Hey, Where's my Shorts?!

Earlier this year, Run Disney announced a new race series into the family, the Virtual Running Shorts.  These races are a bit different than the races currently held by Run Disney in that they are not held in any Disney Park.

 

DBFF Tina decided to take the plunge and signed up for all three races.  All three you ask?  Yep, all three.  The distance of each race is 5k (or 3.1 miles) and the series consisted of three legs for a total of 9.3 miles.  You could have either signed up for one race or all three, receiving a medal (themed to a certain famous mouse) for each leg.  If you signed up for all three races, you also received a coveted fourth medal.  Tina went for the series to receive all four medals.  Each individual race cost a total of $39.00 and if you signed up the series it was $142.00 (which comes to $47 per race…. Hmmm, guess you do pay for that fourth medal after all).

All 4 Medals.  A side-by-side comparison with an in park race medal.  Same size!

Each leg had its own theme and a time frame in which to complete:

• The first leg, Yellow Shoes, was to be completed between May 15 and June 1, 2016.
• The second leg, Red Pants, was to be completed between June 5 and June 18, 2016.
• The third leg, White Glove, was to be completed between June 19 and June 30, 2016. 

  
  

  The total package!



As mentioned above, these races are virtual.  This means you can do them anywhere, you choose your course as long as it’s 3.1 miles.  These events are not timed in any real sense and there’s no first or last place.  In fact, there’s no event surrounding each race, unless you choose to make it an event by racing with family or friends.  

Many comments were posted on the Run Disney Facebook page regarding the pros and cons of this series, so let’s go over our pros and cons.

Pros:

• Much cheaper than doing a race in the park.  The upcoming Disneyland 5k was $80.00 so each race is saving you $41.00.
• You can do this race anywhere (also a con which I’ll get to)! Your favorite non-Disney park, your treadmill – anywhere, as long you walk or run (no biking allowed!).
• Disney races in the park are expensive, factoring in travel and hotel stays and you’re forking out a good chunk of change.  If you have more than one person in the family racing, that’s an additional $80 for the 5k.
• You do not have to wake up at 4:30 am!  Most Disneyland races start at 5:30 – that’s early folks!

Cons:

• You’re not in a Disney park!   What do you hear every time you go to a Disney Park?   No running.  Well, here you can run to your heart’s content (or until you run out of breath!). Running down Main Street is a pretty cool thing to do, without getting scolded for doing so.
• Motivation:  We like the energy surrounding an actual running event.   The races in the Parks are jam packed with energy – from the starting line to the finish line.  You won’t have the enthusiasm of race announcer, Rudy Novotny, and his countdown to start off your run with “Runners Ready!” Unfortunately, I just read on his Facebook page that he will no longer be the announcer at Disneyland Races.  Little bummed about that.
• Accountability: no proof of time is required for receiving your medals. This ties in with motivation, in which there really is none to complete each leg of the series.

 

In my opinion, I think they’re good.  They’re not for everybody and that’s OK.  But I like how families who cannot make it to the parks due to location and/or expenses now can bring a Disney Race home.  For me, unless they change the medals, I’m not sure I would consider participating in this one again.  Speaking of races, our next race is the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend in September.  Between the two of us each race will be covered – Tina will be doing the 5k and 10k (what she likes to refer to as the Tina Challenge) and Julia will be covering the 10k and half marathon with the Dumbo Double Dare.

Well, that’s it for now.  Until next time…ready, set, GO!

Hey, nice wings!

Julia has been in a committed relationship for the last four years. With who you ask? RunDisney, of course! Actually, both of us were inspired by the Mousetalgia podcast (when two of the hosts took up the hobby of running, with a Disney twist) to see what these running events had to offer. Neither of us were runners before, but ever since the Carsland Rally 5K way back in September 2012, the DBFF’s have frequented most of the Disneyland race weekends - the most recent Tinker Bell half marathon being no exception.

Held over Mother’s Day weekend, I was able to participate in the 2016 Pixie Dust Challenge. If you are new to RunDisney, a challenge means that an individual runner registers for both the 10K and the half marathon to be completed on back-to-back mornings (early mornings we might add). There is no monetary discount for signing up for both, but the participant gets a third medal and shirt for the effort (a little extra swag for good measure).

Each race weekend brings in a diverse crowd of athletes, but Tink is very female centered with lots of glitter and glamour to go around. The first step of each race weekend is a visit to the Health and Fitness Expo. If crowds are not your thing, you should consider going later in the day when the rush has subsided. If you fret that some of the special race merchandise will sell out there is the option to buy bundles of merchandise when you register for the race so you will be guaranteed what you want with no wait to get into the official merchandise area (which is a win win situation).

The Health and Fitness expo is a fun aspect of each race weekend. There are lots of booths and samples to keep anyone busy, but one of our favorite features are the photo ops! For this race weekend, in particular, there were four official photo opportunities.

RunDisney always has a green screen photo location that matches the theme of the weekend.

Disneyland got in on the action with a Tinker Bell Half Marathon decorated Autopia car to celebrate both the race and the reopening of the attraction in the park.

The race sponsor Pandora (jewelry, not radio) also had some magnificent wings for attendees to pose in front of. Unfortunately, the line for this was always too long to fit in with my day - obviously a huge hit. There was also a booth promoting the new Alice Through the Looking Glass movie making it look like people were themselves entering Wonderland.

With all this fun already in the bag, it was time to lace up my running shoes and hit the pavement. The 10K was a great warm-up to the half marathon. I only had a few complaints. Tinker Bell was not out for runners to take pictures with. Not sure if the weather played a part in this or not (it rained heavily preceding the start time). Also, there was an unfortunate placement of port-a-potties and water station in the same vicinity that caused a huge bottleneck and brought many runners to a sudden halt.

The half marathon also had a strange bathroom location, which, fortunately, was not on the course. Leading to the corrals it was a game of chicken between those passing through to the corrals and those eagerly waiting a vacant port-a-pot while also deftly avoiding fast opening doors. I’m happy to report the race itself went far more smoothly.

Experiencing three of the four half marathon courses at Disneyland (and yes, they are different for each race weekend), the Tink course is the one that I personally find the most boring. That is until I hit mile eight. For about a half mile leading up to this point there was a deafening roar of indistinguishable noise that hit runners in a wave of adrenaline when we found the source. The Red Hat Society was out in force to cheer and encourage each and every runner who passed. These ladies clearly know how to party! They lifted up my spirits so high I coasted to mile nine easily - which is also when I remembered I had four miles still to go and that high quickly ended.

Each time I participate in a race, I focus more on my time rather than waiting in long lines for the photo opportunities. There is nothing wrong with stopping for pictures, but these lines can get very long and cause significant damage to one’s official race time. I’m always a little bummed that I end up with no pictures of me actually participating in the event. It’s usually either bleary eyed pre-race or sweaty post-race pictures I have to commemorate the occasion. Not this time around!

With the inclusion of free (and unlimited) Photopass downloads as an Annual Passholder perk, the new partnership between RunDisney and Photopass was a welcome one. Now the DBFFs will be able to share all our race day sparkle with professional pictures. Just remember, always smile for the camera. :)

We heart RunDisney and are looking forward to September.