Welcome to the Disneyland Resort! It’s Christmastime at Disneyland these days.

Mater Claus was everywhere! I parked at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure for the Expo. I had fully intended to leave for the Expo earlier than I did. However, it wasn’t until just before the Expo opened before, I got here…

At the Disneyland Half Marathon Expo, I took the tram to Downtown Disney and walked back to the hotel from there. This time, I just walked straight to the Disneyland Hotel for the Expo.

I immediately got in line for the official runDisney merchandise. After all, this is why I took the day off from work to begin with. While in line, I got to meet Helen from Health-E-Helen. Helen is a blogger whom I read a lot and reads this blog as well. So, it was very cool to meet another reader as well as a person whose blog I follow! If you’re not reading her blog, you should check it out.

The line to get into the official runDisney merchandise booth was long. It took around an hour to get in. However, everything was very calm and organized. I think the folks at runDisney on the West Coast deserve a lot of credit for learning how to keep the craziness of the runDisney runners under control at an Expo. I had fun chatting with those around me while we were waiting. So, the time went by fast for me.

When I finally got in, I had a mixed bag of feelings about the merchandise. This shirt was so close to being one I purchased. However the fact that the characters were not in color made this a no-go for me.

I debated over this shirt. They had a short-sleeved version that was black, but a women’s shirt. I loved the look of the women’s shirt (minus the v-neck collar). In the end, I did get this shirt for the following reason. I’m now running in the morning and have limited long-sleeved shirts for running. So, I reasoned that I could really use this shirt for those morning runs.

I love this “I Did It” shirt! I was overjoyed that they still had it in my size. This was the easiest purchase for me. I’m obviously a Captain America fan. So, an “I Did It” Captain America shirt was a total no-brainer. This shirt is a cotton shirt. So, it will likely never make a run with me. That’s perfectly okay with me. I love it!

Check out the image on the back of the shirt! This is no ordinary “I Did It” shirt y’all. This is my favorite one I’ve seen at a runDisney event! Of course, I’m not wild about the color (gray). However, the graphics on the front and back more than make up for it.

After that, when I saw the glasses for this race, it was another no-brainer. I love the glass!

Here’s what I ended up purchasing (minus the glass). Knowing that the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon race shirt was black made the purchase of the grey hat easy. I couldn’t make up my mind about the magnet. So, I bought them both. Lastly, I couldn’t resist purchasing the pin that looks like the race medal. What I was bummed out about is that they didn’t have a race medal for the runDisney vinylmation Mickey. I was told that they didn’t have one for this race.

As has become my tradition with runDisney races, after purchasing the official merchandise I wanted, it was off to get my race packet.

Welcome to the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend!

The lines were short for the bib pick up! I walked right up and got my bib!

Unfortunately, the line for the Dooney bags were not small.

Right before leaving the downstairs, I saw this. Very interesting.

I love how they spruce up the entrance to the area of the Expo where you get your race shirt!

There were lots of fun stand alone images for you to get pictures with as you entered.

Since I was running as Captain America, I couldn’t resist!

Some of the others included Hawkeye…

The Hulk…

Falcon…

And I got this selfie with Thor!

With the pictures taken care of, it was time to go get my race shirt!

After getting my race shirt, it was time to explore the rest of the Expo. I love the New Balance booth!

They have such great signage! Even though it’s the same at every expo, I still love it!

Then, I had to head on over to the runDisney booth. After all, I needed to see the Star Wars Half Marathon medals for myself!

The Kids Races medallion is one of my favorites!

The 5K medallion isn’t too bad either.

The Star Wars 10K is my absolute favorite of the bunch!

The Star Wars Half Marathon medal has caused many to question what the logo is. RunDisney issued a blog post explaining that the medal is in the model of the same medal that Luke and Han Solo received at the end of Star Wars IV: A New Hope (the original Star Wars).

The Star Wars Rebel Challenge is my second favorite of the bunch! It’s a spinner with Darth Vader on one side…

and Yoda on the other. Even though I like this medal, I kind of wish that, with Darth Vader on one side, they would have had Luke Skywalker on the other.  It’s still a cool medal, though.

While at the runDisney booth, it was time for the obligatory picture with Jeff Galloway himself! Jeff is such a nice person. Anyone that’s ever met him knows this already. We talked about my preparations for this race. He was happy for me that this was going to be my 9th half marathon!

The meet ups didn’t stop with Jeff Galloway, I also got to chat for a little bit with race MC extraordinaire, Rudy Novotny. He told me that the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend is going to be a really special one! He said that we will not want to actually race this half marathon. While he couldn’t give out the details, he said that LucasFilm is getting involved with how this race is going to be staged. So, you just know that there will be some really special things in store for us!

Then, I headed over to the Pro Compression booth to say hello to Brian from the Pavement Runner blog. Brian is a super cool guy and someone who does some really crazy runs. Over this past weekend, he ran 3 half marathons! What’s crazy is that his 3 half marathons look pretty normal in comparison to some others. He introduced me to a friend of his that was running a 5K, 10K, The Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon, and 2 full marathons in the weekend! Now that’s crazy! If you don’t follow Brian’s blog, you’re really missing out. He’s so encouraging and positive. He’s a great source of running inspiration.

One of Brian’s friends is none other than Kimmy Gibbler herself…Andrea Barber. As a person who grew up watching Full House, it was pretty cool to meet her. Andrea has become quite the runner herself. She would be joining Brian in running the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon on Sunday morning and then heading to Las Vegas to run in the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon that evening.

After meeting these awesome peeps, I was off to get a photo with this backdrop! What’s fun about these events is that you can always find someone to get a photo of you!

After so much Expo fun, I was off to the Earl of Sandwich for lunch at Downtown Disney! I LOVE the Earl of Sandwich!

As you can see, they have Olaf’s Frozen Ice Rink set up again this year for the holidays! Although, it looks like they’re not open for business quite yet.

While I was eating lunch, I noticed that they’ve re-painted the hat by the Disneyland Hotel and the stars around the hat.

Just up the road, they had the finish line set up for the Avengers Super Heroes 5K for Saturday! I love the finish line! After checking this out, I decided to head back into the Expo to pay my registration fee for the 2015 Surf City USA Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA. They had a discount on the price, plus were waiving those fun Active.com fees! That was enough to get me to pay right at the Expo!

With that, I was all set to “Smash the Half” on Sunday! It was such a fun day at the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Expo!

Did you go to the Expo this weekend? What did you think of it if you did?