Infinity Gantlet 19.3 Mile Challenge

It seems like an eternity ago, but this last January Jennifer and I made the trip down to Orlando to run in some races. Jennifer did the Disney World Marathon and I ran in the Dopey Challenge which was a 5k, 10k, half, and full marathon in 4 consecutive days. At the time we said it would be cool to run one in Disneyland California sometime. Well, we decided to make it happen sooner rather than later because if you run at both places in the same calendar year then you can earn a special medal that is called Coast to Coast. So we signed up to run a race in November. Turns out this proved to be a very good decision because we later found out that the race we signed up for ended up being the last race at Disneyland for the foreseeable future. Jennifer didn't want to miss out on getting more medals like in Florida earlier in the year, so we both signed up for the Infinity Gantlet which was races in back to back days for a total of 19.3 miles (10k and half marathon).

Our first stop was the race expo. We wanted to make sure we got our packets since we had a race the next morning at 5 am! The process was really easy and it didn't take but a few minutes to go through the whole process.

After we picked up our packets we headed over to spend a little bit of time at Disneyland before heading to the hotel to get some sleep. First thoughts when walking through the gate was "Man, that castle is tiny!". We took a tour later in the week and they reminded us that this was the first park that Walt Disney built and at the time it was probably a huge undertaking. Millions of dollars later they invested in building a much larger castle down in Florida. Our first ride in the park was the Argonaut, which seemed to be a remodeled 2000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was pretty neat. The ride was themed after Finding Nemo. Jennifer would tell you that we made a huge mistake next in that we went over to ride Splash Mountain. I specifically asked for the front seats on the log. Well, Jennifer got completely soaked and she wasn't very excited about it! We didn't close the park down because we had a race early the next morning.

We got up around 3:30 in order to get ready and make it to the starting line in time for the 10K race. It was really great weather for our race around high 50's. Thankfully we didn't have to freeze like we did last January at the marathon when the temperatures were in the low 30's. Jennifer figured out our costumes. I was Captain America and I carried a toy shield for the entire race. Jennifer was Thor and carried the hammer the whole time.

There were plenty of photo stops along the race route through both parks. We actually stopped at almost every single one of the photo opportunities and almost every character stop. We saw Captain America, Mater, the giant Mickey Ferris Wheel, Santa and the reindeer, Mickey Mouse house, It's a Small World, and the Matterhorn.

We stopped and took pictures with Hawkeye, Thor, Black Widow, Spiderman, Loki, and the fuchsia girls from the Guardians of the Galaxy. In order to save some time waiting in line, I would run ahead of Jennifer and go ahead and get in the next line. We waited almost 25-30 minutes for a picture with Thor and the rest of the characters took about 10-15 minutes.

There were photographers all over the course ready to get some action pictures of you running the races. We got quite a few action shots together even though I ran ahead a few times. Sometimes we were right together, but the photographers didn't know that we were a couple so we sometimes got only a portion of the other person.

Since we were waiting in line to meet all of the characters it meant that our times were horrible. In fact around mile 4 while we were waiting in line for Loki we got passed by the two women in the first picture, the balloon ladies. These are considered the end of the race. They keep the pace for the slowest racers and if you get passed by them then the race crew picks you up and transports you to the finish line and you are not allowed to finish. When they get to each mile marker they stop and give a final countdown before people are "swept". When we passed them I heard them counting down "29,28,27". Jennifer didn't hear them or else she would have flipped out. We decided that we wouldn't stop at anymore stops for the final 2 miles because we definitely didn't want to be picked up. I did however talk her into stopping for a couple of more pictures in front of the castle and with the flowers shaped like Mickey. We crossed the finish line and received our medals. Then it was time to get cleaned up and head out to the park.

The next day was our half marathon. Jennifer dressed up like Iron Man and I went as the Hulk. We again had an early morning with the race starting at 5 am. 

I knew from the time we booked the race and looked at the map of the course that it was going to be much different because only 4 of the 13 miles were actually in the parks. The other 9 miles were spent running through the streets of Anaheim, with a brief stop inside the Anaheim Angels stadium. I told Jennifer that I would run with her through the parks and then we were going to split up and run at our own pace. My favorite picture is the one where I am flexing and Jennifer is shooting something out of her Ironman hand. We didn't really stop at any of the character stops because it was all the same characters that we had seen the day before.

