Official 2016 Princess Half Marathon Thread

[Luv2Run]

Questions for those who have run before:

1. Are there Disney photographers along the course taking pictures, or is it up to the runners to find someone to take their pics with characters?

2. When you go to the parks after the race, do you wear your medals?

SO excited for this!!

1. Yep, there are MarathonPhoto photographers EVERYWHERE. You'll notice them by their brightly-colored shirts (neon yellow or orange). That's how I got my pics. You're also allowed to bring your own digicam/cell phone and have the character photographers snap pics for you, too.

2. Yes. Yes, yes, yes! Wear it! You'll get lots of "Congratulations, Princess!" comments from cast members. It's one of the perks!

 

[hiroMYhero]

@bumbershoot Thanks for the Volunteer info! GoGo will probably have to check in for work at 3:00a so I may as well plan for that timing too. *off-topic - We were in Seattle Center on June 13 and saw on the goings on for the RocknRoll! We also watched the runners down below when we were at Pike Place... we probably saw you and your family @bumbershoot!!

 

[keahgirl8]

1. Yep, there are MarathonPhoto photographers EVERYWHERE. You'll notice them by their brightly-colored shirts (neon yellow or orange). That's how I got my pics. You're also allowed to bring your own digicam/cell phone and have the character photographers snap pics for you, too.

2. Yes. Yes, yes, yes! Wear it! You'll get lots of "Congratulations, Princess!" comments from cast members. It's one of the perks!

I second this. Character interaction is also super cute when you're wearing a medal. They all make a big deal about it, even the ones who don't talk.

 

[DVCFan1994]

BTW, where does everyone buy their running costumes? I've never run in one and I'm picky about what is touching me when I run.

I personally am super picky about how what I'm wearing feels, so I go with running clothes that make up a character outfit. So for the half this year I dressed as Princess Leia, I wore a white running tank and running skirt and had my hair in hair buns on the side. 10k I wore a black skirt, "evil fairy" (maleficient) tank from raw threads and maleficient Mickey ears. 5k I was Anna (DD was Elsa of course) and I wore royal blue running tights, and a black running tank I got on clearance that I glued felt cut outs and ribbon to that looked like Anna's top. I wore a tutu in the half for 2014, and while it didn't bother me per se, I wasn't a huge fan. I really love my Athleta and Lululemon running skirts, so I think I'll be using those from here out.

Really can't decide about this year though...

 

[Luv2Run]

Same! But I did get started on my Christmas shopping!

We are staying at Shades of Green. It was the best price I could find so far and apparently Disney does the race shuttle to there. I'm hoping the military discount at Disney properties will be released soon and I can get closer in for a better price.

BTW, where does everyone buy their running costumes? I've never run in one and I'm picky about what is touching me when I run.

I've used the same vendor on Etsy since my first PHM in 2012, since she has my measurements on file and her tutus are really great quality. This is the tutu I'm considering getting for my Tinkerbell costume for the 10K:

I may request that she custom make one that's shorter, since I prefer her mini tutus for running in. Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/87222690/lime-crime-tutu-petticoat-skirt-adult?ref=hp_mod_rf

I think I'll order a mermaid Sparkle skirt for my Ariel costume for the Half. I'm still undecided on what costume to choose for the 5K. I think I'll leave that up to dbf, so that he has some input since he's running both the 5K & 10K with me (hoping he'll do a Peter Pan inspired outfit for the 10K, fingers-crossed!).

 

[Ariel484]

Same! But I did get started on my Christmas shopping!

We are staying at Shades of Green. It was the best price I could find so far and apparently Disney does the race shuttle to there. I'm hoping the military discount at Disney properties will be released soon and I can get closer in for a better price.

BTW, where does everyone buy their running costumes? I've never run in one and I'm picky about what is touching me when I run.

Shades of Green did have shuttles for Marathon Weekend when I was there in 2013...I was at the Grand Floridian and I remember stopping at Shades when I was on a bus to the expo.

** OMG I wrote a novel about outfits...SORRY!!**

For outfits, I am another that only wears running clothes for these races. I also don't like getting things that I don't think I can use again for future runs. So no tiaras, tutus, etc. for me.

All of my skirts are SparkleSkirts (www.sparkleskirts.com). They are a small company based in Florida (hopefully they'll be at the Princess expo), and I cannot recommend them enough. If you get the right size, the shorts DO NOT ride up. There are also big pockets on each of the shorts legs and a pocket with a zipper on the waist band, so I don't need a running belt or anything. They are pricey but completely worth it, and are the only bottoms I will run in (except for winter time, when I throw on tights...though this past winter I started wearing the skirts OVER the tights and that seemed to work).

