Oh, and what's with Stich all over the official race merch? Was he ever mentioned as the 'character' for this race? He's not anywhere associated with ToT, and I didn't see him anywhere on the course.
WIsh he would have been dressed up like a ToT Bellhop like the shirts!
Years ago, there was merchandise with Stitch as the Bellhop. When I saw the pin, I was hoping he would be on the course "somewhere". I was pretty frustrated when I saw him with the Hawaiian Lei, that he would be wearing when I saw him at O'hana a few days later.
I just got back home last night. I am thankful I did a bunch of training outside this summer, even at 6:00am when it was still humid and hot. I was dressed as the Witch Dr and opted for running shorts instead of the capris, which was a good choice! The "coat" I made out of a moisture wick Under Armor polo only last until Mile 1, then I carried it the rest of the way. I put it back on when I hit HS and was dying, but wanted the photo with me wearing it. I wore the top hat and the cumber-bun the whole way. It was HOT, but the bondi band underneath the hat, kept all of the sweat out of my eyes.
I also was disappointed with the lack of what I call "real" villains. I only stopped for the Witch Dr and a potty break due to the amount of liquids I keep taking in on the course. I have decided next race I need bottoms without the drawstring. It was a HUGE hassle to try to get under the cumber-bun and under the spibelt to untie (and retie) the shorts!!
I was slower than I had hoped, but since the humidity was so high and I had foot issues flair up (as I expected they would), so I'm not surprised. I did a have PR for the 5k part, having saved a little time off the Royal Family 5k in Feb. My 10k time was much slower than it was in July, but by that time, I had realized that there weren't that many characters and it was so hot, my goal was to finish any way I could. During the WWOS section I did a lot of walking, with very small jogging bursts. Once back on the road again, I found the foot issues didn't hurt as bad when I was jogging, so I really pushed myself to jog as much as I could.
My apologies if I was one of the ones who stopped suddenly! I did try to raise a hand to signal, but it always didn't happen.
My other issue which I think had an impact on my time was I didn't check my earphones until I got to the Corral. I was supposed to be testing out a Beta type one ear for a company, but they didn't get it to me in time. I had grabbed another style from them, but at the last minute decided to go with the ones I used in the 5k, since I knew they worked. It turned out, I must have shorted them out in Feb. The volume was no higher than about a 1!
I could just barely hear the music & Jeff telling me when to run/walk. Since there was little music on the course, it was a L-O-N-G lonely run at times, since I was there by myself.
My DD and her BFF said that none of the CM's knew where the characters were and they didn't have maps to help either. They ended up scouting them out. They Gaston was there, hidden in the back alone and called them over. They had a fun time talking with him. (in character of course)
After I limped my way down to the bag check, I saw a bunch of guys with clipboards, so I went over and asked what they were doing. He said they were analyzing if "this" (bag pickup) worked. I told him it did not. He said from a logistics for them it was working, since they could get everything there easily, but I told him it was not ok with the runners to have to walk across the park, down the stairs and back up again. I also told him my opinions of the race in general. I don't know if he'll report it back, but I felt a little better...until another CM snapped at me for trying to put my checked bag down so I could grab my recovery shake from it. I went off on her and told her it had been over 45 mins since I finished and I needed it NOW! I had stopped at the mats on the floor and wasn't even sitting on them. She told me to go the bleachers. I wasn't too happy about that process. The girls were wonderful, having made it to see me finish, then they took off to get my a cup of ice and a cup of ice water for the recover shake. When I finally made it to them (before bag pick up), I had ice to pour the bottle of warm water over. By the time I made it to bag pickup to pour the water into my water bottle, the ice had melted.
I've signed up for the Princess and look forward to it. I probably won't do this again because of my disappointment and also because my goal is Coast to Coast after the Princess.
I'm sorry for any fighting or cursing you may have witnessed. He was really really pissed off :-(
I decided just to take it slow and enjoy what few characters they had along the way. My reward for my poorly thought out costume came after the race when I went to ride ToT, all of the CM's kept telling me I was late for my shift. My hubby and I got off the ride and the CM pulled us aside and asked how many were in our party and told us to wait. He directed us to the employee elevator all sinister like and told me that he heard all about me. I thought it was creepy cool to be in this modern elevator in the ToT. He took us back up and let us ride again but this time in the front. I felt extra special and this made wearing that terribly hot unbreathable polyester costume all worth it, LOL here are a few pics 
