Rebel Challenge

My Twitter feed is crawling with posts and images from this year's runDisney Star Wars Weekend at Disneyland.

I'm only slightly envious. I own medals from the inaugural Rebel Challenge, thank you very much.

However, if - at the time of registration for this year's Rebel Challenge - I had known about the inaugural Dark Side Challenge, I would have signed up again. I'm sad to be missing out on the opportunity to get the Kessel Run medal for signing up for both challenges this year.

But I'd like to take a walk down memory lane today. Here's a race report that's a year overdue.

We left from Newark Thursday morning for Anaheim. Ben got an early start on being a rebel by taking a selfie and disobeying rules:

Once we arrived at LAX, we waited for my sister-in-law's flight to arrive from Boston. Then we went directly to packet pick-up. We were stoked to get not one but three race t-shirts for our efforts:

Only one bib to re-use for both races, though. My husband applied some fantastic forgery skills to his bib so that he could start in the same corral as Bridget and I. Don't tell Disney, please.

Friday, we hit up California Adventure since Bridget had never been. 

The Tower of Terror is the best ride ever, both here and at Disney World. Did you know that every time you ride it, it drops you differently? Disney has figured out how to prevent people from taking photos of their ride photos since this was taken, but glad I've got this one for my memories.

Up early for the 10k Saturday. 5:30 am race start - not a big deal when you are still following Eastern Time. 

The 10k took us first through the Magic Kingdom and then through California Adventure. The thing about running at Disney is that it is so non-competitive, people just stop to take photos with random characters positioned along the race route. And there can be some very long lines...

I didn't stop for any photos during the Wine and Dine Half in 2013. I was really hoping for a sub 2:00:00 half back then and didn't even come close... and then regretted not taking any photos. So I had promised myself a stop during the Star Wars 10k. There was no line with these friendly looking Jedi.

The race ended - 59:23. Waited for the husband and the sister to finish, and then went back to the hotel for much needed hot tub time.

Sunday morning - Return of the Jedi at 5:30 am:

Deja vu. Almost identical to the one we took Saturday.

The first six miles of the half followed a similar route to the 10k the day prior. When I had been reviewing the course map at packet pick-up for the half, I was really disappointed to see that the "cool" part of the run was over early on - we'd be out of the Parks and into the not-so-exciting streets of Anaheim before we even hit the halfway part of the race.

I mean, seeing Chewbacca on Main Street can really keep you going, right?

But I was SO WRONG about the best part of the race being in the parks. Anaheim may have one-upped Disney by having every single street lined with something fun and interesting to keep you going. There were:

• High school bands playing mostly Star Wars music, with some football fight songs thrown in for good measure;
• Members of the 501st - I'm pretty sure the REAL Obi-Wan Kenobi was among them; and
• A coyote running the opposite direction at mile 9. Not sure if Anaheim really planned that, though.

I did not take photos during this race (above credit goes to my sister-in-law). I was so determined to do better than a 2:10 half and desperate to move my race time back in the right direction, I just didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. 

And I clocked in at 2:07:03.

Satisfied. Definitely not thrilled, just satisfied.

Getting that Rebel Challenge third medal though was pretty thrilling :)

92 days left

Today's Exercise:  Treadmill Run:

M1: 16:04
M2: 16:35

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
Beef stew, coffee	Beef Stew, tea	Almonds	More Beef stew