Never Land 5k

The Never Land 5k is one of my favorite races.  It was my first runDisney race.  This year I had signed up for the Never Land 5k as well as the inaugural Tinker Bell 10k and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. Yikes.  Three races in three days. I must have lost my mind!

This is a fun race.  The race begins in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.  They do fireworks before the start and Tinker Bell flies above the castle.

I'm in the crowd at the start of the race!

Since this is a 'fun run' and is an untimed event so they don't have official starting corrals.  It's first come first served.  This year I managed to work my way to the front of the start line. 

I hadn't been able to train like I wanted to leading up to the race.  I had a few niggling issues that required me to give them some time off.  I wasn't able to run at all the week before my races. 

Peter Pan, Windy and me.

I huffed and puffed a bit but over all I felt pretty good.  I stopped a few times for some quick photos.  I was even able to get in a character photo op.  I was shocked to see a short line for Peter Pan and Windy so I stopped.

 

 

 

 

Crossing the finish line.

I finished in 37:04.  Not too bad considering the photo stops.









After the race I stuck around to cheer on the other runners as they finished.  I found a member of the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Facebook group I belong to.  She was also cheering on the runners.  I got a picture with her Pixie Power! sign.

Pixie Power!

 

 

Finisher's Photo and Finisher's Medal

New Years Race Resolution 5K - January 4, 2014

My first race of 2014!

I did the inaugural running of this race last year.  So now I'm a legacy runner. LOL. Of course I had to do it this year.  This is a night race through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.  They offer a half marathon and a 5k.  For this race I do the 5k.  Last year at this time I wasn't up to doing half marathons.

At the expo.

I've been training for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon but my training had taken a hit over the holidays.  I wasn't as prepared for this race as I would have liked.  So I wasn't sure what to expect.

Last year I had gotten stuck in traffic and wanted to avoid it this year.  I left home early, as it turned out I was way too early.  I hit no traffic and was at the race 2 1/2 hours early.

After milling around for 2 hours my feet were cold and stiff and my back had started to hurt.  I was starting to have some doubts about the race.

They start the half marathon runners and the 5k runners at the same time. They do use a corral system and I was in corral 12.  The race stared at 7:00 p.m. but my corral didn't get under way until probably 7:20 p.m.

And they're off and running!

Despite my fears I had a great run.  This wasn't my fastest race.  I didn't even come close to a PR. But I was running easily and comfortably throughout the whole race.  I finished with some thing left in the tank. And that is worth it's weight in gold.  

Course Map

This is an interesting course.  It's run at night and run through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.  It's not an area I would normally be in, let alone be on the some of those streets after dark.

Running through the streets of downtown.

The race starts and ends a few blocks apart.  So I had to walk back to my car which was parked in the Pershing Square parking structure.  It can be a little creepy walking those streets alone.  Luckily I found another lady who was also headed to Pershing Square.  We walked back to the parking structure together.  We got pan handled by a homeless man.  When we told him we didn't have any money on us he started to follow us.  It was a little unnerving so we ducked into a restaurant for a few minutes to let him pass. We managed to get to our cars without further incident.

My time for this race was 37:04.

Finisher's Photo

Home after the race.