Best Running Costumes from Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend
Last weekend was the inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland in Anaheim. Instead of running in the sold out race, I spent the better part of the weekend living vicariously through Instagrammed photos.
The Star Wars costuming and cosplay community is vast, from the nearly-official 501st Legion and Rebel Legion groups to the hundreds of individuals that hand craft costumes for conventions, Halloween and Life Day. Combine that rabid fanbase with the similarly insane Disney cliques and the creative possibilities will make your mind explode like Alderaan (too soon?).
These are some of my favorite costumes from the event and a few thoughts on what make them epic.
Most Surprising Choice: Max Rebo
At least three ladies dressed as Jabba the Hutt’s band leader, the elephantine Max Rebo.
Least Surprising Choice: Slave Leia
There’s always going to be people at these things that really need attention. Dressing up like everyone’s favorite concubine Slave Leia usually does the trick. It’s become a thing. But you’ve got to give it to the ones that really commit and bring their own thermal detonators or put a new spin on it and make a LEGO Slave Leia or those just have a great sense of humor about the whole thing.
Most Ambitious: The Vehicles
They were probably just designed to sell toys; but the X-Wings, Tie Fighters, AT-ATs and the like were definitely not designed to be worn while running.
Most Fun: Aliens and Creatures
Straight from Mos Eisley Cantina to a road race in our galaxy, these guys are digging deep in the Star Wars character encyclopedia for these fun running costumes.
The Disney Factor: Mashups
Disney has official Star Wars costumes for the parks like Jedi Mickey, Princess Minnie and Stormtrooper Donald. Kudos to the fans for creating some next level mashup material.
The King of Mashups
Instagrammer deebo27 made unique Disney/Star Wars costumes for the 5K, 10K and Half Marathon to complete the Rebel Challenge plus style points. He also included detailed shots of the costume pre-race.
Honorable Mentions
Then, there was this guy.
There were more, LOTS more. To find your own favorites, use the #rundisney, #starwars5k, #starwars10k and #starwarshalf hashtags on Instagram. If there’s one we missed that should have been included, paste a link in the comments. If you want to join the fun next year, registration for the 2016 Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend will open June 16, 2015.
If you liked this post, be sure to listen to Episode 55 of our podcast, where we are joined by special guest Darth Vader!
