Disneyland Run-cation - Part 4

Disneyland = DL
Walt Disney World = WDW

For the 2nd day in a row, we woke up at 0400 and threw on our costumes, brushed out teeth, and headed out the door for our 15 minute walk to the start area. Again, there was nothing interesting going on, but we did take a photo of us in our costume before the race.

Teh MD-AR: Flora
Teh Megan: Merryweather
Teh German: Fauna
PS. Teh German picked the green fairy since I'm the shortest and youngest, I was to be Merryweather.

Corral F this time

I struggled on Sunday morning. I was tired, my legs felt like lead weights, but it was only 13 miles and I got this. We started off our 1/2 by running through California Adventure.

Lightning McQueen, Mater, and a stranger

We HAD to make a pit stop for Meeko AND Pocahontas.
My fandom screams #cantstopwontstop

Hello Gorgeous.

When we noticed Maleficent in line behind us for Honest John and Gideon, I was like, PLEASE be in our picture and proceeded to pull her out of line and into our photo, skipping the 5+ people between us. #notsorry #worthit I looked for a Sleeping Beauty, but unlike Princess Weekend when you couldn't throw a rock and not hit an Aurora, there was none to be found, not even running by. #Princessfail

Run-by of the Three Caballeros

ALWAYS on the look out for the photographers!

Drive-by of Flick and his GF I assume, having never seen Bugs Life.

This photo is one of my favorites, not because Star Wars, because IDGAF, but because I was seriously heckling the Storm Troopers about being a bad shot. We got a bit of character interaction with them, which was awesome. I think my best line was when they pointed the gun at me-ish and I said, "You're still gonna miss." One of them did the neck slicing movement with their hand at their neck. It was pretty funny and we had the line laughing.

We noticed the carousel going and then I noticed that Aurora and Prince Phillip were riding it! The guy operating the ride told us to run past a little more and he stopped the ride so we could get a photo with them! That's the magic I needed.

My OMG they stopped the ride for us to take a photo excited face.

My favorite fairy :)

I knew Teh Sister would be jealous of this character meeting since she loves Tarzan.
This is Turk and Jane and I made a comment about "emotional constipation" which is my favorite line by Turk from the entire movie.

Robin Hood and company.

Back story: We wanted another photo in front of Walt/Mickey/the castle in our fairy costumes, but as we approached the statue, we were told that we had to stay on the track. With some hesitation, we came back down the path and took a pretty crappy selfie since we weren't really close enough to get a good photo.

so tiny.
much sads.

As we were about to start running again, Josh, a photo pass photographer who works on the marketing team at WDW, told us to follow him and he took us up to the statue and took some photos!

MUUUUCHHHH better!

Last character stop in DL: Mike Wazowski!!!

After running through California Adventure and Disneyland, everything became miserable. I hit my 9/10 mile running wall before we even hit mile 5. This was NOT good. I was tired and sluggish and the worst thing was that my toe was starting to hurt. There were no more magical distractions since now we'd spend the rest of the course running through Anaheim. There was entertainment along the course, bands, dancers, cheerleaders, on-lookers, and hundreds of classic cars, but I was so miserable by that point that they didn't do much to distract me.

We had taken to walk-running around mile 6 because I just couldn't stand it anymore. Between my toe and Teh MD-AR's ankle, we were a hot mess.

Sunrise.

Before mile 8, I was done. The only thing keeping me going was the fact that if I didn't cross the finish line I wouldn't get my Dumbo Dare or Coast-to-Coast medals. I kept thinking about what kinds of irreparable damage I was doing to my toe and my foot and my hips and my back and my entire body by keeping going.

Teh German and Teh MD-AR tried to encourage me to keep going, pain is physical, running is mental, blah blah blah.. But when every step feels like someone is stabbing you up both legs and trying to pop out your knee caps, there are very few things that are enough to overcome that pain. I finally broke down and cried. Not in a happy, I'm running a Disney race way, but in an ugly, everything hurts and I'm not sure I'm actually going to be able to finish this race, just leave me behind to die, type way. This is the first time I've EVER cried during a race/run from pain. I've cried happy/relieved tears, but from pain? Never.

I even took a post cry selfie to show that it wasn't all magic and ears and rainbows.

I sucked it up and carried on. There were medals to get. It was seriously a fake it till you make it max effort. I didn't want any photos of us to have my ugly crying face, so with each camera, I grimaced and smiled and no one except my fairies knew that I was absolutely miserable.

Josh, the photographer from the castle rode by on his bike and noticed us again! He got more shots of us passing the luau dancers.

walking break.

luau dancers

Teh German "surfing"

classic cars/taking an opportunity to stop moving to fend off tears.

The lack of tears didn't last long. I knew that in the beginning of mile 9, we ran through the Angel Stadium, but it felt so far away and my stupid wings weren't helping me go fast or even fly and my toe hurt and I couldn't even guilt myself with the people wearing prosthetic legs being stronger than me.

