Marathon Weekend 2021

[camaker]

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

I think it's a pretty popular choice for a first marathon. It was my first marathon and while I didn't do it as part of Dopey, I still ran the 10k + Goofy that weekend and had a fantastic time doing it!

 

[avondale]

I'm extremely interested in Space Coast, but two questions...

First, on the site it shows two courses - north and south. Is that really the case? If so, how do you pick?

I've only done the full marathon. However, time constraints are one difference - perhaps the main difference? - for the half marathons. Both HMs follow the marathon course for most of their distances. The north HM follows the first half of the marathon course, and the south HM follows the second half of the marathon course. So, there is a time limit (4.5 hours, I think) for the north HM, because they expect marathoners to have cleared the first half of the marathon course by then. The south HM has the full marathon time limit (some 7 hours), so it's essentially unlimited time.

I felt like the north half was a little shadier (it was very hot and sunny this past year), but that may just be because it was earlier in the morning.

 

[The Expert]

Totally reasonable. It's about as close as I like to put a fitness test race to the "A" race. Something like:

11/23/20 - Space Coast HM
11/30/20 - Peak
12/7/20 - Mod
12/14/20 - Peak
12/21/20 - Taper
12/28/20 - Taper
1/4/20 - Marathon Race Week

It falls in the traditional "recovery" week. So I'd probably just consider taking some of the intensity out of the week of 11/30/20 to allow sufficient recovery from the HM. Otherwise, it falls in a reasonable place to not interfere a ton with the end peak of training. If you followed a 14-day marathon taper instead of a 21-day marathon taper, then the race would fall on the 3rd to last peak week of marathon training.

Just the info I was looking for. Thank you!!

 

[The Expert]

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

This year's Disney marathon was my first full and I did the 10K two days before. With the conditions (record heat), I was VERY happy I hadn't signed up for Dopey. But plenty of people do! You just have to be prepared for anything.

 

[rteetz]

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

I did. It’s highly recommended as a first marathon by many. I would agree with that.

 

[rsimon]

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

I did that this year as my first marathon. I did the training which has a few Dopey simulations and other weekly running which really helped. I had no problem with Dopey this year and enjoyed It!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

SAFD: I have only run 2 non Disney races. My favorite is the San Francisco Giant Race. It finishes on the field at Oracle Park in San Francisco and runs by the Golden Gate Bridge and along the bay. Only one major hill. Also offers a 5K, 10K, and family relays.

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

RunDisney races at Disneyland are why I even started running in the first place. For many years, I put up with training because it was a necessary evil in order to have the fun at races. Distractions such as character stops along the course even if I chose not to stop for them, seeing the parks, running backstage, et all helped take my mind off what I "hated" doing. Even in these days, I said that if I ever ran a marathon, Disney World would be my first. But I was quite convicned

As I became more experienced and gained more confidence as a runner, I discovered that I was now successfully doing many things I once believed were impossible. This helped break down my final barriers to the marathon and more specifically Goofy/Dopey.

For perspective, I started running 2011 and ran the 2011 Disneyland Half, 2012 Disneyland Half, and 2012 Wine & Dine Half. After Wine & Dine, I took about 18 months off entirely because my spare time was taken up by an important professional exam. I was just beginning to get the running bug back when runDisney announced the 2015 Star Wars Half Marathon weekend at Disneyland and my love of Star Wars pushed me to sign up for inaugural Rebel Challange (10K and Half on back to back days) and became a more consistent runner from that time. After 4 consecutive years of at least 1 challenge weekend, and a 2017 with 3 half marathons and reading a few marathon weekend race reports, I realized I that I wanted to experience the marathon for myself.

Owing to fear of missing out and only living once, I concluded that I should also incorporate marathon number 1 into Dopey.

1. January is a tricky month for me to visit Disney World. So I knew that I cannot run it annually.
2. If I finished the marathon, then I could finish Goofy/Dopey, but if I hated the marathon, then I would never run it again and would therefore regret passing on Goofy/Dopey.
3. Therefore, I decided to run Dopey as part of my first marathon.

I wound up really enjoying the experience and even returned this year for Dopey number two.

 

[michigandergirl]

Paging @DopeyBadger ... Question regarding POT: For Corral C, what finish time would I need to run for a Half or 10 Miler?

 

[rteetz]

Paging @DopeyBadger ... Question regarding POT: For Corral C, what finish time would I need to run for a Half or 10 Miler?

For a half it’s usually around that 2hr mark. I was in C with a 1:58.

 

[michigandergirl]

For a half it’s usually around that 2hr mark. I was in C with a 1:58.

I got into C with a 2:05 something, so just wondering if it's like under 2:10 maybe?

