Marathon Weekend 2020

[MissLiss279]

It was my first and I was probably a quarter mile behind the course change. I understand why -- it was brutal! -- but disappointed. I definitely did 26.2 between corral walk and weaving. I guess I'll just need a do-over.

Had I not stopped for Everest, I'd have made it, but there was no way I was skipping that!

That was one of your goals, so I’m glad you were able to ride it! Sorry the course was shortened for you, but with all the walking to the start and after, I’m sure you did cover the distance. Hopefully you’ll run another one sometime with better weather!

 

[The Expert]

That was one of your goals, so I’m glad you were able to ride it! Sorry the course was shortened for you, but with all the walking to the start and after, I’m sure you did cover the distance. Hopefully you’ll run another one sometime with better weather!

Thank you! Yes, I figure if I can finish this in these conditions, another should be easy by comparison!

 

[pluto377]

Congrats to everyone today! Whether you finished or not you are all amazing for putting in the training and giving it a go. After dealing with last year's heat I really feel for you guys. Terrible conditions to run in. Hope everyone gets some rest and then shows off those medals in the park later!

 

[princessbride6205]

Thank you! I usually buy pins and magnets, so hopefully those items will still be around. I hope I can make this dream a reality!

Congratulations to all of you that participated in WDW Marathon Weekend! Anyone that started/attempted/finished any of the runs this weekend is an inspiration to many!

I do “just” the marathon each year and love it!

Congrats to everyone no matter how the race ended up. Nice to meet you guys this morning. I managed a personal course record. Surprising since it was so hot. Anybody know how they modified the course?

I also saw that no one was in World Showcase much earlier than expected. @broadsheet -did you go straight from Blizzard Beach to Finish?

Today was a solid race for me. Given the weather and that I pulled something in my lower back on Thursday, I’m super surprised and happy with my finish time. I missed the meet since somehow it took the bus 45 minutes from Beach Club to Epcot! I’m like, I can see Epcot from my house! I was at the stop at 3:20 and our bus arrived a few minutes later and left at about 3:30. No problem to get to E on time with the delayed start. I really liked the new course. There were still some less-than-magical stretches, but I’ll take this over ESPN any day! Got some good photos and was grateful for candy from strangers. Finished in 5:44:XX - a course PR for me. I knew it was possible but I went in with no expectations other than enjoying the race.

Congrats to all runners!

 

[princessbride6205]

1. I didn’t notice any bottlenecks or at least not too bad. It was so nice to have a ‘real’ restroom early in the race!!!
2. Blizzard Beach was fine. The loop around the parking lot was probably longer than the time in the park. Ha! I had never been there before so it was nice to see. There was a stop with Olaf and fake snow too!
3. No choir. It’s weird not going under Spaceship earth. I think it was pretty much the same finish for all four races, so I knew what to expect coming in today.

I feel like there were fewer character stops in World Showcase than I remember from before, but it could have been that I was wanting any excuse to take a quick stop. My feet were done!

Agree with everything you said! I couldn’t believe how long it took to get to Blizzard Beach - I thought it would feel closer to AK than that. I do miss running by Spaceship - a little - but loved starting in that park.

 

[camaker]

Just got my wife situated on DME and have a few minutes to relax and reflect before the inevitable nap takes over. It’s been such a great weekend, I don’t know where to start. The real highlights have been the morning pre-race meet ups and HH get together. It’s so nice to see people again from previous weekends and meet new folks, finally putting faces with names. I’m very much looking forward to one last meet up for DATW tomorrow.

The races by and large went well, but I’ll focus on the marathon. The humidity was so high that I felt really bad for all of you from cooler climes. I do a lot of training in the heat of the day in NC summers and I was still dripping wet about a mile in. I liked going through Epcot early, but was disappointed that that meant not seeing the castle in the dark.

Conditions were bearable with the intermittent breeze until the sun came out. Unfortunately, when the sun made it’s appearance, the promised cloud cover didn’t materialize as quickly or as densely as expected and the exposed sections of roadway started to bake. I was managing my pace pretty closely to protect my hamstring which oddly never acted up after yesterday’s tightening in the half. About 22 miles in the heat started to get to me despite all my attempts to stay cool and electrolyzed (electrolyted(?), Poweraded (?)). My socks (good Balegas) felt like I had run through a stream in them and my feet were squishing and sliding around. I basically blew up and had to start playing with my intervals to keep moving forward.

Ultimately, I came in around a 5:16:40. I probably lost 7-8 minutes in the “blow up”. Considering the environmental conditions and the fact that my training was seriously curtailed by the hamstring over the last 6 weeks (I only got one double digit run in during that period, a 10 miler), I’m content with my performance. Ultimately this weekend was about Dopey and he’s in the bag now! I hope everyone else can find happiness, or at least contentment, in their race weekend and performances. On to Star Wars now!

 

[The Expert]

Anybody know how they modified the course?

They cut out Blizzard Beach. Instead of turning into the parking lot, we turned left and merged with runners coming out. Rest of the course was as planned.

 

[MissLiss279]

Another thing, there were definitely more areas where there were runners going both directions. I think I usually enjoy that more than I did today. I think the heat affected my encouraging others (although I think I managed my nutrition/water/electrolyte well).

 

[Gemini1131]

I’m another one that got the shortened course(enjoyed more time in magic kingdom than I should have with this heat). Was a little demoralized when I heard the news on the road and wasn’t sure I was going to make it with the heat(was feeling pretty good going into/through animal kingdom but definitely felt it as we exited and there was no shade. Luckily my family was cheering at Coronado and a sister in a giant hot dog suit put a smile on my face then the 7 hour pacer appeared and reminded us of all the walking before and after so I tucked in with them and made it through and still going to celebrate as if it wasn't shortened.

