My Husband and I decided to run this race because we loved another race in this series, Big Cottonwood so we thought it would be nice to explore the other locations that this race series extended to. We registered 2 months before the race for the half marathon. My husband wanted to run the full but it had already been sold out months ago, according to social media. All of the shirt choices were taken except for one also.

I had never been to Vegas before so we decided to fly in 2 days before to explore a bit. We booked our room at The Westin, which was near the host hotel but just as nice for less money. The expo was located at Cox Pavilion at the University. We didn’t rent a car so we relied on uber and the city bus, which worked out fine. We took the city bus from our hotel to the University of Las Vegas for the expo on Friday. It was pretty crowded when we got there around 2pm, the line to collect our bibs was long but easy to navigate once in. There were backdrops to take photos in front of which was pretty cool. The expo also had clothing and shoes for purchase. My husband and I both ended up exchanging our shirts for a different shirt. He shirts were nice but they were grey. Our swag bags also came with a nice pair of GoodR sunglasses. I thought that this was a nice touch.

Saturday morning we woke up early enough to catch an Uber to the bus-loading zone, which was half an hour away from the strip, which is where we were staying. It was extremely humid and hot outside and there was really no need for throws away clothes but I wore them anyway because I didn’t know what would be in store for us once we got to the top of the mountain.

Turns out that it wasn’t really cold at start so I took off my extra clothes and put them in my drop bag and checked my drop bag onto the truck so that I could retrieve it at the finish line. I see a few people start walking to the start so I follow them and from a distance I hear someone counting down and yelling Go! What?!? This was so strange to me because people were still sitting in a different area and waiting for direction and instructions. It threw me off but I just went with it. The temps heated up pretty fast. Aids stations were present every 2 miles, which was nice. The course was so stunningly beautiful. The weather was not idea though, it was too humid. It really felt like a desert!

The finish line had oranges, ice-cold towels, and water bottles. I sat down on the side with some oranges to wait on my husband to finish who was 8 minutes behind me, then we walked to get our drop bags, put our flip flops on and headed to the beer tent for free ice cold beer. Also, they were serving pizza but had no vegan options so once again our pizza coupon went to waste. I really wish this race series would add a vegan pizza option to the post race area…

Soon after we did receive a link in our e-mail about the free race photos! Yay!

I participated in Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend for the first time this year (2019). What made me want to register was seeing the medals from the past year (2018) and wishing I had participated then as the medals were so lovely. After seeing the 2018 medals I just assumed that all their medals would be just as awesome. 2018 was an anniversary year so I guess that’s why Disney went all out. 2019 medals were nowhere as good looking as 2018 medals. By the time I saw the medals, it was too late, I had already signed up for the half marathon.

My fiancé and I booked a room at the Dolphin resort since that it was walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. My 4 year old niece came along too as she was running the kid race on Saturday. Since the half wasn’t until Sunday we didn’t get in town and to the expo until Friday, which was day 2 of the expo. Although we got there first thing in the morning on Friday, most of everything in a size small was already sold out. I had pre-ordered a jacket and mickey ears for my niece, which I picked up in the merchandise counter. We did score a “I did it magnet” surprisingly. The expo has beer and if you buy the reusable cup then you can get a refill for half the price at the end of the race if you pack it into your drop bag. The race shirts that were given for the half were very nice and it was a neutral color, blue so I’m sure the guys enjoyed the shirts too. I was kind of surprised that neither the half marathon nor the challenge had sold out as this race was so hyped up on social media about how fast it sells out normally.

Sunday Morning we woke up and got ready and made it to the bus stop in front of our hotel (Dolphin resort) at 3:35 am. As soon as we came out of the front door of the resort, we saw a huge long line of runners waiting on the race bus. It didn’t become alarming until 4:15am hit with no buses yet as the bus line to the race grew and grew. Staff kept walking around letting runners and spectators know that more buses were called and they would be here any minute. My fiancé got on the bus at 5:15 am. This was only the 2nd bus to come since we had been waiting since 3:35am. We had already knew we were going to miss the start, which we did! We were assigned to corral C, which we missed and had to start in the last corral (H). Being a runner and having to swerve around walkers is torture and can be dangerous. We started an hour after corral A had already taken off. The sun had already started to come up and the heat had begun. The entire race was so humid.

There were plenty of portable potties on the course and plenty of character stops. I didn’t really see a lot of princess character stops, I guess they were saving those for after the finish line. We stopped for photos with Goofy and Pluto along the course.

Once you cross the finish line you are given your medal, PowerAde, a green banana, and a snack box. There is also a backdrop to take a “I did it photo” with one of the photo-pass photographers. After the finish line there were 4 characters out for photos including Princess Aurora, Princess Tiana, Princess Jasmine, and Frozen. The hotel bus was waiting and we were able to hop right on after we finished.
Overall, I can see why women like this event. I saw so many people dressed as beautiful princesses and really just enjoying themselves. There was a lot of positive energy coming from mostly everyone I had came into contact with. I plan to give it another try during the next anniversary of this race.

I would imagine that Route 66 Marathon or Half Marathon is on every runners bucket list. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about this race and when I saw the bling knew that I had to run it. I showed the medal to my husband and he fell in love as well. We decided to register for the half marathon in 2018 as this was the last year for the Goddess medals. Neither of us had ever been to Tulsa or anywhere in Oklahoma so we were excited to explore a new city.