 

[rteetz]

I got into C with a 2:05 something, so just wondering if it's like under 2:10 maybe?

Per the corral list for 2020 a half PoT for a Disney half it’s 2:15 and below. For a marathon it’s 4:30 and below for corral C.

 

[lovingeire]

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

I plan to do my first full as part of Dopey. My theory is similar to what was posted earlier that if I hate it I may never get to do Dopey! I feel like a full may be a one and done for me. Of course, I kind of thought that about a half so we'll see.

 

[lovingeire]

SAFD: I think my favorite that I've ever run is either the Hershey Half (I love running through the school with all the kids cheering you on!) or the Fiesta 10K in Pensacola. It's a quick course, except for one hill, and has an awesome after party!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Paging @DopeyBadger ... Question regarding POT: For Corral C, what finish time would I need to run for a Half or 10 Miler?

These are the latest estimations.

 

[michigandergirl]

These are the latest estimations.

View attachment 476403

Awesome, thanks!

 

[UK_Disney_Dopey_Hopeful]

SAFD: my favourite non Disney race (and they are all non Disney as i havent ran a Disney one yet... Dopey 2021 is going to be my first experience!) was the Bosworth HM. It was the first HM i ever ran. I had only signed up after a bunch of other parents at the school had said what a good idea it would be to set a new challenge..... by time the race came round all but myself and one other parent had dropped out. But we stuck with it and it was a fantastic achievement. Plus at the finish line i had my son cheering me on which meant so much. i do miss my family when they cant make my races (Same goes for Disney Dopey 2021.... travelling all on my own but sadly we just cant afford for the whole family to travel to the US for a week)

 

[UK_Disney_Dopey_Hopeful]

These are the latest estimations.

View attachment 476403

@DopeyBadger How will these time be effected given this club RunDisney will promote people up corals if they pay enough?. im guessing if you have a very close time (My current POT is a HM of 1:42:35) then you may find yourself switching back a coral so they can promote others?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I plan to do my first full as part of Dopey. My theory is similar to what was posted earlier that if I hate it I may never get to do Dopey! I feel like a full may be a one and done for me. Of course, I kind of thought that about a half so we'll see.

I went into my first marathon determined to not repeat the mistakes I made during my first half. I was so convinced that I would fail to finish despite having completed all my long runs including a 12.5 mile run and a 14 mile run in the last month before my first half marathon that I allowed those fears to drive me into starting way too fast and nearly letting those fears drive me into injury and thus fulfilling my fears that I was destined to fail. My fears also caused me to simply run that first half marathon instead of really taking time to appreciate what I was experiencing and seeing. While I finished that first race, I did not enjoy it. I enjoyed the medal a whole lot more. I only signed up for half marathons 2 and 3 because finishing them meant earning the Coast to Coast medal and I determined that I could tolerate running two more races in order to earn that medal. Except now knowing how to better approach training and race day nerves, I actually had fun in those races.

So for my first marathon, I worked on not setting up preconceived notions about how I would feel about the marathon. While I certainly wanted to finish, I also wanted to not let my mind determine beforehand how I would feel about something I had never before actually done. I certainly had a lot of help from those who shared both the wonderful and bad experiences about a marathon that helped me figure how my strategy for how to cope with it when it became difficult. While I always knew that it very well could be my first and last marathon, I did not want to view it as my only chance to finish the marathon/Dopey. As it turned out, I actually loved the experience and that does include all the mind tricks that @OldSlowGoofyGuy taught me to help distract my brain from deciding it was finished when my body wanted to tap out after mile 20 or so just because I was tired. Those tricks helped my brain remain in control and my body followed. In a funny way, I have very fond memories of all those tricks and how absurdly excited I got just because I saw something at Disney World to distract my brain from the heat/pain/I've been doing this for 5+ hours now, et all.

It took me many years to even feel like I might want to attempt the marathon and then at least a few months before I worked through all my fears sufficiently both internally and talking with other runners here before I was ready to attempt the marathon.

 

[Baloo in MI]

@bearybubba
As many have shared, I also think the Disney Marathon is a great first marathon. Fun atmosphere, great crowd support and so much to see, hear and do. In 2015 I did my first marathon as part of the Goofy Challenge and it went great; I loved it! I do think if you put in the training it is very possible to do Dopey with the marathon being your first. Good luck!

 

[PrincessMickey]

OK. I have a question for everyone that does the Dopey Challenge. Would you make the Disney Marathon in January your first marathon you ever did?

I did Dopey as my first marathon and loved it. I mean go big or go home. I wasn’t sure when I would get another opportunity to go to marathon weekend so I decided to go all out. Most of my friends thought I was crazy but I wouldn't have changed it for anything.