For tops, I mostly wear Nike dri-fit. www.runningwarehouse.com has some decent prices right now and free 2-day shipping - normally if you Google around you can find a discount code. I just ordered a plain purple top (Nike) for my Daisy outfit and a yellow tank (Adidas mesh) for my Flounder outfit from them yesterday. I think each shirt came out to $22 or so with the free shipping and a 15% off discount code, which I thought wasn't bad for tech fabric. I'll sometimes wear Raw Threads tops, but only for shorter races - they just do not wick sweat well enough for me.

For my head I like SweatyBands (www.sweatybands.com) - lately they have been adding some Disney-inspired designs, and they are normally at the Disney expos. I've also recently starting getting visors from Sparkle Athletic (http://sparkleathletic.com/product-category/sparkle-visors/) - also normally at the Disney expos. Their visors are made by HeadSweats, which is a pretty popular running visor company, but then Sparkle Athletic adds sparkly fabric to them.

So with my Daisy outfit, for example, I'm going to have a white SparkleSkirt, the purple top, and am most likely going to order the pink sparkle visor. I have a teal RoadID that matches Daisy's bangle that she wears, so I'll probably wear that too. I may get yellow calf sleeves, but I normally don't run in them so that would REALLY be a one-time thing that I'd never use again. I think I'll only do that if I can figure out a really cheap, comfortable way to do it.

For the Flounder outfit, a royal blue SpakleSkirt, the yellow Adidas top (going to figure out some way to add a bit of blue to it to look more like Flounder) and a royal blue sparkle visor.

So I wouldn't call my outfits "costumes" because they definitely are not as elaborate, but I like to think they sort of capture the spirit of the characters somewhat.

Yep, I'm guessing our shirts fall under the 'Limited Edition' merchandise that's exempt from the sale. Booo! Well I bought the 10K and GSC shirts anyway.

Yeah, I was afraid that's what would happen. I just tried again, this time logging into my account and making sure that my Disney Visa was marked as my default payment account - no dice.

 

[kathleen27]

And gotta wear this beauty for race #3.

This is so cute!!! Love it!!!

Questions for those who have run before:

1. Are there Disney photographers along the course taking pictures, or is it up to the runners to find someone to take their pics with characters?

2. When you go to the parks after the race, do you wear your medals?

SO excited for this!!

All the characters had at least one CM to take photos with your camera or phone, some of the more popular characters had two to make the line go faster.
There are also marathon photo photographers at characters & a few other places. I agree with the make sure your bib number is visible, mine got wrinkled & some of my photos were not listed. you can search for them but there are thousands to go through.

There were no CMs at the castle, just marathon photo, but you can ask the person behind you in line to take it with your phone at the same time as the marathon photographer. Same for the finish line photos.

Definitely wear your medal in the parks. I wore mine and got lots of congratulations! Including from Cinderella. I was so tired last year I did not get enough photos after the race! That's one of my goals for this year.

The 5K is still open. Not signing up is killing me!!!

Anyone want to take a guess when it sells out? I think by the end of the week, but not necessarily today. But that's just a guess.

I am having the same problem! I've done the 5k 3 times, but I don't want to do 2 early mornings!
I agree with you on the sell out guess!

BTW, where does everyone buy their running costumes? I've never run in one and I'm picky about what is touching me when I run.

For skirts -
I like sparkle skirts because of the pockets & I wore one for the half last year & it was super comfortable. I had one with glitter though, and randomly had glitter on me. I bought a plain one too & wear it all the time.
Sparkle athletic are cute but you have to wear your own shorts underneath. I wore one for the 5k.

I have 2 friends who bought full costumes from iglow running on etsy & both loved them (Aurora & Rapunzel) - said they were comfortable. They take a long time to arrive though, one of my friends was really stressing about getting it in time!

Not sure what I am going to do this year.

 

[DisneyBee]

Thank you to everyone who responded about the photographers and wearing the medal in the park!

I love all the costume ideas! I think I'm going with a Minnie Mouse theme and order my first SparkleSkirt!

 

[jen2207]

On costumes.....

Has anyone used a running skirt from animatedstatedesign on etsy?? They have an Ursula themed skirt I think is great! But I know I need to be smart about what I wear for comfort and not just cute....

 

[SarahDisney]

All of my skirts are SparkleSkirts (www.sparkleskirts.com). They are a small company based in Florida (hopefully they'll be at the Princess expo), and I cannot recommend them enough. If you get the right size, the shorts DO NOT ride up. There are also big pockets on each of the shorts legs and a pocket with a zipper on the waist band, so I don't need a running belt or anything. They are pricey but completely worth it, and are the only bottoms I will run in (except for winter time, when I throw on tights...though this past winter I started wearing the skirts OVER the tights and that seemed to work).

