We're all here because we want to run in runDisney races. Well, you can't run if you don't score a bib, so what does it take to get a bib for that race you just have to run?

Getting a bib on Registration Day

I'm going to skip over the whole Club Run Disney thing largely because I haven't felt need to pay even more money to run through the Disney parks.

runDisney does a good job of publicizing the Reg Days for race weekends well in advance. Reg Day is always a Tuesday and the queue opens at 10am US Eastern Time.

Getting in the right queue

The first thing to note about getting in the queue is that there is only one queue on Reg Day. If you're camping on the Events page at 9:57 hoping to get a spot in the 10K and you see the Register Now link go live on the 5K, you smash that Register Now link even though it's for the "wrong race". Actual race selection happens after you pop out the other end of the queue.

Queue early, queue often

The registration queue isn't perfectly first-in-first-out. Thousands of people are joining the queue at what is essentially the exact same time and so, to try and keep things fair, they randomize our order in the queue so the person who pays for the fastest internet connection doesn't necessarily win. In order to get the best possible outcome from this randomization, you can join the queue from multiple browsers/devices. If you have 3 computers in the house and you join the queue on each of them at exactly 10am, you improve your chances of getting randomized into an earlier overall spot in the queue.

Log in and then log in again

You can get into the queue without logging in to your runDisney account, but you can't get registered without logging in. When you're getting close to the front of the queue, open another tab in your browser and make sure you're already logged in.

Don't worry about extras

Reg Day is not the day to pre-purchase merch. Every second you spend looking at pin bundles and t-shirts is a second someone else is getting a bib for the race you want. All that merch will still be available next week. Focus on getting your race registration done.

Getting a bib after Registration Day

Earlier this year, I got in the Wine & Dine queue hoping to score a Two Course Challenge bib. When my spot in the queue came up, they were still available. Once I had entered my credit card and hit the Pay button, they were sold out. This led to my deep dive into the world of post-Reg Day registration.

Charity Bibs

For any given race weekend, runDisney will have a number of charity partners who will have bibs available. Each charity handles their bibs their way, but they all work basically the same way. For a small (compared to reg day prices) registration fee, you become a fundraiser for that charity. In exchange for raising some set amount of money, you will receive an entry into the race. If you can't raise enough via donations you either don't get the bib or you make up the difference out of pocket.

For example, the American Cancer Society had Wine & Dine Two Course Challenge ($389 through runDisney) charity bibs for a $50 registration fee and a $1500 fundraising commitment.

runDisney has links to their charity partners on the website. Charity bibs may go pretty quickly after Reg Day, so if you want to go the charity route, don't hesitate.

Getting a bib from runDisney

Reg Day is not the end. Between Reg Day and Race Weekend, runDisney will almost always open up additional spots for each race. Sadly, there is no schedule for when this will happen or how many spots will open up at a given time, so you want to know the moment a spot opens up and then you have to move fast to try and get it.

Team Run Disney (not runDisney, but runDisney fans like us) is your new best friend. They provide race availability notifications via multiple popular messaging platforms (Reddit's site-wide automod thinks some links are spam, so I broke them a bit):

• Twitter - twitter (dot) com/rundisregstatus
• Discord - discord (dot) gg/vvAPv4XW
• Slack - join (dot) slack (dot) com/t/teamrundisney/shared_invite/zt-1ts2rmkuo-bQx61gFbLZdc2gwpX44HjQ
• Telegram - t (dot) me/rundisregstatus

When I missed out on the Two Course Challenge on Reg Day, I went a little nuts. I wanted to know what my chances would be of scoring a bib off of one of Team Run Disney's notifications, so I did what any runner who also happens to be a software engineer would do: I wrote a program to scrape the RunDisRegStatus Twitter feed and build a spreadsheet showing the history of race availability after Reg Day.

I learned that many races open up 20 times or more between Reg Day and Race Day but they typically only stay open for a few minutes. The biggest window of availability seems to hit 3 months after Reg Day, which gave me hope that I'd be able to land my bib on June 21st. I got lucky and a big batch of bibs dropped a couple weeks ahead of schedule. Anyway, if you're interested in the data, here it is: docs (dot) google (dot) com/spreadsheets/d/1cR36USx5TegdyJQGIjf7zP-lMDzC2DEdRd4_VvGatqg/edit?usp=sharing

I think this pretty much concludes everything I've learned about the ins and outs of getting a bib. I'd love to hear any tips, tricks, or wisdom the rest of y'all have.