Running a marathon in an IRON MAN costume

[Turbo Sausage]

Hey guys and gals

I recently started a foam build Iron man MK7 costume which was intended just as a project with a view to having a nice show piece in the man room that I could wear from time to time, but I've been thinking about possibly wearing it to raise money for charity in a half-marathon that I have entered this September.

If anyone here that has spent some time in foam costumes can advise me if they think this is possible or not it would be appreciated.

I'm not seriously committed to the idea at this point just sort of toying with it.

I would imagine that it will take 2.5ish hours and would get quite wet on the inside due to sweat/condensation, I'm not sure if it would hold up to the abuse ?

I'm using 6mm eva foam flooring similar to that used by Stealth in his tutorial videos.

Any opinions/suggestions are welcome, thanks

 

[Harry Bardwell]

well if it is only foam and paint, I imagine it would get trashed, if its fiberglass or plastic coated it might hold up, honestly the biggest problem will be your endurance, i'd say if you cant run a full marathon without the armor, don't try a half one with it, the extra weight, plus the limited mobility, and not to mention the insane heat will all be against you, but if you do it I wanna see, because it sounds awesome

 

[Shades]

Yeah- I wouldnt try this. Movement is restricted, that are hot as hell, and hot glue is not friends with heat. Bad idea.

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[Shades]

If you want something you can run in get a good sub dye suit. You can run in those with the right fabric and stetching.

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[Helagak]

A foam costume will be utterly destroyed after a mile or so. Plus, the foam is an excellent insulator. I would be surprised if you didn't suffer a heat stroke.
Not to rain on your parade, but if you have ever worn one just walking around and socializing for a couple hours, you would agree with me.
If you really want to try and you don't care about the suit being destroyed, give it a shot. But make sure you have someone monitoring you. Because I would be very concerned for your safety.

 

[Helagak]

A flash costume would make more sense, be safer and more feasible.
=D

 

[DevilFlash]

Well, I would be really concerned about the safety of this guy if he ran a marathon!

 

[Turbo Sausage]

well if it is only foam and paint, I imagine it would get trashed, if its fiberglass or plastic coated it might hold up, honestly the biggest problem will be your endurance, i'd say if you cant run a full marathon without the armor, don't try a half one with it, the extra weight, plus the limited mobility, and not to mention the insane heat will all be against you, but if you do it I wanna see, because it sounds awesome

Hi Harry, it is only foam with the possibility that I may plastic coat it, but I can imagine that it would indeed get trashed to some degree. As far as actual running goes, I have run a full marathon (back in 2009) and have also run a couple of halfs before and since then. I'm not in the best shape of my life right now but with a few months training I feel I could get around a half marathon course (very slowly).

Yeah- I wouldnt try this. Movement is restricted, that are hot as hell, and hot glue is not friends with heat. Bad idea.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

If you want something you can run in get a good sub dye suit. You can run in those with the right fabric and stetching.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

Hi Shades, I hadn't thought about the hot glue being an issue ! I suppose if it gets hot enough it would just soften and fall apart !? And thanks for the sub dye suit suggestion, I'll look into it.

A flash costume would make more sense, be safer and more feasible.
=D
http://costumepop.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/bad-flash-costume.jpg

Hi Helagak, lol. Great pic and great idea!

Well, I would be really concerned about the safety of this guy if he ran a marathon!

Hi Devil, thanks for the concern. I'm not going to attempt anything stupid its just thinking out loud at this point

 

[Tony Stark III]

will never work, foam will rip apart at the knees and the rubbing will chafe in places, and MOST off all the heat. You will drop 5 -8 lbs of water weight just walking around in a foam suit at a convention in a day.

 

[Turbo Sausage]

will never work, foam will rip apart at the knees and the rubbing will chafe in places, and MOST off all the heat. You will drop 5 -8 lbs of water weight just walking around in a foam suit at a convention in a day.

Hi Tony, thanks for the candid advice.
I wasn't really sure what to expect, part of me thought that the foam is waterproof and light weight so might work and part of me thought that it would be too delicate to last. Going on the replies from you guys I think it's probably a bad idea after all. Mission aborted, I'll stick to making a nice ironman suit for best and make something more practical for the marathon.

Thanks, TS