Onto the Kids Races:
They started at 8:00 at California Adventures. So we left the hotel at 7:15ish. We got there and there was a HUGE line to get in. They had to bag check everyone and it was taking quite awhile. We got through in plenty of time before the races started though.
Our 9 year old was in the mile race, so she started at a different spot than the younger boys. So my Husband went with her and was going to run with her. Her race started first. My Husband said the line was huge, but moved fairly fast. She apparently was not in a hurry and pretty much ran at her own pace. But she finished in a little over 13 minutes, so really not bad! She got her medal and after race treats.
The boys races started in a different place and it was CHAOS over there. There was a BIG difference between this race and the Disneyland half. The Disneyland Half was in Downtown Disney, so they had SECURE corrals staged in the parking lots with employees at the entrances to each age group to keep kids safe and make sure they couldn’t leave without the correct adult (you had claim tags for your kids) and it was very orderly. So theoretically (we used Aunts to help us, so we didn’t have to leave them), you could leave one kid to race with another and then go race with the other kid when it was their turn. Here there were no corrals. They just had signs for the different age groups and people spread about this massive eating area in the park. There was no way you could leave a kid with their age group (in fact they told you not to), so we had no choice but to have the boys go together (they told us to do this). Our 6 year old decided he would just go with 2 year old group. Fine with me, they are first, so we were done sooner!
So once the milers were done – I could see my 9 year old pass by us! – the 1-3 year olds were up. One thing that was better was they got the corrals through the start MUCH faster than the Disneyland half! I think it was because they were a little behind and they had to open the park for business! So they would line the kids up like 4-5 at a time and say 1, 2, 3, GO! and then line up the next set and same thing. They went really fast – which was a nice improvement over Disneyland Half. So in a perfect world, I would take the orderly, and secure corals of the Disneyland half and mix it with how fast they got the kids going from this race and would have the prefect kids races! 🙂 Both of the races were alot of fun regardless and the kids LOVE having their own races!
My 2 year old took his time when it was his turn – my 6 year old was very sweet and stayed with him and tried running with him. The 2 year old however was very distractable. He stopped to look at the flowers (at least twice!) Then he got to the cheering crowd. I didn’t think we would EVER get him away. He walked near them and LOVED having them cheer for him. He thought it was great. He stopped to smile and wave at all the people. They would cheer and tell him how cute he was and he would move onto the next cheering section of people, smile and wave. Yeah, he is a little Ham. I had to move him along – he finally got to the finish line (this was only 100m) and was excited to see Minnie! He loved the all Characters, but is still too chicken to go up to them himself. He is only brave around them if mom or dad is holding him and then he is fine 🙂
So he finally finished, (he started toward the middle of the heats, and by the time he finished they were announcing that the 1-3 year old were almost done!), and both boys got their medals and we found my husband and daughter. We then did bathroom breaks, had a snack, and then headed back into California Adventures for the day.
running the race together |
Stopping at his cheering crowd |
finish line! |
Now I have running pictures in front of BOTH castles!! |
Hot and sweaty (but not tired, even after 15.3 miles – it was a walk to and from the finish/start line) |
My AWESOME medals – Tinkerbell is the COOLEST medal! And the Coast to Coast is my most prized 🙂 |