Do guys run the Half Princess?

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

Originally Posted by DisneyDanielle85

My husband is running it this year with me. I am trying to convince him to dress up.

IF he doesn't, you will be starting in Corral C or later to stay together, and very often, people from the other corrals drop their tiaras, tutus and other costume pieces because they are too uncomfortable. Disney is the only race series where I have witnessed this.

[cewait]

Originally Posted by SAHDad

I'll confess that the C corral bugs me a bit. I think C is about a 2:15 or 2:30 half - which means that it is something like 2 minutes/mile slower than my normal pace. And for a guy, I am not fast. That's a lot of dodging and weaving to do just in order to run at my normal pace, not race it. (I think they should have had gender-graded performance levels - A corral for women needs a 2:00 finish, but for men to get there, it is a 1:40 or 1:30.)

Anecdotally, I have heard that, the faster a guy runs the race, the less welcoming the crowd and other runners get. (I wonder how much of it is a gender-reversal of the whole "getting chicked" dynamic?)

Lastly - I rarely hear much complaints about the Princess. It seemed to me that it was the Tink that really drew the ire - that Disney decided to do another women-centric race, but the clues, while they alluded to it, did not state at the outset that the race would be women-centered. (Well, plus the realization that a men-centric race would probably call down the wrath of Kathrine Switzer and a whole host of women's groups.)

We're on verge of heading seriously off-topic here. To veer back, yes, guys can run in the Princess and Tink. They can't start in the front, and there are no age-group awards for the men, but they do get finisher's medals. Anecdotally, the women accept the presence of men on the course, but YMMV.

I agree that the Princess was welcomed, but was also a replacement for the Minnie 15k. I also think the ire for Tink was from several levels, not just the women-centric aspect of the race, but as noted the whole read a clue and guess game that turned the welcoming crowd into a mob.

I also want to correct my wave two to a three - my bad.

[bwolfe]

I am running this year...my brother in law is too. So add two more guys!

[EEsloveDis]

Originally Posted by Mac4life30

Just wondering if any guys plan to run this 1/2 Marathon.

My husband is running with me.

I'm trying to find him a shirt to wear for the race. My mom saw one that said "Running with my Princess" but I am not having much luck.

[Reep]

I'm running Tink this year with my wife. I am going in costume and will have a good spirit about it. But, I am also disappointed that on the left coast half of our big races are really woman only. I race half marathons and would totally love to race Tink (or some other Spring/Winter DL race). Last year I would have won outright (except I'm a guy). It's not like the DL half isn't already 65% female.

I appreciate what Disney does for Women's marathon running, as it provides a great low pressure environment. But, I wish they could have put in one more non-discriminating race before adding Tink. I could live with the Florida ratio, but 1:1 is hard to take.

I'm just glad I'm running with my wife, I would be very upset to be stuck in corral C if I was running by myself. What if my wife was fast? Would they really make me run two corrals behind her? Wow.

[SAHDad]

Originally Posted by EEsloveDis

My husband is running with me.

I'm trying to find him a shirt to wear for the race. My mom saw one that said "Running with my Princess" but I am not having much luck.

It was probably custom-made. A quick google search gave me a couple site (CustomizedGirl, and a few others) - you may need to simply have it made.

[EEsloveDis]

Originally Posted by SAHDad

It was probably custom-made. A quick google search gave me a couple site (CustomizedGirl, and a few others) - you may need to simply have it made.

Thanks. I will do that!!

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

Originally Posted by Reep

I'm running Tink this year with my wife. I am going in costume and will have a good spirit about it. But, I am also disappointed that on the left coast half of our big races are really woman only. I race half marathons and would totally love to race Tink (or some other Spring/Winter DL race). Last year I would have won outright (except I'm a guy). It's not like the DL half isn't already 65% female.

I appreciate what Disney does for Women's marathon running, as it provides a great low pressure environment. But, I wish they could have put in one more non-discriminating race before adding Tink. I could live with the Florida ratio, but 1:1 is hard to take.

I'm just glad I'm running with my wife, I would be very upset to be stuck in corral C if I was running by myself. What if my wife was fast? Would they really make me run two corrals behind her? Wow.

Yes, you would run separately, because if you want to run with someone, you have to move to whomever has the further back corral. I agree, I didn't like the idea of the Tinkerbell at first, but if most of the runners are women anyway, it kind of made sense. I would have rather had a Neverland themed Half Marathon. They can't really offer any other races at DL because of the permits, and obviously dealing with any government stuff is going to be a lot more work. I talked to the runDisney rep that works on the DL races, and had no idea the hoops they had to jump through just to add the Tinkerbell.

[SAHDad]

Originally Posted by Rupert B Puppenstein

Yes, you would run separately, because if you want to run with someone, you have to move to whomever has the further back corral. I agree, I didn't like the idea of the Tinkerbell at first, but if most of the runners are women anyway, it kind of made sense. I would have rather had a Neverland themed Half Marathon. They can't really offer any other races at DL because of the permits, and obviously dealing with any government stuff is going to be a lot more work. I talked to the runDisney rep that works on the DL races, and had no idea the hoops they had to jump through just to add the Tinkerbell.

My problem with adding more women-centered races because most of the runners are already women is that I think it will make the imbalance even worse. Women-centered races creates the impression that men are not welcome, so more women run, which creates the need for more women-centered races, etc. Switzer (a couple of years ago) remarked that women in running have gone from exclusion to exclusivity, and she thought that it was a good thing.

As far as Neverland/Disneyland/etc - yeah, adding another DL race is going to be really hard, since they have to deal with Anaheim road closures and things like that, whereas they can do a full marathon on the WDW property, so another half is merely an internal challenge. I think they missed the boat a little with the Tink - they should have moved the Princess theme to DL, put a Neverland (Or Pirate-n-Princess) race at WDW, with two starts, one for men and one for women. Women start 10-15 minutes earlier, and the men are trying to catch up. Have the first 1-2 miles of each course separate, to let the racers spread out a bit before they merge courses.

[Danhockey04]

I'm going to run it this year, as Rapunzel this time. I did two years ago as Princess Peach. You have to start in corral B or back, but that's no biggie. Mostly, the women are welcoming except a few downers that think they should be the only ones to enjoy that race.

[ludari]

Originally Posted by Rupert B Puppenstein

IF he doesn't, you will be starting in Corral C or later to stay together, and very often, people from the other corrals drop their tiaras, tutus and other costume pieces because they are too uncomfortable. Disney is the only race series where I have witnessed this.

I kept my costume on this year for the entire Princess Half.

[JCH]

Originally Posted by ludari

I kept my costume on this year for the entire Princess Half.

Did you have a sign on your back that said "Who wants to be a prince when you can be the king?" If so, I saw you multiple times on the course and loved the costume!!

[ludari]

Originally Posted by JCH

Did you have a sign on your back that said "Who wants to be a prince when you can be the king?" If so, I saw you multiple times on the course and loved the costume!!

Yup that was me. I had such an amazing time and so many people stopped me for pictures.

[cewait]

Originally Posted by ludari

Yup that was me. I had such an amazing time and so many people stopped me for pictures.

Were you at the 2012 marathon??

[ludari]

Originally Posted by cewait

Were you at the 2012 marathon??

Yes, but I only ran the 5K and half and no costume.