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To celebrate my birthday last month, I decided to head to Los Angeles to participate in the Star Wars Half Marathon.  I love Disney races and was anxious to try one on the West Coast this time :)

On the morning before race day, I headed over to the Expo where I could pick up my race packet and bib for the big day.  It's always fun to walk around the show floor and be tempted by running shirts and supplies.

 I really liked the race shirt and bib for this race!  I don't have many long sleeve running shirts, so this was really nice.  I wore it all day after the race :)

 I also picked up some cool swag at the expo, including this new awesome magnet for my car.  I don't have anything yellow, so I decided to try out this hoodie and like it quite a bit.

Disney does a great job of making the race feel special, they even rolled out the "black carpet" for us.  Little touches like this make the cost of a Disney race worth it.  Now to head back to the Hotel and get to bed early...3:30am was going to come soon.

4am Race Day: They had a stage set up in the race waiting area and kept entertainment going, along with encouragement to head to the start line asap.  It took about 20 minutes to walk over there, so I understand why they were so instant.  They have a really great bag drop service and all of my stuff was waiting at the finish line for me.

This is my third Disney race and I decided to finally stop and take pictures this time.  It's such a unique  part of the experience and I've always passed it up before.

I even stood in the long line to take a selfie with my homie!  I'm really glad I took the time to do this.

It's really cool to run through the parks before they are open!  Getting up super early sucks, but getting to run behind the scenes and see areas that normal vacationers don't is pretty sweet.

This was my first race running without a partner, but I found that I did well across the entire 13.1 miles.  It was tough stopping and starting for pictures, but it was worth it and I got a new PR!

Of course I had to have Ice Cream to celebrate...multiple times that following week actually.

Every runner should experience a Disney race at least once.  They are expensive, but the care and flair they put into each one makes it such a great experience.  Now to start thinking about that Coast to Coast Medal...maybe Wine and Dine needs to happen this year.