It's REALLY dark at 3:00AM! Just in case you didn't already know that! That's what time we met at IHC this morning. And it's not any lighter at 4:00AM when we arrived at Disneyland to cheer on the runners at the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. This is our third year to do this, and it's amazing how much this event has grown. The first year about 300 Red Hatters came out to cheer, last year there were about 400, and this year there was almost 600 of us crazy ladies who got up in the middle of the night to do this. OK, so we're crazy. But we get a free day at Disneyland for our effort, and that's totally worth losing a few hours of sleep in my book any day!
Because the cheering section was so much bigger this year, we couldn't get anywhere near our favorite spot and had to settle for one a couple blocks further down the race route, which actually was OK because from this new vantage point, we were able to see and hear some of the opening ceremony stuff . . . including the . . .
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| Fireworks! |
The fireworks went off at 5:00AM signally the start of the race, but at our spot at almost the 6 mile mark, it would be awhile before the first runners reached us.
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| And so, along with our 600 new best friends, we wait. . . |
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| Here we are waiting in the dark! |
About 5:40AM we saw the bicycles indicating the first runners were coming - these would be the serious, no nonsense determined runners who were in it to win it, or at least to set a new personal best. These ladies just flew by us without a sideways glance. They are focused!
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| The first runner . . . |
It took awhile, and then slowly more runners would pass us, in little groups of one or two, sometimes three. These ladies (and some gentlemen) were still focused . . .
But soon there were more and more runners, and that's when it starts to be really fun for us. As we've experienced every year, the runners are so excited to see us . . . when they passed us earlier on walking to the start line, they were thanking us for being there and a few stopped to take photos with us. Now that they are running past us, they are still waving, shouting and cheering for us, and saying that running past us is the best part of the race, and how much they love seeing us there every year. Makes it totally worth it to be there!!! My daughter-in-law, Rochelle, was somewhere in the masses. I was trying to check out each runner as she passed, hoping to spot her, but I never saw her and she never saw me . . . . sigh!
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| Now the fun begins! |
Hundreds and hundreds of Tinkerbells, Captain Hooks, Minnies and Mickeys ran past, along with fairy godmothers, Cinderellas, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, every Disney character you can think of, even Nemo swam by. We heard there were 15,000 runners in this year's race. At $175.00 plus per runner . . . well, you do the math. Disneyland makes a bundle on this event! I wonder where the money actually goes? Sure hope they do SOMETHING charitable with at least a part of it!!!!!
Slowly the sun came up and the runners just kept coming. And coming. And coming.
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| Running past our Red & Purple sea |
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The last runner passed us at 7:35AM -
And she still has another 7+ miles to go! |
With our free D'Land tickets in hand, we posed for one more picture before heading towards the parking structure . . .
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| Carol B, Carol N, Annie, Joy, Joan, Debbie, Barbara, Dixie |
OK, make that two more pictures . . . .
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We had to take one more by the Tinker Bell sign
(this was at the 6 mile mark, not far from our cheer spot) |
Once out of the parking structure, we had to find our way around all the street closures and off to breakfast . . .
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| The streets were jammed with runners |
But we maneuvered through successfully, and stopped at IHOP for breakfast.
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| Breakfast at IHOP |
We made it back to IHC in time for the 11am service, and then home to maybe crawl back into bed??? We're using our free Disneyland tickets on Tuesday, November 11 - can't wait!!!
