Be real, is a male out of place in the WDW Princess 1/2 marathon

[kydisneyfans]

Here's some background.
I am 42 with Crohn's and Asthma. In July 2014, I had major surgery which resulted in pneumonia, fistulas, multiple infections and eventually being fed through a PICC line for a month. I got the all clear in October and further clearance in December to get a workout program going.

I have lost 21 pounds in the 1st 4 months of 2015, just under 10% of my body weight. I completed my first 3K in March and have done 3 5K races in April, with improving times each race. I am doing 2 5k's in May and the same in June. July 4th I am doing my first 10K. I'm also planning on running the Rock and Roll in Vegas in November, but am not sure of the length yet. My pace has gone from 15:46 to 14:57 in the past few races.

My family are Disney fanatics, we own DVC and have gone 17 times in 16 years. I want to run the Star Wars half in January, 2016 at Disneyland. Our son would likely run the 5K with me, but I would be solo for the half, which is fine. I am also very interested in the coast to coast medal. Which leads me to the next question.....

How out of place would I feel running the princess half in February? Is running 2 half marathons too close together 5 weeks apart for this newbie? I'm not running it to win, I'm running it for my health. Should I wait until the next batch of races are announced and spread it out to run the Wine and Dine or Tower of Terror(if resurrected?)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

You will be fine! Lots of Princes run PHM. Running 2 halfs 5 weeks apart is a personal thing, it's up to you to do the training to see if you can do it. What I would suggest doing is taking one of your 10k times and use it as proof of time for Disney it will hopefully help you move up a few corrals.

If you haven't seen it already, I highly suggest looking at Jeff Galloways training program on the run disney site. He has several programs for multi day race events. He got me through all 3 races for PHM in 2014 and 2015. They might be able to steer you in the right direction.

 

[IamTrike]

As a dude that's run the princess here are my thoughts.
1. There are other guys running the race. It's definitely oriented around women, but you won't be super out of place. It seemed like it was about 10 or 20% men when I was there. With the exception of Sean Astin most all the men were running with women.
2. The stuff from the race, like the race shirt and medal are definitely female oriented. My princess shirt is purple and has a tiara on it. It's not one that I will wear to work out.

If it were up to me I would pick a different disney race. First you said running is about fitness for you. A race is a great motivation to stay in shape. If you spread the races out over the year that gives you more time with motivation to run. Second if I'm gonna spend $150 on a race I'd like to at least get a race shirt that I can train in and a cool medal.

I don't think it would be that hard to do the two races 5 weeks apart.

Ryan

 

[crewmatt]

It wont be weird to run the princess, but for the money there are better halves (I recommend Wine and Dine or the one on marathon weekend if you want to be really short recovery time). 5 weeks apart is plenty of recovery time as long as you're not planning to PR the second one - and its possible to do that anyway.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I did Rebel Challenge & Glass Slipper as a new slow runner. I survived (and then took a nice 7 week break from running)

My husband is running both Rebel & Glass Slipper with this year. He only did Rebel last year as he is doing Wine & Dine for his Coast to Coast. He still plans on doing Wine & Dine as well.

At Princess, there are a few guys that are running (probably about 10 to 15%) Your race shirts will definitely be girly even if its in a Male Cut.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

First, Wow! you are amazing. Looks like you have a plan in place and you are making steady progress. As long as your medical team is onboard with your progression, I'm thinking you will definitely be able to accomplish this with the progress you are making so far. Should you wait for the next batch of registration options, I don't know.

You will not be out of place if you don't want to be. Meaning that men do run the event. As Ryan said above, the shirts and all are geared for women, get the largest size offered and maybe you can have fun wearing it too!

Do keep yourself in good footwear as another preventive for injury. Be mindful of the balance of training with a plan and over-training so as not to become injured.

Enjoy earning that Coast to Coast whatever path you choose.

 

[LifeWithLouie]

I'm glad i can help on this one (Congrats on your healing...continue on!)

This last Feb, my daughter, son-in-law, and I went down for the Princess Half Marathon. It was a milestone in HER life, and they both figured that with the cost and the time going into the trip and the run, he would do it as well. He's a great guy, but not the type who enjoys doing things he's uncomfortable with - so I KNOW that if it had been uncomfortable in the least...we would have heard about it. Not a WORD! They had a GREAT time!!

There were more men than I THOUGHT would be in the race - and they all looked very happy to be there. No acting shy or aggravated that it was a "girl's race". The picture opportunities welcomed him JUST as much (not only her). I saw men IN costumes of ALL kinds and men dressed for just plain running. (If I can find the memory card from the day, I'll throw in some pictures.)

GO FOR IT!!!! Have A WONDERFUL time!!

 

[LifeWithLouie]

Ok... I want to add something in here that I don't see mentioned yet...

