Hello! I ran the Tinkerbell Half Marathon this weekend! It was a complete blast because I was able to dress up as a unicorn and run (or should I say gallop) with the girls from #TeamSparkle ! Boom.

First things first… Unicorns are everything right now. I even spotted this tiny unicorn pinata at the 99 Cent Store the day before the race!

Run Disney Tinkerbell Half Marathon Expo

Sparkle Athletic running skirts and gear is available online or at Run Disney race expos (they have a booth at other expos too but I don’t know which ones). You can wear one of their sparkle skirts over your running shorts or capris and it’s insta-cute plus super lightweight. Or you can pair it with other accessories and make it a full running costume.

Okay – back to race day!

Run Disneyland Tinkerbell Half Marathon – Race Recap

Tip: Take a picture of the sign noting where you parked. Since I went to the expo Friday, 10K Saturday and half marathon Sunday – I parked in the Disneyland parking structure 3 times in 3 days. And two of those times were around 5am. It’s super easy to forget in the rush of race morning.

Tip #2: Consider selling a kidney to make up for the fact that you’ll spend $20 on parking per day. In addition to the race fees (which are much higher than most races) it was an extra $60 to park by the end of the weekend.

Run Disney races are well organized – but there’s a ton of runners and spectators gathering in one area at the same time. So there’s a lot of traffic – both car traffic and people traffic. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the starting line.

Since it was so crowded getting to the starting line and corral I decided to wait and use the porta potties in Corral A hoping they wouldn’t have a super long line. Well, it was long. But I’m glad they had them there.

Disneyland is known for their fireworks and usually Disney races start with fireworks but that was a no-go this year. Instead everyone was encouraged to hold up their phone flashlights. I tried to make fireworks noises so everyone would feel like it was the real thing. I don’t think the runners around me really appreciated that. I bet they just don’t like fireworks.

It took all my effort not to post a ‘running makes me horny’ joke on Instagram since I was dressed like a unicorn for this race.

Unicorn Running Costume

The visor, wings, tank and unicorn skirt are all from Sparkle Athletic. The girls ordered the unicorn horn from Amazon and hot glued it to the Sparkle Visors. We each had a different color.

The Tinkerbell Half Marathon starts on Disneyland Drive. It goes through Disneyland, California Adventure, Downtown Disney and around Anaheim.

The best part is running through the castle and inside the theme parks.

In past Disney races there was a lot more ‘character stops’ – classic Disney characters you could stop and take a picture with. Since there wasn’t many options we were super excited to get a picture with Captain Hook!

We stopped to take pictures inside the parks and ran most of the race outside of that. I have missed running with SkinnyRunner so I was happy to have people to run with. We talked a lot and got a lot of cheering for our costumes.

And because I had running buddies – the race flew by and before ya know it we saw the finish line! It was a lot of fun!

After the race there is a big area for runners to meet up with family. Pandora had a pretty wall set up for pictures with 13.1 made out in flowers. Super cute! But I didn’t want to wait in line.

And when I got back to my car I found my Garmin! Busted!! I purposely didn’t wear it for the 10k the previous day because I knew I’d be walking a lot since I was in the last corral. But then I couldn’t find it before the half. I am the worst.

Tinkerbell 10K and Half Marathon medals and shirts…

Given the 5:30am start time of the 10k and half marathon I was wearing a Sparkle skirt and sipping Spark(le) Drink all weekend. I love all things Sparkly!!

Question: Would you rather be a unicorn or a mermaid?