Marathon Weekend 2023

GollyGadget said:
How did the red/blue starts work? Were you assigned a specific course? Did you just get to the spilt and decide?
I've never run a race with big splits in them so I'm curious how it works.
Click to expand...

As mentioned above, your course was based on your corral. How they chose which corrals went to which course after the start is a mystery to me. If I remember correctly, it wasn't all fast corrals on Red and slower ones on Blue. There seemed to be a good mix of speeds.

Goofed98 said:
That map looks pretty much like the marathon course in 2010. I don't remember if it was the same in 2011, but I know 2010 we still had the red and blue courses, merging right around mile 3-4.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure 2011 was the same. I met some new running friends shortly after the merge and saw them again during the Houston marathon a week or so later.
 
luv2cheer92 said:
Yep. There were lots of people sprinting past me the first few miles (not really sprinting, I'm just slow haha). But I got knocked down in a very crowded spot somewhere in mile 2, and hurt my knee. Sadly wasn't able to finish (and I was doing Dopey) because of it. There were several spots on the course those first few miles where I truly felt unsafe. Especially one area that was pitch black dark with zero lighting at all, a couple runners had their flashlights on their phones out, which helped a little. But I've done lots of races at WDW, including 2 previous fulls, and this was the first time I've had that bad of an experience. So I hope it was just a one time thing.

But again, I was in S6, which is probably the worst for crowding. Starting earlier should help a ton.
Click to expand...
I'm really sorry that happened to you! I don't know if you were knocked down as a result of people sprinting past you, but I hope that wasn't the case. I know that it's frustrating for faster runners to get caught back in a later corral (whether through their own tardiness or unanticipated early corral closures or misplacements by runDisney), but as someone who was a slower than average runner, I saw many runners being flat out unsafe and rude due to their desire to wind their way up through crowds of people. Slow runners pay their registration fee, have all the same highs and lows, have spent months/years preparing for this race, run the same number of miles, and ultimately want to finish the race(s) with dignity and respect for the accomplishment. It's a particular pet peeve of mine when I see faster runners seem to think their goals and accomplishments and needs during a race outweigh those of someone slower. Unless you are actually thinking you are there to win, your goals are no more important than the last person to cross the finish line. Thankfully I rarely, if ever, see those kinds of sentiments on this board, but the fact that you ended up having to DNF a race because you were knocked down by another runner just makes me very angry. *crawls off my soapbox*
 
Last edited:
camaker said:
I almost missed my S2 start for the 5k because they closed it to walk up to the start line behind S1 before I anticipated. The moral of the RunDisney story is that corrals will generally close before you expect them to, so plan accordingly.
Click to expand...
You hit the nail on the head...plan accordingly. Unfortunately, most people seem incapable of planning at all and opt to blame runDisney for their lack of planning and awareness.
 
ZellyB said:
I'm really sorry that happened to you! I don't know if you were knocked down as a result of people sprinting past you, but I hope that wasn't the case. I know that it's frustrating for faster runners to get caught back in a later corral (whether through their own tardiness or unanticipated early corral closures or misplacements by runDisney), but as someone who was a slower than average runner, I saw many runners being flat out unsafe and rude due to their desire to wind their way up through crowds of people. Slow runners pay their registration fee, have all the same highs and lows, have spent months/years preparing for this race, run the same number of miles, and ultimately want to finish the race(s) with dignity and respect for the accomplishment. It's a particular pet peeve of mine when I see faster runners seem to think their goals and accomplishments and needs during a race outweigh those of someone slower. Unless you are actually thinking you are there to win, your goals are no more important than the last person to cross the finish line. Thankfully I rarely, if ever, see those kinds of sentiments on this board, but the fact that you ended up having to DNF a race because you were knocked down by another runner just makes me very angry. *crawls off my soapbox*
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you said 100%.

I would only add that we slower runners also have a responsibility to keep to the right as possible, and not run or walk 2 or 3 or 4 abreast through the more narrow areas. That does not excuse the inconsiderate faster runners. Both happen; faster runners get blocked in by slower runners/walkers going side by side, and slower runners/walkers get bumped by faster runners trying to get by at the wrong time.

My soapbox is that runDisney needs to do a much better job informing all of the runners how to handle crowded situations. This needs to happen both in print and in the pre race announcements. It will not solve the problem, but I'm sure it would help.
 
kps7795 said:
You hit the nail on the head...plan accordingly. Unfortunately, most people seem incapable of planning at all and opt to blame runDisney for their lack of planning and awareness.
Click to expand...

I've done enough RunDisney races to take the blame for that near miss. I will say, though, that RunDisney could do a MUCH better job communicating when corrals will be closing, both through estimated times in the event guides and announcements in the pre-race area. The only thing I remember hearing from the DJs on race mornings is when the corrals open to runners. Nothing about closing times or needing to hurry because early corrals are getting ready to close.
 
Kerry1957 said:
I agree with everything you said 100%.

I would only add that we slower runners also have a responsibility to keep to the right as possible, and not run or walk 2 or 3 or 4 abreast through the more narrow areas. That does not excuse the inconsiderate faster runners. Both happen; faster runners get blocked in by slower runners/walkers going side by side, and slower runners/walkers get bumped by faster runners trying to get by at the wrong time.

My soapbox is that runDisney needs to do a much better job informing all of the runners how to handle crowded situations. This needs to happen both in print and in the pre race announcements. It will not solve the problem, but I'm sure it would help.
Click to expand...

