Official 2015 Disney Marathon Thread

[IamTrike]

We learned a lot for our first rD event this past weekend! First time ever we stayed off property and don't think it was the wisest choice. Thoughts/recommendations for best on-site hotel? Thinking a boardwalk/epcot hotel would be a quicker bus ride.

We've stayed at the contemporary, Poly, and POR for different marathon weekends.

We had a bus issue during one of the POR trips which has turned us off to any bus transportation.

We find the best resort is Poly you can walk to the TTC so you don't even have to transfer monorails. It also makes it easy for spectators.

Our best value rooms are garden wing rooms at the contemporary. By far it's the cheapest way to stay on the monorail during marathon weekend.

Add me to the list of people doing the Shamrock half! I am doing the Dolphin Challenge (10k/half). I had hoped to upgrade to the full, but I think it's wiser to take some time off instead and rest for a few weeks. I made it through Dopey okay, but I had some serious leg pains the 2 weeks leading up to it that made me really nervous. No need to push it!

That seems like a fun challenge. I was debating doing one but didn't want to have to get there a day earlier.

I'm really partial to monorail resorts. Very predictable schedule. I can always board the 4am monorail out of Contemporary (a few minutes earlier for the Grand, since it is a few stops back) and have never had a problem making a forward corral with a bathroom stop.

I'm STRONGLY considering registering for Shamrock, probably the full. There is another one in Newport News the week before, I might register for that one instead.

Is the one in Newport News put on by the company that does the Massive Medal half? I ran their 5k this past year. They do a good event, but i like J&A events better.

We will be at Shamrock again running the 8k and the half. Always a nice time. See you there.

...........now back to our scheduled programming...........

Wow with all the people at shamrock maybe we need to do a meetup?

 

[Slogger]

Probably good that you weren't near my 15 year old daughter and I if you didn't want to hear "Let it Go". As we crossed under the overpass with Elsa and Anna during the first mile of the 10k, the song came up. We started singing loudly and got quite a few others to join in.

All part of the fun.

 

[dta87]

I had every intention of using the buses to get to the races but when I woke up Thursday morning and heard the wind howling and saw the temperature and windchill we decided to drive. It definitely was one of our better decisions that week and we ended up doing it for the next 3 races. It didn't gain us any sleep time since we still left our room about 330 but it did give us a heated shelter from the cold. It just took us a couple races to figure out that we did not need to go over to the staging area as early as we did on Thursday.

Question: Was there an announcement made about an issue with the monorail the morning of the 5k? While we were waiting in the car I got to see a monorail tow vehicle pull up to the EPCOT station and tow the empty train. I wish I had taken a picture since I will probably not see that again.

 

[croach]

I'm really partial to monorail resorts. Very predictable schedule. I can always board the 4am monorail out of Contemporary (a few minutes earlier for the Grand, since it is a few stops back) and have never had a problem making a forward corral with a bathroom stop.

I'll second the Contemporary. Didn't get on the monorail until 4:15 - 4:20 and had plenty of time. And got a pretty good rate through my travel agent.

Also count me in for the Shamrock half! Good flat course and four free beers at the post race party!

 

[PrincessV]

I'll need to go back and catch up on all the posts before mine, but didn't want to wait any longer to say CONGRATULATIONS to all who raced last week!!!!!

Life has gotten hectic and a blog post just isn't happening, so a brief synopsis of my experience...

Very glad I didn't register for the Frigid 5K this year - my walk to the ASSp food court around 7am was plenty cold enough.

This FL gal wore two layers for the 10K and was just comfortable throughout the race - that was after dumping the 3rd layer and mylar blanket at the start, lol! I loved running the 10K strictly for fun and photos with friends - had a blast!

I bundled up to wait for the half to start and was glad I did: I stripped the leg warmers and fleece jacket just before my corral started and regretted the loss of extra warmth for 2 miles. I never really did "warm up", though I felt it less after those first few miles. I wasn't aiming for a PR, but had no desire to stop for more than a restroom and a hug to a cheering friend, and am happy to report a PB for that course by a LOT, complete with mostly negative splits!

Some friends and I from our running group cheered the full - and it was hands-down the most fulfilling experience of the weekend. We were stationed at the marina building at YC and saw so many amazing people go by! I hope some of them were folks here and that we were able to lend you a bit of strength or a smile to help you reach your goals. I truly feel like it was an honor to be there.

All in all, it was a fabulous race weekend and I'm very happy with my experience! That said...

WHY SO STINGY WITH THE MYLAR BLANKETS, RUNDISNEY?!?!?!?!

