Marathon Weekend 2018

[funsizedisaster]

In 2016 I didn't start in the back but was in the back with all corral people in the 2nd half & character lines at Wide World, Studios & EPCOT were fairly short. I think like Goofy at Wide World had like 6 people in line when I went by (I have a picture so I always remember seeing that one). So, at first they may be longer (like before TTC or the big setup they usually have leaving MK seems to always be long) but it seems in the marathon that 2nd half the lines do shorten.

When I ran the Goofy in 2014, I was in Corral P...and MarathonFoto had a special photo package just for the marathon weekend. I stopped at almost every character to get a photo during the half and as many as I could during the full. The balloon ladies caught me by WWOS, but I still finished in front of them. And I was at an average page of 13-14/min miles.

 

[IamTrike]

I think the key here is adjusting expectations. No, I do not think someone why desperately wants to run 7:00 miles from the back of H is likely to have a good time. But if that same person goes in knowing there will be slow sections, and decides to enjoy the experience, there is absolutely no reason he/she can't have a great race!

One anecdote about this. A friend did wine and dine the year they had the relay, but all relay runners had to start in the last corral. I don't think he ran it at a 7 mm pace but it was close. We went back and looking at the finishers we figured he was passing on average 3 people per second the entire time he ran. For him he found it was a lot of running really fast running separated by spots where he was stuck trying to maneuver around large groups. He actually really enjoyed the experience but I could definitely see how it would be frustrating for someone with the wrong expectations.

I will also say that there is no guarantee that you won't have this experience at most any races. Marine Corps allows runners to self corral. We started in B near the flag for our estimated pace and wound up crammed in behind people running 1-2 minutes slower than that pace for the first 2 miles.

 

[ZellyB]

This is exactly my concern too. I don't care about my finishing time at Disney-I am running for the character/park experience, so I'm worried that we won't be able to stop for photos because my Dad's wife isn't really "into" Disney and won't think it is worth it if the lines are long.

I can relate to this somewhat. We ran our second Disney marathon with my SIL and BIL. It was their first (and only thus far) marathon and while they didn't mind stopping a couple of times for photos as the race went on they got increasingly impatient with it. But, honestly, I just didn't care. I had told them more than once they could just go on without us, but they didn't, so whatever. I don't pay the money I pay for the race AND the whole trip to shortchange myself on character stops. Again, I haven't started at the back, but we stop SOOOOOOO much, that we are usually overtaken by the last corral at some point in the race. If you are especially worried about their impatience, you might be better off to skip some of the early characters and just try to catch as many as you can in the later miles. We found once we got to AK, that many characters had practically no wait.

This is the second reason I am disappointed in dropping back to H-having to wait essentially 2 hours in the corrals (to ensure we are at the front) is going to make me really, really anxious...not to mention, potentially really, really cold.

This is so true and you have my total sympathy on the wait. I'm hoping it won't be super cold like last year. That was honestly completely miserable, so I'm hoping for more moderate temps at the start!

However, I am clinging to the positive in that I will be with my family, and hopefully we can just roll with it and have fun. We can all run minimum 10:00 miles so hopefully we can make some ground on the highway portions.

IF ANYONE HAS INSIGHTS ON CHARACTER LINES STARTING FROM THE LAST CORRAL-I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THEM-to have the right expectations!!

I think with your speed you guys will do a LOT of passing and I could totally see where that would be fun and even empowering. Maybe you can make some kind of game out of it to help.

 

[ell13]

Marathon Weekend DIS List FORM
Race - 5K
Name (optional) - N/A
DIS Name - ell13
Costume - No costume
Corral - ?
Planning to attend the Pre-race Meetup? - No
Front, Middle, or Back of the corral - Front preferred but not going to stress about it
Expected Pace - 8:30/m (need to finish quickly for a scheduled breakfast)

Race - 10K
Name (optional) - N/A
DIS Name - ell13
Costume - No costume
Corral - ?
Planning to attend the Pre-race Meetup? - No
Front, Middle, or Back of the corral - Front preferred but not going to stress about it
Expected Pace - 10:20/m

Race - HM
Name (optional) - N/A
DIS Name - ell13
Costume - No costume
Corral - F
Planning to attend the Pre-race Meetup? - No
Front, Middle, or Back of the corral - Front preferred but not going to stress about it
Expected Pace - 10:40/m

