I’m going to be running in the 2019 Disney Princess challenge. It’s a big moment for me as I’ve never challenged myself to run anything before. I know with these races you stop for photos a lot. How does that affect your pacing? I’m not worried about having a good running time, I’m more concerned about the balloon ladies picking me up because I waited in too many photo lines.
Any tips or experiences you’ve had with this?
Thanks!
A few thoughts from someone who has never ran a sub 3 hour half and still got some character photos during all but one of those races.
1. Sounds like you already understand this, but time in line for characters is part of your overall race time. So if you ran one mile in 10 minutes and waited in line for a character photo during that same mile for 20 minutes, your time for that mile is 30 minutes. I know of people that were swept because they did not understand that the 45 minute wait for a character photo during the race was part of their overall mile time.
2. I have what I will call the best kind of experience with how runDisney sweeps. As in I've been close enough to being swept that they warned me, but since I had previous race experience, I knew what pace I could run so I also knew that in a worst case scenario, I could keep pace with the balloon ladies if necessary.
During the 2017 Dark Side 10K, I was in line for a photo on the Emperor's Throne from Return of the Jedi. This was a short line. When I was 3rd or 4th in line, the bikes came up and told us that the balloon ladies were 5 minutes behind us and when they got to that point, we either needed to leave the line and join them or stay in line, get the photo and be swept. Based on where I was in line, I knew I could easily stay in line and still be fine, but I also knew where I was in relation to being swept. I got my photo and resumed running with no trouble. However a few minutes later I saw that very sweep occur. The buses pulled up and I saw runners who were now headed towards that bus.
Ultimately, that experience proved liberating. I had seen a sweep occur firsthand. I knew exactly how it worked. So I also knew exactly what would happen if I was ever in danger of being swept. This freed me up to at least attempt character photo stops knowing that they would warn me if I was in trouble. It also helped me to enjoy the race more and not fear being swept because I knew from prior race experience what I was capable of. I second the idea of running a race to get proof of time beforehand. Even if you don't get a proof of time that puts you in the corral of your dreams, you gain experience. My first half included no photo stops whatsoever. Just continuous running. I ran it in 3:05. From that I knew that I had some cushion. My second race a year later included 2 character stops totaling maybe 10-15 minutes total and I finished it in 3:07. Because of what I learned in race number 1, I could safely stop for characters in race number 2.
If proof of time is not possible, then just remember that training will help you win the day. And if all the character lines are too long for your liking, take other photos. Maybe in front of something cool in the parks, maybe a run by selfie. Just have fun and enjoy the atmosphere.
I would advise slower runners to keep the following in mind. You may need to pick and choose what characters you stop for depending on your pace. You also may not be able to stop for every character. You may also have to skip a favorite character if the line is too long. I will note here that at least in some cases, you can meet some of these same characters in the parks after the race. And while I have some very fun race photos with favorite characters, the in park photos with the same characters after the race were actually more fun.
