Official Avengers 2017

[Sleepless Knight]

All the uncertainty over Star Wars Light Side 2018 made it difficult to find motivation to get out and run. Silly I know but here I am. While I had toyed with running this race for a few years, it was always going to be second on my runDisney California priority list. Well, between the cancellation of all 2018 runDisney California races and the desire to get back to running, I made a possibly insane decision. I signed up for Avengers yesterday and now have to get myself up to 13.1 miles in 3 weeks. Fortunately, I found a 4 week plan that seems doable. I ran 5 miles yesterday and it went better than I feared. I can basically do a 5K at 16 minutes per mile untrained. Obviously, that's a far cry from a half, but aside from soreness, there are no major problems this morning.

Lodging is a bigger trick. I found a place approximately 12 minutes from Disneyland per Google Maps, but it's pretty much a straight shot onto W Ball. It was substantially cheaper than what few places in the immediate vicinity of Disneyland even had openings. How much approximately would uber cost me if I opted to use it to head back to Disneyland after the half and back to my hotel at the end of the day in case I'm too tired to drive at that point?

 

[kirstie101]

All the uncertainty over Star Wars Light Side 2018 made it difficult to find motivation to get out and run. Silly I know but here I am. While I had toyed with running this race for a few years, it was always going to be second on my runDisney California priority list. Well, between the cancellation of all 2018 runDisney California races and the desire to get back to running, I made a possibly insane decision. I signed up for Avengers yesterday and now have to get myself up to 13.1 miles in 3 weeks. Fortunately, I found a 4 week plan that seems doable. I ran 5 miles yesterday and it went better than I feared. I can basically do a 5K at 16 minutes per mile untrained. Obviously, that's a far cry from a half, but aside from soreness, there are no major problems this morning.

Lodging is a bigger trick. I found a place approximately 12 minutes from Disneyland per Google Maps, but it's pretty much a straight shot onto W Ball. It was substantially cheaper than what few places in the immediate vicinity of Disneyland even had openings. How much approximately would uber cost me if I opted to use it to head back to Disneyland after the half and back to my hotel at the end of the day in case I'm too tired to drive at that point?

Glad to see you joining us! I doubt you're the only one trying to cram enough training in! I registered a few weeks back so I have a bit of a head start, but I'm still only going to make it to 10 miles before race day. I'm relying on muscle memory and stubborness to get me through this one! I think I'll be so emotional over running my last Disney race that I probably won't notice the missed training until after the race lol.

Hotels killed me for this race. But I will say keep checking and call directly. Sometimes rooms open up that never even seem to hit the website. As for Uber, they have a fare calculator you could try out. To give you an idea of price my estimated Uber fare from John Wayne aiport to Hojo on Harbor is $19-$24 I believe. Lyft was one or two $'s cheaper.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Glad to see you joining us! I doubt you're the only one trying to cram enough training in! I registered a few weeks back so I have a bit of a head start, but I'm still only going to make it to 10 miles before race day. I'm relying on muscle memory and stubborness to get me through this one! I think I'll be so emotional over running my last Disney race that I probably won't notice the missed training until after the race lol.

Hotels killed me for this race. But I will say keep checking and call directly. Sometimes rooms open up that never even seem to hit the website. As for Uber, they have a fare calculator you could try out. To give you an idea of price my estimated Uber fare from John Wayne aiport to Hojo on Harbor is $19-$24 I believe. Lyft was one or two $'s cheaper.

Thanks for the welcome. My plan only calls for 9 miles one week before the half, but it is very condensed. I'm also relying on stubbornness and refusal to quit to pull me through those last 4 miles. I figure that the 2 mile increase from long run of 5 to 7 this Saturday to 9 the week before the race to 11 the day of the race is doable and then I can gut out the rest of the half on race day if worse comes to worse.

Looking forward to running through the parks with all the Christmas decorations up. That should be fun.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

All the uncertainty over Star Wars Light Side 2018 made it difficult to find motivation to get out and run. Silly I know but here I am. While I had toyed with running this race for a few years, it was always going to be second on my runDisney California priority list. Well, between the cancellation of all 2018 runDisney California races and the desire to get back to running, I made a possibly insane decision. I signed up for Avengers yesterday and now have to get myself up to 13.1 miles in 3 weeks. Fortunately, I found a 4 week plan that seems doable. I ran 5 miles yesterday and it went better than I feared. I can basically do a 5K at 16 minutes per mile untrained. Obviously, that's a far cry from a half, but aside from soreness, there are no major problems this morning.

