Marathon Weekend 2020

What’s with all the missed splits sprinkled throughout the results? Does the RFID glitch out that often or is it something the runner does when hitting the mat? If my results had a missed split it would drive me insane!
I had a missed split during the Vancouver 8K (which ran at the same time as the marathon). I straight up ran outside the bounds of the timing mat because it didn’t extend across the entire path and I was passing a large pack. Realized it directly afterward and felt really stupid. Otherwise, chips do malfunction on occasion.
 
Let me start by saying that I am so proud of everyone who finished the marathon, whether you ran the full course or the shortened course. The conditions were brutal out there from the beginning. I am especially proud of @Neon Cactus who was given the option to skip Blizzard Beach but chose to run it anyway. You are a rock star!

However, as someone who ran the full course but was severely affected by the course change, I am still struggling with my performance.

The cumulative fatigue from five days in the parks (even though I took it easy), running the 5k and 10k, and the extra 20 minutes waiting in my corral combined with the heat and humidity made for a very slow start. I am prone to heat illness and fainting, so I had to make sure my hydration game was on point. I felt like it was better to spend time in the restroom then to end up on the side of the course with an IV. I probably could have made do with a few less restroom stops, but I had it stuck in my head that I needed to take advantage of real restrooms (which of course had much longer lines).

Due to the heat I decided to walk (and enjoy) the parks on the back half of the course, resuming running intervals in between. But, what I am struggling with was the aftermath of the course modifications. I received the text that the course had been modified as I was exiting Blizzard Beach. I wasn’t sure what that meant until I exited the parking lot and turned right. All of the back of the pack runners, that I was only a couple of miles ahead of at this point, were being merged into the course in front of me. Once I reached the merge, the course had narrowed and everyone was walking. So, I walked the final 6+ miles of the course adding what I estimate to be 25 minutes to my overall time.

I did make the best of things and stopped to see Pluto a second time on the Boardwalk and diverted 1/10 mile (each way) from the course to purchase my Finish Line Margarita. But, only about 150 runners finished behind me. Who knows how many hundreds of runners that were once behind me had finished in front of me. I know these are not normal circumstances, but it is still nagging at me that I performed so poorly.

I think you all know what these thoughts are leading to...but I just don’t know...
 
Let me start by saying that I am so proud of everyone who finished the marathon, whether you ran the full course or the shortened course. The conditions were brutal out there from the beginning. I am especially proud of @Neon Cactus who was given the option to skip Blizzard Beach but chose to run it anyway. You are a rock star!

However, as someone who ran the full course but was severely affected by the course change, I am still struggling with my performance.

The cumulative fatigue from five days in the parks (even though I took it easy), running the 5k and 10k, and the extra 20 minutes waiting in my corral combined with the heat and humidity made for a very slow start. I am prone to heat illness and fainting, so I had to make sure my hydration game was on point. I felt like it was better to spend time in the restroom then to end up on the side of the course with an IV. I probably could have made do with a few less restroom stops, but I had it stuck in my head that I needed to take advantage of real restrooms (which of course had much longer lines).

Due to the heat I decided to walk (and enjoy) the parks on the back half of the course, resuming running intervals in between. But, what I am struggling with was the aftermath of the course modifications. I received the text that the course had been modified as I was exiting Blizzard Beach. I wasn’t sure what that meant until I exited the parking lot and turned right. All of the back of the pack runners, that I was only a couple of miles ahead of at this point, were being merged into the course in front of me. Once I reached the merge, the course had narrowed and everyone was walking. So, I walked the final 6+ miles of the course adding what I estimate to be 25 minutes to my overall time.

I did make the best of things and stopped to see Pluto a second time on the Boardwalk and diverted 1/10 mile (each way) from the course to purchase my Finish Line Margarita. But, only about 150 runners finished behind me. Who knows how many hundreds of runners that were once behind me had finished in front of me. I know these are not normal circumstances, but it is still nagging at me that I performed so poorly.