I also want to thank everyone on this forum. It was great meeting everyone and you really helped calm my nerves from my first marathon/goofy.

 

[Z-Knight]

PSA
Front area corral speakers have failed. Can’t hear Carissa.

that's a good thing

 

[camaker]

that's a good thing

I think RunDisney is going to be getting a call from Powerade about the terms of their sponsorship after Carissa recommended alternating between water and Gatorade during her pre-race announcements.

 

[garneska]

I think RunDisney is going to be getting a call from Powerade about the terms of their sponsorship after Carissa recommended alternating between water and Gatorade during her pre-race announcements.

I guess bert needs to let the powers that be know

 

[lhermiston]

Just got my wife situated on DME and have a few minutes to relax and reflect before the inevitable nap takes over. It’s been such a great weekend, I don’t know where to start. The real highlights have been the morning pre-race meet ups and HH get together. It’s so nice to see people again from previous weekends and meet new folks, finally putting faces with names. I’m very much looking forward to one last meet up for DATW tomorrow.

The races by and large went well, but I’ll focus on the marathon. The humidity was so high that I felt really bad for all of you from cooler climes. I do a lot of training in the heat of the day in NC summers and I was still dripping wet about a mile in. I liked going through Epcot early, but was disappointed that that meant not seeing the castle in the dark.

Conditions were bearable with the intermittent breeze until the sun came out. Unfortunately, when the sun made it’s appearance, the promised cloud cover didn’t materialize as quickly or as densely as expected and the exposed sections of roadway started to bake. I was managing my pace pretty closely to protect my hamstring which oddly never acted up after yesterday’s tightening in the half. About 22 miles in the heat started to get to me despite all my attempts to stay cool and electrolyzed (electrolyted(?), Poweraded (?)). My socks (good Balegas) felt like I had run through a stream in them and my feet were squishing and sliding around. I basically blew up and had to start playing with my intervals to keep moving forward.

Ultimately, I came in around a 5:16:40. I probably lost 7-8 minutes in the “blow up”. Considering the environmental conditions and the fact that my training was seriously curtailed by the hamstring over the last 6 weeks (I only got one double digit run in during that period, a 10 miler), I’m content with my performance. Ultimately this weekend was about Dopey and he’s in the bag now! I hope everyone else can find happiness, or at least contentment, in their race weekend and performances. On to Star Wars now!

Great synopsis. I’m glad your hammy held up. Congrats on another 26.2!

 

[ANIM8R]

I think RunDisney is going to be getting a call from Powerade about the terms of their sponsorship after Carissa recommended alternating between water and Gatorade during her pre-race announcements.

Don't anger the folks that write the big checks!!!

 

[dtrain]

Guys, I did it! 2:56:08. Placed 3rd in my age group (40-44) and 20th overall. Toughest run of my life. Thanks @DopeyBadger for the hang and talks pre-race. #clubsub3

 

[Z-Knight]

sorry, i didnt come to the morning meetup. my mom had acid reflux abdominal pain saturday, and we ended up in the ER. while there they did a catscan and found a blockage in her appendix. initially it wasnt painful so we were gonna wait till we returned home to address it, but overnight they changed the plan on us and she ended up having surgery today. i was feeling like crap, and didnt eat Saturday, so today marathon was horrible. i gave up on actually trying to run this race very early on - had no interest. also last couple of hours i was basically dumping 3 cups of water at each stop...i was pleasantly surprised at how many actual stop there were.

the stretch from mile 11 to 21 is pretty awful to me... even with animal kingdom. i prefer ESPN... they had running water at blizzard beach, i wanted to do a quick dunk in the lazy river - there was actually an opening to do it but i skipped it... next time I'm doing it. i still dislike the boardwalk part too... the crowd is good but maybe I'm tired at that point so i have bad memories of it.

 

[DerTobi75]

Did they really cut the course because of the weather or the 20 Minutes Delay before the Start?!

 

[SheHulk]

Wow that was a hot one for me! Squeaked in under 6 hours at 5:59:13 not that getting under 6 hours was a goal for me but still pretty funny how close I came. while getting under that new hour mark. My goal for my first (and let's face it, only) Goofy was to try to actually have fun in a Disney race and that was accomplished. I stopped for character pics on course for the first time, yesterday and today, and did not stress once about my race time. I bumped into the Goof Troop and flirted with the idea of dropping my run/walk plan to stick with them, but realized it probably wasn't smart to go against my plan given that my training was less-than-perfect, and maybe less-than-adequate. Probably a smart choice because, even with sticking to plan, I got super nauseous right at the 16 mile mark which I think Carissa said was a sign of heat sickness. So I walked a much greater portion of the race from there on out, just to finish. The plan was basically to run where there was shade, and walk where there wasn't. So not much running from then on.

I agree with @MissLiss279 the lack of characters in WS was disappointing because it was the first time I would really have liked to stop! In the past, I always went past Mushu and kind of looked longingly but never stopped, worried about my time.

The bus trip to the start was made much more pleasant because I ran into @flav on the elevator! I would have been very nervous about the traffic delays but she's cool as a cucumber.

All in all, I had a great weekend. You can't control the weather or injuries but you can control how you react to them, I'm finally learning that after 30 years of running!

 

[camaker]

Did they really cut the course because of the weather or the 20 Minutes Delay before the Start?!

It was the weather. They actually red flagged the race conditions. It was still yellow flag conditions when I finished.

I can’t confirm directly, but I think and have heard that they released the corrals more quickly than planned so that all the runners were on course pretty much on schedule.

 

[DerTobi75]

@camaker Ah, I just was wondering why they let go nearly the whole Corral at once and did not do Miniwaves.

Glad, I could ‚enjoy‘ the complete Blizzard Beach Part. Did not like it though