We had a water stop around this time and there was a table with Biofreeze after the water. I stopped and got a squirt and put it on both knees hoping for any kind of relief I could find. It helped chill my knees some.. and also my face.

Did you know that when you have Biofreeze on your hands still and wipe the tears from your face, you are technically applying Biofreeze to your face? Yeah, that definitely distracted me for a solid 30 seconds. Then the giggles through the tears as I explained it to Teh MD-AR and Teh German was distraction for another minute. So that was an added benefit.

The next photo is actually from another runner who said that she got some good photos of us as we were approaching the Stadium. She said if she found us later, she'd text them. Despite the pain, I sprinted up to her and asked for her number and told her I'd text her right away and she could just send them later. She gave me her number and in her photos, I found this one:

I was crying and laughing, but mostly crying.
Teh MD-AR was trying to console me.

We did finally make it to the Stadium, which was a welcome distraction from everything going on with my body.

There were so many cheerleaders in the stands!
We actually ran on the left and gave so many cool kids high fives!

LOLZ to that face I'm making.

This is prob my favorite photo of just me from the entire 1/2.
You can't tell I was dying on the inside.

Fairies in the Outfield!

We exited the stadium and then the remain miles of tedium began. Josh found us again and we took a photo at mile marker 10 and the entire time I was thinking to myself, "How in the ever living fuck am I going to do 3 more miles on this toe?"

For something so small and "insignificant" on the body, a toe can really fuck you up. Since my toe hurt, my gait was off, which caused my knees to hurt and my hips to be out of whack and my back to hurt. Eventually, my shoulders were also hurting because of tension and the way I was holding myself as I hobble-limped along.

We HAD to get a selfie with Josh since we'd seen him so many times!

15MPH is just too fast.

I was crying moments before this photo.
We had a photo at the mile 13 marker from Princess Weekend, so we needed one from Dumbo too.

I cried right up until we turned the bend and saw the finish line and then I put on my best "fake it till you make it" act, trying to ignore the shooting pain in my feet/knees with every step.

That face is sheer relief that it was over.
I had earned those medals more than I had earned any medal before.

Fairies at the finish line!
(Photo by Teh MD-AR)

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge medal

Coast-to-Coast 2016 Challenge medal

Running besties!

We did it!!!!

dawwwwwwww /swoon

1/2 Marathon medals (sadly, they were too far away for an awesome photo)

Another first for me was stopping at the medical tent post-race. I asked for ice on both knees and for my toe to be set. The ice girl had to fetch someone who unwrapped my toe and said that it wasn't within her realm to set toes in the field, but to her it not only looked broken but twisted. About this time, Teh German told me he needed to go sit down. The lady rewrapped my toes and with much dismay, I put my shoe back on.

The thing about running a lot is that once you take your shoes off, you don't want to put them back on. I almost considered walking back to our hotel with only one shoe on, but then I didn't want to make my knees hurt any worse, so I just put my shoe back on.

After I was wrapped and iced, I found Teh MD-AR getting her ankle ice-wrapped and found a pale-slightly greenish Teh German sitting nearby. He said he was hungry, so we booked it to the food tables before he passed out on us. Truthfully, he doesn't handle pain/bleeding well, so I think when the medic said my toe was pretty jacked up, Teh German was listening...

We stopped through the challenge medals area to pick up our Dumbo Dare and C2C medals and stopped at the photographers area to get our post-race medals photos taken.

Everything hurts and I'm dying and these medals are clanking against each other noisily.

Fairy trio with bling!

Photographer said, Make a tired face.
Success.

I am sharing this one because it looks like I'm about to whisper something in his ear.
Actually, I kissed him on the cheek, but the photographer missed it. Booo.

Icy knees.

Instead of stopping to sit and eat, we walked and ate and headed back to the hotel so we could shower and pack and potentially nap.

I absolutely loved the Birds of Paradise along the side walk as we walked to/from DL.

Post race stretching/blood draining.

Teh German showered and napped, I showered and packed, then napped for a few minutes, and Teh MD-AR packed and showered and packed and didn't get a nap. :( We had to check out by noon and then we were headed into Disneyland to get photos with our medals, acquire a Dole Whip, and potentially ride some rides, but our first stop was lunch.

We actually drove the car to a parking garage and paid to park so we didn't have to go as far on sore pieces when we left the park to head to the airport. We got to ride the tram to the park, which Teh German hadn't experienced yet, so that was cool.

Once we got into the park, I had already decided on a mexican place for lunch that was near the Tiki Bar where we'd get the Dole Whip. With lunch consumed and hangar at bay, we got in line for our Dole Whip.

FYI: Dole Whip is pineapple ice cream.

We decided on the Dole Whip float and we all 3 shared it since all the portions at Disney are way more than one person should actually consume.

