Who else is training for the Princess Half Marathon? Last February I decided to continue my streak of creating princess running costumes for the Princess Half Marathon! Since I’ve now participated in this race weekend for 5 years I’ve done quite a lot of princesses, but there are still more to do! For the half this year I chose Mulan. I love doing brave, courageous princesses for the half because they inspire me to keep running for 13.1 miles. “I’ll Make a Man out of You” is one of my favorite songs on my running playlist.
Like most of my running costumes, I don’t necessarily make much by hand but put them together out of bits and pieces I either already have or buy. I think this way of costuming is more accessible for many people who don’t have sewing skills, and cheaper than buying a totally handmade costume from Etsy (though there are some INCREDIBLE options there if you have the money!). I think my costumes still come out pretty well, and are only getting better.
So here’s how I put together my Mulan running costume!
For the top half of the outfit I had two components. The first was a blue tank top for the blue part of her outfit. You could use pretty much any blue running tank, so I used one I already had. Mine is actually a “Cindy” (Cinderella) tank top from RawThreads, but the word Cindy was covered by the pink part of the outfit so it didn’t matter. It felt like the right shade of blue so I went with that! I wanted something pink to go over top of it, and while Mulan has long sleeves I knew I would probably get pretty warm running so I opted for short sleeves. I got this pink wrap crop top from Amazon to wear on top and I think that turned out pretty well.
I love using Glitter Skirts in my costumes, so that’s what I did for the bottom half here as well. We spent a lot time looking at the movie and debating if her skirt was red, or a very dark pink. She definitely has a lighter pink underneath. In the end I went with the red and layered two skirts. I put the pink one on the bottom and the red one top, and then used safety pins to pin up one side of the red skirt to see the pink underneath and create a layered effect.
Mulan also has a red sash/belt around her middle, and while I could have created something out of fabric I actually was able to make it useful too! I usually wear a flipbelt for half marathons to carry my stuff, so it seemed to make sense to get a red flipbelt for my waist. It turns out the Flipbelt brand doesn’t make a red one, but I found the same idea on Etsy and purchased that.
For my headband I got the Mulan inspired headband from RawThreads. I looked around at the expo to see if there was anything I liked more than what I already had, but I honestly think this was the best option that still said “Mulan” and was comfortable. Finally, because I always wear compression socks for my longer runs, I did red compression socks to complete the look.
Now that I’m registered for the Fairy Tale Challenge in 2019, I need two more running outfits for next year! The princesses I haven’t done yet are Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, Merida, and Elsa. I could also go outside the box a little and do something like Princess Leia.
Check out my other running costumes here:
- Maleficent running costume
- Tiana running costume
- Rapunzel running costume
- Esmeralda running costume
- Snow White running costume
- Anna running costume
- Alice in Wonderland running costume
- Belle running costume
- Megara running costume
- Vanellope Von Schweetz running costume
- Moana running costume
- Fairy Godmother running costume
What do you think of my Mulan running costume? Which princesses should I choose for next year?
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