Official Avengers 2017

A huge THANK YOU to everyone on these boards. You all have been so supportive of my dd (16) in her running efforts. Not being a runner I don't always know the best advice or how to guide her. Your support has meant a lot. This was her first time running all three races and she did so in awesome style.

She had an amazing weekend. She relaxed enough to walk the 5k -- which led to some super fun photos. The 10k and 1/2 were completed within minutes of her PRs for each. She slowed down enough for those to also take the time for photos and to just enjoy the atmosphere.

I do have to say the photo-pass photographers were really on their best game this weekend. She's got so many amazing photos.

We will both miss these runs like everyone.

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Closed out the 2017 runDisney season by setting another PR, my second sub two of the year. I would have been faster if I didn't stop for the characters but the lines were so short, it was hard to pass up. I still have the Goofy Challenge in Jan but it will be very strange to not be running a race at DL next year.

Also finally saw Thor Ragnarok last night in Downtown Disney, great movie!
 
I ran RNR Vegas when I did Avengers to vegas in 2016. It’s an amazing race with lots of fun. The half marathon is a fast course with the first 7-8 miles run down hill. Just note it’s at night and you’ll have to adjust your pre-race eating and sleeping habits to be ready ;)
 
I just want to give a shout out to the 3:00 galloway pacers, although I didn't manage to stay with them the whole way, I did for almost the first 6 miles( too many photo stops) but it was long enough that I than managed to run the rest of it by myself and come in under 3:15, which was 10 minutes under my Star wars, and the first time ever running a half by myself
 


I just want to give a shout out to the 3:00 galloway pacers, although I didn't manage to stay with them the whole way, I did for almost the first 6 miles( too many photo stops) but it was long enough that I than managed to run the rest of it by myself and come in under 3:15, which was 10 minutes under my Star wars, and the first time ever running a half by myself
Awesome job! My husband and I were the 3:00 pacers, and we had a blast. Congrats on beating your Star Wars time by such a large margin!
 
I'll need to catch up and read through all the comments I missed while I was in Disneyland. I hope everyone had a great time! This last race was bittersweet... But I feel like runDisney went all out with the characters and entertainment. It was SO MUCH FUN. I got one of my slowest times because I stopped at each character stops and took it all in.

For those of you who want to relive the 10K, or for those who weren't able to participate in it... here is my course highlights video showing lots of the on course excitement. In addition to all the fun Characters the awesome thing about the 5 a.m. start time for the race was getting to see all the Christmas lights on throughout the park!

 


I felt like the Expo was smaller than usual. I don't know if that is normal for Avengers or a function of this being the last runDisney California event for a while. When I got to the Expo around 4:15 or so last Friday, there was still plenty of merchandise available although I did snag the last Men's XL I Did It shirt for the half. There were plenty of race ornaments. I thought about getting one, but decided to think on it some more and wound up completely forgetting. I really like the backdrop they had for this race just outside the ballroom where runners and others could get their photos in front of the race themed backdrop. Light Side had this as well. Something I would like to see runDisney fold into the WDW races.

It felt really strange to me to be running just the half. I didn't quite know what to do with all the extra time on Friday night since I was not getting up for the 10K Saturday morning. As much as I love Disney 10Ks, I think choosing the half only on just 3 weeks of training was the right decision.

Now for race day itself. The more I run the more I come to know that some training sessions are just more difficult than others. In the midst of those days, I've wondered what it will be like if that ever comes during a race itself. Well, I think I know how that feels now. Between only 3 weeks training and sinus congestion, I wasn't feeling my strongest. I knew that my training was good enough to finish, but I wondered what race day would be like. I've come to understand that so much of training is to prepare your body for race day itself. I did get a few photo ops in, which I was happy about. The collectors fortress cages over in Hollywoodland, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, and Black Widow. I also stopped for a photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Christmas tree. I did have a scary coughing spell over by Paradise Pier, but survived it. I learned from that to take a swig of my drink to keep my throat wet before it gets too dry.

I was happy with my times in the park. I did have a 20 minute mile, but that included 2 photo stops and the aforementioned coughing spell, so I wasn't too worried. For whatever reason, I went really slow after leaving the parks. I think I settled for don't fear my time, fear the balloon ladies a little bit too much and managed to turn in another 20 minute mile, although that may have actually included the photo stop with Black Widow and the Christmas tree. Maybe it wasn't such a rough mile after all. Either way, I picked my pace back up to roughly 15 minutes give or take per mile, which I know is good enough.

For anyone who fears the sweepers, just monitor your rough time from mile marker to mile marker. If you're running roughly 15 minute miles each time, then you're fairly safe. The miles stretched on, but soon enough came Angels Stadium. At 10.5 miles, I knew that I was in the home stretch. I told myself that I had one more training session to go, the approximate distance I had just run the Wednesday before and I would finish. The long runs always seems a little bit harder each time as I build up mileage, so I worried about how this one would go with that last build up being required to push me across the finish line. I also pretended that it was really April and I was on the home stretch of Dark Side after an insanely busy time at work. This helped me push through.

I felt like the water stops were good, though maybe not as enthusiastic as I'd seen at prior Disneyland races. I appreciated the on course entertainment as well and was very excited to see a single Star Wars cosplayer by the MousePlanet cheer station. Woo hoo! In some ways, this was perhaps my most emotional finish because of the 3 week training.

