Whew! I am home from Disney World, only to leave again tomorrow for Disneyland to run my first ever Tinkerbell half marathon! Right now I am wondering who came up with this idea, I am still tired from the 48.6 I ran this past weekend for Dopey!
I had a great time at the runDisney expo last weekend, we actually spent over three hours just hanging out, chatting with friends, and soaking up the marathon atmosphere. It was great to see so many of my friends and meet some new ones that I have only spoken to online. I also met some super sweet folks that read my blog, I loved talking to everyone! One of the first people I ran into was Carissa, who was looking fabulous as always.
I headed over to the KT Tape booth to get taped up for the races. You will be happy to hear I got taped Wednesday and it lasted until Sunday morning. The edges had JUST started rolling up so I went ahead and reapplied for the marathon.
I was able to get us all the official merchandise that I wanted that was available. If I am being honest, I felt like there was a lack in Inaugural Dopey merchandise. I was hoping for a Dopey specific mug or glass, and a Dopey hoodie/sweatshirt, none of which I saw available. (Also when will they make dishwasher safe mugs like the rest of Disney World sells? I was hoping this was the year).
I will say I LOVE my pink “I did it” Dopey shirt, they hit the mark with that one. I also was able to get a Dopey sweaty band that is really cute.
We did a little shopping around and visited booths, and we both also snagged a pair of the new runDisney shoes. I got Cinderella and Bobby got Goofy. The kids shoes looked SO tiny and cute!
I am also glad they changed the way you stand in line for shoes. I felt it went very smoothly and was an easy process. I hope they continue this at other races.
There were also marathon weekend specific inserts and shoe charms on sale. I thought $40 was a little steep for a pair of inserts and charms. I was considering getting them if they were just the inserts and around $20, but I wasn’t going to spring for inserts 1/3 the price of the actual shoes (which I think are priced very reasonably).
We picked up our race bibs in the next building, where they also had some of the official merchandise.
We didn’t stay for any of the speaker series because we still had not checked into our hotel (and we were very hungry!) But I heard they went well.
As we headed out there was information about the cool down party, as well as the official hashtags for the race weekend.
I was also very happy with the new women’s cut race shirts, and was pleasantly surprised to see they are the awesome silky material, not the usual rough heavy ones. Now if only they would let us choose between long sleeve and short sleeve I would be one happy girl. I do however love this years design and colors, it’s my favorite year of the four marathon weekends I have participated in. Great job runDisney!
I went to the expo Wednesday and it was not nearly as crowded as I expected it to be which was a nice surprise. I had room to walk down the aisles and didn’t feel rushed to get in and out of a booth that was crowded. The signage was great, the volunteers were friendly and knowledgeable, and I would say it was a great success!
QOTD: What are your thoughts on the new women’s cut shirts? What day did you go to the expo?
I love that they now have women’s specific shirts. No more Dumbo tragedy like last year! Yay!
I love the women’s cut shirts! But I’m with you…I’d love short sleeve! I went to the expo Thursday evening around 5. It wasn’t crowded at all like I thought it would be. I had no wait for anything which was really nice!
Good to hear.
So excited to hear you are running Tink!! It’s my first Tink too! Hope to run into you and say hi!!
Yes! If you see me say hello!
I love that they had women’s cut shirts available this year! Mine fit perfectly, which isn’t always the case with race shirts. We arrived at the expo around 9:30 Wednesday morning, and were pleasantly surprised to find that they opened the expo early. We didn’t find the expo crowded at all, which I was fearful of after hearing how packed the Disneyland expo was on opening day back in August.
OMG DL was a nightmare
Do the new shirts run true to size? I am planning on doing Dopey 2015 and I don’t want the hassle of trying to exchange shirts. We did the Tower of Terror in 2012, before the women’s cut shirts. The shirts were huge. I think every woman at the expo was trying to exchange.
I got a medium and it fits me well. Maybe a HAIR too big but small would have been to short in the sleeves
I love the new women’s cut! I wore my shirt so much at Disney and I keep putting it on at home. The neck isn’t strangling me and the arms are long enough to reach my hands. It’s soooo comfy I don’t want to take it off!
