is little and broken, but still good. ya, still good

so because i was a little anxious about getting down to anaheim at the asscrack of dawn for the disneyland 10K, i ended up not sleeping very well at all the night before.  that 3:20 alarm ended up being completely unnecessary, because i was awake at 2 and never could fall back asleep.  blech.  but i made myself stay in bed and try to get some rest anyway, because hey...i still had a 6.2-mile run to do.  and i hadn't been training like i probably should have, so i needed all the rest i could get.

of course, all that stress was super lame in the end, because i found myself pulling into the mickey & friends parking structure with a crapton of time to spare.  with a 5:30 race start, i was sitting in my car putting on the rest of my costume with a solid hour to kill.  there were plenty of other earlybirds around me, and it was fun to listen to their excitement and see the costumes they'd put together.  some people really go all out for these things, with wigs and props and full-on character ensembles, and i always wonder how in the hell they don't melt into a puddle from the exertion and humidity.

as i got out to put my grass skirt on, i spotted a couple of familiar faces:  my friend the nurse, and our mutual friend happy.  selfie time:

and here's what my costume ended up looking like.

runners were hanging out here, in the parking lot:

and the official race photographers were busy snapping as many pre-run photos as they could.

delovely details and her husband were there too, and i met up with them for a quick hello just before we entered our corrals.

i don't know if you noticed on my bib, but i somehow managed to get myself placed in the very first corral.  i was both nervous and excited for this, because i'd experienced some elite snobbery (and pushing and shoving) at the hollywood half earlier this year.  runners in this corral are much more serious than those in my usual middle-of-the-pack spot, but i also knew that the earlier start time meant that i had more time to stop for all the fun pictures.  i was still rather shocked at my placement as i entered the corral.  heh.

i decided to stay towards the back of the corral, and as i stood there and peoplewatched i noticed the run disney cameras led by bob hitchcock interviewing some of the folks with the more elaborate costumes.  and then a more familiar face emerged from the crowd:

the national anthem was sung by elvis (the theme of the run was "lilo and stitch," remember?), and then after the wheelchairs were released for their 10K, it was time.  of course, most of my photos from here on out are super blurry because i was running, but you're used to that anyway.  right?  

go time.

the first mile marker came quickly, as it often does.

we wound around a couple of the streets that surround the disneyland resort and then entered california adventure through the back, where we were greeted by a long row of cheerleaders.

in cars land, i found mater.  lightning mcqueen was there too, but i decided not to stop for him.

a few minutes later, i found one of several elvis..es.  elvi?  super goofy, one of my fellow team superhero members, was there too.  he's such a great guy.  who runs barefoot.  crazy!  but it worked with his costume.  ha!

this is one of my favorite sights at a disneyland run.  it's so pretty.  and yes, i definitely posed like that for most of my pictures.

halfway!

more scenes from the course.

these two scampered in front of me and totally hogged the camera as we entered disneyland.  i was super annoyed.  guess they got a shot of me after all, though.

this is why disney runs are so popular - because how fun is it to run through disneyland when it's totally empty?  a lot, let me tell you.

obligatory castle photo.

mile 4!

running through the castle is also my favorite.

 the longest line i waited in was for these guys.

by then, the sun was coming up and casting a gorgeous light over the park.  pretty, right?

a quick run through downtown disney, and then the end was in sight.

thanks, nike.  and stitch.

hello, jeff galloway!

the usual post-run disney race box of random snacks.

and my usual medal close-up selfie.

and with the bean's run coming up, i got to relax in the car for awhile.  i even had a pretty cool view of the happenings down below.

i managed a 1:24 finish time, which isn't terrible considering all of the stops i made for pictures.  and the lack of training.  but i was so tired - i seriously felt like i'd run a half and not just a 10K.  i think i'm getting too old for this.