Tinkerbell Half Marathon Review

The first leg of my coast to coast challenge medal is done! I ran with the flu, it was the most awful feeling in the world however, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I didn't even come close to achieving the time that I had hoped for but I finished and there were moments I even questioned that. I am thankful I finished. I am thankful that my tinkerbell medal will proudly hang on my wall and I will remember this race.

I LOVE RunDisney events. Yes, I know they are more expensive than other races but they are worth it, every single penny. I would run them all if I lived closer to Disneyland or Disney World. Seriously, I love the characters along the path, I love the chance to run through the parks and backstage of things that I otherwise wouldn't get to see and experience. I love the magic that is involved. I love the chance to explore the parks after the race and all the people wandering around with their medals. I LOVE RunDisney events.

I have a goal of getting a complete set of RunDisney half marathon medals. I want to earn one of each of them in my lifetime. They are so wonderful.

The Tinkerbell Half marathon was an interesting one because you ran half of the race through Disneyland Park and California Adventure and half through the streets of Anaheim. The Disney portion was my favorite part, but the run through Anaheim was nice as well. There was plenty of water/gatorade stations along the way and I saw plenty of medical tents (thankful I didn't need one), there also seemed to be an overabundance of port-a-potties. You finish the race in a back parking lot, which was nice because there was so much space for everyone to spread out a bit.

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and I would highly recommend staying near or on property the night before the race because we saw lots of people arriving after the race had begun and heard them complaining that they had to park over a half hour away and had to walk much further than they anticipated. It was amazing to be able to roll out of bed and walk downstairs in our hotel and nearly be at the start of the race and then when the race was done to only have to walk a few hundred feet to be at our hotel and be close to a shower before heading to the parks. It  was fabulous to not have to wait for a bus or anything to come get us and take us to our hotel.

We did wait in line to get our pictures taken with Tinkerbell at the parks, we waited a couple days because Sunday and Monday Tinkerbell's line was crazy long. The challenge with getting these photos is that Tink is in pixie hollow at Disneyland park and there are always two fairies in the hallow however you aren't guaranteed to get Tinkerbell, so it was kind of a timing game. There were lots of half marathoners waiting for Tink when we went through, it sort of made us all laugh.