Tinkerbell Half Marathon-Part One

Here it goes, weekend recap...

Thursday:
My flight left at 2:30, so at 12 I was on a van to the airport.  I must have packed my bags 10 times
(Thursday alone).  

The flight left late due to a fight attendant somehow being injured helping a passenger with his bag.  She was injured one row ahead of me, but the seats are taller than me.  But even taking off late we managed to land in CA early!  I loved looking out the widow and seeing the snow covered mountains and desserts, and snow covered mountains.  (I have no idea what route we took, but I'm guessing over the northern part of the USA)

 

 I had about a 10 minute wait for my next van ride to Disneyland; it was a shared van with other runners.  The other runners had no interest in talking to me (I tried!), but the college student next to me did.  I somehow failed to take into account LA rush hour when planning my fights, so although we landed at 5pm I didn't make to my hotel until 8! 

After checking into my hotel I headed out to Downtown Disney to get dinner, Gumbo!  Then I fell asleep :)

Friday:
I woke up a 6am, but the parks didn't open until 9am!  So still on East Coast time, I was really bored and called my mom to entertain me :)  I decided to make go to Disneyland for opening.

We were allowed through the gates and down Main Street, but not allowed into the "Lands" until the park official opened.  I had a great time taking pictures of the nearly empty park.  When the rope drooped everyone speed walked to their desired first ride; my guesses: Space Mountain, Peter Pan, or Indiana Jones.  I walked leisurely into Fantasy Land, right past Peter Pan and onto the first ride of Dumbo!

 

Don't ask me what I did after that :)  I walked around and took very few pictures.  The race Expo opened at 10, so I headed over there to get my race packet.  I also picked up a new water cup and headband.

And the rest of the day is a blur :)  I went to California Adventure, I rode the new Radiator Springs Racers, probably Soarin', I had Broccoli and Cheddar soup in a sour dough bread bowl, and generally had a lot of fun!

 

I went back to the expo at some point because I was volunteering on Saturday morning and I wasn't quite sure what I needed to do.  I also stopped by the Dannon tent and was handed kids Greek yogurt (1 strawberry and 1 cotton candy).  Then back to Disneyland for more rides.  Including holiday themed Small World!  I was very happy to see this!

 

I headed back to my hotel about 6 or 7, I was exhausted and because I was volunteering the next morning I needed to be up early.

 

Saturday

I needed to be a volunteer check in at 4am! So it was an early morning for me.  I saw practically no one on my walk, which was pretty creepy.

 

 

I had fun volunteering, I was at bag check so I was only working before and after the race.  After we were set free I went back to my hotel to nap.  

 

 

 

Honestly don't remember what I did.  Had Fun obviously :)  For dinner I had tickets to Pasta in the Park through the race.

 

A pirate band played while I was there.  I was by myself so I found a set at a table with 2 families, it felt a bit awkward... The food was really good.  I had pasta with meat sauce, salad, rolls, and fabulous dessert.  I knew I had to race in the morning, so I didn't eat as much food (dessert...) as I wanted

 

The dinner also included seating at World of Color, but at 7 I was already exhausted and the show wasn't until 9:45!  Plus I had to wake up early the next morning, so I made the decision to go back to the hotel and get some rest for the main event!

 

 

~Maggie