It actually took me a few minutes after getting my half medal to realize - "Hey, I'm shivering like crazy and there's no mylar blanket to be had! What gives?" I almost didn't bother packing a checked bag and I'm SO glad I did, in the end; I threw a fleece jacket in there and it saved me for the long walk back to my car. I'm just stunned that they weren't being offered, given the colder-than-normal temps.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Nice account, PrincessV!! I ran the 5K and half, and must say I was surprised they weren't throwing those Mylar blankets around all of us for the 5K -- FFFFFFFREEEEEEZING!!!! Great exercise for myself, my sister, and DS9 in "mind over matter", waiting for nearly two hrs in those temps! That said, it made the 5K itself feel easy by comparison to waiting!

 

[Fellowship9798]

Question: Was there an announcement made about an issue with the monorail the morning of the 5k? While we were waiting in the car I got to see a monorail tow vehicle pull up to the EPCOT station and tow the empty train. I wish I had taken a picture since I will probably not see that again.

I saw that too (from the warmth of my car). Monorail Gold being pulled by the tractor, but I never heard anything more about it, so I guess it didn't cause any major delays.

 

[WDWarchitectureguy]

First Marathon and First Dopey completed. I have had a nagging right foot pain since my last long training run. I'm fairly certain it is a stress fracture on the top of my foot. Didn't tell my DW until the morning of the 5k. But I wasn't going to not run. 5K/10K Corral F, Half/Full Corral O. Wednesday we had a 6am flight outta DFW. So I was already getting accustomed to the early wake up calls.

1. Frozen 5K was cold but easy. Kept warm by cuddling with strangers in Corral F. Kept my throw away sweat pants on, brought my cold weather running jacket, gloves, and fleece headband. And kept my conductor mickey hat/ears on the entire race to keep the warmth in. Walked the entire race. 45 minute finish time. One complaint was the hard 12 minutes between corral starts. Made waiting in the last corral feel like a frozen eternity. Spent the rest of the day doing a very full Magic Kingdom day. Dinner at the Art of Animation food court. Create your own Pasta.
2. Cool 10K was still cooler than I'm used to and standing in Corral F was taking forever. But better than the 5K. Corral starts were down to 8 minutes between. Again walked the entire thing. 1:30 finish time. Also my DW finished her first 10K. I'm very proud of her. Had a full and cold day at Animal Kingdom. Coldest Kilimanjaro Safari we've ever been on. Then dinner again at the Art of Animation Food Court. Create your own Pasta.
3. Half Marathon. Woke up, but the waking up early on the 4th day in a row was getting to me. Right foot pain. I knew I had to wear some layers as it was still cool out. Had a long sleeve base layer I wore under my planned short sleeve tech tee. Legs were cold but I was in a kilt and calf sleeves. It was to be expected. Had a good walk. Did a 1 minute run, 4 minute walk pace. Upset Cliff food stop was empty already. No GU for me. Was a 3:24:00 finish. Felt good but exhausted. Large hot spot on the bottom center of my right foot. Probably due to loosening my laces to avoid pain on the top of my foot. DW saw me at the TTC, and then again outside of Poly. Then she found me at the finish line. Headed back to the room, a quick shower, and some stretching, and had a very slow moving shopping time at DTD with dinner at Earl's. Bed time crash around 5:30pm
4. Full Marathon. Woke up exhausted. Short sleeve tech tee and kilt. Right foot in major pain. Loosened my laces a little more. Probably a bad idea (and it was). Slow and steady was my plan. The goal was to finish in the pacing requirement. That's it. Just under a 14:30 minute mile for the first few miles. Slowed down quite a bit in MK with a bathroom stop and pictures. 18 minute mile erased my previous gains. My DW was on ChEAR Squad. In the turn to Tomorrowland She greeted me with a Dr. Who inspired poster that had me grinning ear to ear. "Gordon.... Run You Clevel Boy, Run". Then she was at the base of castle. Then I was feeling pretty good all the way to Animal Kingdom. I was disappointed AGAIN that the Cliff food stop was out of GU when I went through. How? They know how many runners they have. Anyways, the sewer plant was lovely and I needed the banana stop. Best tasting banana ever. I knew my time was a factor but stopped for Everest anyways. Loved it. Another 18 minute mile. Now my time was getting to be a factor. And the pain in my foot was really slowing me down. Walked pretty much the entire time to WWOS, but the rain was nice and cooled me down. Again I needed the banana stop. Was in pain getting the wet towels. Hobbled around to the back side of WWOS along the highway. This was probably my "wall". Saw my DW before the Baseball Stadium. She warned me about the balloon ladies being nearby. Sure enough going along the Tennis Courts I saw them through the fence where I was not but 15 minutes previously. So in massive amounts of pain I started running again. Got a single Tylenol from the medical tent. I looked at the lady like "Really just one?!?!?". Powered through to Hollywood Studios. 8/10 pain level. Back down to 14:30 miles. Powered through to the trail to Boardwalk. Felt better knowing I was past the last sweep point. Got into Epcot and about died seeing we still had to go AROUND the world to get to the finish line. Every step I was in pain. But I finished with 6:57:12 time. 15:57/mile average pace. Stopped in Medical area for ice wrap to my knee and Tylenol. Guzzled a powerade and water. Got my picture. Then the problems started. My 10K time was not showing up at the Dopey tent. I was shuffled off to a side table where my bib numbers was researched. The staff were very nice, but I was just standing there with ice dripping down my leg in pain for quite awhile. The lady finally said they had pictures of me crossing the finish line and to go ahead. Woo hoo. Food box, and banana in hand, I hobbled to the massage tent. $10 for 10 minutes. Very nice large guy worked on my legs and back. Loved it. My DW found me face down groaning. She missed me in World Showcase. She had a margarita for me. She managed to transfer it to a water bottle. So I finished my massage, got rewrapped with ice, and drank down my margarita. After a bus ride, shower, stretching, and resting, we made it to Le Cellier back at Epcot for a lovely post race dinner.

