Marathon Weekend 2023

[Let's Get Kronk]

I think what bothers me the most about the medals are the prominent "30" and "10" for the marathon and Dopey anniversary years. They didn't do that for the 20 or 25th anniversary marathons that I ran. And for Dopey, it's my first/last time doing it, so I'd rather they highlighted the total number of miles ran instead of the 10th anniversary. Makes the medals look like they're a 30-miler and 10-miler.

To be fair, the Dopey medal does have 48.6 miles on it; it's just upside down and hidden by Dopey when he's in the normal position. But I agree, the 30 and the 10 make it look like a distance, not an anniversary. They're just a miss all around, which makes me kind of sad since this is my first MW.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Loooooove the medals!!!!!

 

[kristenabelle]

Loooooove the medals!!!!!

I'm an '80s baby and a '90s child so I do have a soft spot for these medals

Totally understand the criticism, for sure. But man, am I excited for the merch. This theme rocks.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I'm an '80s baby and a '90s child so I do have a soft spot for these medals

Totally understand the criticism, for sure. But man, am I excited for the merch. This theme rocks.

Me too! I have so many more "traditional" looking medals and merch, I'm so excited for something fun and different.

 

[fatmanatee]

VQ update: just called group 50 at 12:05

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There are entry passes with QR codes for each person in the party. Looks like the official return window is 2 hours.

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I’ll say what I said before with this: I think they’ll be totally fine if you miss the window for whatever reason but i wouldn’t want to be the guinea pig.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Training question…

Thanks to some health issues causing a lot of pain all over (not injury) and great difficulty recovering from even easy workouts, I’d abandoned the marathon and decided I’ll just run half of it for 13.1. But. The new cocktail of meds my doctor put me on is helping and I think I maaaayyyybeee can manage the marathon, after all.

I‘m at a 12-mile long run and 2 50-minute short runs per week right now and doing okay. I can safely assume W&D will be a 14-miler, so let’s say that’s my longest training run after this weekend. Normally, I’d be up to 16 by now in marathon training - but that plan factored in two 20-milers, in case I need to skip any long runs due to weather, because hurricane season. So looking at a calendar, I think I can do the 14 at W&D, then a 16, 18, and 20, with cut backs between, before a 3-week taper before MW.

That’s doable, right?! With the caveat that if I’m in too much pain, I bag it and go back to my run half plan?

My other thought is that I need to take all of this easier than I have in the past. Now, I am not fast to start, so I’m not talking pace, but effort level. The major hitch is that walking a lot hurts much more than run-walk intervals, so “I’ll just walk a lot of it” is not a viable option. Stopping to rest for a minute here and there does help, though, even if I’m just standing in place, stretching. So I wonder if instead of distance goals, I should aim for time on my feet, instead? And just run, walk, stop and stretch at whatever intervals feel best in that time? Totally open to creative suggestions on this!

I'd agree that focusing on effort (super easy) and daily duration are going to be the tickets. And you know me, I advocate for less on the long runs and more in the midweek when it's committable. If you can do a 3hr max weekend run with three 60 min midweek runs, then I think that's better than a 4hr max weekend run with two 60 min midweek runs despite being the same total duration volume. In my experience, if you can run a HM under 3:05, and train for six hours in peak week (spread out), then you have a good chance of finishing the Disney marathon.

I'd also add one more thing. As the long runs continue, the effort will increase, but if at any point you start to see a fade in the pacing much more than 15-20 sec/mile, then it's time to be done with the workout. For example, if you start out at a 14:00 min/mile, you run, you walk, you stand and stretch, but after about 120 min of this routine those 14:00 min/miles become 14:30 or 15:00 min/miles (and not because of hills or sudden change in weather), then it's probably time to end the workout regardless of whatever duration goal you had in mind at the start. The fade is the warning sign that you've gone too far/too hard physically. You're better off ending there and adjusting your training plan moving forward.

 

[Livelovedance]

I don’t hate the medals, but I don’t love them either. They’re in theme, but not my favorites. I know either way I’ll be happy to have them around my neck and proud of my accomplishments for each one.

My favorite Dopey medal was the one with the jewels over the eyes. Both classy and creative!

Edit to add:
The virtual queue is making me even more nervous for the MW expo. The thought of having to wait hours after it opens to get in makes me feel like there won’t be much left if the people getting in ahead of me are resellers…

 

[kps7795]

I don’t hate the medals, but I don’t love them either. They’re in theme, but not my favorites. I know either way I’ll be happy to have them around my neck and proud of my accomplishments for each one.

My favorite Dopey medal was the one with the jewels over the eyes. Both classy and creative!

Edit to add:
The virtual queue is making me even more nervous for the MW expo. The thought of having to wait hours after it opens to get in makes me feel like I’m going to be sit in there won’t be much left if the people getting in ahead of me are resellers…

I agree with your post entirely. I LOVE my marathon medal from last year and still look at it almost every day. I really don't like these medals, but I know that I'll have an ear-to-ear grin on my face when I put it on.

Regarding the Expo, everyone NEEDS to send runDisney an email to voice our concerns about the resellers. It is beyond time for runDisney to restrict entrance to the Expo to runners (and family). Please send an email to runDisney!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Wow those medals are something else. The 5K and 10K are cute, but the others are hideous. The marathon is the worst of the bunch.

Welcome back to the ‘90s. Yes it’s my childhood but fashion and colors weren’t the best.