I would suggest adding one more responsibility to runners in general. Check behind you before changing lanes. I've seen many incidences of near misses and issues caused by runners changing their lanes/lines without ensuring that they're clear to do so. That's not to remove any responsibility from a faster runner approaching from behind, but momentum means there's only so much that can be done if someone moves sideways or drifts into your path. Whether I'm doing run/walk or even full running I try to make sure I'm not cutting anyone off if I change my line.
 
kps7795 said:
Unfortunately, most people seem incapable of planning at all and opt to blame runDisney for their lack of planning and awareness.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily put all of the blame on the runners - particularly people who are running their first runDisney race. They just don't know what they don't know.

If you've only ever run a small local race, Disney is a whole other ballgame. People are used to rolling up to the start line 15 minutes in advance - because that is what they know. If they haven't been obsessive following boards like this one, they don't know that there is an almost mile walkout to the corrals. Or the rules of the road for a race that has 10,000 runners. They might be just be starting with the run/walk method or have no idea that it's even a thing. I would love to see runDisney put together a "things to know" video for their races. I know that they could do a great job doing it, because that's what Disney is good at, and create something that people would want to watch. Edutainment at its best!

Just before my first runDisney race, I did our local Turkey Trot which has about 14,000 runners and the experience helped me tremendously to pick up a bunch of little tricks. But I was still blindsided by some things (luckily little things) on race day. And I was one of those "read everything, listen to every experience runner, ask every stupid question that came to mind" people.
 
Kerry1957 said:
I agree with everything you said 100%.

I would only add that we slower runners also have a responsibility to keep to the right as possible, and not run or walk 2 or 3 or 4 abreast through the more narrow areas. That does not excuse the inconsiderate faster runners. Both happen; faster runners get blocked in by slower runners/walkers going side by side, and slower runners/walkers get bumped by faster runners trying to get by at the wrong time.

My soapbox is that runDisney needs to do a much better job informing all of the runners how to handle crowded situations. This needs to happen both in print and in the pre race announcements. It will not solve the problem, but I'm sure it would help.
Click to expand...
Agree completely and should have included in my rant. :D
 
sandam1 said:
If you've only ever run a small local race, Disney is a whole other ballgame. People are used to rolling up to the start line 15 minutes in advance - because that is what they know. If they haven't been obsessive following boards like this one, they don't know that there is an almost mile walkout to the corrals. Or the rules of the road for a race that has 10,000 runners. They might be just be starting with the run/walk method or have no idea that it's even a thing. I would love to see runDisney put together a "things to know" video for their races. I know that they could do a great job doing it, because that's what Disney is good at, and create something that people would want to watch. Edutainment at its best!
Click to expand...
I completely agree with you that Disney could do better at sharing best practices because a lot of runners are first timers. That being said, after I signed up for my first race which was runDisney, I researched everything I could about race etiquette. I am not a fast runner and didn’t want to impede anyone’s progress on the course.
 
So excited to get into Dopey for 2023! I ran the Marathon 2019 and 2020 (and W&D in 2016), and loved to meet the Goof Troop in 2020! I'll be running the 5k and 10k with my daughter, and going it solo for the rest of the races. Looking forward to meeting the group again next year! Good luck with training this year!!
 
For this year's half and full, a lot of faster runners got put in start groups they normally wouldn't have been in due to the crazy PoT that Disney used (1:53 half - BQ pace for my AG!). So I think that lead to a lot of the frustration with them trying to get out of the congestion of slower runners at the start. Not excusing anyone who was rude or unsafe, just an observation. Hopefully it will be better next year with the updated PoT system that is more like previous years.
 
I can't speak to the situation that caused the poster's fall obviously, but I wouldn't necessarily default to anyone being to blame. That kind of situation is exactly why we do PoT and assign faster people to earlier corrals. It's not good for anyone to have faster runners behind slower runners. You try to weave through as safely as you can but I'm sure we've all had situations where people drift and a hole you were moving for suddenly closes, or someone abruptly stops to walk, or whatever else and now you're dodging or trying to stop on a dime. Crashes are inevitable in that situation.

I agree with whoever mentioned it'd be good if the MC's announced "these corrals will be closing soon!" so people had a heads up beyond "it's runDisney so just be in the corral an hour before start". People have warm up routines, last minute porta-potty stops, etc.
 
I just did the TOT 10 miler and I do recall some discussion by the race hosts around race etiquette...slower runners/walkers stay to the right; put a hand up if you are stopping, etc. But it was sort of a side point, so they could do a much better job. With all that said, there were walkers in the very first coral...like the very first roped off section within the first coral...on the left hand side. Race etiquette is for all of us...it helps keep us all safe!!
 
jrsharp21 said:
I really hope someone comes up with one with the Seven Dwarfs "We're working on it" on one side and the rD processing circle with the "Thank you for your patience" on the other side.
Click to expand...

I have a friend that does custom vinyl and I've thought about asking her if she could do this. I even grabbed screenshots during registration for the project. But I wasn't sure if there would be enough interest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page


GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!


New DISboards Threads

J
Typhoon Moonlight Magic 6/4/24-extra ticket?
Replies
0
Views
156
jenhelgren
J
M
Magic Mobile- linking resort and ticket
Replies
0
Views
165
McMurray
M
BcIcemen
Cabana at Castaway Cay
Replies
1
Views
245
pangyal
pangyal
J
refillable mug and dining plan, when does the clock start when....
Replies
3
Views
294
SteveMouse
S
O
New Security Procedures
Replies
6
Views
463
dina444444
dina444444
soniam
Confused by 10 Day Dining Booking Window
Replies
2
Views
384
katyringo
katyringo
NEWS & UPDATES



Latest posts







facebook twitter
Top