A little background - I'm not a runner (never WAS in my life), but my daughter and son in law ARE...or at least have taken in up over the last 2 years. They seem to do some sort of a charity run nearly every weekend. Before the Princess half-marathon, he had done 2 half-marathons and she had done one (so this wasn't their first). But as I mentioned above, it was a personal milestone/graduation/threshold to a new chapter in her life/long-held wish for quite some time. Because they HAD been running for a while, they chose to do the Glass Slipper Challenge (10K Saturday morning/Half-Marathon Sunday morning). I went along on the trip and said I would be there for them the morning of the half-but not (this race) at the 10K. I met up with them for lunch after the 10K, and they told me about the experience; and things they never imagined it would be like.

You see, with a Disney race...you CAN race, but it's....like ... You can choose to race or you can choose to enjoy the DISNEY race. Along the route there will be wonderful (I mean WONDERFUL!!!!!) photo-ops and character meets. They reported (after the 10K) that they ran and accomplished some of their BEST times for a race of that length...BUT.... they were running past all of these characters and MOMENTS that they knew they would never get the chance to enjoy or appreciate again. Their hearts wanted to stop, but their heads pushed them to finish with great times.

I could see and hear the conflict that was really bothering them. And then I said, "Sweetheart, I am SO proud of you. You have and ARE accomplishing feats that ..even as your mom and #1 fan...I would NEVER have dreamed were possible for you. Imagine YOU....a RUNNER? You were the kid who HATED gym class for your entire time in school!! And here you are doing a Half MARATHON, for goodness sake!! You have already proven to yourself and the world that you CAN run a 13.5K. You've even done it in competition (and done it VERY well). And past this, in your life, I KNOW you are going to keep going and do MORE!! I KNOW you will! ....so.... is the "time" you run tomorrow REALLY one that matters? Or is it BEING here? THIS moment! THIS place! Why don't you have FUN tomorrow? Stop...see all the characters you want...make it the magical experience that you CAN!! You can always race for 'time' next time (our town has 2 half marathons a year and they have started to travel to larger and even scenic cities to participate in THEIR races as well). Don't let this moment slip away and WISH you would have enjoyed it instead of running BY it."

And you know what? that's what they did. They stopped at a number of the once in a lifetime character meets (ex: Meeting Jack Sparrow on top of a real/full sized pirate ship in the middle of a Disney highway), they got a professional photo op of them giving a high-five jump coming out of Cinderella's Castle and posed for a family pic at the base of it. And they have INCREDIBLE memories of the most magical race they ever ran (and walked).

They reported that there were areas...going INTO the castle and coming down the curved walkway out of the castle... where there were such bottlenecks that you really COULDN'T run, and had "time" been your goal, it would have messed you up completely. (She said, "you could tell the people who had WANTED to do it for "time". They were so angry at others not getting out of their ways at the bottleneck. Someone was crying..a few were shouting or cursing." Is that what you want to have paid for?? I feel sad for SUCH driven people that they can't sit back and smell the roses at times).

So, dear kyDISNEYfan, find a different half-marathon in some city that you want to run for "time"...and go run run run your heart out. BEST WISHES to you!! But for the half-marathon at Disney; no matter WHICH half-marathon you run... Go there, get all the way through....you HAVE to (and you WILL), but go into it feeling that you have passed a milestone in your life and ENJOY every second of being down there at DISNEY - doing 2 great things that make you happy...running and stopping to smell the roses!!

 

[Miranda]

I'm not sure if the Princess one is more or the same amount of being female-focused as Tinker Bell, but when I did Tinker Bell earlier this month, there were a good number of guys there! And a lot of them were rocking full Tinker Bell/Fairy costumes. It's not fair, they looked better in their sparkle skirts than I probably do.

There were some men's cut shirts in the merch area, even though they did have a fairly feminine logo on it.

 

[runmickeyrun]

DH has run it three times with me. We are in our own corral and go at our own pace. You would not be out of place. If you would enjoy it, do it!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

RunDisney has a much higher number of women participating in their events than men, but that doesn't need to stop any man looking to run in a runDisney event for whatever reason. I'm a guy and my favorite Disney film is Sleeping Beauty, so I wouldn't hesitate to run the Princess if work schedules didn't make a race that time of year impossible. During the 2012 Disneyland 1/2, I proudly stood in line to get my photo taken with Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. Then stopped a mile or so later to get a photo with Darth Vader and stormtroopers. I then ran the 2012 Wine & Dine 1/2 dressed as Prince Phillip. I also stood in line the next day in the parks to get post race medal photos with Princess Aurora.

My thoughts on participating in runDisney events. If you want to participate in one, then do it. Nobody should care if a guy runs the Princess or the Tinker Bell. Look at the events offered based on theme, time of year, ability to train before the event, etc. and sign up for the one that works best for you.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Thank everyone for their thoughts and responses. I was able to sign up for the Star Wars half today. Training continues to progress. My thought on the first one is to make it through, I'm not overly worried about time outside of the 16/min mile, I just want to show myself that I can do it and enjoy the experiance. I am going to wait until the Wine and Dine or if the TOT returns at DW next year. It's more of a timing/day off/son in school issue more than anything.

 

[beachta1]

I ran the PHM last year with my friend and my DF. My DF started in our corral but ran faster than us. He said he never felt weird, he was in his own zone running.