 

[fatmanatee]

Def think they could have done better with the medals, even within the theme, which I love. I also wouldn’t mind them moving away from trying to add so many spinner features to these. For as much as I love the 2022 set you can argue that all of them didn’t really need movement.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I think the marathon one could have been super cute if they just took the zero and made that into the medal and then on the top where it says I did it, say 30th for anniversary. I think the spinner of mickey and minnie is super cute, the big 30 just makes it look like I ran 30 miles not 26.2.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I think what bothers me the most about the medals are the prominent "30" and "10" for the marathon and Dopey anniversary years. They didn't do that for the 20 or 25th anniversary marathons that I ran. And for Dopey, it's my first/last time doing it, so I'd rather they highlighted the total number of miles ran instead of the 10th anniversary. Makes the medals look like they're a 30-miler and 10-miler.

The 10th year of Goofy was also a big 10. That was back in 2015, so it's not an entirely new concept. Loved that medal too.

 

[PrincessV]

I'd agree that focusing on effort (super easy) and daily duration are going to be the tickets. And you know me, I advocate for less on the long runs and more in the midweek when it's committable. If you can do a 3hr max weekend run with three 60 min midweek runs, then I think that's better than a 4hr max weekend run with two 60 min midweek runs despite being the same total duration volume. In my experience, if you can run a HM under 3:05, and train for six hours in peak week (spread out), then you have a good chance of finishing the Disney marathon.

I'd also add one more thing. As the long runs continue, the effort will increase, but if at any point you start to see a fade in the pacing much more than 15-20 sec/mile, then it's time to be done with the workout. For example, if you start out at a 14:00 min/mile, you run, you walk, you stand and stretch, but after about 120 min of this routine those 14:00 min/miles become 14:30 or 15:00 min/miles (and not because of hills or sudden change in weather), then it's probably time to end the workout regardless of whatever duration goal you had in mind at the start. The fade is the warning sign that you've gone too far/too hard physically. You're better off ending there and adjusting your training plan moving forward.

Thanks DB! Alas, my schedule and body only allow for 2 mid-week short-ish runs, and sometimes a 20-min short 3rd. But that’s all I’ve ever done for marathon/Dopey training, so I‘m not worried about that part. And those are feeling normal again, thankfully.

The fading thing I get, but is very, very hard to view in the moment because I’m in FL: there’s nearly always a natural fade in pace thanks to sunrise and the air heating up over a couple hours. Even after 30 years of running (and existing lol) in it, I have a hard time determining if I’m just hot or actually fatigued. I’m thinking my best bet will be to do a route that circles a big park so everything past around 15 miles is within a mile of my car - much easier to make an assessment and call it if I don’t still have miles to get back home.

 

[Baloo in MI]

As the 80’s were part of my formative years I do love just about everything 80’s and 90’s. But for some reason these medals are just not what I hoped. Will I be proud to earn them and wear them, yes. And will I like the theme in the merch, I know I will! But I think I would have preferred a simpler medal design for the significant anniversaries of the marathon and Dopey. The medals feel like runDisney tried too hard.

Hey good luck to everyone racing at Wine & Dine this weekend!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So slightly rando question, I am going WDW for thanksgiving break. I have resort days that I want to run on but AKL does not have running trails. How realistic is it, to have my parents drop me off in the rental car at some of these places and just tell the guard I am there to run. Will they let me in or am I going to have to play the bus hop game of going to AK to then go to a resort. I was think of running around Pop and Art of Animation on one day and Epcot run on the boardwalk to swan and dolphin another day. Thoughts?

 

[Naomeri]

Do you still love the medals having now seen them in person?

I definitely love the 2 medals I’ll be getting (10K and Half) but I totally get the design complaints on some of the others though. If I were running Dopey, I’d be kind of sad that it barely shows the total mileage of the challenge.

 

[jmasgat]

So slightly rando question, I am going WDW for thanksgiving break. I have resort days that I want to run on but AKL does not have running trails. How realistic is it, to have my parents drop me off in the rental car at some of these places and just tell the guard I am there to run. Will they let me in or am I going to have to play the bus hop game of going to AK to then go to a resort. I was think of running around Pop and Art of Animation on one day and Epcot run on the boardwalk to swan and dolphin another day. Thoughts?

Boardwalk should be easy, since there are plenty of places to be dropped off without having to go through Disney (think Swan/Dolphin). You could also be dropped off at TTC and do a nice run through Poly to GF to MK to Contemporary. The other resorts might turn you away depending on crowds. Sometimes they have the "only guests at this resort...." policy and won't let you in.

 

[pluto377]

I love the medals I'll be getting- 5K, 10K and Half. I'm not so fond of the others, so I'm glad I'm not doing Dopey this year! Even though I think these are fun and I do like them, I'm hoping next year's medals go back to a more traditional look.

 

[kps7795]

I definitely love the 2 medals I’ll be getting (10K and Half) but I totally get the design complaints on some of the others though. If I were running Dopey, I’d be kind of sad that it barely shows the total mileage of the challenge.

How about the marathon medal? I’m so disappointed that THIS is the 30th Anniversary medal!

 

[PointerPower]

Whyyyy is the marathon medal so bad?! I'd honestly prefer if it was just the part that is the zero instead of the full 30 and saying "I Did It!"...I have a personal dislike for that saying.

Me too - The 'I did It!' phrase just annoys me. Of course you did it - you did do it! It's almost like prefacing a comment by, 'to be honest..'. Don't tell me 'to be honest ..' before you talk, because I expect you to be honest. I expect someone wearing a shirt/medal/etc to have done it - don't tell me again that you did it. Rant over lol.