the very last disneyland 5K

it’s funny that the disneyland half marathon weekend opened up for registration this week and i’m just now getting around to sharing our experience with the 5K…from january.  oops.

the old lady and i were super stoked when they announced that races were coming back to the west coast after a 7-year absence.  securing spots in the ultra popular 5K distance was a bit nerve wracking as it always is - i’ll never understand how runDisney can never get their shit together, for real. you would think that they would want to capitalize on the popularity of their races and make sure that their website doesn’t crash on EVERY single registration day, but noooo.  so frustrating.

we headed down to anaheim the night before the race to check in to our hotel and pick up our bibs at the expo.

we grabbed something quick for dinner and then made our way back to the hotel to try and get some sleep before our super early wake-up call.  races always start at the buttcrack of dawn and we needed to make sure we had time to get up and ready and walk across the street to get through security and to the start line.  

even though we’d discussed costume ideas when we registered, time just kind of slipped past us and before we knew it, it was the week of the race and we hadn’t done a damn thing about it.  and instead of stressing out about trying to cobble something together at the last minute, we kinda just threw up our hands and figured…eh, not this time. instead, we dressed for comfort (and warmth) and just went with it.

hello, disneyland at 4:30am!

the line to get through security was longer than we’d expected, so by the time we finally got to main street it was super crowded and we were pretty much at the back of the pack.  still, we were happy to be there (well, as happy as one can be when it’s 5am and cold as shit) and it was fun to see main street all dressed up for race weekend.

and as i usually do, i glanced up above the fire station to see the lit lamp in walt’s apartment.

after the singing of the national anthem, the wheelchair racers and the first few corrals were released onto the course and the rest of us moved up towards the start line.

disney races are always insanely crowded, but the 5K is a little extra because it’s a “family fun run,” which means you have more kids and strollers throughout the course.  if you aren’t in the first couple corrals it’s fairly challenging to make your way through the hordes of people, especially if you’re trying to run.  it also doesn’t help that there are always big groups of people who want to walk alongside each other, forming walls that are really hard to get around.  then again, it’s not a serious race and isn’t even timed so i guess expectations should be fairly low here.  but for the price of registration, it should at least be somewhat enjoyable.  oh well.

this year’s race was themed around disney dogs, so there were bone-shaped decorations everywhere.

and despite our frustration at constantly getting blocked by everyone ahead of us, we had fun as we made our way through the parks.

with the old lady now a cast member, the novelty of being in the backstage area has worn off for her.  but for me, it’s always fun to step behind the scenes and walk through areas that are typically off-limits to the public. they bring out things like parade floats and props along the course for us, and there are always groups of cast members who smile and wave and cheer us on.

before long, we were at the first mile marker:

and then the second:

there were lots of characters along the way, like goofy and pluto and dante from “coco,” but they also had very long lines for photo ops.  we passed most of them up, but when we caught sight of bolt standing on the hollywood backlot stage we had to stop.  the old lady loves bolt because he looks like stevie:

i’ve always loved running through the parks - yes, there are lots of fellow runners everywhere, but it’s different during the races.  peaceful and quiet, somehow.  i know that probably doesn’t make sense, but if you’ve been there, you’ll know what i mean.

and then we were there - mile 3.

pluto was there to usher us towards the finish line.

we collected our snack boxes and medals:

and i got to meet up with my pal dailygluttony, bonus!

sunrise at disneyland is always a good time. after we sat and peoplewatched for a bit, we got up and headed back out towards the exit. 

the race photographers found us a couple of times along the course.

i’d been out of the racing game for a really long time, and for a little while afterwards i thought that i might be ready to come back.  i even bought new running shoes and headed outside a couple of times with the hub, hoping to train for the next disneyland 10K, halloween-themed and scheduled for september.

when registration day came, i logged onto the site bright and early and watched the clock with a mixture of dread and excitement and anticipation…and then when it opened i was thrown into the queue with thousands of others in front of me.  ugh.  the 10K sold out almost immediately, before i was even able to get into the site.  i was so bummed.

needless to say, those running shoes are sitting in the gym, unloved and mostly unused.  registration for the 2025 disneyland half weekend opened last week and as usual, the 5K and 10K sold out incredibly fast.  i didn’t even bother to try this time.  and to this day, there are spots open for the half marathon…but not for me.  i’m pretty sure i’m truly done with races, and to be perfectly honest i’m really not that sad about it.  

i’ll just stick to barre, my peloton bike and boot camp with my friends because those make me happy.  and that’s all that matters anyway, right?