Here are the few things that we briefly stopped to take pictures with during the race. We got a picture with the Ferris wheel, the castle all lit up, one of the many Christmas trees, the Avengers ride and some random horse. After the 4 miles in the parks they didn't have any characters or photo stops with the exception being in the Angels stadium.

Here are some of the pictures that I took along the route and a picture in the middle of Jennifer and I with our medals. After looking back at all the pictures I still can't believe that I took candy from a stranger, but at mile 8 those red vines looked delicious. Running through the Angels stadium was pretty cool. We ran on the infield and behind home plate. As you entered they called out all the runners names too. The whole time all I wanted to do was lay down in the outfield and make a pretend snow angel, you know for Angels in the Outfield.

Besides running our races we spent the better part of 5 days exploring Disneyland and California Adventure. I still enjoy running all kinds of rides and especially ones that have a picture taken during the ride. After the first time I usually do something silly just to make it interesting.

California Adventure was a really fun park. It had Jennifer's all-time favorite ride from all the Disney parks, which is Toy Story Mania. I am super competitive and it frustrates me beyond belief that I can't beat her except for once in a blue moon. Maybe that is why she likes is so much, seeing me sad and frustrated. They also had a Cars ride that was really cool. I also had one of my favorite park meals here too, macaroni and cheese in a bread bowl. It was carb overload but so good and in fact it was actually a hidden menu item that I just happened to spot someone else with. They also had a pretty amazing light and water show too. The only downfall was that it was standing room only and there were a ton of people there the night we saw the show.

One part of Disneyland that we loved was that they changed some of the rides for the holiday season. The Haunted Mansion turned into the story of Jack Skellington and the Nightmare Before Christmas. It would have been much better if I had actually seen the movie, but we still really enjoyed it. After we got home I made it a point to watch the movie and it was actually really good. 

We got medals for our 10K, half marathon, for doing the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge and then the last medal (one on the left) is for doing a half marathon at Disneyland and Disney World within the same year - Coast to Coast Medal. After a couple of pictures in front of the castle we put away all the other medals and just wore the Coast to Coast medal. It's a Small World was so pretty lit up at night time. Every 15 minutes they also had a show on the outside of the building that was pretty cool.

It's a Small World also changed their decorations to coincide with the holidays. It was really amazing inside too! I think out of all three parks we visited this was my favorite Small World. It actually incorporated Disney characters into the ride which was neat. The picture of us holding hands was a throw back to when Landon was just a little smaller. He would just see the sign that is posted inside the boats and it looked like kids had to hold hands with parents. I never told him otherwise. Since Landon wasn't there I picked Jennifer to hold my hand. 

After our races we definitely wanted to show off some of our hardware at the park. We enjoyed some delicious Mickey shaped beignets. The fireworks were also nice with a holiday theme to them.

The Cars land was pretty awesome. If you have a kid that likes the movies Cars at all then they would love this place. We even got to meet Mater and Red (the fire engine).

We didn't wait in lines to meet very many characters because it just wasn't a priority to us. However, Clara Belle was one that we waited a few minutes for because we had never seen her before.

The last day of our trip was spent at Disneyland, which is the only park that Walt Disney ever got to visit during his life. We actually signed up for a tour that was a Walk in Walt's Footsteps. It was a pretty awesome tour and it concluded with a trip up to Walt's apartment which was right above the Fire Dept on Main Street. They only allowed the one picture that they took of us in the apartment. I knew that it was going to be a big day, so I was sure to wear my tie. This is one of my favorite shirts that Jennifer ever made for me.

We had planned to leave earlier in the day so that we could get back to Las Vegas well before our flight time, but Jennifer had trouble pulling me away from the park. We rode Dumbo and made sure to take plenty of pictures with Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The whole week we could not get over the fact that the castle was so much smaller than the one in Florida. Our tour guide told us, which made sense, that the Disney corporation had so much more money when Disney World was being built than Walt had originally when Disneyland was built.

Disneyland and California Adventure ended up being a really awesome experience. I can't wait for a few years from now when we will be able to take the kids to see all the different things that Disneyland has to offer. If you ever get a chance I would definitely recommend you going. I am so glad that we were able to make the trip out west to run our races. Especially since they have cancelled every race at Disneyland for the foreseeable future due to some issues with construction and the local government. So, for now we are part of the last group of people that were able to get the Coast to Coast Medals. We were so thankful to get away and just spend some time as a couple. My parents have been awesome to watch the kids so that we can go and enjoy some things together. Thanks for reading and God bless!