed that I'm better by tomorrow!  In the meantime, I figured I'd go ahead and get up my review of the Avenger's half marathon at Disneyland. 

As mentioned earlier, Disneyland has announced they won't be doing races for a while so I'm just concentrating on my own race experience.  I'm sure that if this race comes back, it will have significant differences.

I was nervous about this race because this was the first challenge experience I was doing.  I usually rest up the day before a race.  But I had just done the Thor 10k the day before as well as had a lot of walking around the parks.  I wasn't sure how things were going to go with my tired legs and feet.  But I also had no time goals and my plans for this race were solely to have a good time, and I was pretty committed to that goal.

Unlike the 10k, this wasn't all on Disney property.  It started out going through California Adventure, then through Disneyland, and then we were running through the streets of Anaheim by mile 4.  Just like the 10k, the parts through Disney property were great!  It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of photographers along the way.  I was also in Disneyland earlier then during the 10k so I got the see the lights on the castle better.

The backstage areas were also a little bit different and I loved the part where we ran by the stables and the horses were out for runners to see.  Sadly I didn't get a good picture but they were beautiful.  I did get some cool photo pass photos in the parks. I also loved the Avenger's theme they wove through this part, with cast members dressed up as Shield Agents.

But then we were out into the streets of Anaheim.  This area was a little bare.  I had heard in the past that Disney had worked with community groups to have more entertainment in this area such as cosplayers, antique cars, etc. but there wasn't any of that this year.  I heard it's because Disney used to offer a free park ticket to people for coming out but they didn't do that this year.  There were a couple DJs along the way but that seemed to be it.

But there were a couple spots with great crowd support!  There was a group dressed in pajamas and then another group dressed in costumes.  They both had fun signs and candy they were handing out.  It was definitely much appreciated.

 I did meet another runner during one of these spots.  We chatted with each other during miles 7 and 8 and that really helped out during this particular stretch of the race.  She was dressed as Ms. Marvel which was my 10k costume so we chatted about her and the importance of representation in comics, other races, cosplay, etc.

Then around mile 10, we hid Angels Stadium.  This was another fun part of the course since we got to run on the field and an announcer was calling out our names.  That part was also fun since it signified the last section of the course and heading back to the parks.

As you can see from my splits, I took it easy and had a good time during the race.  You can see that the slowest miles were 7 and 8 (where I was chatting with a new friend) and 10 (Angel Stadium).  I was happy to see that after mile 10, every mile was faster than the last! 

The lead up toward the finish was great.  There was a lot of cheering at this point.  There were various cheer leader groups from local schools, a DJ, a band, and crowds.  It was exciting and definitely pumped me up for the finish line.  I tried to jump at the finish line and got a super dorky photo :)

It was super organized afterwards.  We got our medals, the food box, water, a banana and there was a special diversion for people who were getting the challenge medal and coast to coast.  It was all very clear and well run.  There was also a separate line for people who wanted photos but the line seemed pretty long so I skipped that and went into the family area to meet up with Mike.

We hung out a bit while I ate some snacks from the box and then we went over to Downtown Disney for some breakfast.  After that, we went back to the hotel to clean up and nap.  We head back to the parks around noon or so I think.  And had a lot more fun!  I love that the two parks are close enough to each other that it's easy to go back and forth during the day. 

Thor 10k

I figure I better start my posts about our vacation if I want to avoid forgetting things!  The vacation started out with a flight to California for the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge at Disneyland.  That included the Thor 10k and the Avenger's Half Marathon.  A quick note that RunDisney has announced that there will not be races at Disneyland for the next couple years.  I would usually include information on logistics in my review in case it would be helpful to people considering doing the race in the future.  But I assume that if/when the race comes back, there will be lots of changes.  So I'm just going to stick to my experience :)

The weekend started out with us taking an early flight to Los Angeles on Friday morning.  We got to LAX with no problem and called a Lyft to take us to Anaheim.  It was around a 45 minute drive until we got to our hotel.  The room wasn't ready so we dropped off our bags with the front desk and headed off to the expo. The expo was at the Disneyland Hotel so we had to walk through the Disneyland esplanade area to get there.  It took a really long time to get through security but we were finally in after 20 minutes or so.  We then decided to stop for lunch in Downtown Disney on the way to the hotel and when we got there, it was about an hour or so after the expo opened.  There were no lines for bib pick up and it went really smoothly.  There didn't seem to be a lot of vendors or a lot of energy at the expo so we headed out after a little bit of browsing and some photo fun.

