Before I can run though, I have to head to the Disneyland Health and Fitness Expo and pick up my race packet. The expo started on Friday morning, where most of the 5k and 10k runner who were running on Saturday picked up their packets.
From a friend, I heard it was a madhouse with huge lines for everything, a super crowded exhibit hall, and hour long waits for the official merchandise booth.
It's a good thing I'm going at 1pm on Saturday! When I went down to pick up my bib there was no one in line in front of me! It's actually pretty dead down here.
When the volunteer gave me my bib she loudly announced "Legacy Runner!" All the volunteers within earshot then yelled out "Legacy Runner!" and then started clapping. Yep, this is my 8th year running the Disneyland Half Marathon. I've run it every single year since they started!
Now that I've got my bib, I need to head up to the expo floor to pick up my runners packet and shirt. There is a great photo op with a miniature castle and a Disney Half Marathon sign. Unfortunately it's such a good photo op that the line to take pictures was 50 people deep. In between the people waiting, I lined up in front and got a quick shot.
No line here at the packet and shirt pickup.
And finally they have one of these! I remember past expos Theresa holding up a paper sign asking for strangers if they wanted to swap shirt sizes. I'm glad they finally have an official shirt exchange.
At the expo, we also caught up with a fellow Micechatters Carmen and George who came all the way out from Florida for the race. Carmen had previously read my Japan trip report on Micechat.com and used it to help plan his trip to Japan. Carmen is doing the Dumbo Double Dare and ran the 10k this morning. I love the colorful shirt they gave out for the 10k.
The Official Merchandise store was next on our list. Compared to the stories we had heard before, it was empty. There were tons of registers open and no wait.
A few of the shirts available to purchase. In the end though, nothing screamed "Buy Me!" to me.
So what was in the race bag? The short-sleeve dry-fit Half Marathon shirt of course. I love the color this year! Looking at shirts from previous years, we've had blue, navy, white, grey and black. Color is a good thing!
Also in the bag were the safety pins to pin your bib to your shirt, a Clif bar sample, a final race instruction pamphlet, and a magnet advertising The Little Mermaid - Diamond Edition. Gone are they days of huge bags full of free product samples and advertisements for lots of other races. The people handing out the bags also warned me not to put my bib in the bag with the magnet. Something about how it could mess up the timing chip on the back of the bib... Maybe someone should have thought that one through a little more.
Dinner was the same thing I get before every single Disneyland Half Marathon, Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo and Pasta Fagioli soup. Might not be the best pre-race meal, but it's worked out for me on all my other races.
Tomorrow morning is going to be coming super early. I'll be leaving the house by 3:30am to get there and get parked. The race starts at 5:30am!
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