Marathon Weekend 2023

[HangWithMerida]

Anybody else incredibly sore today??

Yep. I slowly loosen up as I walk around the room and then when I sit down and try to stand back up it all comes rushing back.

 

[HangWithMerida]

@steph0808 I hadn't even thought about that until I read your post. You're right, all they did was look at your bib. I guess I had always assumed they would make sure you actually ran all four races too.

@DisneyMountainWoman I would be really annoyed if Garmin didn't credit me for running a marathon!!! Especially my first one / only one. I mean, you know you did it, but I want Garmin/Strava to know I did it too.

 

[MissLiss279]

That delayed onset muscle soreness is a killer!

I had a question about finishing Dopey - I didn't realize they didn't check anything at the finish line. I always thought the "challenge medal" tent was staffed with volunteers verifying that you had completed all the races before giving you the medals. But that isn't the case! So, if I wanted to be a cheat and a liar and just get the medals, I could have only run the marathon and got the goofy, Dopey, and marathon medals?

I am sure they verify all races are complete for perfects, but I had just thought that they did it for everyone at that moment. I was worried before the first timing mat that I hadn't gotten a notification that I crossed the start line - I was prepared to show my watch and argue for my Dopey medal if need be!

They used to have people in the tents that had laptops to look up that you finished races (or that’s what I assumed they were doing), but last year (and maybe the one before that??), they stopped checking.

 

[jpeterson]

They used to have people in the tents that had laptops to look up that you finished races (or that’s what I assumed they were doing), but last year (and maybe the one before that??), they stopped checking.

Yeah. I was surprised at W&D that they didn't check. But I suppose with the virtuals if you want a challenge medal without running all the races that's the way to do it. The way I look at it, everybody did their own race, everybody had their own challenges. They showed up and faced a cold morning and hot l late morning. Give them the medal!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I see a lot of first time marathoners and Dopeys…. How was that? What was your fitness level a year ago? Asking for a friend…. Okay…. Me.

I’m a casual runner, historically my running/fitness ebbs and flows a lot, I let work/family/weather take priority, I’m quick to make excuses to skip, etc.

I knew for Dopey I would need to drop those habits and get committed… no excuses about weather or work, etc. I took a more serious approach about getting the right kind of clothing/gear to deal with different conditions and temps. My wife has been using a triathlon coach for a couple of years and he designed a program to follow and as we got into longer runs got me paying more attention to nutrition. Since I’m easy with the excuses I found the interface of a coach/workouts logged in an app more of a motivator for me than following Galloway plans on my own for past runD weekends. The app/interface he uses meant dropping my Apple Watch for a Garmin, which took some getting used to, but glad I made the switch. My schedule works best if I get up early and run, so I just had to suck up 4/5am wake ups for months.

One of the hardest parts for me was the training time commitment through what is usually a personally very busy Nov-Dec time period. I mean, I had a 3 hour run on Christmas Eve. Honestly I have a bit of guilt with just how distracted I was there towards the end, felt that it took away some from the holidays personally and professionally. But that is balanced with the prize of finishing, so there’s that.

So for me, the thought of the marathon distance was incredibly daunting, but once I got committed to a plan that kept my mind at ease/focused.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

PROOF - I won the marathon. Ignore the time, everyone ahead was disqualified.

View attachment 730627

Finishing = victory. Kudos

 

[Z-Knight]

That delayed onset muscle soreness is a killer!

I had a question about finishing Dopey - I didn't realize they didn't check anything at the finish line. I always thought the "challenge medal" tent was staffed with volunteers verifying that you had completed all the races before giving you the medals. But that isn't the case! So, if I wanted to be a cheat and a liar and just get the medals, I could have only run the marathon and got the goofy, Dopey, and marathon medals?

I am sure they verify all races are complete for perfects, but I had just thought that they did it for everyone at that moment. I was worried before the first timing mat that I hadn't gotten a notification that I crossed the start line - I was prepared to show my watch and argue for my Dopey medal if need be!

They used to do that. They used to take our pictures with bibs at bib pickup. Then after marathon we would walk up to people at computers who would match our post race sweaty look to our pre-race photos before approving us to get medals. I presume that's where they would check you had finished previous races but I don't believe they cared about timing too much because plenty of people didn't meet 16 min overall requirements but as long as they finished before balloon ladies then they were fine.

