Night before- two hours of sleep, as the excitement was keeping me awake all night,along with my wonderful pregnant wife.  We both got up at 2am and enjoyed a bowl of cereal together. Went back to bed but was up again by 3:30am, read alittle more from the Ultra Marathon Man book, and then proceeded with my prep ritual of moisturizing my feet ( to prevent blisters), and applying sun screen to my face and arms.  Was dressed pretty quickly after that, although I couldn't decide between the red socks and the black socks. Black socks won out as they seemed to slide over my feet easier.  Not to be outdone, they also color coordinated better with my outfit! Helena, my amazing wife drove me over to Disneyland where the closest we could park was the rather crowded parking structure just outside downtown disney. Helena was a real trooper as she had to walk with me past thousands of runners to downtown disney where we met up  with all of our group.  Remember, this is all at 5am, with our meet location at the Rain Forrest Cafe. Helena being pregnant often needs close access to a restroom- my heart goes out to her.  The numerous port-a-potty's were just mobbed with runners, so I was glad to see an open restroom when we got to the Rain Forest Cafe.  Helena was great- taking pictures of us, and cheerleading us on through the race.  We left her near the restaurant as we took off for the starting gun and the thousands of runners on the course.....
     Miles 1-5.25 - w/Megs running through Disneyland, packed in like sardines. We lucked out and got at the very front of group D with thousands of runners behind us took off winding our way out to Katella and back to California adventure. This is a good place for a digital camera, so I'll bring one next year! Morning weather was warm, and the red warning flag was up for the heat factor. Many Disney characters  lined the course, and with so many people, I felt resigned to the fact that my best time wouldn't be here, so grabbed Megs and took photos with Donald Duck and friend, and a rather  large furry ant thing.  We ran right through Disneyland, Pirates of the Caribbean where they  were shooting at us, and through the magic castle right out and through the park.
     Miles 5.25-10- Lost Megs (as she had to keep an eye on other racers behind us) at the start of this mileage Ran on my own to the 10k location right before the timer, as I could see it out of the corner of my eye, and decided I needed to pee, felt like I should of crossed the timing mat then pee'd, but nature took over- this was the only time that I really felt a bit dizzy due  to the heat- finished my business, hit the timing matt, and ran on to the water/gatorade table.  Megs was right, and every water stand I took water and poured it on my neck, head, and wrists- then drank a bit.  This leg of the race was right into the sun, so I took a major sun jolt as there was very little cover to get us out of the heat.  Found  myself walking about a quarter of a mile at each mileage marker, especially near the water. Was a bit bummed at this but was concerned that i might overheat- so I need to start wearing a belt for water and juice, and shorts that have pockets in it. Made it to Anaheim stadium and the fans, and the music really gave me a momentum to push on.  Bystanders would read my name on my race number and shout "Raleigh, your doing great, your almost there, keep going!" Boy Scouts, race fans, cheer leaders would all shout out encouragement, and hold out there hands for a high five- this was allot of fun, exchanging the high-fives.  That human contact keeps you engaged in the run, and it was extremely helpful to know that my coach, Megs, and my wife and a few friends were all watching my times come onto their cell phones. 
     Miles 10-13.1- Ran through Angel stadium where all the runners were projected up on the Lumatron screen, the  announcer shouting out encouragement as we ran around the bases.  Heat was really picking up here as the time as now 7:45Am and not cooling off anytime soon.  Through the stadium and out hit mile marker 11 and from here dug in my heels to run out this mile completely- which I did- this is where the training really paid off. As I came into mile 12 more water- walked another little bit, but took off again, and here's where I wish I'd just picked up the whole pace as I had more left in me.  We came in to Calif adventure again and wound through to Downtown Disney and my this whole mile should of been a dash- in my head I was hearing "The  faster you run, the  sooner your done", and my the time I navigated myself through racers, I had the Finish sign in sight and actually sprinted through the finish line.  I don't know where  I got this energy, and Helena says  she saw me come and go so fast she was just amazed.  My whole upper torso felt like it was in an oven at this point, so thankfully there  was water to grab, gatorade to drink, and I took advantage of both. My lower legs felt pretty much like mush as I came through the last mile- but ignored that feeling.
Coming  through the finish was just a thrill, and getting the medal, well felt like a pretty cool accomplishment. Disney was handing out these weird silver blankets that were more like aluminum foil- I took one as it appeared they were to keep you insulted from the heat, but boy  this stuff  felt awful against the skin. As the runners continued down the cool-down chute next was a tent full of fruit- bananas, oranges, and assorted fruit cups. Even bagels if you wanted them.  I really found the orange slices a great help so took a handful to munch on-juice  dribbling everywhere.  Came back for seconds!

After the race moseyed on past the runners fair, didn't feel much like taking part as most of the booths  were just packed with people and wanted to find Helena at the  Rain Forest Cafe.  So many people- couldn't spot her through the thousands that were there, borrowed someone's cell phone and sure enough she  was only about 10' away-from  me.  Let out a big sigh, and gave  her a hug. 

Epilogue-
This was such an amazing day, didn't get much sleep, ran and ran all morning, but in the end I felt accomplished. Accomplished that I trained for this race, that I actually ran the race, and had so much love and support from those around me. Finished the race with a pretty good first race time- and I know I can improve if I train harder, and longer.  Running is just a sport that's pure, it's the runner, the feet, the pavement and distance. This is the Zen of the runner- take your mind somewhere and let the feet follow. I think I'm going to buy one of those Garmin timers now...hmmmmmm.  Am I a runner yet?