Once the Dole Whip was consumed, we jumped in line for photos with Walt/Mickey/the castle. When we got to the photographer, I explained that we were going to need their photographic skills for a bit, which I'm sure was excellent for those behind us to hear. #notsorry #onceinalifetime

Running Besties with ALL DAT BLINNNNGGG!!!

lolzzz my face.

L to R: (all 2016 medals)
Coast-to-Coast, Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, Disneyland 1/2 Marathon, Disneyland 10k, Glass Slipper Challenge, Princess 1/2 Marathon, Princess 10k, Princess 5k

Bling from only DL runs w/ Dumbo:
Dumbo Double Dare, Disneyland 1/2 Marathon, Disneyland 10k
(+Coast-to-Coast for Teh MD-AR and I)

Our weekend bling with Dumbo

Coast-to-Coast 2016 with Dumbo!

What it looks like when we're trying to set up a photo and the camera is in selfie mode and it takes a picture on it's own accord. Thanks for all those chins, S6. You da best. Asshole.

Coast-to-Coast 2016 w/ Minnie and the castle

One last photo of the castle.

After photos, we wanted to ride Peter Pan's Flight or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but with no fast passes, no single rider lane, and a long wait, that wasn't an option. Instead, we headed into Star Wars Land (or Tomorrowland, if you're picky about that sort of thing) and was bombarded by nerds with strollers and children and it was just packed in that area of the park and I was limited on toleration since my pieces were still hurting (despite the tramadol I had taken before we left the hotel).

We ended up riding Star Tours and (Hyper)space Mountain. Teh MD-AR waited on us while we were riding the rides. After a debacle at Space Mountain where the wait time was elusive and tricky and WRONG, we were almost at the entrance to the ride at the time we should have been leaving the parking garage to head to the airport. Teh MD-AR actually went to fetch the car while Teh German and I waited the last few minutes and rode the ride. After the ride, we headed to the Guest dropoff area to wait on Teh MD-AR to pick us up.

After a short debacle and Teh German sending her our location (good jorb, Apple), she finally made it to us and I drove us to the airport. First we dropped off Teh MD-AR since her flight left sooner than ours, exchanging hugs in case we didn't get to meet up in the airport. Then we returned the rental and took the shuttle (different driver, yay!) back to the airport. We checked in and accidentally didn't have to pay for our luggage. Or maybe the attendant was being nice, either way, we didn't pay and I'm not complaining! We even came in under weight AGAIN at 48 pounds, despite all the stuff we had purchased (most of which Teh German was carrying as his carry on).

Once we got checked in, I texted Teh MD-AR who said she was at one of the food courts, so we met her there and had dinner together. When it was time for her flight, we hugged goodbye again and she left Teh German and I on our own. Eventually, we headed to our gate to wait to board.

Our flights to Phoenix (PHX) and Philly were both uneventful. After a short layover in PHX, we headed to Philly and landed at 0615 on Monday morning. Teh German and I had slept on the plane, but not very well. When we found our gate for our flight to Charleston (CHS), I noticed a bench with no arm rests (essentially hitting the airport jackpot) and I laid down and napped for a few hours. I asked Teh German if he wanted to lay down and he said no. His loss. My toe and knees were still hurting, so my sleeps were difficult because I couldn't get comfortable.

Around 0845, Teh German woke me up and explained that he was hungry and needed my debit card. I was confused and then he explained that the water tight box I had put his wallet and sunglasses in was pressure sealed shut. He showed me the box and he was right. Oops. I was also hungry, so I just got up and we went and found breakfast.

Despite being super greasy and CRAZY hot, it was more delicious than I expected airport food ordered on a tablet to be.
PS. Pork roll, just like Ms. Boomkin taught me.

Our flight to CHS was delayed for 2 hours and we finally ended up making it home around 1:30. Teh German helped me unpack the luggage and get things put away while I started the laundry.  We had agreed to go to a cookout at a neighbor's house that evening, solving my "what do I make for dinner" dilemma, so around 5, we headed that way with the pups in tow.

Of course, no problems making themselves at home.
Also, my dogs look gangly.

Dinner was delicious, but we were exhausted and we headed home around 7:30/8 so we could prepare ourselves for the week ahead.  Spoiler alert: There was no amount of preparation that could prepare me for the week.  I spent most of the week exhausted and one evening I even fell asleep on the couch a few minutes after telling Teh German, "I am sooo tired."

_______________________________

Overall though, it was a perfect run-cation if you don't include the part about my toe and everything hurting and almost dying.  I/we got to hang out with Teh MD-AR, which is one of my favorite things, and we got medals and got to go to Disneyland, which none of us had ever been to! 

Disney Run-cation Recaps:

Part 1: Arrival, expo, and Disneyland

Part 2: California Adventure

Part 3: 10k and touring around LA

Part 4: 1/2 marathon, Disneyland, and departure