So, you’re running your first RunDisney race or maybe your first race ever, and you’re worried if you’re adequately prepared. Well I am here to put your mind at ease. RunDisney is the perfect place to start your running journey! The events are super fun, high energy, and Mickey is usually there to cheer you on! I’ve never been as prepared for a race as I should be, in my life, and I’m going to share with you my tips and secrets for getting to the finish line with a smile on your face!
You guys might remember after I ran the Fairy Tale Challenge back in February, I said it would be my last RunDisney race for a few years. Just kidding, I’m signed up for the 2019 Princess Half Marathon. General registration is today so I thought this would be a good chance to share these tips I’ve been working on in case anyone is on the fence about joining me!
- RunDisney tends to sell out quickly, especially the shorter races. If you have your heart set on a race, be on your computer waiting for it to go live about fifteen minutes before the registration window is supposed to open. More than once my mother has had to do mine for me because I was at work.
- Some training is better than no training. It is so easy to give up on your training schedule when you have to skip a day or miss a week because you got sick. The hardest thing is picking the training back up, because it feels pointless-you’re already off schedule. You will always be better off with any training at all under your belt than without it. Doing three miles is better than doing one, but one is better than none at all!
- Try to do some of your training outside. Treadmills are great, but the Florida humidity is going to feel like death, if you’ve never run outside at all. Even if where you’re coming from isn’t humid, try to get a couple runs in on real roads. There’s a lot of slight changes in elevation and the roads at Disney are even, but they’re often on a slant because they’re designed for cars instead of people. Running on asphalt will help your body prepare.
- Body Glide is your friend for both training and races. (I actually use it on long park days sometimes too.) Out of all the things you should buy for running, Body Glide is top of the list, behind a decent pair of shoes. It is a substance that smears on like deodorant and keeps your skin from chaffing where it rubs together. Put it on the insides of your legs, your underarms (not your armpits, your upper arm that’s going to rub against your torso), and I use it on my bra line. When I ran the Walt Disney World Marathon in 2016, the skin on my back chaffed so bad it turned into cuts. My roommate was putting Neosporin on it for days!
- Costumes are great but prepare for the heat. I underestimated the high temperatures for the Princess Half and wound up leaving half my costume and my shirt behind in Tomorrowland. I finished the race in a sports bra and skirt because I couldn’t take the heat, and I live here! Dress in layers you can leave behind. Disney actually rounds up all the clothing at the races and donates it to charity. Even though it got so hot during the Princess Half, it was chilly enough waiting for the race to start that I was glad I had a jacket. I have a pile of old jackets in my closet specifically to use as throw-aways for RunDisney races.
- Eat something when you first get up before the race. Don’t try to run on a completely empty stomach, but also give it time to settle. Bagels and peanut butter are my usual go-to.
- Don’t check a bag unless you absolutely need to. It’s generally a pain, and you really don’t need that much with you. I usually just run with my phone and the key for my car in my Running Buddy, which is a pouch that attaches with magnets onto your waist band. On occasion, I’ve carried a power bank and Kleenex as well. I leave my house keys and everything else in the car. RunDisney provides water, Powerade, bananas, and snack boxes, at the end of the race. Depending on the weather, you may also get a cooling towel or a space blanket.
- Make a plan before the race starts. Look at the course map. It’s really helpful to have the mental picture of knowing when you’re about half way, when you hit a landmark instead relying on the mile markers. Are you running with friends? Have you all been training at the same pace? I see a lot of groups running together, I see pairs and couples, and I see runners by themselves. With the exception of the time I dragged Jay through his first half marathon, I prefer to run alone. I’ve seen my friend Andria at multiple races, and we’ve even started together, but we don’t finish together, simply because my legs are longer. And that’s okay! The important part is to know what your group wants to do, and how they feel about splitting up, so no one feels left out.
- Keep your time in mind, but don’t sweat the time. I’m guilty of this myself, where I get too fixated on the time, and forget to have fun on the course. RunDisney requires a sixteen-minute mile, but that does not mean what you think it means. The sixteen-minute timer starts when the last runners cross the starting line, and the Balloon Ladies are usually right behind them running at an exact sixteen minutes per mile. Unless you’re the last runner in front of the Balloon Ladies, you have to wait for them to catch you before you have to start worrying if you’re over sixteen minutes.
