August 31st was the Disneyland Half Marathon Meetup put on by Disney that I was lucky enough to get chosen for, and Sept 2nd was the Disneyland Half Marathon. Let's start with a recap of the Meetup, then Monday I'll cover a bit of the expo and the the Disneyland Half! I know a lot of other bloggers have already covered this, I just wanted to share my experience and photos too!
So, if you aren't already aware, Disney has been offering meetups sporadically for the last year or so and they've had them before some of the recent races. You have to to sign up as soon as it opens, so after hitting refresh for 10 minutes, I got my email in, and later that afternoon, I got an invitation! (Let me just say, looking back, I REALLY freaked out about that invitation. Like a lot. Screaming in the car and dancing. That's how I roll.)
After getting up very early to meet my friend Susan who was also chosen, we walked over to the meetup spot at Disneyland Hotel. We were given runDisney shirts (which I love, it's so comfy!) and then herded up to have a welcome then begin the run!
- Image courtesy of Disney©
We started under the Disneyland Hotel hat and proceeded through Downtown Disney into the promenade. Then, we rounded the corner onto main street!
- Image courtesy of Disney©
Now mind you, we had gotten in at midnight the night before, gone straight to bed, and then I woke up at 4 so this was my first glimpse of the park, much less the castle! It was so neat, although we didn't get to spend any time handing around, we were running after all!
We ran this route . Susan and I stopped for a second to get a picture by the castle :)
Next, we ran through California adventure and I grabbed a few Paradise Pier sunrise shots:
Then, we rounded the corner through Pacific Wharf and saw this GLORIOUS sight:
I won't lie, rounding the corner into Carsland for the first time before the park was even open with my friend Susan by my side, that was so special. It was such a pretty sight, and so true to the movie, it was a magical moment for sure. We kept running and then reached the end of the route near the Animation academy and then proceeded into the Animation auditorium to listen to runDisney employees along with Jeff Galloway, the authors of Another Mother Runner and Suzy Favor Hamilton speak.
Favorite things I heard:
- They're working on more races!
- Races will always be on-property
- runDisney vision "Make everyone believe they can run & make it magical!"
- There's a "possibility" of a Paris or Tokyo run in the future
- Best question to runDisney "Are you hiring?!" ;)
- More women than men enrolled at the WDW Marathon for the first time ever!
I tweeted a lot during the session, as evidenced by multiple photos of me doing this: (double chin for the win!)
- Image courtesy of Disney©
Then, Mickey came out and we got to take pictures with him! 
- Me & olympic runner Suzy Favor Hamilton
- Susan & I with the big cheese
- Jindy & I with the big cheese
- Image courtesy of Disney©
Next, it was over to Flo's for Breakfast, then a special ride on Soarin' with a behind the scenes look at the screen! Breakfast was great, and Susan and I sat with the photographer while he ate and got to talk shop, that was fun too! He was a really nice guy and he took some great shots too, as evidenced by the ones I included here :)
- Image courtesy of Disney©
After breakfast, we walked over to Soarin' and we got to go behind and under the screen where we learned a few cools facts:
- The smellitizers are on the ride vehicles themselves
- There are 3 scents: Orange, Pine and Sea
- The oranges are CGI inserted, the fields are actually filled with avocado trees!
- The screen is made of aluminum and they found shards and remnants of a cell phone that met and untimely demise after falling onto it!
Overall, it was really fun. I hope I can do it again sometime! Final shot: Susan & I getting some nice one on one chat time with Jeff Galloway. He was really so nice and I'm glad I got the chance to meet him and tell him that he helped me start running!
- Image courtesy of Disney©
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