This morning, Friday January 18th, 2013, I had the pleasure of attending the Tinker Bell Half Marathon meet-up at Disneyland. runDisney puts on the meet-ups for groups of usually between 30-80 people. They are usually the Friday morning before a race weekend. We were told to meet down by the Disneyland hotel where we were given our runDisney shirts and where we could put our belongings in a bag for transport while we do our run. Sean Astin, as most of us know from Goonies, Rudy, and Lord of the Rings was there to run with us and also Ali Vincent, who was the winner of Biggest Loser Season 5 and has her own show called Live Big with Ali Vincent.
We started running through Downtown Disney led by Jeff Galloway using his run walk run method.
We than ran through Disneyland just as the sun was coming up.
Follow the golf cart!
We were greeted by a special guest Tinker Bell!
Sean Astin and Bob from runDisney.
And Ali Vincent jumped in for a picture too.
After Disneyland we ran across to California Adventure, through Paradise Pier and along Hollywood passed Tower of Terror and through Bugs Land back to the fountain at the front of the park where we were given bottles of water and more special guests, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy!
Sean Astin and runDisney nutritionist Tara Gidus.
Group Shots!
After we all had a chance to take pictures we were walked over to Cars Land where we were told we get to ride Radiator Springs Racers before the park opened!!! Seriously, if anyone has tried to get a fastpass for that ride anytime over an hour after the park opens you know why I was excited to get the chance to ride. The wait is always super long and the fastpasses are always out in the morning.
I got to ride in the car with Ali Vincent, she is in the pink jacket in the front.
After we all had a chance to ride we were walked out of California Adventure and over to Napa Rose where we were greeted by an amazing buffet of bagels, pastries, fruit, yogurt, coffee and juice. It was all delicious and also beautiful. We all spread out among the tables in the dining room of Napa Rose and ate and than we got to hear from Sean Astin and Ali Vincent. As well as Tara Gidus, the runDisney nutritionist. We also heard about the New Balance runDisney.
Here is a video of Sean Astin and he explains #Run3rd and the amazing inspiration for it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lbq40zdp8s&w=420&h=315]
Jeff Galloway is always a pleasure to hear from!
Ali Vincent talked to us about her amazing and inspirational story.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCY2TP6McMo&w=420&h=315]
After all the speakers were done we were treated to a cooking demonstration right there in Napa Rose! The chefs made a black bean cake with pico de gallo and a poached egg. It was an amazing time and at the very end upon exiting we were all gifted with a one day park hopper ticket!
I hope you enjoy all the pics!!!
Did you run the Tinker Bell Half Marathon?
Linda Iroff (@seanastinfan) | 19th Jan 13
Great pics, thank you!
Toni Lawrence | 23rd Jan 13
Great pictures. I saw my daughter-in-law, Jennifer, in a few of them (high socks and long hair). She had a ball and can’t wait to do it again. Great fun.
Tinkerbell Half Meetup | 24th Jan 13
[…] Half Crazy Mama […]
Mileage Mama | 31st Jan 13
RUDY! I heart Sean Astin. Such a cutie pie.
Melissa | 31st Jan 13
What a great recap! I love all your picures and the way you share you experience! I ran the Tinkerbell Half last year and I had a really hard time. I hurt my knee and it radiated to my hip. I am still dealing with the pain. I needed redemption and wanted the Coast to Coast so my hubby and I ran the Wine and Dine last year as well. I realized that at this time (and weight) half marathons are a bit too much for me. Just in time for Disneyland to announce a 10K!!! I am signed up and trusty I will be able to actually do it. (I am pregnant and due end of Juy. l Dr. approves if all goes well as my other 2 pregnancies)
I would really appreciate more information on the Meet Up with Jeff Galloway. How do you get chosen to attend I really would like to try to attend the Disneyland Half Marathon one. Thanks for all the info and your experience!!!!
thehalfcrazymama | 31st Jan 13
I’m so glad you liked the recap! If it makes you feel any better when I ran last years Tinker Bell I had already been to WDW and ran the Goofy Challenge, 39.3 miles and was running Tinker Bell for my coast to coast. At mile 5 I was admiring how cute this little girl was holding a sign for her mom and than SPLAT! I tripped over a road reflector and slid across the pavement. It was horrible. I immediately started crying because I saw my coast to coast medal flash before my eyes. I was instantly bleeding from my hand, arm, elbow and knee. I sat there for a minute and caught my breathe and tried to stand and it hurt pretty bad, but I quickly realized that no internal damage was serious so I started running, and I ran the 2 miles to the first med tent and got some bandages and finished the race. It was really sore for a while but I think my ego was bruised more than anything because of the silliness of tripping over a road reflector!! Anyways, my best advice for getting into a runDisney meet up is to pay attention to the runDisney twitter page and the Disney Parks blog. Usually about a week or two before they announce the day they are posting for the meet up. When they do actually post it you need to be VERY fast, like the first 2 minutes, and reply to the post…and than you just cross your fingers you were fast enough. Good luck on your future runs! I’ll be running the Dumbo Double Dare and super excited about the new 10k! And remember to watch out for road reflectors 🙂
krissy m. murphy | 18th Feb 13
Love your post! Just added it to the directory >> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj50RdVMRqNmdF8zRWFTNXJNdHI5a2dxZlAzNnlZd1E&usp=sharing
thehalfcrazymama | 18th Feb 13
Thank you! 🙂
9 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Must-Do’s | Half Crazy Mama | 25th Aug 15
[…] Attend A Meet-Up- While the official runDisney meet-ups don’t exist anymore, social media is buzzing with groups organizing meet-ups. It is a […]