Question ... are the shorts comfortable on top of tights?
One of the reasons why I'm hesitant to buy running skirts is the shorts - I usually wear capris or tights, and I never thought I could wear those with the shorts. If the shorts are still comfortable with tights underneath ... that would be good information to know.

 

[Ariel484]

Thank you to everyone who responded about the photographers and wearing the medal in the park!

I love all the costume ideas! I think I'm going with a Minnie Mouse theme and order my first SparkleSkirt!

That's what I did for the marathon this year! I wore the RedMiniTech SparkleSkirt, a black Nike top and a red SweatyBand that had white polka dots (the one on the left in the picture below).

Question ... are the shorts comfortable on top of tights?
One of the reasons why I'm hesitant to buy running skirts is the shorts - I usually wear capris or tights, and I never thought I could wear those with the shorts. If the shorts are still comfortable with tights underneath ... that would be good information to know.

Yeah, I think they are! And you have to wear the tights UNDER the shorts, otherwise you won't have access to the pockets...and with the way the skirts are constructed you couldn't pull the tights up all the way if you put them on after you already have the skirt on.

So the "tights" i have on in the picture below are thin fleece-lined leggings that I found at Walgreens...I never thought to wear the skirts over tights until I read about other people doing it on Facebook.

 

[Ariel484]

So last week I booked my flights last week through Southwest - I got a pretty decent fare for the outgoing flight ($140ish), but the return flight I wanted was ridiculously pricey ($260ish). The time was perfect, though, and I had enough points to cover it, so I just went ahead and booked it, knowing that I could get some points back if the price drops. There's no way I would have paid cash for it, normally RT flights to Disney cost me about $300 (something as low as $260 if I'm lucky).

I've been checking the prices for both flights daily since then - I'm not expecting the $140ish flight to decrease all that much, if at all, but I've REALLY been hoping that the return flight will. I just now checked it and it actually went UP to $297!! Yowza! All of the flights that day have been like that. What the heck?! At least I don't have to pay baggage fees, I guess.

 

[MyFavEeyore]

Does anyone know the cost to add two guest to a hotel reservation for one night? My DS was able to gain an entry to the 10k, and lives in Boca, so he and his roommate would just be coming up for a night. We are not doing the parks or dining, but we do get bands for entrance to room and so forth. Wanted him to have same so that he wouldn't necessarily have to stick around until everyone is ready to go back,grab a shower and shut eye before heading for food.

 

[DisneyBee]

Has anyone used a running skirt from animatedstatedesign on etsy?? They have an Ursula themed skirt I think is great! But I know I need to be smart about what I wear for comfort and not just cute....

That skirt is adorable!

 

[cindy21494]

For the Princess Half Marathon shirts at the Disney store I was able to get the 10% off with my Disney Visa. I know it isn't 25% but it was something. lol I'm not running next year, but I couldn't resist the GSC shirt, it is so cute! haha I'll just use it to keep me going for 2017.

 

[preciouspups]

I prefer the skirt/capri combination. My favorite from Athleta has been discontinued! I have running skirts with shorts attached but the cheap ones ride up and don't have pockets and the expensive one from LL Bean is sooo itchy in the shorts. The shorts on it are mesh and have a pocket for phone/ipod. Well, to get it in and out, I have to lift up the skirt and heaven only knows what people can see with the mesh shorts. Runningskirts has a pair that is hot pink so I may break down and order them.

I don't like sweatybands. They just don't stay on my fine hair and weird shaped head. I'm going with a tiara instead. I will wear it again. ;-) I also make my own adjustable headbands and sell them on Etsy. I have a lot of runners and soccer players buy them.

I already have hot pink socks and hot pink running shoes!

 

[Ariel484]

Does anyone know the cost to add two guest to a hotel reservation for one night? My DS was able to gain an entry to the 10k, and lives in Boca, so he and his roommate would just be coming up for a night. We are not doing the parks or dining, but we do get bands for entrance to room and so forth. Wanted him to have same so that he wouldn't necessarily have to stick around until everyone is ready to go back,grab a shower and shut eye before heading for food.

I wanna say it's an extra $25 per night per adult after the second adult, but I'm not totally sure about that.

 

[Luv2Run]

Alrighty, so I've decided on Tink for the 10K, and Ariel for the Half (5K currently undecided). Here are my costume pieces:

Tinkerbell

(I already own this)

I probably won't go with wings, as I am terribly clumsy and don't want them to chafe me.

Ariel

(I already own this)

(I already own this)

 

[Ariel484]

@Luv2Run cute!! I love those bows!

 

[Luv2Run]

@Luv2Run cute!! I love those bows!

Hot Topic! They have tons! I'm getting a Peter Pan one, too, for when I disneybound as Pan on our MK day.