I think you all know what these thoughts are leading to...but I just don’t know...

You didn’t perform poorly, though. You took race conditions that were potentially dangerous to your health, crafted a strategy to make it through those conditions safely and then executed that strategy. That takes more skill and self-awareness than going out there and running the race at the paces you’d trained for under more normal conditions. You have to race under the conditions that the race presents to you, not the conditions that you’d like to have. YOU are the rock star for getting through. Give yourself the credit you deserve.

I understand the feeling of not having a time that reflects what you are capable of, though. I was in the same boat after running my first marathon rehabbing a serious injury. Look for a race that will have a better likelihood of good conditions, train up for it and go crush it!
 
Now I'm genuinely curious as to her motivation only running 12 miles of the marathon and that being her plan all along. Nothing wrong with it, just curious.

Yeah, same here. LOL. She lives in Orlando so I guess she doesn't have to pay for lodging and I know she is training for Boston, but I don't know the rationale behind paying for the full to only essentially run a half marathon. :confused3 I'm not close enough to her to ask, because I was definitely curious as well.
 


Let me start by saying that I am so proud of everyone who finished the marathon, whether you ran the full course or the shortened course. The conditions were brutal out there from the beginning. I am especially proud of @Neon Cactus who was given the option to skip Blizzard Beach but chose to run it anyway. You are a rock star!

However, as someone who ran the full course but was severely affected by the course change, I am still struggling with my performance.

The cumulative fatigue from five days in the parks (even though I took it easy), running the 5k and 10k, and the extra 20 minutes waiting in my corral combined with the heat and humidity made for a very slow start. I am prone to heat illness and fainting, so I had to make sure my hydration game was on point. I felt like it was better to spend time in the restroom then to end up on the side of the course with an IV. I probably could have made do with a few less restroom stops, but I had it stuck in my head that I needed to take advantage of real restrooms (which of course had much longer lines).

Due to the heat I decided to walk (and enjoy) the parks on the back half of the course, resuming running intervals in between. But, what I am struggling with was the aftermath of the course modifications. I received the text that the course had been modified as I was exiting Blizzard Beach. I wasn’t sure what that meant until I exited the parking lot and turned right. All of the back of the pack runners, that I was only a couple of miles ahead of at this point, were being merged into the course in front of me. Once I reached the merge, the course had narrowed and everyone was walking. So, I walked the final 6+ miles of the course adding what I estimate to be 25 minutes to my overall time.

I did make the best of things and stopped to see Pluto a second time on the Boardwalk and diverted 1/10 mile (each way) from the course to purchase my Finish Line Margarita. But, only about 150 runners finished behind me. Who knows how many hundreds of runners that were once behind me had finished in front of me. I know these are not normal circumstances, but it is still nagging at me that I performed so poorly.

I think you all know what these thoughts are leading to...but I just don’t know...
Thanks for the shout out. I’m glad I was given the option to do the whole course. You did great though. Don’t get down on yourself. Given the conditions, and knowing your tendencies with the heat, you took care of yourself and finished. And got the finish line margarita. You should be proud of yourself!
 
Let me start by saying that I am so proud of everyone who finished the marathon, whether you ran the full course or the shortened course. The conditions were brutal out there from the beginning. I am especially proud of @Neon Cactus who was given the option to skip Blizzard Beach but chose to run it anyway. You are a rock star!

However, as someone who ran the full course but was severely affected by the course change, I am still struggling with my performance.

The cumulative fatigue from five days in the parks (even though I took it easy), running the 5k and 10k, and the extra 20 minutes waiting in my corral combined with the heat and humidity made for a very slow start. I am prone to heat illness and fainting, so I had to make sure my hydration game was on point. I felt like it was better to spend time in the restroom then to end up on the side of the course with an IV. I probably could have made do with a few less restroom stops, but I had it stuck in my head that I needed to take advantage of real restrooms (which of course had much longer lines).

