I should disclose now that I’m not a runner and running a half marathon was not my idea, but it was an excuse to go to Disneyland and wear a tutu so I couldn’t refuse. Like most things that involve Disney, a runDisney “vacation” requires a lot of preparation and planning (and money!!) So below are some of my guidelines and a couple things I learned after my first runDisney event.

Light sabor churros!!! It’s possible we had a sibling duel 🙂

Tip 1: Register Early

For the Race:

We chose to run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland because it fit in with everyone’s work schedules and gave an adequate amount of time to train. Registration for a runDisney event opens 8 months in advance and I knew from other blog sites that slots fill up really quickly. For the Princess Marathon at Walt Disney World, you need to sign up the second registration opens because it usually fills up the first day. I’m not sure if it was the specific race we picked but we didn’t have this issue; We signed up a large group mid February for the May race with no issues. Also, if you’re an experienced runner and you can run 13.1 miles in under 2 hours and 45 minutes, then make sure you send in a ‘proof of time’ when you register. This allows you start the race in a faster section.

Registration was $200 for one person for the half marathon and that didn’t include theme park tickets, so if you’re planning on going to the parks at another time throughout the weekend then you’ll need to buy your tickets through the Disneyland website. Make sure you buy them before you get to the park because tickets are more expensive at the gate. The 5k is run on Friday, the 10K on Saturday and the half marathon is on Sunday. Even though our race was on Sunday, we bought 3-day park tickets and ended up going to the park every day.

For the Hotel:

Sometimes I prefer Disneyland over Walt Disney World, because the hotels are within walking distance to the parks. So you’ll save a lot of money and time by not having to get to and from the parks. Even the non-Disney hotels are within walking distance and just across the street from Disneyland Resort. You can even book these hotels through the Disneyland website through the link, or by going to ‘Places to Stay’ then ‘Good Neighboring Hotels’ on the Disneyland website.  I typically stay a the Tropicana Inn and Suites, it’s right across the street from the parks, they have a huge hot tub for soaking and they just renovated their rooms.  One thing I wish I researched ahead of time was how long it would take to walk from my hotel to the starting line of the race. For the runDisney races  the starting and ending point for the race is right by the Disney’s Paradise Pier hotel. When it comes time to walk to the start, at 4 am, you’ll wish you had stayed at a closer hotel because it took us around 30-40 minutes to walk there.  Also, when you’re sweater and tired after running, you don’t have to walk another 30 minutes just to get to a shower. So, if you’re able to splurge, I’d recommend staying here or the Disneyland Hotel.

Tip 2: Plan Your Outfit

I knew from social media that people go all out when dressing up for the runDisney races and I wanted to do the same, tutu and all. I went to Etsy and was originally going to dress up as Marie from the Aristocats, she’s my all time favorite (unofficial) Disney Princess. But it got a little challenging, with all the white,  so I decided to go as Belle from Beauty and the Beast after I found this awesome tutu. My outfit really started to come together when I found this shirt that says ‘Run like Gaston just Proposed to you’, it was just perfect! The next challenge were the leggings. I don’t have super skinny legs so finding the right yellow/white/grey running leggings were an issue. I tried every athletic brand I could think of and couldn’t find the right color of yellow. Everything was bright neon/highlighter yellow or see through. One day I was shopping online at JCrew and found the perfect color leggings! You can find all the links for my outfit below.

 | Shirt | Tutu  | Leggings | Shoes |

As it came closer to race day I decided to try running in my adorable disney outfit and tutu and quickly realized there was no way I would be able to run 13.1 miles in this tutu (I’ll have to save it for when I run a 5k or 10K). So, I had to adjust my outfit to be a little more practical. Luckily, I ended up loving my outfit, it was simple, practical and to the point (which fits my personality really well).

