Why I runDisney

So, you’ve managed to rise out of bed before the sun and run your races. Well, no matter what race you’re running, there’s plenty of time left in the day. What to do with all those hours? Well, here’s what I did over the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend…

After the Disneyland 10K, Brooke and I headed back to our room to get cleaned up. While the wife got showered, I headed to Jamba Juice in Downtown Disney for some recovery fuel. Personally, I love the Berry Fullfilling. After taking on some fuel, we took a nap and waited for my parents to arrive in Downtown Disney. They were coming out for a Birthday lunch with Brooke and myself at the Rain Forrest Cafe.

Unfortunately, the lighting inside isn’t the best for photos. However, we did have a fantastic meal. The goal for me in between the races was to keep the activities light. After all, I didn’t want to kill myself before the half marathon.

Because it was our birthdays, Brooke and I each got a cupcake!

I absolutely LOVE the aquarium inside the Rain Forrest Cafe! Wouldn’t it be cool to have one that size in your house? I think so.

After the lunch, we headed back up to our room. As I mentioned earlier, it was a lifelong dream to one day stay at the Disneyland Hotel. It was also a dream of my parents. Well, they couldn’t stay. So, this was their first visit to an actual room at the Disneyland Hotel. They loved the room!

The parents left a little bit before Brooke and I went off to the ESPN Zone for dinner with my former PR professor, Jessica, and her family. Let me tell you, the magic was on extra for this day. We ended up in this private sealed off booth for our dinner. So, the normally noisy ESPN Zone was not much of a problem. We had a great time chatting and enjoying some college football. As much as I like college football, I wasn’t paying too much attention. Also, the USC Trojans were playing on the huge screen and were dominating. So, I took advantage of the time to get to know some really cool people.

After dinner, we got to hang out with our friends Josh and Wendy and their awesome son. We walked around Downtown Disney and we got to show them our room. At around 8:30pm, we called it a day. I mean, I had to wake up early the next morning. That was day 1.

After the Disneyland Half Marathon, I chilled out by the pool, soaking my legs and feet in the pool.

It was heavenly! Even though I could have stayed at the pool all day, I also wanted to have some fun at the theme parks.

We started off at Disney California Adventure. You know what? You see a lot of people who get pictures with their medals by Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland. I thought it would be fun to get one by Mickey’s Fun Wheel.

Brooke and I made sure to take in her favorite attraction first…The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. As you can see, the medal of choice for me to wear for the day was the Dumbo Double Dare. Wearing all of the medals is just too much for me. Some may like to do this, I prefer one medal.

On the way to the Art of Animation Building, we ran into Jessica and her family! Look at all of us finishers!

Literally 2 minutes after parting with Jessica and her family, I thought I saw Jeff Galloway walking in front of me. It was Jeff! I’ve never seen him outside of the expos before. So, it was so much fun to see him in the park! He asked how our races went and we got to chat about that for a few minutes. I have to say that Jeff is a super nice person and I can completely understand why runDisney chose him as the running coach.

On the way to the Art of Animation Building, I had to stop by one of my favorite fountains at the Disneyland Resort…right in front of the Carthay Circle Restaurant. Yes, when you’re in the parks after a race, get as many pictures with the finishers medal as you can.

Brooke and I took in Talking with Crush while we were inside. I LOVE this building’s lobby. Best lobby ever!

After a few hours in DCA, it was time to head over to Disneyland. We made it just in time for Mickey’s Soundsational Parade.

As we made our way to the hub, I had to stop for a picture with the Dumbo Double Dare medal and the inspiration for the challenge…Dumbo!

We couldn’t resist the chance to get a picture at Sleeping Beauty’s Castle with our medals.

My turn for a picture by myself!

Flying with Dumbo!

One last photo with the Dumbo Double Dare medal. This time, in line for my favorite attraction. Sadly, the ride would shut down while we were in line. Oh well, I did come back later. I mean, it’s Pirates of the Caribbean.

We didn’t wait out Pirates opening again because we had dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou. To top it off, I got to meet another runDisney blogger friend in person. I mentioned David yesterday because we also had breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen the next morning. When we set this up, I had no idea whether it would be a good thing. After all, we had never met in person before. However, we all got along really and had a great meal celebrating our race finishes. David ran the Disneyland Half Marathon that morning as well. Both David and his wife are awesome people. So, this crazy idea of meeting a blogger I’ve never met in person turned out to be a great idea! I feel like I’ve made a new friend.

Brooke was not feeling the best after dinner, so the rest of the night it was David, his wife and myself. We took in the fireworks on Main Street U.S.A. Our view wasn’t too bad considering how late we found a place to watch.

I’m not a huge fan of Magical. However, it’s not an entirely bad show. It is still Disney after all.

Okay, I know this is blurry, but I had to try to catch Dumbo flying.

After the fireworks, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean before taking in Fantasmic to close out the day.

I love our dragon!

It was a Fantasmic finish to a fantastic day! We pay all that money to runDisney to not only run through the theme parks, but to have fun places to celebrate our accomplishments afterwards. If you ran in the races, how did you celebrate your finishes? If you did the Dumbo Double Dare, did you hang out in the theme parks after BOTH the Disneyland 10K and the Disneyland Half Marathon?