Last couple of years of Dopey they don't seem to care about photo or verification

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I was mike wazowski-ed for my finish line photos. I guess I have to come back next year!

 

[Dopey 2020]

What an epic day (except for AK to BB)!

Goof Troop was a party of two on the course today. Stopped for lots of pics, rode Everest and had a beer in AK. I contemplated TOT, but passed. We had friends waiting for us in Mexico with beer and margaritas. I finally checked off crossing the finish with a drink this year.

View attachment 730638

Got sunburned in the parking lot drinking beers Inhaled a margherita flatbread in less than 5 minutes then crashed hard for 3.5 hours.

Only downside to this weekend was losing the third place age group award for the 10K by 30 damn seconds. Story of my life

That’s what I thought until I found out yesterday they sent them out for W&D.

Really?

@Dopey 2020, did you say you made 3rd place in age group but didn't receive anything for Wine/Dine... Or did you just miss 3rd place?

Yup, that’s feeling like a slap in the face from runDisney. Couldn’t believe it when my half PR was third at W&D 2021(first race back) and never got award, called and was told no more AG just overall. oh well, guess I’ll have to win one…

 

[steph0808]

Thanks for the clarification! Glad I didn't just make that up in my mind! I didn't realize they had dropped that verification process.

 

[bryana]

Can we talk about the spectators? I have never seen so many during the Disney marathons I have run. I may have gotten a little choked up on the boardwalk….

This one got me in my “end of marathon feels”. I’m not a crier but I suddenly couldn’t stop crying for the entire stretch of Boardwalk which made getting a picture with Abu slightly awkward.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I was too tired/brain dead to post anything yesterday but I did it! (Ha.) Finished my first marathon feeling good - my last 5K was the fastest of the race. The park time was so cool! The highway miles were so...not. As we made the u-turn to head into BB, I yelled, "This mile is not magic, Disney!" I'll post a (probably excessively) longer recap in my training journal later, but I'm glad I had this experience!

Sad I can't make DATW today, but it was great to meet some people at HH and the pre-race meetup! I'm not sure what my next Disney race will be but I hope I'll get to see you people again in the future. Congratulations to everyone who ran this weekend!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Speaking of Garmin, I made a totally idiot mistake at the start of the full and must not have actually started my watch properly. My watch pops up with the “morning report” at 5 which I quickly cleared the other mornings but I wasn’t paying attention yesterday and was finagling with my watch approaching the start line and guess I left it one click short. I didn’t notice until almost to the 1 mile mark. That pretty much sucked and I had 60 seconds of panic before I told myself to just deal with it and move on.

By the end I had made up some of the lost mile I guess from bathroom breaks and such, but did keep it going after the finish line until I hit 26.2 because I wanted that damn distance in the app!

 

[HangWithMerida]

I was mike wazowski-ed for my finish line photos. I guess I have to come back next year!

I got Mike wazowski-ed for castle pics for the marathon. Dude cut over then stopped to jump in front of the photographer. My marathon castle pics don't exist. I may have uttered a f*@&er under my breath as I ran by.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

@steph0808 I hadn't even thought about that until I read your post. You're right, all they did was look at your bib. I guess I had always assumed they would make sure you actually ran all four races too.

@DisneyMountainWoman I would be really annoyed if Garmin didn't credit me for running a marathon!!! Especially my first one / only one. I mean, you know you did it, but I want Garmin/Strava to know I did it too.

Yeah it soo sucks... part of me wants to email garmin to be like can u merge it into one please... this is what it looks like... but I know I did it and have offical time for it.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Congrats to everyone who ran this weekend! It has been fun lurking and reading about all your accomplishemnts!

I see a lot of first time marathoners and Dopeys…. How was that? What was your fitness level a year ago? Asking for a friend…. Okay…. Me.

