The race announcers kept stating that everyone REALLY needed to slow down today and based on the forecast, you likely needed to slow your pace by about 2:00/mile today. WOW! Even with a 5am start time we were looking at temps well into the 90s before the race concludes.
There was about 5-7 minutes between corrals but the time really flew by as we waited. There is so much going on and the announcers were entertaining and engaging with the crowd and you made new friends in the corrals as we all waited. It was finally our time to go!!!!!!!!
Around mile 4 we were heading through Anaheim. The entertainment and support along the way is great. There are countless marching bands, cheerleaders, and dance groups performing and cheering along the way.
Around mile 7 we were greeted by hundreds of awesome antique cars and crowd support. Words cannot express the amount of gratitude that I have for all of these wonderful people giving up their Sunday morning to come cheer for thousands of runners. We even had a wonderful and SPARKLY cheer squad by some of #TeamSparkle along the way too!
In past years, Angel Stadium would have 1000+ screaming Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts cheering you on. Not this year...there were maybe 100-200 in the stands. :( Don't get me wrong, I still love running through the stadium, I was just disappointed that it wasn't full like in years past.
A HUGE thank you though to the medical stations for having ice rags on hand for us! I didn't really feel the heat too bad until the final stretch, so getting cooled down a bit really helped more than I can express.
YES! runDisney came through and recognized "legacy" Disneyland Double Dare Challenge runners with a special lanyard on our medals. Legacy runners are those who have completed the race/challenge each year that it has been held. For quite some time it had been a debate as to if runDisney would recognize the legacy challenge runners so it was definitely a fun perk to the finish line fun.
Thank you runDisney for taking race photos into your own hands - I REALLY love this new upgrade to race weekends!
After making our way through the finisher chute, Heather, Marjorie and I snapped a quick picture together before going our separate ways. Thank goodness I ran into these wonderful ladies at mile 10, because they really made those final miles a lot more bearable and fun!
Well, after four Dumbos were collected, runDisney busted my hopes and dreams of five Dumbos and re-branded the challenge as the Disneyland Doubled Dare with a Pixar theme for 2017. Yes, I was a little bit of a brat about the situation and had my five year long dream smashed, but I decided to have some fun with it.
For several years I knew the photos that I wanted with my herd of Dumbo medals, so I had some photo-shoots with my "4 Dumbos and a Pixar Lamp" around Disneyland...