We registered so late that we were not able to book a host hotel so we booked a hotel that was equally as close to the start , expo and finish line, The Residence Inn. The expo was pretty large, lots of vendors and easy to navigate. We picked up our bibs and jackets with ease. The jackets that came with the half marathon were super cheap. The zipper snags and breaks easily and the black faded right away. I did end up buying a finisher’s tech shirt that I thought was pretty nice.

The next morning we walked to the start line to our corral. We were in the last Corral, D, because of how late we signed up which was fine. It was 30 degrees F outside at the start of the race. The future whether forecast had led us wrong. We had on many layers, gloves, hats and scarfs. It was freezing! It was cold the entire race, I am so happy I didn’t do the full, I would have been miserable! Even with my layers of clothing I still felt not prepared for the weather. I found it so hard to not shiver. The start line had flying confetti shooting into the air as runners crossed the start line. I loved this so much it was so different and colorful.. The course was a little hilly and there were many spectators outside which took some of the pain away. It was really like everyone has said, it was like a block party during some of the run. Spectators gave out beer, candy and Jell-O shots. There were plenty of photographers on the course but photos were not free and I didn’t like any of my photos that much to purchase them for the price.

My favorite thing about this race was the Vegan Pizza option at the finish line! My husband and I were so grateful to see a post race food option that we could enjoy for once! We grabbed pizza and quickly walked back to our hotel. We didn’t even bother with the free beer as we were so cold we just wanted a hot shower and more hot food.

I ran the Revel Big Cottonwood half marathon on Saturday, September 8th, 2018 with my bf. We flew from Florida on that Friday. I had received my race packet in the mail a week before the race. I selected this option before know what day I was going to fly in and just in case I missed the expo. I paid extra to get a long sleeve shirt in an XS and it fits wells and looks good.. The race packet also included a pair of gloves, safety blanket, a revel hat and my race bib. My bf decided to race last minute so we actually did go to the expo on Friday to pick up his race packet. The expo was from 10am-8pm. When picking up his race packet at the expo, he actually received a few extra things that are not included when receiving it by mail. He had a box of pancake mix and some other treats that he ended up giving away because we’re vegan and the snacks weren’t. Guess I wasn’t missing out on anything. The expo had revel backdrops to take photos with, and Revel apparel for sale, hydration packs, shoes, sunglasses and also last minute race fuels like Gu’s, chews and gels.

We stayed at one of the host hotels, which included airport transportation, expo transportation, and transportation to the start line. This was important to us as we did not rent a car. Race morning 3 buses showed up at 4AM and were told to load in between 4-430am. The first bus was a coach bus and the 2 remaining buses were school buses. We came out closer to 4:30am so we were on the school bus. It took about 25 minutes to get to the start line of Big cottonwood Canyon so we just sat wrapped in our Mylar blanket with our gloves on until the 630am start. There were plenty of porta-potties to use pre race and lines weren’t that long because there were so many. It was such a chili morning, I was so happy that I decided to wear sweat pants over my shorts.

About 15 minutes before start, there was a last call for bag drops. I took off my sweat pants and put them into my drop bag and placed it onto the truck that would meet us at the finish line. Not until I took off my sweat pants was it hard not to shiver. It was about 54 degrees F that morning. I wish I had brought some hot coffee or tea along with me. We then lined up in the different paces. The half marathon had 6 pacers. We lined up with the 2:20 pacer as this was my first downhill race and I didn’t know what to expect. The first 7 miles are nice and downhill but there was a small uphill around mile 9ish for about 2 miles and that was the hardest part. The last mile was pretty downhill though. The whole course is so beautiful, the scenery took my breath away alone.

There were photographers and there were sometimes a sign in some areas to let you know that a photographer was upcoming which was pretty cool. The course wasn’t crowded ever which was nice. There were so many spectators about a mile out that had some very clever signs that were funny and enough to get your spirits back up. There was hydration tables about every 2 miles supplied with PowerAde and water. I would get both. There was one table about 9 miles in that had energy gus. There was also a popsicle stop near the end. After crossing the finish line I was handed a cold ice towel, my medal and a banana and then I sat by the fence to wait for my bf to cross the finish line so that we could go into the finish “party” together. The medals were huge and beautiful, I love the blue and the charm hanging on it.

We went to take some pictures with the revel backdrop and grab our drop bag. Bringing our flip-flops in our drop bag was such a good idea as I could not wait to take off my sneakers and slide on my comfortable flip-flops. We both wanted to relax with a beer so we waited for the Beer Garden to open. We both had showed our I.D’s at the expo in exchange for a wristband so we would not have to carry our I.D’s with us on race day. We got our free beers and sat on the grass and chatted with other finishers and just hung out for a while. After the free beer, beers were then $5. There were also free pizza tickets but we gave ours away. The hotel shuttle picked us up from the finish line.

There was so much positive energy at this event, we had such a great time. Race day photos were uploaded the day after the race. I heard some people got there’s via Facebook but I am not on Facebook yet so I downloaded mine from the site. The race was well organized and I can’t find any true flaws. I shall return.