Lodging is a bigger trick. I found a place approximately 12 minutes from Disneyland per Google Maps, but it's pretty much a straight shot onto W Ball. It was substantially cheaper than what few places in the immediate vicinity of Disneyland even had openings. How much approximately would uber cost me if I opted to use it to head back to Disneyland after the half and back to my hotel at the end of the day in case I'm too tired to drive at that point?

Are you solo or with a family? I have a family suite at Desert Inn and Suites booked as a backup that I am not going to need and will cancel this week. We can arrange a time together, if you want to be able to pick it up right away.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Are you solo or with a family? I have a family suite at Desert Inn and Suites booked as a backup that I am not going to need and will cancel this week. We can arrange a time together, if you want to be able to pick it up right away.

I'm traveling solo. How much will the family suite run? I might still be interested.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

I'm traveling solo. How much will the family suite run? I might still be interested.

I booked this room back in January and the average cost is $204/night. I have it booked for 8 nights, so I don't know if the weekend nights are higher than then weekday rates. I also have no idea if they would honour that same price, but I feel like they might as it gets closer to check-in. This is a Parlor Suite, so will sleep up to 8ppl, I believe.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I booked this room back in January and the average cost is $204/night. I have it booked for 8 nights, so I don't know if the weekend nights are higher than then weekday rates. I also have no idea if they would honour that same price, but I feel like they might as it gets closer to check-in. This is a Parlor Suite, so will sleep up to 8ppl, I believe.

I'll get back to you later today. It's more than I'd like to spend, but being so close would be really nice.

Waivers are now up for all runners who registered through Monday October 23, 2017. I'm in corral H, which fits in the between 3 and 3:10 finishers. Given my compressed training schedule, I'm glad to have a tiny amount of wiggle room since there are 2 corrals after me.

 

[The Lucky Bug]

I just signed up last week and have no training at all and this will be my first rundisney race. I was hoping someone could answer this probably obvious question but I am not sure about it.

If I am in corrall I which I believe starts around 5:40 am rather than 5:00 am from what I've been trying to research. Does this mean if I want to maintain a 16 min pace for the allotted 3hr 30 min time do I have until 9:10 am to finish or only until 8:30 am to finish overall.

So for mile one for example will I have until 5:56 am before a possible sweep? Or do they account for once the very last person from corrall J has crossed the starting line to start the 16 min count?

If that is the case then if I am corrall I and corrall J is still behind me do I have until 16 mins after J takes off to still be safe or do I have to stick with corrall I's time?

Idk if that makes any sense.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I just signed up last week and have no training at all and this will be my first rundisney race. I was hoping someone could answer this probably obvious question but I am not sure about it.

If I am in corrall I which I believe starts around 5:40 am rather than 5:00 am from what I've been trying to research. Does this mean if I want to maintain a 16 min pace for the allotted 3hr 30 min time do I have until 9:10 am to finish or only until 8:30 am to finish overall.

So for mile one for example will I have until 5:56 am before a possible sweep? Or do they account for once the very last person from corrall J has crossed the starting line to start the 16 min count?

If that is the case then if I am corrall I and corrall J is still behind me do I have until 16 mins after J takes off to still be safe or do I have to stick with corrall I's time?

Idk if that makes any sense.

I think I understand what you're asking. The sweep clock starts once the last runner in the last corral crosses the start line. The balloon ladies are the ones you must be ahead of or equal to. They maintain minimum race pace of 16:00 per mile. This is why some runners can have a finish time of longer than 3 hours and 30 minutes and still finish because their actual race time was still ahead of the last runner to start pace.

Don't focus so much on "I must finish by x o clock" so much as my per mile pace is on target. I have heard them tell us at times how far we are ahead of pace. At the Dark Side 10K in April, I was in line for a photo sitting one the Emperor's Throne from Star Wars. They told us we were literally 5 minutes ahead of pace and that when the pace group showed up, we would have to either get out of line and fall in beside them or stay in line, get our photo, and be swept. I was near the front when this happened, so I figured I was okay. Which I was. But I certainly saw people getting swept during that 10K as the course after that point overlooked that very sweep point.

Also keep in mind that any time you stop for a photo op, bathroom break, etc. during the race that time counts as part of your overall pace. I know of some runners that were swept during the Inaugural Star Wars Half in Disneyland because while they were running a 9 minute per mile pace when they actually ran, they were stopping for every single photo op in the parks, the shortest of which had a 20 minute line. They did not account for the additional time these photo ops were taking and were swept as a result.

