"Budget" Virtual Disney Race DIY Idea

runDisney recently announced that their fall race series, Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend, would be converted to a virtual event due to the pandemic. Earlier this year, their summer Virtual Series sold out in hours. While virtual races have proven to be wildly popular in this year when in-person events are difficult or impossible to stage, the Wine & Dine series has not sold out since it was opened up for new registrations since going virtual a few days ago. This might be due to the cost: running the virtual challenge, which will get you a set of three medals and three t-shirts, will set you back $252. That's a lot of cash for a virtual event with the bare minimum of swag. The sold-out virtual series challenge, which will get you four medals and no shirts, cost $145.

runDisney medals are typically of quality design that utilize popular characters and unique themes. You can find both medals and shirts from past in-person runDisney races on the second-hand market. There are a variety of sources that runners use to sell their swag.

If you're looking for a virtual race to run and love the swag typically offered by Disney, you could make up your own virtual race using second-hand medals and shirts.

You can find a big mix of shirts and medals online. Often they are not being sold together so you might have to do some detective work to find a good set.

As expected, there are a lot of runDisney t-shirts on eBay and runDisney medals on eBay. When you expand your search to reseller sites like Poshmark and Mercari, you have a really good chance to find a pre-loved runDisney medal and a matching shirt in your size.

I found the medal and shirt from this year's WDW 5K, shown below, for sale by two separate sellers on Poshmark earlier this year.

Runners sell off t-shirts and medals from other races, too, so there are more options to make your own "budget" virtual race.

With the money you save buy purchasing pre-owned race medals and shirts, you could consider making your DIY virtual race a charity run! Make a donation to your favorite charity or non-profit organization in the name of your run.