Springtime Surprise 2026 (Apr 16-20)

[Dopey 2020]

What is helpful, though, is ice. And med stations will have bags of ice available. Just holding ice in your hand is good. So is rubbing it on the inside of wrists and elbows, back of neck, or tucking under a hat.

Did exactly this at a super hot and sunny marathon before, filled a pocket in my hat with ice at every water stop and it was a godsend. Cooled my head and melted down the back of my neck.

 

[Zutroy]

As a Floridian, I find no value in “cooling” towels for dealing with heat. My skin and clothes are already soaked with sweat - what’s a wet piece of cloth doing for me?! The only time I find using water topically helpful is when said water is cold - at least colder than the air temp… and the bottles used at water stations at WDW are staged outdoors days before: they’re not going to be cold if the air is hot.

What is helpful, though, is ice. And med stations will have bags of ice available. Just holding ice in your hand is good. So is rubbing it on the inside of wrists and elbows, back of neck, or tucking under a hat.

But also the bulk of these races will be in the dark: it may still be warmer than you’re used to, but you won’t have the sun beating down, which helps a lot.

The problem is that cooling towels work through evaporative cooling—the evaporation of water from the wet towel takes heat from your skin, similar to how sweat cools the body. But in high-humidity environments the evaporation slows down because of all the moisture in the air, making cooling towels less effective. Guess what Florida has tons of during Springtime Surprise . . .

That said, when I go to Disney during the summer I will bring along a couple towels anyway. Mainly because I’ll have a jug of ice water that I soak them in, and that brings some temporary relief to Florida in July.