Due to the heat I decided to walk (and enjoy) the parks on the back half of the course, resuming running intervals in between. But, what I am struggling with was the aftermath of the course modifications. I received the text that the course had been modified as I was exiting Blizzard Beach. I wasn’t sure what that meant until I exited the parking lot and turned right. All of the back of the pack runners, that I was only a couple of miles ahead of at this point, were being merged into the course in front of me. Once I reached the merge, the course had narrowed and everyone was walking. So, I walked the final 6+ miles of the course adding what I estimate to be 25 minutes to my overall time.

I did make the best of things and stopped to see Pluto a second time on the Boardwalk and diverted 1/10 mile (each way) from the course to purchase my Finish Line Margarita. But, only about 150 runners finished behind me. Who knows how many hundreds of runners that were once behind me had finished in front of me. I know these are not normal circumstances, but it is still nagging at me that I performed so poorly.

I think you all know what these thoughts are leading to...but I just don’t know...
Despite the rankings, which you know is not accurate given the course change, I think you had a successful race. You made the best of the situation, finished a marathon healthy and with a margarita!

It was pretty scary out there, seeing people sick on the side of the road, others hooked up to an IV. You made the best decision.

I was second guessing myself as well. If I had ran a little faster during this portion or if I didn’t drink the night before, maybe I wouldn’t feel so crappy. But, I knew that if I pushed myself any more, I would have been in one of those ambulances. And I needed to be in a good state for DATW!

If you want to go back for 2021, do it because you enjoy the weekend but not because you feel like you performed poorly, because you didn’t! You did amazing! Congratulations!
 
Curious as to what everyone’s smart watch shows as their mileage for the full marathon. My Apple Watch Nike+ shows I ran 26.7
 


26.76 for me. In Corral D with lots of walking/ weaving/ poor tangents. I’m surprised it is not more.

27.09 😆😂🤣
That includes 6 restroom stops, 4 characters stops (5 if you include Adventures Club) and a 1/10 mile detour to purchase my Finish Line Margarita!

Mine said 26.63. I started in A so didn’t have much weaving but I strayed off the course for 12 character pics + castle pic and 3 bathroom breaks.


I was at the front of Corral A and thought I hit the tangents pretty well, but still ran 26.7. I wonder if all the turns threw me off line more than I realized...I was alone with nobody to follow a lot of the time, never stopped for the bathroom or character pics.
 
Curious as to what everyone’s smart watch shows as their mileage for the full marathon. My Apple Watch Nike+ shows I ran 26.7

My Garmin 935 showed 26.62 miles. That’s pretty typical for the WDW Marathon for me. I’ve run it 5 times and 4 have been in the 26.60 to 26.69 mile range. The other one was my first marathon and it came in at 26.99 miles. I guess I’m pretty consistently bad at hitting the tangents.
 
Curious as to what everyone’s smart watch shows as their mileage for the full marathon. My Apple Watch Nike+ shows I ran 26.7

26.82, which includes stopping for 18 pictures. I started in C corral and definitely did my fair bit of weaving around the crowds and I’m never good with tangents.
 
Last edited:
My half says 13.51 and full says 26.63. Pretty similar to others. I started in D but didn’t feel like I had to weave, just stayed to the right & didn’t run tangents because I was doing intervals for the first time and terrified of stopping dead in front of anybody who was running.
 
Curious as to what everyone’s smart watch shows as their mileage for the full marathon. My Apple Watch Nike+ shows I ran 26.7
My Garmin 230 said 26.99 miles, which included two bathroom breaks and about a dozen character stops. There were so many tight turns in this new course that hitting the tangents was probably impossible, anyway. Last year, though, I had 27.49, which included almost all the character stops. In 2016, I had 26.22 miles, but I made no stops at all. In 2016, I had a Garmin Forerunner 10.
 
Thinking back, in 2016 my watch battery died in WWoS. The Forerunner 10 battery didn’t last long enough for me to run a marathon. I manually put in the distance, so that’s not what I actually had. I think my watch made it to mile 19.
 

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!





Top