Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon (and DL Half)

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

I was on an airplane during the Tink registration . I want to sign up for Pixie Dust on general registration day. I don't anticipate an issue going in right away, but I'm pretty sure I'll have time to get the half if the challenge fills up before I can register.
Meanwhile, I'm getting excited for DL Half. I'm in race withdrawals right now, and I won't even really be ready for it, but I'll be ok enough to finish comfortably.

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

Good luck on registration. Just remember to make sure your active account is already up and ready to go. I get so nervous on AP reg. days....this time I did not purchase any additional pins etc, and did not even bother with a time. I can do that all later just needed to make sure I got in.

One thing rD was offering was a merch bundle. Thought it was interesting but didn't go for it. Hate headbands.

DL will be here before we know it. Had a long hilly run today. Hate hills and my knees were not happy but did it anyway.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

That merchandise bundle really blew my mind. It was like 2 headbands and a magnet for $45, right? That price seems awfully steep for not very much product, especially when you have no idea what they're going to look like

I know they've been attempting to sell jackets this way for a while, but I really wonder how successful it has been. They clearly have problems ordering enough merchandise to meet demand, so I suspect this is their way to counter that problem, but I really wonder how many people are willing to drop that much money on a product that can't be seen until 10 months later (and is often underwhelming); it just doesn't seem realistic to me

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

The merch situation is unfortunate. The first several years I was able to purchase what I wanted no problem. I don't even bother anymore. I'll usually walk through, but even getting there the day of, most of the better stuff and sizes are gone. I don't know what they could do to fix the rush at the opening and with people buying in bulk to put online. If they make more product, these people will just buy more to resell. I know the pre-order is meant to help, but I agree about purchasing something way before you even get to see it.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>...most of the better stuff and sizes are gone.<<

I guess there's no way to account for which items will be most popular, but it always makes me confused why they have trouble stocking the right sizes. During registration, they get everybody's shirt size. Why is it so hard to order shirts and jackets in roughly the same proportion of sizes as the runners as a whole?

>>I know the pre-order is meant to help, but I agree about purchasing something way before you even get to see it.<<

If they included photos of the items (even if they had to wait until a month or two before the event to get the designs finalized) I would be much more likely to do it. I agree that they need to do something to counteract the folks who just buy for eBay (maybe require proof of registration for purchases on the first day or two of the expo?) but it seems like they're getting really close to the solution while completely missing the obvious part

 

Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s

<<If they included photos of the items (even if they had to wait until a month or two before the event to get the designs finalized) I would be much more likely to do it.>>

I didn't pre-order the jackets for either Princess or Tink this year. Saw the jacket at Princess and loved it and wished I had ordered it, but then saw the pre-order jacket and Tink and thought it was a bad design and glad I didn't. They show us the Dooney's so why not the jackets? I did buy the regular Tink jacket at the expo and love it.

I won't be able to hit the Expo until Friday night, so I'm hoping there will still be pins and C2C shirts left.

So the good news for me is I don't have a tear, just REALLY bad tendinitis. My choices are to continue with PT and only do activities that don't hurt for some number of months longer until it goes away, do Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) procedure, which is injecting my blood plasma into the tendon, or do Tenex procedure, which is big needle that vacuums out the inflammation. The last two require two weeks in a boot and 2 more weeks on limited activity, meaning a month out of commission. So I can't do that until after DL anyway.

I'm going to do more research on PRP as that seems to be pretty successful and I need to find out if my insurance will cover it, as it is about $600.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Yikes! I'm glad your injury wasn't something more serious, but that still sounds pretty tough! I hope you're able to do DL1/2 without any major issues popping up

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

For Tink this year...I did pre purchase the jacket, since I didn't know if I was going to make it to the expo early. I thought it would be the same jacket that was being offered at the expo. Boy I was wrong !!! This thing was UGLY and I picked it up and promptly returned it. No questions asked.

I was able to get to the expo early and pick up two jackets that I just love. Overall, I thought the merchandise this year was pretty good.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

That's good to know that you can return it easily. I know they're pretty flexible with returns (at Marathon Weekend, they're always quick to point out that any official Disney merchandise can be returned to any Disney-run gift shop on property), but I didn't realize that applied to stuff purchased through Active too. I'll have to remember that for the future, since the Dopey jackets always seem to disappear within an hour or two of the expo's opening

Does Active charge any fees for the merchandise that you buy during registration? I suppose it might be worth it either way, just for the peace of mind

 

Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s

<<Does Active charge any fees for the merchandise that you buy during registration?>>

Yes. The fee varies depending on how expense the item is. I believe I paid about $15 when I ordered a Dooney for Tink. I found out later that I could've asked for a rebate on my pre-order since I have an AP. Keep that in mind too.

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

Ohhh that's good to know !!!

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

Ohhh that's good to know !!!

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

Super easy registration this morning for Pixie Dust. I see the half is only about 50%. I wonder if they have finally priced runners out, or met the demand with the 4 races. They all seem to have slowed down a bit. It will be interesting to see when the races sell out I think Avengers is still ~90%. I've heard there's a bit of slowing with half marathons in general because they were so popular they created so many, combined with the one and done racers. Interesting to see what happens over the next year or so with the run disney races and others. I'm nowhere near done. I'm always looking forward to the next one (almost always ).

 

Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s

It's killing me that PDC is still only at 87%. I just can't do it again. UGH!!

I have scheduled to do the Platelet Rich Plasma on Sept 8th. It's two weeks in a walking boot, two more weeks on restricted activity, and three months total to full recovery. That's a long time during peak running season in Arizona, but I'll handle that if it takes the pain away for good.

I will be doing run/walk intervals for the DL Half and what that interval will be is dependent on how much it hurts, but likely more walk than run. I'm in Corral C for DL Half (missed the B cut off by 4 seconds) so I'm not worried about being swept, but I am unhappy that I won't be in top form. All the more reason to sign up for PDC next year! LOL! But I'm spending $600 for the PRP and that kills my race budget right there.

Enjoy the last 4 weeks of training! I'll just be cycling since I can do that without pain and hope that is enough training to get me through the 13.1 miles.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>I will be doing run/walk intervals for the DL Half and what that interval will be is dependent on how much it hurts, but likely more walk than run.<<

That was my general approach for Star Wars, when my Achilles was hurting me, and I actually ended up running a lot more than I expected (possibly more than any other Half I've done), since it hurt a little less to run, and it got me there a whole lot faster. I hope you find something that works!

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

Less than two weeks now.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Yikes! Overall my training has gone pretty well, but I've been sidetracked for the last week or so because of a camping trip. Hopefully I can find a way to make up the difference and get a few good runs in before the race!

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Also, runDisney decided to just drop this bomb with no warning. I wish I had known about it a few weeks ago, before the DLR race filled up:
<a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneysportsnews.com/releases/2015/08/25/the-force-is-even-stronger-second-rundisney-star-wars-half-marathon-event-sprinting-toward-walt-disney-world-resort-in-2016/">http://disneysportsnews.com/re...in-2016/</a>

Also, given that the running boom seems to be tapering off nationwide, it will be interesting to see how popular this is. I can't imagine the weather will be especially good for it, but the course sounds fun (basically Wine & Dine backwards)

 

Originally Posted By -em

Really not liking the timing of the wdw Star Wars race as it makes for a looonnnggg race year (dlr- end of April) but the course is intriguing enough I'll suck it up...

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I agree that the course sounds interesting, particularly the point-to-point 10K. I'm really curious how the logistics of all this will work, since that's a lot of people to move back and forth, and the narrow path from Boardwalk to Studios will be early in both races before the crowds have a chance to spread out