We spent 2 more days in the parks finishing up our trip with a nice lunch at the Brown Derby before heading home. I'm sore but doing okay. I see the orthopedist in the morning to figure out what damage I did to myself. Good race. Good experience. I actually would like to do it again even if the DW is saying no. But I do have the Pixie Dust challenge to look forward to in May. And my second Coast to Coast.

And I Got confirmation from my orthopedist today. I ran the entire Dopey with a stress fracture in the top of my right foot. No wonder my time sucked so bad and I was in lots of pain for most of the marathon. Guess I'll take it easier next time. Now I'm in a padded post op shoe for a month. Then just one week until my next half. Fort Worth, Texas Cowtown Half is March 1st.

 

[weatherboy80]

Great event everybody. Thanks for keeping me entertained for months on end! Even though I have been running for years this was actually my first full after doing several half's so I was of course able to set a PR I was actually on target for a Boston qualifying (for my age) time for most of the race, but ended up missing it by 15 seconds Really need to run better tangents since I put in nearly 26.9 miles according to my GPS (mapmyrun but who knows how accurate anyways). Oh well - that means I've got to race again - right?

Being a local FL boy I really liked being able to drive to the start and huddle inside my "warm" car before heading out to the corrals. Got there early enough so that traffic wasn't an issue and was close enough to several porta potties so I could take care of things quickly

I'm actually contemplating running a local HM (Melbourne, FL) in just 2 weeks from Sunday since I still have that race itch. Do you folks think this is too soon after running a full? My legs are still a tad bit tight, but I'm thinking I should be fine with a few more days of rest ... Most of what I've read is we should be taking a few weeks to do some light running only.

 

[Chiomaca]

I booked the Shamrock half in VA beach in March yesterday

We will be at Shamrock again running the 8k and the half. Always a nice time. We should all wear rundisney shirts. See all of you there.

...........now back to our scheduled programming...........

I thought about doing that challenge, but have the Cherry Blossom Ten miler the next month and Pixie Dust Challenge the month after that. I'm trying to moderate my race spending. And I need to figure out where I'm staying. I have friends down there since the hotels are all sold out.

I wondered about the lack of mylar blankets after the half. I walked straight to the massage tent, so I got one there, but it was odd that they weren't handing them out right at the finish chutes.

 

[bumbershoot]

SNA vs lax...always check prices for your trip. I personally have never seen a fare to or from seattle that's lower at SNA. And sometimes flights end up switching at lax to get to SNA. I won't do tht lol. I'll get off the plane and drive. I find lax to be very simple as a flyer, and the traffic can be nutty but isn't always.

The CC 5k situation was crazy and unorganized and felt like rundisney outsourced to a group that didn't understand running or cruising in any way, shape, or form, but I liked the actual run and my good feelings at the end of that made me feel a million times better than I felt after the Half.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh and for the 5k I know they had the mylars in the medical tent at least. I saw none at the end of the half. Figure they were still in the tent. Silly.

