The Race

Labor Day weekend for most Americans marks a time of family, BBQ, back-to-school shopping or long relaxing days enjoying the beach.  For my friend Jen and I it’s our Disneyland Half Marathon weekend tradition.  Yes, 13.1 miles of Disney magical fun.  This year commemorating Jen’s 8^th and my 7^th year of running, walking or crawling the race you would think we had it down to a fine science.   The only unwavering stable traditions…we would be staying at the peaceful oasis, known as the exquisite Anabella Hotel, the drive up would consist of melancholy regrets and wondering why we paid the $180 entrance fee to spend the weekend doing the race instead of sleeping in and enjoying our luxurious room, and our big incentive for finishing 13.1 miles would be every scrumptious sweet delicious bite of apple cobbler at the Lazy Dog Café.

Saturday morning started off with Jen and I texting each other about our estimated time of departure and all of the things we needed to do before we left.  Of course, neither of us had started packing so a slightly delayed meeting time to leave turned out to be a blessing. The originally forecasted cool down turned into an extended weekend of heat topped off with humidity.  How fortunate for us….an opportunity to enjoy a rare Southern California comfort. Deciding we really needed to hydrate I purchased the largest drinks available at the local AM/PM.  Filling our cups to the top with crushed ice, a citrus Vitamin Water for Jen and a fruit punch Gatorade for me, one last ID check (we still laugh about the year we were all of the way to Orange County before we discovered Jen forgot her ID), we were ready for the long drive to Anaheim to pick up our race bibs, timer chips, ugly T-shirts, and other goodies in our swag bags. 

The drive consisted of the usual girl chatter.  Our fun filled week at work; me telling Jen about the Eve Selis concert I attended the night before and the New Zealanders my friend Lori and I saw drinking PBRs at a trendy bar in La Jolla; Jen telling me about a visit from her neighbor earlier that morning and the bachelorette party she attended the previous weekend; and both of us remembering things we had forgotten at home.  All was well until our super sized hydration hit us simultaneously.   Knowing our destination was close we chose to forge on, a bio-break could certainly wait until we reached the expo.  Lesson learned, either hydrate hours before a long drive or suck it up and stop along the way. We definitely were not anticipating the maze of traffic to get to the Downtown Disney entrance where we needed to be. 

Once we found parking, took care of Mother Nature, we were on our way to the expo to retrieve our race gear.  Jen’s attempt to be incognito was foiled when the guy who was handing out her bib made a big production and yelled very loudly “we have another legacy runner.”  This was the catalyst for everyone to turn her way and clap and cheer loudly—so much for trying to blend in.  Normally we enjoy pursuing through all of the booths at the expo, our opportunity to taste test miracle recovery drinks and protein bars, shop for cute shirts, or buy new socks. This time we just weren’t feeling it. One look at the booths we automatically looked at each other laughed and walked out. 

The rest of the day consisted of checking into our hotel, finding a place for dinner (we ended up at Doug’s Grill, thank goodness for Yelp), getting everything ready and winding down to rest up before our alarms went off at 4:00 am. 

Jen couldn’t find her iPod shuffle before she left her house.  I offered her my extra one, but she knows me too well, she decided her short playlist on her iPhone would get her through the race.  I can’t imagine why she didn’t want to listen to my mix of a little Johnny Cash, Sara Evans, Beastie Boys “Brass Monkey,” Dee Dee Ramone “I Want to be Sedated,” a Michele McLaughlin, Scott D. Davis, Lord of the Dance, Litany of the Saints,  MGMT “Electric Feel,” Mindy McCready, Miranda Lambert, and so many others in my eclectic collection.  

I have to say there’s nothing like the early morning wake-up call to make a girl have serious remorse.  Too late, we were committed to the race…Jen’s legacy status was on the line.  

We made it to the start line—17,000 runners ready to go.  From the oldest runner who was 89 to the youngest, each and every one of us had our own story, own journey that got us there and would carry us to the finish line.  There was my friend Dave who was hoping to maintain his speed, my friend Angela hoping to finish and ultimately setting her own PR, the first time ½ marathoners, the pregnant ladies, the injured, the couples, and friends.  

Jen and I had a plan of our own. She was worried about finishing because she wasn’t feeling quite as prepared as she had been in the past. I was determined to stick by her side every step of the way to encourage her to do it.  We didn’t have a PR set in mind, we were expecting a PW (personal worst), but if we stayed ahead of the infamous balloon lady we were successful in achieving our goal. [ We were forewarned if the lady wearing balloons passed us we would have to ride the bus of shame back to the finish line] 

I am happy to say 9 blisters later for Jen and a little sun poisoning for me with the help of many volunteers along the way, the crowd cheering us on, camaraderie of fellow runners we finished the race...13.1 miles of grueling heat, humidity and Disney magical fun!  We were greeted at the finish line with our medals (a special legacy ribbon for Jen), a chilled towel to cool us down, cold Powerade, bananas, and other goodies to help us replenish our strength. We were blessed to witness an engagement, a very pregnant woman cross the finish line, the tears of a runner who was being hugged by her coach (both were so elated for her finish), and so many other joyous celebrations of accomplishment and pride. All of which will be in our hearts when we sign up for the next race.