5Kin' at disneyland

sure enough, 3:45 rolled around in no time at all and we found ourselves up and at 'em even before the butt crack of dawn.  since this isn't our first time at this rodeo though, we had the process pretty down pat and were ready to go in no time at all.

because our hotel is that close to the parks the shuttle didn't even have a stop for us, nor did the in-house shuttle run that early in the morning even on race days.  boo.  and so we found ourselves hotfooting it out on the streets of anaheim until we got to where the corrals were set up for the run.

because you can't ever have enough pictures, we got a pre-run shot as we waited for our turn to start.

we've noticed that there are fewer and fewer costumes at these disney runs than there were back when i first started doing them.  but the ones that do come out are usually pretty awesome, like this dad we spotted who dressed up as "the claw" while his kid scampered alongside him dressed as one of the aliens.

and then it was our turn to get going.

the 5K is billed as a "family fun run."  this means that it's definitely not a run to be taken super seriously, and you see lots of little kids being tugged along behind their parents as they tackle 3.11 miles at 5:00 in the morning.  it's also super crowded despite the gigantic crowd being split up into several corrals released a few minutes apart.  now keeping this in mind, it's especially frustrating when you're trying to make your way through the course and come across people who are HOLDING HANDS as they walk two abreast.  or in this case, FOUR.  YARG.

like, i get it.  you're in love. or you don't want to be separated from your group.  but this crowd is so closely packed together that there's pretty much no way grown ass adults are going to be separated for long.  DON'T DO THAT.

before long we were veering to the left and heading back onto disney property.

the first photo op came in the form of cast members dressed in costumes from "the incredibles"  posing on and around pieces used in the pixar play parade.

there were lots of these sprinkled throughout the course.  considering there aren't a ton of incredibles characters, i guess they just had to make do with what they had.

cars land is always so pretty when it's all lit up.

did you know that there's one four-leaf clover in bugs' land?  we always look up at it whenever we go through that area.

we weren't going to stop for the first mile marker, but decided we might as well take advantage.  after all, this could very well be our last disneyland 5K.

she was super excited to take this picture.  the excitement is visible.

i don't even remember where we took this.

as we ran down the street in the hollywood studios area, we came across a disney photographer.  or, at least, where one should have been.  it seems like ever since the photos became part of our annual pass perks, the photographers are much fewer and further between.  hmph.

while we were prepared to stand in some lines for photo ops, we decided not to wait for this one and settled for a quick run-by photo instead.

we did get to say hello to merida though, and i was pleasantly surprised to note that she had a pretty good scottish accent.  nice casting, disney.

mile 2!

running through the backlot, it's always nice when we come across this sign with a bunch of cast members there to wave and high-five us all as we run by.

and then we find ourselves entering disneyland via tomorrowland.

frozone was there to greet everyone, but not to take photos.  the only way you could do it was selfie-style.

i had to stop and take this, because look at how awesome it is when you get to watch the sunrise at disneyland:

on our way through fantasyland we came across lotso and the green army men.

i also love the teacups at night.  well, not to ride on them because i don't like spinny rides, but it makes for a fun picture.

same goes for the carousel.  and the castle.

just past the castle, toy story's jessie was happily taking photos with runners.

 and you know, it's just not a trip to disneyland without a castle picture.

 once we started going down main street, i knew we were getting close to the end.

and just before exiting the park, we found mr. incredible...and he even looked in our direction as we snapped a selfie.

on to downtown disney!

just .11 miles left to go.

we passed disneyland hotel and turned the corner towards the finish.  i knew that we weren't going to be lucky enough to get a decent finish line shot amongst all of those people.  we couldn't even slow down to get any sort of gap between us and the folks in front of us.

this is as good as it got.  no cute mother-daughter-hand-in-hand finish line photos this time.  oh well.

and of course, my usual bling shot.

lots and lots of medals to hand out.

it was insanely warm and humid that morning.  it'd been a solid 75 degrees with 75% humidity at the start...at 5am.  and so we were pretty stoked when we came across a staffer who was handing out cooling towels that had been dipped in cold water.

the famous runDisney snack box.

and this.  um, duh.  of COURSE we're going in the "photos" area.

we eyed the annual passholders' tent, but it looked like just a place to hang out and take a couple of pictures.  since the old lady still had to get to work that morning, we didn't stop.

it was interesting to see that a tent had been set up with official runDisney merchandise.  i'd not seen this before and it certainly wasn't opened up for us lowly 5K participants, but i'd always wondered why they didn't set up shop at the end of the races before.  maybe they just got tired of having so much leftover stuff after the expo, or finally realized that they had a golden opportunity to squeeze some more cash out of people this way.

as we headed back to the hotel, we saw that the start line was already all set up for the other races that weekend.

and the construction workers were already hard at work at 7:00, banging and pounding on stuff for star wars land.

post-run elevator shot:

inside the snack box:

and while the old lady packed her stuff up so we could leave, i snuck one last selfie.

a couple of hours later, i continued last year's tradition of heading to the barre afterwards.

there are lots of rumors flying around about the possible demise of the western edition of runDisney.  registration for both the star wars and tinkerbell half marathon weekends have been suspended, with both runs not even showing up on any of the rD marketing paraphernalia or websites anymore.  some say that there are new members on the anaheim city council who are making things a little more difficult to work out, while others report that the city is totally good and it's rD that's putting a hold on things.  no one at the expo seemed to know what to say when asked about future disneyland races, and so the speculation continues.

as for us, the process of running a 5K at disneyland is just too expensive and somewhat of a hassle when we sit down and think about it.  it's always a great time and we really do enjoy it, but at $75 per person plus hotel costs - well, i'm pretty sure that we won't be doing this again even if it becomes available.  i'd totally be down for the 10K again, but i know the old lady isn't up to running 6 miles even though their 10K courses are pretty stinking awesome.

i guess we'll just have to see.  and maybe by the time they finally decide to make an announcement about these races i'll get my running mojo back.  my fingers are crossed.