After the expo, we had to wait in another long line to get through security to get into the parks.  I think this one took more like 30 minutes.  Finally, we were in and rode the monorail to Disneyland.  W had a great time with rides and just wandering around the park.  Initially, I had thought about trying to stay up for World of Color at 9pm but given the early morning flight and the fact that I had to wake up at 3am for the 10k the next morning, we called it an early evening and went back to the hotel around 7pm or so.

Saturday morning, my alarm went off at 3am and I got ready in my Ms. Marvel gear.  It's all tech wear but I just used fabric paint to paint the design on the shirt.  I left the hotel room around 3:30 and happened to run into another runner walking to the start as well.  We had a nice conversation on the way over and thankfully security just took a couple minutes this time.  The way was marked pretty clearly to get to the starting area and it didn't take too long.  I think I was there 15 minutes after leaving my hotel room.  There was a lot of pre-race excitement going on and I took the opportunity to take some photos and admire all the cool costumes I saw.  Lots of costumes based on Thor Ragnarok since that had come out just the week before the race.

I went over to the corrals around 4:30am.  That got me right at the front of my corral and I sat on the ground to relax a bit before the start.  Before I knew it, it was go time!

 

I loved the 10k course.  There was a lot of park time between the two parks and even the back stage sections were a lot of fun.  There were fun holiday decorations up in the parks as well as a lot of superhero theming for the race.

  

The official character lines were pretty crowded by the time I got through so I didn't stop for any of them but there were cast members in various places around park icons offering to take photos as well and I stopped for several of them.

We had opted to buy max pass, which was a way to get fast passes for the rides over our phones.  An added benefit of this is that it included photo pass photos for free.  So here are some of the photo pass photos from the race that I liked.

I knew that my plan was to take it easy and have fun during this race.  I took a lot of photos and just really enjoyed the atmosphere of the race.  They had great Thor elements.  A lot of the cast members were dressed like citizens of Azgard.  There were places where they had people dressed like Valkyrie or a fighter from Azgard encouraging us along.  And there was a lot of crowd support in Disneyland itself.

I'm happy to say I was successful with my goal of having fun!  It was a great race, a fun course, and I enjoyed taking it all in. And I felt pretty good after the race, which was important for purposes of heading to Disneyland for more rides!  The race started so early that I was finished in time for us to walk back through Downtown Disney (we did not have to go through security again) and get in line at Disneyland in time for their early opening.  Mike had brought me clothes to change into and we went forward for some more rides and characters.  I also ate some of the snacks from the post-race food box to tide me over until we got something more substantial.

So that's it for the first part of the challenge.  I'll be back soon to talk about the half marathon and our last day at the park.

Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Half Marathon

I ran the Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Half Marathon this past weekend.  It was a combination between a race weekend and a reunion with old friends that I had grown up with.  These are people who are my oldest friends and who have known me longer than anyone except for family.  So clearly that makes for an intense weekend!

It started out with flying into Columbus Friday morning.  My parents also live in Columbus so my dad picked me up at the airport and also joined me for the expo.  The expo was at the convention center downtown and really well organized.  Pre-race communication had also been great so I knew exactly where to go and where to park.  There was plenty of parking in the convention center garages for $5.

  

We were there Friday before 5pm so the crowds were minimal and I didn't have to wait in line at all to pick up my bib.  But they had separate lines for bib pickup for full and half marathoners.  You just had to show your license and that was it.  Once you had your bib, there was a separate section to pick up the shirt and clear plastic bag. There was also a booklet that had race information and a write up about each of the patient champions.  More on that later.

Those lines were in an upstairs balcony section so separated out from the rest of the expo, which I'm sure is handy if you just want to get your stuff and go.  We did wander around the expo a bit since there was some stuff I wanted to look for.  I ended up getting a couple headbands and some body glide.  My dad ended up finding some shoes that he wanted on sale.  It was all very well organized and not too crowded at all.  After we finished up at the expo, we went and checked in to my downtown hotel.  Another great thing about this race is that there are a lot of hotels in the area around the race start within a 2 mile radius.  My hotel was a little more than a mile away.  Apparently hotel rooms were in short supply this year because of other things going on in the city at the same time so the race even added an option for a limited number of racers to be able to do race morning bib pick up.   The rest of Friday was filled with spending some time with friends and finding a restaurant for dinner.

