Dumbo Double Dare Challenge 2013 - Part 1 - Disneyland 10K (8/31/13)

If you follow my Twitter account (@brandi1369), you already know that I had an absolute BLAST at the inaugural Disneyland 10K! 

After a fun filled day of expo adventures and fun in the parks with friends, it was a super early morning with a 4:00 wake up call.  I knew I had to be out the door by 4:30 to start heading to the start line and corrals.  I have had my costume planned out for both races since I was in Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon.  The 5K and 10K were both Alice and Wonderland themed which made it easy for me to select my 10K costume.

Yes, I was running as my Alice in Wonderland favorite - Cheshire Cat!  I have been gathering the pieces for my costume for months.  I already had my pink Sparkle Athletic skirt from Princess weekend and I added to it as I found those "must have" pieces.  I made my own tail which included a loop at the end so I could run with it around my wrist - SMART thinking!  I would not have been a happy girl with people stepping on my tail for 6.2 miles.

I went to our Team #runDisney meet up before we all headed off to our corrals.  I was really excited to finally meet some of my other runDisney friends that I have not yet met in person.

Before getting into our corrals, I did have some time to meet-up with several friends.

With my Tweedle friends Jim and Marc

With Henry - a friend from a running costume group (yes, he ran barefoot!)

Beau, my friend from college

After the 5K took off, we headed to our corrals.

Jen is sad that I was hating on her GA Bulldogs :)

Corral D is the place to be!

Jen and I goofing off in the corral

Party in Corral D!

The Starting Line! EEEEK

After we started, the next 6.2 miles went by rather quickly.  Jen, Lena, and I knew that we wanted to take it easy since we had 13.1 more miles to run in 24 hours.  We used the Galloway run-walk method for both races, but had shorter run intervals during the 10K (and had a TON of fun).  Rather than write about our 6.2 mile journey, I will let the pictures and captions tell the story.....

Mile 1 - CHECK!!

Jen found us on the course!

I always love the signs at runDisney races!

Race selfie with Jim!

I found Linda on the course!

Mile 2!

I LOVE the number 13, so it made me happy to see this

Running selfie in Carsland

Lena getting some love from the cast members

Lena, Jen, and myself in California Adventure

Another group picture

Mile 3 - almost 1/2 way there!

My fellow costume-lover friend Kirsten from back in Atlanta found me on the course!

I found the Kelsch family!

The 3 of us running down Main Street!

Castle picture

Mile 4! Boom!

So the float actually says "PAINT" - my head made it say "PAIN"....

HEYYYYYYYYYY!

Just having some fun in ToonTown

The Cast Member support was awesome along the way

Mile 5 had Alice greeting you

Castle time!

Running through the castle selfie

Mile 6 - we are almost there!

Done!

Part 1 done, 13.1 miles separates us from a whole lot of BLING!

It is pretty fair to say that we had an awesome time running the Inaugural Disneyland 10K!  The course was amazing and the atmosphere was even better!  A majority of the course was held within the two parks which made everything seem to go by very quickly.  After the 10K, it was time for a quick shower then off to brunch with the most amazing group of friends!

Be sure to check out Jen's recap as well!

Time to Run,
Brandi

Disneyland Half Marathon/Dumbo Double Dare Expo - August 30, 2013

A lot of my fellow runDisney friends (as well as myself) love going to the runDisney expo on race weekend!  The runDisney expos are where you pick-up your bib and race shirt(s) as well as a venue to shop some of your favorite vendors, listen to guest speakers, and have fun with friends and runners.  

With the weekend being an inaugural race weekend for Dumbo Double Dare Challenge as well as the Disneyland 10K, my friends and I knew that the race merchandise was going to be popular.  My friends decided to get in line for the expo bright and early.  The expo was opening at 10:00am and they got in line for merchandise around 8:30.  I did not finish at the runDisney Meet-Up until around 9:00, so I met them once I was done. 

Party in the expo line!

Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea.  The line was quite long to enter the expo between the coveted runDisney New Balance shoes and knowing that Dumbo Double Dare merchandise would be limited and highly sought after.

The doors for the expo opened promptly at 10:00 and there was a mad dash for merchandise!  I seriously felt like I was Black Friday shopping.  I knew stuff would be going fast, so when I found the items that I wanted I grabbed 2 sizes at first to try on.  Fortunately, I was in a sports bra from the run this morning and have little modesty in these situations, so I tried my stuff on in the corner of the expo to make my final selections.  Mom, Lena and I saw the line quickly growing, so we hopped in line to check-out.  

After about 15-20 minutes we were done - our friends were not quite as lucky.  They did their shopping fairly quickly as well, but by then the line was longer than the line for Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure!  They were in line for almost 3 hours to check out - SERIOUSLY!  

Shopping chaos at the runDisney Merchandise area!

Just a part of the 3 hour line to check-out...

Here is a glimpse at my runDisney loot:

 

            

 I never buy the "I Did It" items before I have done it, so mom got my 2 shirts for me :)

DDD "I Did It" shirt

Back of DDD "I Did It" Shirt

           

Magnets and Keychain

Disneyland 1/2 Necklace with 10K, Half, and DDD Pins (per-ordered except DDD pin)

          

 I love Sweaty Bands anyways, so I had to have these

Disneyland Half Jacket

Mom and I decided to go to the next line to pick up my bib.  Yes, another line!  It isn't Disney if you aren't in line for something though, right? 

We made our way through the line into a parking garage for packet pick-up.  Once we were in the pick-up area there were no lines to get your bib.  However, there was a line to get out.  It was warm and very stuffy in there which made for a little cranky Brandi (I haven't really eaten either which made it worse).

I just want to go ride Pirates!  :(

After we got out of the packet-pick up area we made our way into the expo area to pickup my shirts and shop some.  The expo was too crowded for me and mom (plus we were hot and hungry), so we kept the shopping to a minimum.  My wallet is probably happy that we kept our shopping trip quick.  By the time that we were done with everything, my friends were still in line. 

 

LOOOOVE my tank from Endure!

Back design

There were a lot of things that added to the slight chaos of the expo.  At packet pick-up all runners running the 5K, 10K, or Dumbo Double Dare Challenge had to pick up their race packets on Friday since the races were Saturday morning.  This is a lot of people having to do the same thing at once.  It was the entering and exiting the area that was the issue.  Perhaps if they found a location that is easier to get that many people in and out of for next year?  The biggest issue was the merchandise area.  There were people running an "unofficial Dumbo" (registered for the 10K and half marathon separately) that were making a dash for Dumbo merchandise as well as people there to load up on merchandise to resell online.  One of my friends saw someone purchasing over $1100 in merchandise (2 duffel bags full!) and sadly now you can find a bunch of Dumbo Double Dare merchandise on eBay for 10x's the price.  In the future it would be nice to see runDisney limit the number of items being purchased per person or allow per-order (like they do with the race pins). 

Since we were planning on meeting up with Jen and Lena later on at California Adventure, mom and I decided to head back to the hotel to let me shower and drop off our expo items.  

Off to California Adventure we go..... 

**UPDATE** If you missed out on a Dumbo Double Dare "I Did It' shirt or a Coast to Coast shirt, runDisney has them for sale online until 9/16/13.  

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite part of race expos (shopping vendors, listening to guest speakers, finding new races)?

Time to Run,
Brandi