- The faster you run at the start, the slower you can go at the end. This means the more time you make up at the beginning, the more characters you can stop for and the slower you can go. The sixteen-minute mile is an average, not an exact. So, if your first three miles are at eleven minutes, the next three can be twenty minutes.
- If you need to walk, IT IS OKAY! I can’t tell you how much of the races I walk. There are certain stretches of the course that I always walk, and don’t even try to run because they’re such tight spaces. I save my speed for while I’m in the parks. That’s where the Photopass Photographers are!
See, walking!
- Speaking of Photopass, don’t stop in front of them. Don’t throw your arms out to the sides. You can slow, but if you stop, there’s a good chance the person behind you is either going to run into you or is going to have to cut around you and ruin your photo. That happened on the Princess 10K because Tinkerbell didn’t check behind her before she tried to doing a jumping photo. (For the record, I ruined her photo but at least I didn’t hit her.) Just run and smile, and the pictures will turn out great!
- If you are dropping down to a walk, check behind you and raise one hand in the air before you do. This signals the runners behind you that you are stopping.
- RunDisney’s biggest secret is they don’t actually want to sweep anyone off the course. They want everyone to finish. I know a couple of the drivers who drive the sweep buses, and I usually see them on the course. They are always cheering people on and saying, “Who are we picking up today? NOBODY! Nobody’s getting picked up today! Come on runners, you’ve got this!”
- Over hydrating is possible. Limit yourself to one cup of Powerade or one cup of water, maybe one and a half, at each stop. You want to stay hydrated, but you don’t want to make yourself sick.
- If you need to stop to use the restroom, don’t stop at the port-a-potties on the course if you can help it. The restrooms in the park will be open, where you will have light, toilet paper, soap, and running water. The lines can get pretty long, but they still move faster than the port-a-potties, because there’s usually more stalls than there are port-a-potties.
- Medical Tents are your friend. It doesn’t mean you’re stopping or they’re going to pull you. They have Vaseline, Biofreeze, Tylenol, antacids, and Kleenex for you to grab. They also have trained people who can help you keep going. During the 2016 Marathon, I had to stop at the last one to get my ankle taped after I rolled it at mile seven. I wanted to give up, and she encouraged me to finish.
- Whether you’re training, whether you’re in a race, or both, you are going to hit a wall at some point. The adrenaline slows down and the race seems not so fun anymore. Mine is usually around mile ten on half marathons, and it was at mile seventeen on my one full marathon. I promise the wall is in your head, and you can do this. (Short of physically injuring yourself to do so, please don’t do that.) Most races have somewhere between and 85%-95% completion rate. That means only 5%-15% of the runners don’t make it! I believe in you!
- Take your phone with you. Not all characters have Photopass photographers with them, and if you sign up for runner tracking text messages, you can keep an eye on your official time in addition to whatever fitness app you have on your phone.
- If you want to run with headphones, run with just one in. RunDisney’s official policy is that they ask you not to wear headphones on the course so you can hear safety announcements and the runners around you. Wearing just one and keeping the volume at a moderate level works just fine.
- Characters sometimes hang out right at the finish line for you to stop and selfie with just before you cross.
- Once you’re through the Finish Line, don’t stop because other runners may be coming in fast behind you. Keep walking towards the medals. Once you’ve got your medals, you can stop in the stretching area or keep going. I usually go get in line for characters and stretch there.
Favorite Bathrooms to Stop at in the Parks:
- The American Pavilion bathrooms at Epcot, they’re huge!
- Behind Gaston’s Tavern in Magic Kingdom
- Dinoland next to Primeval Whirl in Animal Kingdom
- Fantasmic bathrooms in Hollywood Studios
Remember what Dory says, “Just keep running!”
I paraphrased slightly, but you got this. To quote my editor Rob, who has almost as many RunDisney races under his belt as I do, “Anything I can do, you can do better!”
Your first race is always the hardest.
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