Running A Disney Half Marathon in Florida or California

Wrapping up my recap of the 2016 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, where I ran the 10k and half marathon races, I figured today is the perfect time to talk about the differences between running a Disney half marathon in Florida or California. I’ve now run two half marathons in Florida and one in California, and a 10k in each. By no means am I an expert – there are many runners who make it their mission to run all the Disney races, and I have no intention of doing that, because my wallet can’t take it! But having run at the marquee race weekend at each location in the past year, there are a lot of things I can share that any runner debating between the two should think about.

 

 

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Tallying Up My Travels

This Thursday, I’m sharing the nitty-gritty details of everything I spent on my travels over the past couple of months. Before I set off on my first trip, I decided that I was going to make an effort to write down everything I spent so that I could keep track of where my money was going, and also not let things get too out of control. I knew that the total after tallying up my travels over the course of 25 days on 3 trips in 2 countries, 2 states, and more than a half-dozen cities, with transport via planes, trains, and automobiles, was going to be significant. But as I’ve shared recently, I really value experiences over the accumulation of stuff and this time after the bar exam before my new job and next phase of my life begin was a wonderful opportunity to see new places with old friends and make memories that will last a lifetime. The monetary value of tallying up my travels ended up totaling roughly $3,685.30. The rest of it? Well, that can’t be measured in dollars and cents.

 

Hiking near Keswick, England

 

Run. Eat. Listen. Watch. Read. 9/20/15

Welcome to a late September edition of Run. Eat. Listen. Watch. Read. It’s pretty much a Link Love to gather up everything that’s caught my eye since the first and second rounds back in August, featuring everything from running tips to recipes and movies to music. Read on, and you might get hooked on one of these too!

 

Life lately, or ‘Goodbye to the Getty‘

 

Thinking Out Loud 9/17/15

This Thursday, I’m thinking about lots of random things. Like my recent trip to California. I’m still so happy I got to run the Dumbo Double Dare with my cousin and good friend, and experience Disneyland for the first time. And eat lots of delicious food.

 

Thoughts on the Dumbo Double Dare

To wrap up my Disneyland adventure, I’m sharing my final thoughts on the Dumbo Double Dare challenge, just as I did back in January when I ran the Disney World Half Marathon and shared my final musings on the experience. In case you’ve missed them, here are my posts on each day at Disneyland:

First Day at Disneyland

Day Two at Disneyland

Disneyland 10K Race Recap

Disneyland Half Marathon Race Recap

 

 

Disneyland Half Marathon Race Recap

I’m coming at you this Wednesday with my Disneyland Half Marathon race recap, including my opinion on the race course, thoughts on how it compared to the Disney World Half Marathon, and everything I ate in Disneyland when runger struck after! If you need to catch up before diving in:

First Day at Disneyland

Second Day at Disneyland

Disneyland 10K Race Recap

 

 

Disneyland 10K Race Recap

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! Today I’m sharing my Disneyland 10K race recap, the first part of the Dumbo Double Dare. My first day at Disneyland and Day Two flew by, and before I knew it Saturday morning arrived with a bright and early 4:15am alarm. We got up, got dressed, and left our hotel around 4:40, making the 20-minute trek to the corrals along with lots of other runners staying in hotels along Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim. I really enjoyed being able to get up “later” at the California Disney races versus those in Florida – still being on East Coast time made it feel early, but not unreasonably so!

 

Disneyland Take Two

The second day of my Disneyland Adventuring was even better than the first. As I mentioned, I woke up absurdly early on Friday, but I used the time to unpack and get settled and arrived at Disneyland Park as they were letting people on to Main Street. I had never been in a Disney park at rope drop – people get really crazy, running to their favorite rides! I strolled over to Dumbo first because I figured I needed to give my childhood favorite a whirl in my Dumbo race shirt.

 

 

First Day at Disneyland

Greetings from sunny Southern California! I’m checking in today to tell you all about my first day at Disneyland. I flew into LAX from New York on Thursday, September 3. I had to leave my apartment around 6am EST to catch my 9:30am flight, landed about 12:30pm PST, got on the Disneyland Express Bus at 1:15pm and finally arrived at my hotel around 3pm – 12 hours from when I left. I was pretty tired, since instead of sleeping on the plane I watched Tomorrowland (to get in the Disney spirit) and Pitch Perfect 2 (not as good as the original!) but I had a snack and went straight to the Expo at the Disneyland Hotel to pick up my race bib and tech shirts for the Dumbo Double Dare!

 

 

California Here I Come

I can’t believe it’s the first day of September already. As I mentioned yesterday, I am determined to hang on to summer as long as I can. The weather here in New England is complying with my wish. It’s going to be in the mid- to high-80s all week, and pretty humid – so warm that when I head to Southern California on Thursday I may be heading into temperatures just slightly cooler than in Connecticut (although not by much!) I just whipped up a batch of my No Bake Peanut Butter Berry Bars because the oven is not coming on around here for a little while.

 

A bar with some strawberry ice cream to cool off