Saturday morning I got up and had a 60 minute easy run on my schedule.  My dad decided to join me for part of it so it ended up being a walk for part of it but it was nice to have the time to catch up with him.

Saturday evening was carb loading with other friends that were running the race.  Most of us were running the half but one friend was doing his first full.

And then back to the hotel for an early night.  The race started at 7:30 and corrals opened at 6.  The race had sent out multiple emails about getting there early if you were driving, and there was an option for pre-paying for your parking spot.  Since I was just planning to go on foot from the hotel, I didn't have to leave so early.  And, my friend doing the full marathon had an apartment right by the start line so we were all gathering at his place.  I left the hotel room around 6:30 and had a nice little warm up to get down to his apartment.

We stayed there until we heard the national anthem and then we all went downstairs to go to our respective corrals.

  

There were only 4 corrals so each one was pretty big, given that there were around 18,000 people registered between the two races.  It was really convenient to have had our friend's apartment to gather up at because I'm sure it would have been hard to find everyone otherwise.  And it minimized the amount of time we had to wait outside.  I think we were only there for about 5 minutes until our corral started moving up.  One of my friends and I were planning on running together for a bit and a couple other friends were in our corral as well.

It was a weird weather day.  We'd been getting emails from the race for days about the potential for hot and humid weather.  I had chosen to go with capris and a tank top.  According to my Garmin, the race started out 68 degrees and 94 percent humidity but then got super windy with the threat of rain and lightning.

  

Back to the patient champions I mentioned earlier.  One of the amazing things about this race is that the children's hospital is very involved.  So every mile has a specific patient champion.  And this patient and their family are actually on that mile cheering and giving out high fives.  It was so inspirational.  The mile also has signs with fun facts about that particular patient as well.  So you really get a view into the people you're helping by participating in the race.  And mile 11 is called the Angel Mile because it's dedicated to patients at the children's hospital that are no longer with us.  Their families are at that mile cheering for the runners and encouraging us.  That was amazing, and it really helps to keep the race in perspective.  After all, how can you feel bad about the pain you might be experiencing at mile 11 from something that you chose to do when compared to what these kids and their families are going through?  All I could feel was gratitude that I was able to take part in this race and contribute to such a wonderful institution.

The half course itself was fine.  It had some rolling hills and a small out and back portion but was otherwise a loop.  It started and ended downtown among the sky scrapers but went through a pretty residential area in the middle, as well as by a local college.  We also went right by the children's hospital itself.  It was a nice enough course but the people were what made it special.  There was a good amount of course support, a lot of water stops, and amazing volunteers.  Another great thing about the race is that it's walker friendly.  They even had specific pace groups from a local walking club.  The 1/2 Marathon course was open until Noon, requiring a pace of at least 18:20 per mile. The Marathon course was open until 2 p.m., requiring a pace of at least 13:44 per mile.

As far as my race itself, it went ok.  Like I mentioned, I started out with a friend and we were going at about race pace for about the first 4 or 5 miles.  We separated around then and it was a bit of a battle going forward.  I just kept getting slower.  I think I started at race pace and ended at marathon long run pace!  But I didn't have time goals for this one, it's part of marathon training and I was doing it for fun.  I gave all the high fives, enjoyed all the signs, and thanked as many people as I could.  The conditions kept changing as far as the weather and I alternated between hot and cold depending on the wind.  I think around mile 9 and 10 the wind was really strong and we were fighting it to keep moving forward.  At the water stop around mile 12, I saw that the conditions sign had been changed from yellow to red.  I asked a volunteer about it and she said it's because there was lightning in the area.  Well, how's that for incentive!  My pace picked up for the last mile (mile 13 was more than 2 minutes faster than mile 12) and I was able to finish strong at least.  I did hear that some of the back of the pack marathoners were diverted to the half course because of the threat of lightning.  I felt bad for those individuals after putting in all that training for the full.

 

I met up with my dad and we walked back to the hotel, so, a bit more than a mile again.  I'm happy to say that I felt good after the race.  Obviously I had some soreness but by the next morning, I felt like I was almost back to normal!

So that's my recap of the Columbus Half Marathon.  It was a great race and I would highly recommend it to anyone.  It was really well organized, well supported, and the involvement of the children's hospital really put it over the top.  And I was able to finish it off with meeting my brother and his new fiance for post-race tacos and mimosas.  The place even had 3 options for vegan taco fillings, yum!

