Everything Sparkles at the Disney Princess Half Marathon—Even the Beer
I’ve been strolling after a burly, bearded bro wearing a full Snow White costume—entire with a standing sequined collar—for 2 miles.
It’d be exciting, except I’m more often than not just considering how he has to lose life in that outfit clearly. It’s 6 a.M. (and I’ve been up considering three:15), eighty°F, and nearing eighty percent humidity. He’s walking in a long get dressed, which seems like pretty much the dumbest aspect you could do on a day that’s already warranted a warmth advisory.
I’m carrying simple antique shorts and a tank pinnacle because I don’t care if it’s the Disney Princess Half Marathon—I still should run 13.1 miles via Florida’s sweltering warmth, and I don’t have any hobby in adding any extra layers. (I am carrying a mini tiara courtesy of a Disney princess makeover from the day before; that’s my most effective concession to the weekend’s subject matter.)
But I’m really the bizarre one out. The Disney Princess Half—which runs from Epcot through Cinderella’s Castle within the Magic Kingdom and lowers back once more—is one of the pinnacle 10 1/2 marathons within the U.S., with greater than 18,000 runners crossing the end line this yr. In my very unscientific opinion (I became going for walks whilst I made it), at least eighty-five percent of them are dressed as Disney characters. I’ve visible numerous Elsas, Jasmines, and Ariels, now not to say probable 300 Cinderellas.
Dressing up to run has usually seemed a touch silly to me. But, when I run half of the marathons, I want to get them over with. The last issue I want is a dressing up slowing me down (sequins and glitter chafe, and that they’re not precisely breathable fabrics). And as lighthearted a Princess run sounds, it’s still a long-distance race. So the day before, whilst other human beings had been shopping the race expo (in which runners select up their race bibs and carriers indicates off their items) for sparkly skirts and tiara headbands, I was carb-loading on a Dijon Mustard Chicken Couscous Bowl and hoarding protein bites whipped up mainly for the weekend’s festivities by way of the runDisney meals and beverage team. And you higher agree with I turned into eyeing the area of expertise Playalinda Brewing Co. Glitterberry Wheat Beer (it’s made with edible glitter and has a certain sheen within the sun) and champagnes with chocolate Minnie Toppers for publish-race.
Because I became strolling as with a primary-timer friend and not to complete in a certain time, I spent less of this race gasping for breath and more of it humans and individual watching. It’s no longer simply the runners that cross all out; the race path is covered with person pit stops—and runners queue as much as getting snapshots with everybody from Sleeping Beauty to Tinker Bell. Although I didn’t forestall (again, it’s nevertheless thirteen.1 miles, why would you need to make that sense any further than it already is?), it becomes pretty obvious that Disney runners were here to have a laugh first and race 2d. And that’s no longer an awful thing: After watching it in action, I found out dressing up, even just in a glittery skirt or a tiara scarf, helps you to be a bit stupid, throw a nod to nostalgia, and act like a freakin’ princess, although it’s handiest for some hours.
Anyone who finishes a 13.1-mile run is a GD queen, even that burly bro in his Snow White get-up. And after slogging through that path in his princess gown, he likely earned that end line glitter beer greater than I did.