Race - M
Name (optional) - N/A
DIS Name - ell13
Costume - No costume
Corral - F
Planning to attend the Pre-race Meetup? - No
Front, Middle, or Back of the corral - Front preferred but not going to stress about it
Expected Pace - 11:20/m

 

[TCB in FLA]

Sorry I haven't been able to follow your entre thread about corral placement, but suffice it to say, I'm nearly in the same boat as you. I was placed in Corral G even though I supplied a POT that would have placed me in Corral E. You're faster than me. I'm about 2:20 for a HM. Trackshack told me today that, if you use a 10 miler or HM for your POT, they add anywhere from 0:30 to 1:00/mile to your POT to account for the longer mileage of a marathon that will slow you down. Huh?

My question to them....what's the purpose of requiring a POT submission if you're not going to honor it"? They didn't answer me. In any event although I don't know you're story as to why you were placced in the last corral, there may be hope yet that you can be repositioned to a higher corral. Use this link to go to a site that explains the different ways you might be able to move up. I'm already resigned to having option 4 as my last resort and will have to wait until I get to runner relations to see if they will accomodate me. Good luck! Hopefully, youll be accomodated. https://www.fitdisneymom.com/how-to-fix-wrong-corral-placement-at-a-run-disney-race/

Jim- that's lousy. I have a 2:18 HM POT and am in E for Goofy. Are you doing Dopey? I'm wondering if they set you back even further if you have the extra races. Good luck getting it changed.

 

[JeffW]

Anyone else in the midst of their Dopey Sim or did theirs last weekend? I'm curious about your experience with it and how you feel it helped you.

I'm doing a second Dopey simulation now, having done one two weeks ago. As with previous Goofy simulations, it helps me get used to running on tired/stiff legs when getting started, and allows me to check my fueling strategy. I usually do a 10 miler in the afternoon, then the 20 on the following morning, so I can see if I'm adequately replenishing.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Can I have some insight on the Castle backlog in the half marathon? My son has been placed in Corral E for the half, and I am running with him. Around what time do you think the castle will get that traffic jam that I have seen photos/videos of? I'm wondering if we should skip the character photos until we are safely through the castle? We will probably be averaging about a 10 min/mile without character stops, obviously slower than that if we do stop for photos.

Thanks!

 

[TCB in FLA]

I'm just finishing second breakfast, about to head out on my last long run. Twenty six miles ahead of me, hopefully with a friend joining me the last half. I walked ten yesterday (following my customized Galloway plan) and was not too happy to see that part of my usual route was still icy and muddy yuck. So trying a local park instead and will be retracing my route several times. And colder than expected. But ready to move on with the tapering, so out I go. @rteetz I'm hoping your weather forecast holds!!!!

 

[AlexRunsDisney]

Please subtract 15 degrees from those temps I know my chances of getting last year's marathon temps again are low

I know right? Perfect marathon temps are usually around 45 degrees

 

[Pleglech]

I believe the poster is @John VN who exits Osceola Pkwy during the marathon to get himself a McFlurry,so its definitely doable.I don't think a hot coffee during mile 16 of a marathon would be my thing,a small frappucino I would do for sure though.Take the ramp down and let us know how it goes after the race.

I've done it a few times, except I've just run straight down the grassy hill after passing over Buena Vista Drive. No big deal.
Got a big breakfast with hotcakes last year, because I'm an idiot. Pancakes are an excellent mid-marathon snack. But if you eat the scrambled eggs with your hands, the smell will come back to haunt you.

 

[Dis5150]

More on the expectations topic, my sis and BIL are running the marathon this year. This is their first runDisney race, my sister's first marathon and my BIL's 2nd. He is retired Army so he runs constantly (just retired a few months ago). Sis did not have a POT to submit and while my BIL had one, she didn't submit it for him because it was over 5:30 (5:41:11). We just visited them in October and I discussed all this, course congestion, so many runners, character stops, basically how this is not your "basic" marathon. But he has been training and has decided that this is the race to break 4:00. I don't know how he managed it, but he was placed in corral E (maybe they took into account his estimated finish time, idk?) I feel like DD28 and I talked them into doing this race and feel somewhat responsible for their (his) enjoyment of this race. All this talk of being able to finish with a good time from a further back corral has eased my mind a bit.