Takeaways from training for and running a half in just 3 weeks as a 3 hour plus half marathon runner. As long you can more or less successfully start off a 5 mile run at race pace, it's possible, but far from ideal. At about the time I normally start to try and increase my speed, I was also attempting to incorporate a half marathon into that mix. My goal was to finish which I did. At the same time, I heard about some elements of the 10K (bifrost tunnel) that I would have loved to have seen. Given how challenging the early few miles of the half were, I believe that signing up for the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge on just 3 weeks training would have been too much. Still, I accomplished my primary goal which was to finish and hit some stretch goals of character photos.
 
Just getting back to a computer since we went on vacation after the races. I love reading everyone's experiences :) I had a great time at the races! I wasn't sure what to expect since it was my first Disneyland race and my first challenge. I sure was happy that I had decided this year was the year to get my Coast to Coast. I was a little wary after the expo because it seemed a bit half hearted. But the 10k and the half were great. I loved the photo pass photos as well as the little photo stops during the race for things like the castle, World of Color, etc. I didn't stop for any of the official character photos as the lines were pretty long when I passed by. But I enjoyed taking selfies and made sure to stop by California Adventure afterward to get my Thor and Loki photos :) I finally got an elusive jump photo at the finish line of the half but haven't yet mastered the art of smiling while jumping. The cast member and volunteer support was great though the crowd support outside the parks wasn't as good as I had heard in past years. But I had sort of expected that anyway. The best part was the fellow runners! Everyone was amazing and I loved seeing all the fun costumes. carsland.jpg castle.jpg finishline.jpg Santa.jpg Thor.jpg
 
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Your photos aren't showing up.

You could definitely feel the hiatus of future runDisney events at Disneyland hanging over this Expo. Seemed to me like there were fewer vendors, and the runDisney booth removed all Disneyland medals including 2017 Coast to Coast except the Avengers weekend medals.

I don't even remember them showing photos from the 5K which I usually see during Light Side race weekends.

Thankfully, the race experience itself was what I've come to expect from runDisney.
 
Oops... weird. I logged out and looked and the photos seem like they're showing up for me. I'll take another look when I get home and see if I can fix it from there. I agree, the expo definitely felt sad but the race experiences themselves were pretty good.
 
On my end your photos just read like you typed as opposed to posting the actual link.

I thought the character lines and in park photo ops for this race varied. There was minimal wait for the trapped in the collectors fortress photo op in Hollywoodland, but it also came shortly after the long wait for Star Lord and Gamora. Captain America had a long line, Doctor Strange a short one. Spidey's line wasn't too bad, but I skipped it. Nick Fury and Hawkeye had almost no line whatsoever in Disneyland, while Thor and Loki both had very long lines. Black Widow probably had a 5 minute line or so.

I was really glad that the character lines were very reasonable by the time I got to them. With my sinus congestion and slight cough acting up early during the race, I feel like the brief respite from running as I waited in line helped me adjust and recover. For me, this race was one of my toughest in the first couple of miles, but once I got used to it as it were, I was fine the rest of the way.
 
It's so sad coming to these boards and not seeing any "official" 2018 threads for Disneyland. That makes it all real.

Right? I'm bummed too.

I'm in a holding pattern right now about getting excited for my next race. Fingers, toes, shoe laces, and even eyes are crossed that I get picked for the Berlin Marathon so I can run Disneyland Paris next year. I'm getting impatient - two weeks until I find out if I have to raise funds for charity or I can start planning a kickass vacation.
 
I think the photos should work now :) I'm kind of in a holding pattern for next year too after marathon weekend in January. I'm not really sure what races I want to do. I volunteered at the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in DC last year and was excited to be able to do it this year (since I never get in with the lottery) but my brother chose that weekend to get married! I registered for an inaugural half in DC in April and it was only $50 when I registered so we'll see how that goes. I'm usually wary about inaugural halfs but it was a cheap enough price that I don't mind too much.

@courtneybeth good luck with Berlin!
 
Yes, your photos are working now.

I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to run again. Fortunately, I'm signed up for Dark Side next year so sooner or later that will find new ways to motivate me. Now to reach that point sooner.
 
So I know I'm late but I'm really just getting back to the boards for the first time since the run! I'm so glad I got to participate. The run was very special to me and I teared up many many times. I wasn't in love with the race jacket I prepurchased so I returned it. I was albe to get the pin I wanted so I was happy about that. And I can say I've never waited in such a short line at the KT tape booth. So while it was a small expo, for my needs it worked fine. Definitely couldn't have spent a whole day there though. Just not enough to do/listen to.

I got to the stage area around 3:45 am. I looked for @courtneybeth but never could find her! I enjoyed the entertainment and headed to the corrals shortly after they were opened up. I was getting over a sinus infection and still on antibiotics and my training had only been up to 8.5 miles so I was just looking to finish and enjoy the race itself. I stopped for every picture I wanted to and I’m so glad I did. My IT band started talking to me before mile 5 and I had to start adding longer walk segments in. By the end of the race I was mainly walking with just a bit of running thrown in. I was able to run down the finishers chute and across the finish line which is what mattered most to me though. Loved all the costumes and signs. So bittersweet!
Definitely struggling with motivation to run now that west coast runDisney is no more.
 

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