Walkin' Boulder
By Sue Deans
Training for a half-marathon walk, the former editor
of the Camera blogs about exploring Boulder

September 4, 2011

t’s not easy to take pictures when you’re focused on walking 13.1 miles on a sore foot. But I will show you a few to tell the story of the Disneyland Half Marathon Sunday.

My brother Charlie, his wife, Margie, and I arrived in California Thursday afternoon, Sept. 1. As we did last year, we stayed at the Sheraton Anaheim just across the street from Disneyland.
Our SuperShuttle driver was a bit impatient with us when we told him we wanted to go to the Sheraton at Disneyland. “There are three of them,” he said. But we found the right one.

The next day we went to the Disneyland Hotel & Convention Center to pick up our race packets. The bib numbers went up to 15,001. The race sells out quickly and my number was 13,510, meaning I came in close to not making it. runDisney puts on other races as well, and a highly prized medal goes to those who complete two marathons or half marathons during a calendar year, one at Disneyland and one at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Margie and Charlie are planning to do that next year.

We spent the afternoon and evening at Disneyland in the theme park and enjoyed it thoroughly, as we always do. This year it was just the three of us and we mostly went on kiddie and old people rides.

Here are Margie and Charlie walking on Main Street USA, the first place you go in Disneyland. I found out recently that Main Street is modeled after Walt Disney’s home town, Marceline, Mo., and also on Colorado’s own Fort Collins, the home of Harper Goff, then Disney’s art director. It is supposed to look like a 1908 small town Main Street.

I loved seeing all the kids in costumes. Little girls are deeply into the princess theme and many wore tiaras, gowns and/or tutus, like these.

On Saturday our cousin Dawn arrived from her home in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., and we had lunch with her, her brother Dean, his daughter and Dawn’s husband, Tracy. Dawn was kind enough to take us on an afternoon driving tour of Los Angeles, including Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and then to Huntington Beach, where we saw the sun going down.

We went to bed early because we had to be up and out way before the sun came up again. I was asleep by 9 but rudely awakened when the park’s nightly fireworks show started at 9:30, shaking the hotel building for 20 or 30 minutes.

Here we are about 5:15 a.m., walking from our hotel to the race lineup site. Charlie and Margie, the real runners of our group, were in Corral F and Dawn and I in Corral G, bringing up the rear of the race. The fastest folks, of course, made up the earlier letters of the alphabet. We all got separated quickly in the crowd and I didn’t see any of them again until the end of the race.

We in the back had to wait a while. We had arrived about 45 minutes before the first runners started at 6 a.m., a minute behind the wheelchair racers. So there was time to stretch and visit with some of the others awaiting the start. Lots of people wear Disney costumes for the race. I even bought a princess tiara set of mouse ears but decided at the last minute not to wear it because I thought it might become annoying. Here are some of my fellow Corral F runners who took the Disney thing seriously.

About a half hour after the first runners were on their way, Corral G was ready to go. Here we are in what is obviously early morning!

I would like to say that this photo of the starter is blurry because I was going so fast, but that would not be true. I was taking the picture and checking the time: 6:32 a.m. Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald and Daisy Duck were cheering us on, dressed in fashionable track suits.

We started out through California Adventure, below, an auxiliary theme park to Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom. It looked interesting, especially a Wine Country attraction. I had tried to order wine with dinner the night before at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in Pirates of the Caribbean, but was told that no alcohol is served in the park – except at Wine Country.

Especially interesting was our route through the behind-the-scenes areas of the parks. Lots of employees were out to cheer us on and wave, while others toted their coffee into the buildings to report for work. Here are a Disney train engine and a float used in one of the many parades.

Between miles 8 and 9, after a stretch on the Santa Ana River Trail we passed the Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Ducks hockey team. Lots of high school bands with cheerleaders and other colleagues lined the race route to entertain us. Earlier there were a few quiet and boring miles through an industrial area. My family members, who had done the race last year, told me I would feel good when I got to the Honda Center and Anaheim Stadium because It would mean there are only three or four miles left. “Only.” They were right, though – when I got here I knew I could finish. I was a little miffed at Mile 9 where there were supposed to be Clif Bars and they had run out. Luckily I had brought one of my own snack bars.

Lots of nice Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and their leaders were gathered at the Honda Center and Anaheim Stadium, home of the Angels. They cheered for us and high-fived, or tried to, when we went by. Some Angel cheerleaders danced atop the dugout encouraging us. I was glad all these people had the energy to stay and greet those of us bringing up the rear of the race!

Mile 12! Almost there. I got annoyed a few minutes later, though, when people leaving some of the hotels with their rolling bags walked right in front of runners. We, or I anyway, didn’t have enough energy left to run around them. And someone who had already finished the race was yelling at us, “Smile! You did this because it was fun, right?” Right, lady.

We wound around a lot of curves in the last 1.1 miles but finally the Finish line came into view. I spotted cousin Dawn ahead of me and sprinted ahead to snap her picture. She’d had our red T-shirts made with the words “Team Schlaufman,” our family name, on the back, so I had no trouble finding her.

Grinning from ear to ear, I crossed the Finish line, nodding to the Ducks and the Mice who greeted us again. I did it! I snapped a picture of myself. My official time: 3:32:36

And later, back at the hotel, Team Schlaufman posing with our medals.