I love the vneck!
I loved the shirts this year. I agree about the fabric, much nicer than the 2011 shirts. I loved the sweaty bands for each of the races. I am bummed that I missed getting the Minnie Mouse headband. I think they were out when I was at the expo.
So glad they changed the fabric!
That’s so awesome! I hope to do this next year! 🙂 Congrats on all the races!
thanks!
Ditto on the race shirts. Much better than the sandpaper fest that was the Wine & Dine Shirt. And I love the designs! Too bad I will only wear each shirt once if I’m lucky. As a Central Florida resident I do NOT wear long sleeved shirts…hardly ever. Super sad whenever I am handed over a long sleeved shirt.
I’d be up for buying the runDisney shoe charms if they had been sold separately. Oh well…I’ll be on the lookout for them at the outlet in a few months.
Enjoy your Tink! Much better course than DL Half…and no sun in your eyes.
Exactly. It will be hot here in no time. We are going to attempt to cut the sleeves on some of bobbys, he won’t even wear LS when it’s cold! I am so excited about my first Tink!
I live all these Disney races through your stories & pictures 🙂
haha
Can’t wait for 2015! I’m glad that you were able to score the shoes, after hearing how quickly they sold out of common sizes on day 1! I wonder if there is a way to suggest to NB (or RunDisney?) that they only sell to people with valid registrations for the first 2 days of the Expo. Let the eBay resellers pick theirs up later. 🙂 Or maybe they can take orders to drop-ship to homes after the event?
I’m sure they have gotten a ton of emails. The problem is I know several people who 1) are runners but just weren’t registered for this event or 2) want to be runners and bought the shoes as a way to help them get started 3)bought shoes for their kids just b/c they are cute.
So I am sure that would irritate those people who were only planning to go to the expo on one day. Also, i was able to pick some up for a friend who wasn’t running the race, but does run, etc. I think by limiting the amount of shoes you can pick up like they did is really all they can/will do.
LOVED all your pictures and updates through the Dopey Challenge. I hope to run it in 2015. The NB shoes are so cute and I can’t wait to get my hands on a pair. Sounds like you got some great merchandise, one of my favorite parts is shopping at the expo! The race shirts are really cute too!
Can’t wait to follow your adventures running Tink!
What? No Dopey sweatshirt! That’s exactly what I would have wanted. Glad they are sloooowly improving the race shirts. We’ll have short sleeves one year!
Such a fun weekend but YES the prices for stuff was OUT OF TOWN expensive
Loved the fabric of the shirts! I went to the expo on Thursday right after getting off the plane. I got three “My dad ran the WDW Marathon” shirts for my girls.
I’m gutted I missed you at the expo! I also didn’t realise that they had Dopey Merch in the main expo so I bought my stuff by the bibs and never ever saw half of the dopey shirts – I spent the whole week reallly annoyed that I didn’t see the Pink Dopey shirt and that I didn’t get a dopey sticker!
I ran the Tinkerbell last year and I got my PB on course – I have to admit I kind of prefer the route to WDW solely because you get to run through the world of color/cars land and whilst magic kingdom always gives me shivers… world of color in the dark is AMAZING.
I cant belief that you are going to do another race this weekend – that is real Dopey!
Love it all! I’ve never done a runDisney race, and just looking at your pictures of the EXPO makes me want to do one! But I think I’d have to save up for all that stuff. I love Disney + running stuff, so I’d probably break the bank on the specialty items. Good luck at Tinkerbell!
Following along this weekend has me so excited for Princess weekend! Good luck with Think!
I can’t believe you’re doing Tink too!!! that’s so awesome!!! I think the think medals are so cute!!! Your legs must be so sore!!
Love the merch! I’ll be running Dopey in 2015. I will also be at Tink this weekend – maybe I’ll see you there!
Great recap! I am very much hoping to get to the Wine and Dine later this year.