I'm no longer a Disney race wanna be! And what better way to experience runDisney for the first time than the Disney Star Wars Half marathon in sunny California! When it's a balmy 12 degrees in Wisconsin, you are glad to hop a plane to run in warmer weather!

First stop - Packet pickup and the expo!  I was really glad to make this stop on Thursday, before most people arrived for the weekend.  There were virtually no other people in line and I was in and out in a matter of a few minutes with my race bib. I then headed over to pick up my race jacket that I preorder and was disappointed to realize that I should have ordered the XL, instead of the large. I was told that I would potentially be able to exchange it for a bigger size tomorrow. (Went back the next day and was told that exchanging them was never an option, so not sure why I was told that originally). No worries, I still love the jacket! With all my goodies in hand, it was time to head up stairs then for the expo!
 
I probably could have spent 5 hours wandering round the expo, checking out all the goodies, shiney things and apparel, but I really did need to find some food!  So that won out over shopping for the evening!

I spend the next 2 days taking in the festivities of the 5k and 10k races, running my own miles through Downtown disney during both of those races, exploring Downtown Disney's shops and restaurants and catching up with an old college friend who lived right down the road.

Finally, Sunday and race day was here! When you wake up at 3am to get to the start line and look at your weather app in California, you don’t expect to see 38 degrees! I had been on the fence about what to wear it was time to make a decision! Temps were not supposed to get much over 50, so I opted to go with the (heatgear) capri’s and lightweight long sleeve shirt under my costume.

After spending Friday walking through the parks all day, it was completely different to see them in the dark! The entire park was lit up and there were awesome photo ops throughout the entire park. Of course, the best ones were with the Star Wars Characters!

Course support was awesome, both in the parks and on the streets of Anaheim! I actually think I had more fun once I got out of the parks and onto the streets! Don't get me wrong, there is nothing like running through Radiator Springs at sunrise, but the way that the community comes out to support the runners is amazing! I actually stopped for more photo opps outside the park than inside!

What an experience! Traveling across the country to run a half marathon, explore new cities, meeting so many new people was so worth the adventure! I couldn’t have asked for a better race to kick of my 2016 race season!

For my full review of the weekend and half marathon, you can read it all here!
http://crazyhamster.run/2016/04/destination-disneyland.html