 

[FFigawi]

Great event everybody. Thanks for keeping me entertained for months on end! Even though I have been running for years this was actually my first full after doing several half's so I was of course able to set a PR I was actually on target for a Boston qualifying (for my age) time for most of the race, but ended up missing it by 15 seconds Really need to run better tangents since I put in nearly 26.9 miles according to my GPS (mapmyrun but who knows how accurate anyways). Oh well - that means I've got to race again - right?

Damn! 15 seconds? That's so close it would drive me crazy. And yes, shaving down those tangents will save you a lot more than 15 seconds. An extra 0.7 is a lot. You should be able to reduce that to 0.2 or less simply by focusing on the tangents and sticking to them no matter what everyone else around you is doing.

I'm actually contemplating running a local HM (Melbourne, FL) in just 2 weeks from Sunday since I still have that race itch. Do you folks think this is too soon after running a full? My legs are still a tad bit tight, but I'm thinking I should be fine with a few more days of rest ... Most of what I've read is we should be taking a few weeks to do some light running only.

I don't think it's too soon. Your time might not be as quick as you would like since your legs will still be recovering, but if you feel up to it, then give it a go.

 

[weatherboy80]

Thanks ... Yeah, tell me about it I'm thrilled with the result considering it was my first full, but kicking myself about those tangents. I actually had a slight positive split in my second half by about 2 minutes that I believe cost me some. I actually had the pace I needed for about 19-20 miles, lost it somewhere in the ESPN to HS section by a few sec/mile and then recovered with a decent finish through Epcot.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

SNA vs lax...always check prices for your trip. I personally have never seen a fare to or from seattle that's lower at SNA. And sometimes flights end up switching at lax to get to SNA. I won't do tht lol. I'll get off the plane and drive. I find lax to be very simple as a flyer, and the traffic can be nutty but isn't always.

The CC 5k situation was crazy and unorganized and felt like rundisney outsourced to a group that didn't understand running or cruising in any way, shape, or form, but I liked the actual run and my good feelings at the end of that made me feel a million times better than I felt after the Half.

I agree about LAX. It can be tough to change airlines there, but arrivals/departures are not really very difficult. I would take a nonstop to LAX over a connecting flight to SNA, even if the price was the same.

Thanks for the report on the CC 5K Challenge. Sorry it was so disorganized. We're there lots of runners? Did you have to get your bib at WDW? Any of the extras worth it? I've signed up for the one after the Princess HM weekend. -- Suzanne

 

[bumbershoot]

There were something like 800 runners. Three corrals.

I got no notice that the course info was online. I happened upon it. That helped me think "I wonder where we pick up bibs". I figured it would be on the ship.

We turned a corner after getting shirts for the 5k and Half and saw the kiosk for the challenge. I was so glad we turned that corner. I bet a lot of people missed it.

They made a new medal for the island 5k. That's what we got, along with the challenge medal.

The island 5k held later also ran the same course we did, and they were the first normal 5kers to get the new medal, which will be the medal going forward for the free (but for how long?) 5k.

We got one water stop (free 5k with their normal course have the opportunity to get water between 4 and 6 times) and the normal rundisney food at the end.

A one hour meeting the day before the run. Had the chance to talk to the rundisney people, where so e of us might have given them some feedback on things. Like about Tara Guidis letting the phrase "it's just a 5k" come out if her mouth in the meeting. She meant something like the opposite but she didn't explain it well and that phrase should never have left her brain. Or helping rund to see that people want to book Cay port adventures 120-60 days out, and to do that we need to know when the run is. Or that there would be kid care even for the early early run. Basically, info is a good thing. And the Challenge had too little of it, and what there was of it was really late.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Anyone know offhand the number of runners for the WDW half this year?

 

[flatlandcycle]

Anyone know offhand the number of runners for the WDW half this year?

We were given a figure of 26,000; that must be registrants. (or starters???)

Men 9702
Women 12379
Total Finishers 22081

from:
http://trackshack.com/disneysports/results/wdw/wdw15/hm_results.php

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

We were given a figure of 26,000; that must be registrants. (or starters???) Men 9702 Women 12379 Total Finishers 22081 from: http://trackshack.com/disneysports/results/wdw/wdw15/hm_results.php

Cool -- thanks! Curious how many of those registered didn't show, versus started and didn't finish...

 

[Ariel484]

bumbershoot - thanks for the CC Challenge info. Sorry that you guys had to be the guinea pigs for everyone else, but at least you got some pretty medals out of it!!

ETA: every time they say "just a" 5K/10K/half marathon/marathon, I cringe. Come on, runDisney!!