Eastern County 8k

I met up with some friends last weekend to run the Montgomery County Road Runner's Eastern County 8k.  This is one of their low-key races so it was free for members!  I had done this race 2 years ago and really liked the first part of the course but not the last mile or so.  I had heard that year was not the normal course and they had to make a last minute change and that the course is usually nice the whole way.  So we were giving it another try.

The course is in a beautiful, local park. It starts off on the road but moves to a paved trail pretty quickly.  It follows the trail around and then there's a turn around at the half way point, then back the way we came.  We continue to follow the trail back the way we came until the finish, which is by the start.

  

Empty course during my 1 mile warm up

It's a fairly hilly course.  It starts with a nice downhill and then some rolling hills but that means on the way back, there is a whole lot of uphill at the end. Most of the race was pretty shaded except the last half mile or so where the sun really beat down on us.

 

It's a pretty small race.  There were only 139 people this year and the last time I ran this race, there was around 160.  The trail isn't closed so in addition to the race participants, there is the usual use of the trail and plenty of people walking their dogs, out with their kids, etc.  I was in the back of the pack so it never felt too crowded but I'm sure it might have been a bit congested for the middle of the pack, especially since it was an out and back on the same trail.

 

Speaking of back of the pack, I was way in the back of the pack for this one.  I knew it was a small race but I had a minute of panic at the beginning because I felt like I might be the last person.  But then I talked myself down and reminded myself that it didn't matter if I was the last person.  Someone has to be and I should still just run my own race at my own pace.  So I slowed down to where I felt comfortable and tried to just run my own race.

   

I picked off two people by the turn around and picked up 3 or 4 more people before the finish. And more importantly for me, I enjoyed the race and felt good the whole time, in spite of the heat and humidity.

 

So I'm glad we gave this race another try!  I love the location and the trail it's run on.  It was a beautiful wooded area with shade for most of the race.  The only negative this time was that there wasn't much food left at the end of back of the packers.  This is really unusual for MCRRC races.  There is almost always plenty of food at the end.  This time, there were no bananas, no oranges, no watermelon... there were some dates so I helped myself to one of those.  There was also plenty to drink with water, apple juice, and iced tea.  The array of beverages seemed a bit unusual.  Hopefully the food thing was just an aberration.

 

Riley's Rumble 8k 2017

So this past weekend I did the Riley's Rumble 8k again.  I had done this race for the first time last year and really enjoyed it.  8k seems like a great Summer race distance for me.  Riley's Rumble is actually a half marathon and last year was the first time they added an 8k option.  The race is put on by the Montgomery County Road Runners and is free for members.  I love their low key races because not only are they free, they're almost always really well organized as well!

The race is known for "the three H's" which are heat, humidity and hills.  We got lucky with the heat and humidity this year and it was cooler than normal.  People were even in long sleeves at the start!  But the sun definitely came out toward the later half of the race and there was some heat then. The half marathon had a 15 minute per mile limit and since the 8k was on the same course, it had the same amount of time.

   

The course was essentially an out and back with a loop at the beginning.  And it was along a country road that wasn't closed but there wasn't much traffic on it on a Sunday morning.  There was probably more traffic for the back of the pack runners doing the half marathon though.  And it certainly lived up to the promise of hills!

 

As far as my race, it went ok.  I was running late that morning and a bit flustered.  I was rushing to get from the parking to the start line and forgot my garmin in the car.  But I was able to turn runkeeper on so I do have some data at least.  And I remembered my sunglasses and  my water, which were the most important things!

But the race itself was great!  The logistics were really easy.  There is plenty of parking at the race start.  They also had volunteers directing the parking so it was really easy to tell where to go.  There was one water stop, a bit before mile 3, but we were able to hit it on the way out as well as back.  And the race is on a pretty country road with pretty scenery.

One of the friends I run with is usually faster than me but wasn't feeling well race morning so she stayed with me for most of the race, which made it definitely seem to go by faster.  She dropped back a bit around mile 4 but caught up at the end and we had a fast finish trying to beat each other!

It was fun finishing together too because all of the people hanging out by the finish line were hooting and hollering for us as we tried to beat each other :)  My goal was to try to finish in 70 minutes and it was more like 71 but I'm good with that given the hills and my current fitness levels.

 

The finish line had the usual bananas and bagels, but also fresh watermelon.  It tastes like the best thing ever after a hot race!  They also had massages available which was a nice touch.

   

And that was the race!  I would definitely recommend this one for a Summer race for anyone in the area, especially now that they have an 8k option in addition to the half marathon.