Running a Disney race is an incredible experience; it really is like no other race.

I ran the WDW Marathon in 2018 with my husband, and as someone who puts way too much thought into how my race will go, I deliberated a lot about my costume in the lead up to the race. So I thought I would share some of my tips on getting RunDisney costume-ready.

Plan for all weathers. I know this may sound silly for Florida, but when we raced in 2018 it was SO cold waiting in the corral (I am sure that’s the reason why so many people got really sick that year), so I recommend you go to a thrift/charity store or raid your closet for cozy clothes (costume appropriate if you like – I bought a red fleece sweater and a red and white spotty headband to match my Minnie Mouse costume) to use to keep yourself warm while standing around for hours, but don’t mind possibly throwing away once you’ve started racing.

Wear layers. As I mentioned above it was really cold to start, but by the time we were 2/3 done the weather was toasty hot, so I took off my long sleeve top and tied it around my waist.

Wear your standard running gear under your costume.  I wore my costume accessories over black running leggings and 2 tops, both of which I had worn running many times before. Wearing your costume directly on your skin may result in chafing, and you don’t really want to dampen your race experience with having sore red skin.

Bring a backpack. I know this may sound strange, but I bought a kids Minnie Mouse backpack to store all my things. Yes it’s odd running with a backpack on, but with my husband and I both racing we had too much that we wanted to bring with us to fit into my hydration belt pouch. Now you may not want to do this but I found it very beneficial, especially given we took our time during the race and were on the course for over 5 hours.

What I included in the race backpack was:

-Gels.

-Granola bars – after I’ve eaten gels for hours I start to feel sick and can’t stomach anymore, so I brought a couple of granola bars just in case I needed fuel that wasn’t in gel form.

-Portable charger for my phone in case I took so many pictures and videos that I’d need to charge my phone during the course; turns out I did, so I’m really grateful that I thought to pack this as it would have been sad not to have had pictures and videos from the end of the race.

-A mini first aid kit – turns out I used everything that I had packed – I brought Advil, tissues, band aids, tissues and an anti-chafe stick.

-Electrolytes to add to our water bottles to help replenish the salts etc. that we were losing through sweat.

-Sunscreen – I didn’t bring this but I would highly recommend you take some. Once the sun came out it got very hot – we were both pretty burnt by the end of the race.

Hope this helps you with your RunDisney costume planning – have a truly wonderful race.

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