| Shirt | Sports Bra | Leggings| Ears| 

Tip 3: Train like you mean it

We signed up for the half marathon in mid February so I had about 12 weeks to train. Disney has a requirement that you need to keep a 16 minute average mile pace or they come by and pick you up (sweep you) and you can’t finish the race. One of the good things about Disney is that you still get a medal if you get swept and don’t finish the race, you just have to register and show up to the run. Even so, I was determined to finish. Since I had never run a marathon before, the first week I tested whether or not I could walk a 16 minute mile. Since I could, I wasn’t worried about meeting time, I was just worried about physically being able to finish the race…. up until about week 10, I couldn’t even wrap my brain around running 13.1 miles. But sure enough, every week got a little easier and when I was up to running 10 miles, even though I was exhausted and couldn’t run any more, I was able to at least process running 13 miles.

Here is the training schedule I did, I’m not a runner and most of workouts included weight lifting before this so I wasn’t so much focused on beating my time as I was just being able to finish the race with a 16 minute average. I didn’t change my diet either, like you’re suppose to. I was still eating fast food twice a week :/

Tip 4: Go shopping at the runDisney Expo

I’m definitely one of those girls who’s ‘all about the stuff’ I love going to new places and buying things and taking lot of pictures. I love having a bunch of home decor that’s all from traveling, where each piece tells a story. So I was so excited for the runDisney Expo. I tried to limit myself to just buying a ‘runDisney’ sweatshirt, but who was I kidding? Unfortunately, the Expo at Disneyland is a lot smaller than it is at Walt Disney World, so they were out of most of the merchandise and sizes by the time I got there. I was really surprised by this because the Expo runs from Friday to Sunday and I went Saturday morning. Because of this, one thing I would recommend is buying a lot of the souvenirs online. When you register for a runDisney event, you can purchase merchandise during registration, I would definitely recommend doing this, I had to get my sweatshirt is a size XXL!

Tip 5:  Bring a fanny pack

I’ve recently discovered the glory of fanny packs, especially when running. I use to be one of those girls who kept everything in her sports bra but I knew I couldn’t do that for 13.1 miles. I found this fanny pack on Amazon and it had pretty good reviews and was small enough. My main tip is don’t overstuff, everything you add to your bag is just more weight that you have to carry and ‘weigh you down’, literally. I carried 3 things, race snacks,  external cell phone charger and a small wallet (1 credit card, my medical insurance card and drivers license).

1. Clif Bloks: When I ran my first 10 mile practice run I was physically exhausted and drained from the heat. Then, I did some research and found that I should have been taking these Energy Chews, essentially candy that you’re suppose to eat while running. These were a complete game changer, I had more energy when I run and even though my legs were killing me, I wasn’t exhausted. I would definitely recommend these except I only take 1 square every half hour, the box says to take 3 every half hour. My favorite flavor was the Salted Watermelon, that sounds gross but it actually tastes like a margarita. Your body loses a lot of salt when you’re running so you’ll want to replenish it.
2. Cell Phone & External Charger: Make sure to bring your camera, even if you plan on purchasing the Disney Memory Maker. I love taking pictures and running through Disneyland is an awesome way to take cool and unique photos that most people don’t get to take, like sunrise in the parks. I also recommend bringing an external cell phone charger. You shouldn’t loose power but just in case, always good to be prepared.
3. Wallet: I ended up not even carrying a wallet, I just put in drivers license, credit card and insurance card into my runners fanny pack.

Itinerary:

I flew in on Friday night and we went to the park Saturday through Monday.

Saturday we tried to take it slow, we still opened the park and rode the rides we wanted to ride in the morning and then relaxed in the afternoon. Since we purchased the 3-day park tickets, we got a Magic Morning on Saturday. Magic Mornings are when you can go into the park and ride the rides in Fantasyland 1 hour before the park opens. This is a huge advantage because there are no Fast Passes for Fantasyland rides and the lines fill up really fast! We rode Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland first and then headed over to California Adventure to ride Toy Story and Radiator Springs Racers (Cars) before the lines got too long. Then we got Fast Passes for Soarin’ and hung out around the parks and at the hotel the rest of the time. I would definitely recommend going early in the morning and getting all the big rides out of the way, then taking it easy in the afternoon. This gives you enough time to relax before the race and also feel like you haven’t wasted a day at Disney.

