This year the 10K was Thor themed, at first I contemplated on wearing the Thor outfit I did last year, but opted to just wear a Marvel t-shirt. The start time was at 5:00 in the morning, we got up at 2:45 to make sure that I had enough time to get ready, go through security and get my bag checked before meeting my cousin just before the corral entrances.
It was a chilly morning for the 10K, but it was manageable. I met up with my cousin Nanette and we made our way to the front of corral F. The corrals went up to J, so I mentally planned how much time I can spend in taking photos with characters.
They released the corrals fairly quickly and we were off. The course was basically the same as the course in the Disneyland 10K I did back in September, which was fine, this course kept us pretty much on property.
We entered California Adventure through the side entrance that brought us to Ornament Valley in Cars Land, where the ride Radiator Springs Racers is located. We cut across and entered A Bugs Land for a bit before we hit the 1-mile mark.
We made our way through Pacific Wharf and looped around Paradise Pier, which will soon be transformed into Pixar Pier. I took my usual photo by Mickey’s Fun Wheel and we exited the Pier and went through Grizzly Peak and Condor Flats. We cut through Buena Vista Street and finished our tour through California Adventure, exiting by the Guardians of the Galaxy: Breakout ride in Hollywood Land.
We ran through the service streets and the transportation area before we entered Disneyland through Toontown. We ran past It’s a Small World and took a left at the Matterhorn and ran through Tommorowland. We made a quick turn at the hub and took the access path and entered Fantasyland. Didn’t linger there too long because I wanted to make up some time, since the lines for the characters in California Adventure was very long.
We ran through the castle which was already decorated for the holidays and entered Frontier Land and followed the path along Rivers of America. We made a hairpin turn right by the Haunted Mansion, which was taken over by Jack Skellington for the holidays. We ran past New Orleans Square and exited through Adventureland and made our way down Main Street U.S.A. and exited the park.
We took a left and ran through the Transportation Center and made our way back on the service road that lead us to the finish right by the Disneyland Hotel. I finished the course in 1hr 56min 13sec. I had a fun time during this race and was taking my time and taking advantage of the photo opportunities. I didn’t wait for Captain America, Dr. Strange or Loki because their lines were so long. I did manage to get pictures with Spiderman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Starlord and Gamora, Tivan hostesses and Thor.
The 10K course is usually fun, because you spend all of the time on property. Also, there were a lot of people dressed up, one of my favorites was a guy that was dressed up as Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy and had touches of Mary Poppins, in reference to his quote in the last move “I’m Mary Poppins Y’all”. Part 1 of the challenge completed, ready to complete it with the half marathon.
Chad's Blog for Running, Disney & Movies 