If you search in these here forums, you should be able to find some references to my (tongue in cheek) HARM running method, which means a lot of shorter runs. In short, a 5k is my daily run, and when time and weather allow, I'll do longer runs of 5 or 6 miles. The advantages: not too much time out of my day, recovery time is almost none. Disadvantages: I don't run the whole half or full and my pace could be a little faster even in the 5k and 10k (not that I was terribly worried about my pace with wanting to stop for photo ops throughout the races).
My level of fitness is better than it was, for sure. I increased how much I was running during the lockdowns as a mental break, then realized that I had the opportunity to do the Dopey last year and went for it.
I mostly run in my neighborhood, which has some significant hills, but would try to get to the greenway appx 1/week for a longer, flatter course which would provide more realistic paces for Disney races. So how did it work out?
5k - I ran it, other than stopping for photos and gawking at Epcot all lit up at night
10K - same
half - I run a sortof-Galloway method in that my walk breaks are to walk through the water stops while drinking and then back to running. I don't remember stopping for much water on the way to the MK, so the half was most mostly run to MK, take in the MK and stop for photos, get water on the way out of MK, run back to Epcot with minimal walking.
The full - Overall, it was probably 50/50 run/walk, with more of the running in the first half of the race. Similar to the half until after the MK, then the long haul to AK, with occasional photo stops. Jog through the AK. Coming out of AK, it has warmed up and there were stretches with a fair amount of brisk walking. Start approaching HS and I'm back to alternating run/walk until the finish line.
Do I have a very fast time? No.
Did I have time to stop for character photos? Yes. And probably a ride on Everest, had it been running. (Grrrrr)
Did I take a long time to recover? No.
Do I get injuries on training runs? Not so far.
FWIW, I went into the parks every day after the races, and had to issues after the first three races. Sunday afternoon, yeah, I was sore and moving pretty slowly. But I got in my car Monday morning and drove home to Atlanta with no issues, and went back to neighborhood runs the next weekend.
It may not be the best method, but it works for me and got me through the Dopey, and the Goofy back in 2012. FWIW, those two events are my first and second full marathons.
All I can say is train for it, then go for it. The Dopey is quite the feat, but totally worth it, at least once.
YMMV

 

[jpeterson]

Yeah it soo sucks... part of me wants to email garmin to be like can u merge it into one please... this is what it looks like... but I know I did it and have offical time for it.

You can merge them together by exporting them and using a gpx merge tool and reimporting them. I've had mixed results with that.

 

[jpeterson]

I got Mike wazowski-ed for castle pics for the marathon. Dude cut over then stopped to jump in front of the photographer. My marathon castle pics don't exist. I may have uttered a f*@&er under my breath as I ran by.

That happened to me at the half! I was so annoyed. I try to pay attention and make sure I have space around me when an important shot is coming up. But then some f*@&er whose instagram shot is more important than my sweaty castle shot jumps in front of me!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I got Mike wazowski-ed for castle pics for the marathon. Dude cut over then stopped to jump in front of the photographer. My marathon castle pics don't exist. I may have uttered a f*@&er under my breath as I ran by.

I have a castle pic like that, not unlike this one near the speedway. I'm the guy in the Capt America garb...

 

[The Expert]

Congrats to all the runners!! Well done

So, 2024… would you sign up for a Dopey at WDW and HM at Disneyland? sounds like a tall order

A few days ago at HH meetup I was pretty convinced I was going to sign up for all 7 races. Now? Not so much. In a few weeks I'll see where I land, but I'm definitely signing up for something at both -- probably 10K and Half.

They used to do that. They used to take our pictures with bibs at bib pickup. Then after marathon we would walk up to people at computers who would match our post race sweaty look to our pre-race photos before approving us to get medals. I presume that's where they would check you had finished previous races but I don't believe they cared about timing too much because plenty of people didn't meet 16 min overall requirements but as long as they finished before balloon ladies then they were fine.

Last couple of years of Dopey they don't seem to care about photo or verification

Yep, they dropped the photos with the return after Covid. They were checking bibs yesterday to make sure you had a Goofy or Dopey bib, but had someone been swept during one of the races, they still would have received the challenge medal (which you're not supposed to get). But if rD doesn't care then I guess neither do I. I know what I did and I know mine were earned.

I'm feeling a bit sore this morning but not terrible. After the walk to the monorail and back to BLT after the race, I took a bath with a recovery bomb, then DH and I Ubered to Rix at Coronado for late lunch/early dinner. That extra movement was good, I think. My problem is I woke up totally congested - ugh! My head is full, I have a sinus headache and a bit of a cough. Taking it easy with a hot shower, tea and sinus meds in hopes I feel good enough to join DATW in a few hours. If I don't make it, someone have a Cantaloupe for me and know I'm feeling awful about missing out! But I for sure have to rally for MK pics and hat embroidery at MK next door today, so if I must choose, it'll be there.