So, if you stopped for a 20 minute line for a photo during mile 2 of the half and ran that mile in 9 minutes of actual running, you really ran a 29 minute mile for timing purposes. And in one of the last corrals, that's at risk of being swept.

 

[The Lucky Bug]

Thank you very much for your response it cleared up my confusion. I will keep my eye out for the balloon ladys then run like hell to avoid them. lol

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I just signed up last week and have no training at all and this will be my first rundisney race. I was hoping someone could answer this probably obvious question but I am not sure about it.

I'm found a 4 week training plan that I used to modify my own 3 week plan. Let me know if you'd like a copy of it and I'll post it.

Thank you very much for your response it cleared up my confusion. I will keep my eye out for the balloon ladys then run like hell to avoid them. lol

I know that feeling. If you are anywhere near being swept, you will get plenty of warning and they will tell you where you need to be to avoid being swept. The balloon ladies (so named because of their balloons) will be smiling and encouraging. At Dark Side this year, they had Death Star balloons. I would almost expect them to have Avengers themed balloons this time. Maybe Captain America's shield?

 

[Dan1]

How late on Friday does the packet pickup stay open? Officially the schedule says 8 pm but our flight was pushed back to a later departure & arrival so we might not arrive from the airport until around 8:15 or 8:30 pm depending on traffic.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[hotblooded]

Are you solo or with a family? I have a family suite at Desert Inn and Suites booked as a backup that I am not going to need and will cancel this week. We can arrange a time together, if you want to be able to pick it up right away.

Check your room at the Desert Inn very thoroughly for bedbugs. My sister and I were first assigned an infested room, which we thankfully inspected before settling in. The room we moved to was clear, but be careful. I looked at past reviews, and we weren't the only ones to find them.

 

[Dan1]

How do we find our bib number?

Thank you.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

How late on Friday does the packet pickup stay open? Officially the schedule says 8 pm but our flight was pushed back to a later departure & arrival so we might not arrive from the airport until around 8:15 or 8:30 pm depending on traffic.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I would plan on it closing at 8:00pm. If it's open later, then great, but don't count on it. If you're running the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge, they may have day of bib pickup available at runner relations before the start of the 10K, but that is not guaranteed.

How do we find our bib number?

Thank you.

It's down at the bottom of your waiver. Usually to the left of your gender and shirt size.

 

[Saraww]

Just got all my race info today! However, it's a little bittersweet knowing that this is the last race for a while at DLR

 

[Chaitali]

I'm getting pretty excited! This will be my first Disneyland race (and apparently last for a while). My understanding is that there isn't anything like Magical Express at Disneyland, right? Our plane should be landing at LAX around 9:45am on Friday. I'm doing the challenge but I assume that will be plenty of time to get to the expo in time to get my bib since it's open to 8pm. Is uber/lyft the best option to get from LAX to Disneyland? Anyone have an estimate on how long it would take around that time of day on a Friday? Thanks!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Are you solo or with a family? I have a family suite at Desert Inn and Suites booked as a backup that I am not going to need and will cancel this week. We can arrange a time together, if you want to be able to pick it up right away.

You can go ahead and release it if you haven't already. I found a place close enough to be on the ART route, which will work for me. Thanks though.

I'm getting pretty excited! This will be my first Disneyland race (and apparently last for a while). My understanding is that there isn't anything like Magical Express at Disneyland, right? Our plane should be landing at LAX around 9:45am on Friday. I'm doing the challenge but I assume that will be plenty of time to get to the expo in time to get my bib since it's open to 8pm. Is uber/lyft the best option to get from LAX to Disneyland? Anyone have an estimate on how long it would take around that time of day on a Friday? Thanks!

Worst case scenario, you should be in Anaheim early afternoon, so you should have plenty of time. I live in northern California and always drive so someone else can better help you with transportation ideas. The main Disneyland board here may also help you.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

Check your room at the Desert Inn very thoroughly for bedbugs. My sister and I were first assigned an infested room, which we thankfully inspected before settling in. The room we moved to was clear, but be careful. I looked at past reviews, and we weren't the only ones to find them.

Thanks - we aren't staying there (which is why I am going to release the reservation) but that is good to know!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Assuming no extreme temperatures in the weather, my race shirt arrived today. It's a black Under Armour tech shirt with the Batman logo. Yep, I'm running as Batman. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I always got a kick out of the runners dressed as Star Trek characters for the Star Wars races. And for a race themed to superheroes, it just makes sense to dress as my favorite superhero. So Batman it is.