Sis is in corral G and doesn't want to hold anyone up so DD28 and I are starting in our own corral F but since we start at the back she can line up at the front and hopefully we can kinda hang out together before the race starts.

 

[JeffW]

I know right? Perfect marathon temps are usually around 45 degrees

Yep, I PR'd at Disney last year in the marathon. I remember the heat of the 2013 race, and I'd really like to avoid that again.

 

[dta87]

I can't remember where I read it, here or on a different running blog, but it was about a dead last start challenge. Basically it is starting with the Balloon Ladies and seeing how many 'kills' you can collect during the race. It sounded pretty interesting and for those that have been incorrectly corralled it may be a way to make your race a little more interesting. If I can find the blog again I will post it.

 

[IamTrike]

I haven't seen this discussed on this board, so I apologize it if I've missed it.

Does anyone know how the waves within a corral situation works? I think from what I heard about wine and dine they had multiple starts per corral.
I am guessing the number of starts varies by the number of people in that corral so later corrals will have more starts.
Is there a breakdown of the number of starts per corral and the time between those starts?

 

[JeffW]

I can't remember where I read it, here or on a different running blog, but it was about a dead last start challenge. Basically it is starting with the Balloon Ladies and seeing how many 'kills' you can collect during the race. It sounded pretty interesting and for those that have been incorrectly corralled it may be a way to make your race a little more interesting. If I can find the blog again I will post it.

I can't imagine how you'd keep count of that at the start as you move through the mass of people. But I always use a kind of "video game" strategy late in marathons to distract my brain.

 

[rteetz]

I haven't seen this discussed on this board, so I apologize it if I've missed it.

Does anyone know how the waves within a corral situation works? I think from what I heard about wine and dine they had multiple starts per corral.
I am guessing the number of starts varies by the number of people in that corral so later corrals will have more starts.
Is there a breakdown of the number of starts per corral and the time between those starts?

They used waves during the smaller races this past year as well. Usually there is a larger gap between actual corrals 5-10 minutes. And then smaller gaps between waves something like 3 minutes. It will be interesting to see how they do it for such large races.

 

[disneygirlsng]

I can't imagine how you'd keep count of that at the start as you move through the mass of people. But I always use a kind of "video game" strategy late in marathons to distract my brain.

You would just look at the results after the race. If you know you were the last person to cross the start line, just look at how many people finished after you. If there were people who did start after you, then you would have to look at chip time vs. net time to figure it out.

 

[FFigawi]

This is the second reason I am disappointed in dropping back to H-having to wait essentially 2 hours in the corrals (to ensure we are at the front) is going to make me really, really anxious...not to mention, potentially really, really cold.

Or even worse, really really hot

IF ANYONE HAS INSIGHTS ON CHARACTER LINES STARTING FROM THE LAST CORRAL-I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THEM-to have the right expectations!!

To add to all the good comments made already, I think your expectations should be to anticipate the lines being very long for the first 8-10 miles of the course, especially for the more popular characters. From AK onward, the lines get shorter as people begin to trade off pictures against finishing comfortably ahead of the balloon ladies.

 

[ZellyB]

Can I have some insight on the Castle backlog in the half marathon? My son has been placed in Corral E for the half, and I am running with him. Around what time do you think the castle will get that traffic jam that I have seen photos/videos of? I'm wondering if we should skip the character photos until we are safely through the castle? We will probably be averaging about a 10 min/mile without character stops, obviously slower than that if we do stop for photos.

Thanks!

I think with the exception of the elites, corral A and maybe B, there is a Castle backlog. It's just narrow through there and then you have the turns on the ramp coming down and everybody hoping for a great castle picture. The actual run through the castle and down the ramp is quite brief though. What I did find for me starting mid-pack is that people have a huge amount of adrenaline at that point. It's early in the race and the Castle is the highlight of the course, so most people are running through it. I found other parts of the course to be far more of a backlog than the castle. I wouldn't sacrifice character stops or rushing through the early part of the race for the sake of what might be a 15 second slow down as you go through the castle. YMMV obviously.

 

[huskies90]

Judging by comments on this thread, I assuming Disney does not post which characters are on the coarse and where? Are there any that have been consistently over the last few years for the half? Just trying to plan out the stops. And also, why doesn't Disney post where characters will be?