A little over a year ago, on January 14, 2024, I participated in my last half marathon race, at the Disneyland Half Marathon event, which heralded the return of runDisney race weekends at Disneyland since 2017. For a number of reasons, I had decided before race weekend that no matter the outcome, this would be my last half marathon. There are two 5k races in the Southern California area that I intend to continue doing, but that would be it.
The 5k that weekend hadn’t been bad, and while I did complete the 10k, there were already indications that I might not make it through the half marathon. I’ve never been swept at a half marathon, and I started to get myself in the mindset that there was a very good chance this would be my first time not finishing.
I was in the last corral, which I hate because it means I only have a couple of minutes of lead time from the balloon ladies, the ladies who are the official pacers, if you will, in that they start at the very end, and as long as you’re with or in front of them, you’re supposed to be safe from getting swept, but if you fall behind them, you run the risk of being cut off. When I’ve ended up a corral or even two ahead, that’s given me a few more minutes of buffer, but that was not the case for this race, the one where I needed it the most.
One of the things I dislike most about half marathon races is getting to my corral and then having to sit for a long period of time. You have to get there early if you want to be near the front of the corral, and again, more lead time in front of the balloon ladies. I sat for an hour at least before it was time for my corral to start moving, and I was cold, which is not a great way to start a race.
Within fewer than 100 feet from when I started the race, I got one of my shoes stepped on from behind, so I had to pull over to straighten my shoe out. Great, just what I needed, when I literally didn’t have the time to spare for this. “Just give up now,” my mind screamed at me. “Why bother doing any of this when you’re just going to get swept?” Before I started doing 10k and especially half marathon races, I had no idea how much of this was mind games that your brain plays with you. It’s not just about the physical exertion but at least for me, fighting the internal arguments about “Why are you doing this? Just stop now.” The screams and thoughts to stop were even louder on this day, but another part of my brain was able to push through. Just take short, fast steps. Just keep going. If you’re going to get swept, then that will happen, but not because you didn’t try.
Things were going ok for the first couple miles. And then I got to just before the mile 3 marker. We had come from just past Grizzly River Run, following the road as it curved right toward Soarin’. That’s where the mile 3 marker was, and it’s known that many people stop at mile markers to take a selfie. The course made a sharp left turn there, in the narrow corridor in Disney California Adventure before Soarin’ that let out into the esplanade. It’s not an exit that is generally used for the public, except in special circumstances. The narrow corridor was bad enough. But the folks in charge, in their infinite lack of wisdom, decided to put a water stop in that corridor, on both sides. It was an absolute bottle neck that had us shuffling one small step at a time for a while, and then at one point, we actually stopped. Many of us thought there must have been some sort of medical emergency, which is why they were stopping racers. No. It was just the absolute stupidity of deciding to put the water stop there. It was so narrow that people couldn’t get through, even those of us who weren’t stopping for liquid refreshment and just wanted to continue on the course. Once we started moving again, it was still quite a bit of time just shuffling one foot at a time very slowly. It took us likely 10 minutes to get through a space that should have taken seconds. What was especially maddening about the whole situation is that the exit let out into the expansive esplanade, which would have been plenty of space to put the water stop.
What was worse about this whole debacle is that while the balloon ladies were also trapped in the bottle neck when they got to that point, because of all the time that was lost, they were instructed to increase their pace so that they would be back on the pace they should have been on as if the bottle neck had never happened. That was entirely unfair. You were supposed to keep at least a 16 minute per mile pace, and if you did so, you’d be ok. In order to make up the time lost, people would have had to go a much faster pace, so I can’t imagine how many people were eventually swept because they couldn’t keep up with the increased pace caused by the idiocy of the people who created that bottle neck. If you talk to anyone who did that race, all you have to say is “mile 3”, and everybody has very strong feelings about it, except perhaps the elite runners, who wouldn’t have encountered any bottle neck because of their reduced numbers compared to the general population.
Trying to get myself back into a racing rhythm after that mess was difficult but eventually, I put that behind me. At every mile maker, someone would call out the time ahead of pace of the balloon ladies, to let you know your status. For the next few miles, I was quite a bit ahead of the pace time as the balloon ladies were stuck in the mess, but as the miles continued, it was clear they were speeding up because while I kept my pace, I was losing time as far as how far behind me they were.
At various locations along the route, there were pickup / sweep trucks for racers who were cut off because they were behind pace. Not a fun sight.
One bright spot on the race course and something that was a great pick-me-up was encountering two TIE pilots around mile 9 on the course. Because the January races before races ended at Disneyland were themed to Star Wars, I had worn my half marathon Star Wars jacket for this race, since it was a cold morning. The TIE pilots had a sign about “bring back Star Wars races”, so I took the time to go up to them and show them my jacket, and they were so excited. It definitely put a pep in my step to see them out there, but since I have no idea who they were, I’ve sent out a cosmic thank you to them and hope they’ve received it.
I kept thinking that I was going to get caught by the balloon ladies, and I was nervous seeing all the busses on the route right before we got on the Santa Ana River Trail, but I made it past that point. The balloon ladies caught up with me around mile 11.5. I figured if I stayed with them until mile 12, that was only another 1.1 miles to the finish line, and I’d be ok. So that’s what I did. Once I got to mile 12, I did slow down. I noticed some of the on-course bike riders going past me as well as a few racers passing me, but I didn’t think too much about it because I had noticed packs of people behind me.
And then at some point, I finally turned around to look to see the people racing behind me, and I saw a person driving a cart, smiling at me encouragingly. And instantly, I knew that meant that I was the last person in the race. They weren’t going to stop me, and they were going to let me finish, but I was dead last. And I also knew what that meant. I knew that the last person in a runDisney half marathon race got celebrated with confetti and attention, and I even knew that some people would try to be the last person in a race for that very reason. I also knew that was the last thing I wanted to do. Apparently, I hadn’t paid enough attention after mile 12 and had slowed down too much. I immediately picked up my pace, and the cart drivers and others who were waiting for me to finish must have been surprised that when I’d been dragging myself along a minute ago, I now had the energy to just book it.
I immediately went back to race pace and ran past a few people who had been ahead of me, so I was well past the finish line when I heard the noise and turned to look at the confetti and applause and congratulations for the last racer to finish. And I was so thankful that it wasn’t me. That was not a milestone that I wanted to hit. I’d already been last in the race for the duration before I noticed the cart behind me.
When I approached the finish line, I noticed that Carissa, one of the race announcers, was actually on the course to welcome the last finisher, and I took the time to show her the Disneyland Paris race shirt and Star Wars race jacket that I was wearing, and she appreciated seeing both.
I was happy that my half marathon journey ended with a finished race, no matter how ugly it was.
Good luck to everyone who will be participating in the Disneyland race weekend in two weeks.
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