Sunday was race day so we had to start walking to the race around 4:00am and ended the race around 9:00am. Then we sat around for around an hour before we headed back to the hotel, where we swam and sat in the hot tub. I didn’t do any research prior as to what you’re suppose to do for your muscles to recover after a race, but I figured the hot tub would help keep me loose. On Sunday we still went into the park, but just to take pictures with the characters. I wanted to get my race bib signed by the Disney characters so I spent most of the day on Main Street, USA waiting for the characters to come out. I thought this was a really good idea because it kept my muscles from stiffening up, without overdoing it, and I could take pictures with the Disney characters, showered and with my medal. Sunday is the day to take pictures with your Disney medals without feeling self conscience because everyone else is doing the same thing so you wont be alone. I would recommend going to a Disney Photopass photographer and having them take your picture because they know of cute poses to do that show off your medals.

Monday was one of the more crowded days I’ve seen at the park. We opened the park and did a couple of rides before heading to the airport. Just keep in mind that everyone is going to be really tired and will need a lot of sugar to make it through the morning.

Things I wish I knew before I went:

Research some running etiquette. Since I was new to running marathons I did some research and noticed a couple of things during the race that I think everyone should know.

1. Walkers on the right, runners on the left. One thing I found interesting was that my Fitbit said I had run close to 14 miles during my 13.1 mile race and I realized this was because of all the weaving in and out of people that you have to do when running in such a large pack of people. It’s unavoidable in a race with this many people but I was still really surprised that it adds up that quickly. So, it does so it makes things a lot easier if walkers stay to the right and runners keep to the left. It also keeps you from tripping over people.
2. Raise your right hand in the air if you’re running and you’re about to start walking. This helps warn the runners behind you that you’re about to stop, so they don’t trip over you.
3. The race path is marked by cones but it’s totally acceptable and allowed to go off course to take a selfie. When we were running outside of the castle, instead of stopping on the race path, step outside and take a selfie so you don’t stop the flow of traffic.
4. Be positive. Runners are extremely positive and encouraging and you should be too. Even though you’re running 13 miles, it’s always good to have a positive attitude, you are running through Disneyland after all  🙂

Haha, all smiles at mile 2

It’s okay to skip the characters! One of the really cool things about the runDisney events is that you get to take pictures with the characters throughout the race. I would definitely recommend doing this if you’re a really good runner and know that you can make time even if you wait in line and stop to take pictures. In my experience, the lines were around 10-15 people deep and I knew I wouldn’t have time to take pictures with them during the race. If you’re doing the 5k or 10k, it’s easier to take pictures with the characters; there isn’t a time limit on the 5k and the 10k is short enough so that you can run faster. At the end of the day, it was better for me to run the race then go back to the park to take pictures with the characters. This way you can get really cute pictures (showered and clean) with you medal and race bib ( I had the characters sign mine and it turned out really cute!).

When you finish the race, there will be a Family Gathering Area. This is where you can sit with your family and friends after the race, go to the medical tent, get some healthy food, use the bathrooms and just relax for a little while after the race. They also have really cool backdrops that you can take pictures in front of. I assumed you could take pictures with these backdrops throughout the day but that’s not true! Some of them close around 30 minutes after the race is over, as in they won’t let you line up for pictures anymore. I missed a really cool picture, shown below, that I’ll be mad about for a couple of years because it was so cute!

The food back that they give you after the race is actually good. At the end of the race you’re handed a small meal box for replenishment after the race. It definitely doesn’t count as a full meal, but I really enjoyed it. I got to replenish my sodium levels with the tortilla chips and got some sugar with the dried fruit and Oreos.

Happy running and don’t forget to take pictures of the crowd!