As you all know, this past weekend was the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend at the Disneyland Resort. It was another fun-filled weekend of racing and Disney magic. I’ll get to proper recaps as the week goes along (time permitting). For today, I wanted to report on who the week went. After all, I did more than just race.

On Tuesday, I made it out for another successful 3 mile mid-week run! Funny thing is that it didn’t start out that way. My first mile felt slow to me. I finished under 11 minutes, but just barely. It was slower than the Thursday before. So, I thought that this run might not be as fast. I switched to the run 30/walk 90 second intervals for mile 2 and decided that slow runs are just as important as the fast ones. Usually, due to the extra walk time, I loose a little time in mile 2. Not so on Tuesday. I gained time from my previous mid-week run. I was ahead of my time at the end of mile 2 from Thursday! So, all I had to do was switch back to the run 30/walk 60 seconds and see if I could beat my Thursday time. The last mile felt really good! I was running well and could feel the lure of a faster time in my grasp. So, I took it! The end result? I finished 30 seconds faster than Thursday from the week before! What I loved is that I’m getting closer to finishing 3 miles under 33 minutes. This is what I was consistently doing prior to the LA Marathon and haven’t revisited since. So, I’ve got this sort of secret goal of getting back to sub 33 minute 3 mile runs.

Wednesday was Veterans Day. It was a rest day for working out. However, on the Walt Disney Studio Lot, there was a little event they had at lunch time.

I didn’t catch the branch that this military band was from. However, it was pretty cool to hear them play.

There were a few tables set up where you could learn about how the Walt Disney Company is helping and saluting veterans. I think it was a few years ago that they launched a campaign called “Heroes Live Here.”

At one of the tables, you should send a message of encouragement to a someone serving in the military. It didn’t need to be someone you knew personally. Just a note of encouragement.

The Mickey cards you signed were pretty cool. Don’t you think? Anyways, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Disney have an event on Veterans Day before on the Lot. So, it was a nice surprise!

Thursday, I headed out for another 3 mile mid-week run. Can you believe it? I was a little faster than on Tuesday! This run started off better. I finished the first mile in 10:48. I remember that number because it was 3 seconds slower than the Thursday before. I was feeling very motivated to stamp out the second mile and try to get faster. I still felt like I was a little slow at the end of mile 2. So, I stepped it up in mile 3 and finished off the run 10 seconds faster than Tuesday! One thing that helped me at the end was this creepy car that started moving once I got next to it. The car didn’t go out into the main street for a bit. So, I got a little worried about why this car seemed to roll right along side of me. That kept me running past the scheduled run interval stop. I wanted to get past the car and feel safe. Of course, nothing really happened that should have warranted such suspicion. When I got to the end of my run, I did laugh about it. After all, if not for that car, I might not have beat my time from Tuesday. It’s fascinating how many things can come along to keep us moving as we train. I finished in 33 minutes and 9 seconds. Oh so close to that 33 minute mark! It was setting me up nicely for the races.

Even though the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Expo began on Thursday, I went to the expo on Friday. I’ll cover the Expo in more detail later.

For now, I’ll say that this time, I took the route at the Expo that runDisney wants us to take. I got my race bib first. I had one person ahead of me in line. So, it went by quickly. I got my picture taken for the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge. Then, I headed upstairs to get my race shirts. On the way, I had to stop for a picture with Cap!

I stopped for a pic with the backdrop they had set up. I also went over to the runDisney Official Merchandise area just to see what was left on day 2 of the Expo. Much to my surprise, I found they still had the “I Did It” shirts in my size (miracle) and a jacket that looked really cool in my size. So, even though I didn’t think I would buy anything, I made a purchase.

The main reason I chose to go to the Expo on Friday was the We Run Social Meet Up that happened at the Starbucks in Downtown Disney at 5pm. It was fun hanging out and getting to meet some new running peeps. However, I could’t stay too long at Disney because I had to be up way early for the Captain America 10K the next day.

Saturday, I was up at 2:30am to head down to the Disneyland Resort to run in the Inaugural Captain America 10K. To say I had a blast with this race would be an understatement. I will give a proper recap later. The short version is that I started the race off seeing how I would feel. Everything seemed to be clicking through the first few miles. At the 5K mark, I was on track for a PR! However, the 4th mile did me in pacing wise. I still thought I could beat my Disneyland 10K time. However, In mile 6, I came to the line for Captain America. It didn’t look long. So, I asked the Cast Member nearby how long she thought it would take. She said, “around 10 minutes.” I thought, “Hmmmm. 10 minutes to get a picture with Cap in the Captain America 10K! I’ve got to do this.” So, out went the time goal and I got in line. So, I may not have hit a time goal. But it was totally worth it to get get a pic with Cap in his race.

Captain America 10K finisher! Part 1 of the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge was done.

Sunday, was part 2…the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon! We all kept our Mylar blankets from the Captain America 10K. We knew it was going to be cold at the start. It’s amazing how warm they can keep you. After freezing in the corrals for the 10K, I was nice and warm in the corrals before the half. Pictured with me are my friends Ivie and AJ. Since we all hung out in the corrals for both the 10K and the half, I had to get a picture. You know what I mean?

Before we knew it, we were off on our 13.1 mile victory lap. By the way, I think I heard one of my favorite lines from a race announcer before we started. Rudy was giving us good advice about the need to stay hydrated because the air was rather dry for the race. Carissa came in and asked hydrated or Hydra-ated? She encouraged us to thank the volunteers for keeping us Hydra-ated during the race.

I stopped for a pic with Cap in the 10K. For the half, I saw the line wasn’t too bad for Thor. Again, I was told the line was around 10 minutes. So, I decided to give up the time and get the pic. These races are supposed to be fun after all.

Much like last year, the Cos Players were out on the Santa Ana River Trail. I stopped for a quick selfie with Falcon and Ant-Man. Do you see Ant-Man? Falcon is holding him.

I always love running through Angel Stadium!

Eventually, I found my way to the finish line! My official finish time was 3:08:16. On the positive side, I did finish 16 seconds faster than the Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon. Also, if I had decided to skip the picture with Thor, I would have set a new runDisney Half Marathon PR. I mean, I spent at least 10 minutes in line for that pic. Take that out of the equation and  I’m finishing under 3 hours. Another positive? Negative splits. At the 5K, my estimated finish was 3:29:25. At the 10K mark, it was 3:10:52. At the 15K mark, it was 3:09:37. I finished in 3:08:16. So, yeah. If I didn’t stop for 10 minutes with Thor, I think I probably would have finished somewhere around 2:58. My splits back me up on that.

No matter the time, I still got to go home with these two new pieces of bling! In the process, I completed the Inaugural Infinity Gauntlet Challenge!

It was another great runDisney weekend. Also, it was just another great week for me! I’ve wanted to start working on putting together wins. Week number 2 of doing just that is now complete. The challenge for this upcoming week is to get 4 more workouts in. After the Chicago Marathon and Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathons, I didn’t do so well with that. I’ve got to remember that I’m in training for the Star Wars Rebel Challenge. Those races have not happened yet. So, if I want another fantastic weekend there, I need to keep my eyes on the prize this week and keep going.