Marathon Weekend 2023

[softballpooh]

I’ll be participating in Dopey for the first time and will have family available to support on course needs. When I completed Goofy in 2018 I was enthralled with the people who clearly had more insight than me and had family members at various spots along the marathon course to provide motivation and other items. For example, there was a guy whose wife met him in AK parking lot with coffee, a doughnut, socks, shoes, and another shirt! I was so impressed and want to replicate it myself

I know we may need to wait until the course maps are released but generally speaking, does anyone know of a good half way point where my family could meet me? I’d like to change as much clothing as possible and my socks and shoes. Miles 17-23 were absolutely brutal previously- mostly I was in my head but I was drenched from head to toe. I’m thinking a midpoint change of clothes and seeing my people may give me the boost I need to press on.

 

[HangWithMerida]

That is expert level coordination! I could see the benefits of a clean shirt and socks during a sweaty marathon. I'll be solo, so I just have to embrace the sweaty. Others will surely chime in with some advice shortly.

 

[Herding_Cats]

If you wanted to change *everything* you'd probably want a real bathroom, which is going to limit things. That would probably mean inside MK (if they recycle last year's course that's around the 10mi mark) or inside AK (which on last year's course would be around mi 17.) If you would be OK with just socks and shirt, then somewhere around the Poly would be a place you could do that and be easily accessible for them. On last year's course that was just before mile 13.

 

[jmasgat]

I’ll be participating in Dopey for the first time and will have family available to support on course needs. When I completed Goofy in 2018 I was enthralled with the people who clearly had more insight than me and had family members at various spots along the marathon course to provide motivation and other items. For example, there was a guy whose wife met him in AK parking lot with coffee, a doughnut, socks, shoes, and another shirt! I was so impressed and want to replicate it myself

I know we may need to wait until the course maps are released but generally speaking, does anyone know of a good half way point where my family could meet me? I’d like to change as much clothing as possible and my socks and shoes. Miles 17-23 were absolutely brutal previously- mostly I was in my head but I was drenched from head to toe. I’m thinking a midpoint change of clothes and seeing my people may give me the boost I need to press on.

Unless you are staying near MK, your best bet will be to have someone monorail from Epcot to TTC and then walk through Poly to get to Floridian Way/Seven Seas Drive. That will generally be between 12-13 mile mark of the course. Just search for the 2022 marathon map--it will be pretty close to that.

If you can wait til later (mile 16-17), then you would have an opportunity in AK, but getting there will be a challenge since there are road/lane closures.

 

[Baloo in MI]

I’ll be participating in Dopey for the first time and will have family available to support on course needs. When I completed Goofy in 2018 I was enthralled with the people who clearly had more insight than me and had family members at various spots along the marathon course to provide motivation and other items. For example, there was a guy whose wife met him in AK parking lot with coffee, a doughnut, socks, shoes, and another shirt! I was so impressed and want to replicate it myself

I know we may need to wait until the course maps are released but generally speaking, does anyone know of a good half way point where my family could meet me? I’d like to change as much clothing as possible and my socks and shoes. Miles 17-23 were absolutely brutal previously- mostly I was in my head but I was drenched from head to toe. I’m thinking a midpoint change of clothes and seeing my people may give me the boost I need to press on.

I have changed out clothes in a few ultras. New socks and a new shirt and I felt like a new man. And I would add the morale boost of family and friends on the course is invaluable!

Until we see the course it is hard to make suggestions on good spots to meet up if the thought is to find a solid half way point. But if we are just talking about a connection point a couple areas that might work for easy on and off the course.

• Just past cone alley as runners go by Poly & Grand Floridian
• If there is access either in or just outside AK.

Most of the years I have run the marathon these have have been past 10/less than 18 miles.

Only other thought. Be careful to get going fairly quickly. Nothing worse than cooling off and stuffing up and then facing 10ish mikes to go.

 

[YawningDodo]

I, too, envy that level of coordination. I don't know if I could actually deal with changing my clothes mid-run (I may feel gross, but it's a gross I've settled into at that point), but when I did my half marathon my friends saved my bacon by meeting me along the course with Gatorade. I'd thought I could run it without carrying my own water, but even tanking up at every water station wasn't cutting it, plus I think my body missed the electrolyte mix I normally put in my water. And yeah, having that kind of support is emotionally valuable even beyond bringing you consumables beyond what you can carry.

Actually, here's a question for the group - if I do carry my own water and bring packets of electrolyte mix, is there going to be anywhere on course I can refill my water bottles? The plan right now is to wear my double barrel hydroquiver with zero-calorie electrolyte water in both bottles (which is usually what I carry on longer training runs, with stops at home or elsewhere to refill), then use the bungies between the bottle holders to lash a bottle of Gatorade to my back to have as a backup late in the race. I'm a (very) slow runner and I drink a lot of water, but if I'm not going to be able to refill my water bottles, I might still get by if I take advantage of the water stations and then just use my own to supplement as needed. I just think maybe I should know going in so I can plan accordingly.

edit with pertinent info: I know Disney offers Powerade at the finish and (maybe?) along the course, but I can't drink Powerade. I have a corn intolerance that's particularly nasty in regards to high fructose corn syrup, which is the main sweetener in Powerade. Gatorade's safe, though.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

is there going to be anywhere on course I can refill my water bottles?

They should be able to refill your bottles for you at the hydration aid stations.

 

[YawningDodo]

They should be able to refill your bottles for you at the hydration aid stations.

Oh, awesome! That's been one of my biggest concerns.

 

[Jwild10]

This is great I never thought about fresh shirt and socks… now you have given me something else to think about!

 

[Herding_Cats]

They definitely had people at the water stations during the half and full with bigger (like 1L+) bottles of water specifically to pour into people's water bottles for their handhelds, belt, or vests.

 

[Sleepy425]

They should be able to refill your bottles for you at the hydration aid stations.

I run with a cooling towel, and almost every water station has usually had at least one person with bottles of water offering to refill personal bottles, pour them on you, or rewet a cooling towel. If there isn't if you ask someone will usually make it happen quickly. The volunteers are fantastic at getting you what you need.

 

[softballpooh]

That would probably mean inside MK (if they recycle last year's course that's around the 10mi mark) or inside AK (which on last year's course would be around mi 17.) If you would be OK with just socks and shirt, then somewhere around the Poly would be a place you could do that and be easily accessible for them.

We'll be staying at AK and they'll be happy to move along the route as needed. Priorities will be shirt, socks, and shoes. Anything beyond that will be a gift I'm thinking anytime after mile 13 would be beneficial but especially at that 17 mile marker. Thanks for this location tip!

to get to Floridian Way/Seven Seas Drive. That will generally be between 12-13 mile mark of the course.

Great suggestion! Possibly the easier location.

And I would add the morale boost of family and friends on the course is invaluable!

This is what I'm going to need the most! I did the last one with my sister and she absolutely carried me mentally through those miles. I'm going solo this time but she's my cheer squad. She's the one who had the idea to meet me along the course.

Be careful to get going fairly quickly. Nothing worse than cooling off and stuffing up and then facing 10ish mikes to go.

Yes! Great reminder!

Thank you all so much! This is so helpful!

 

[GreatLakes]

If the outcome of the draw of the lottery has no value why would anybody pay for it once the draw has been made? Under Florida law, it doesn't have to be a cash value for it to be considered something of value and for the law to apply. Who pays cash for something that has no kind of value anyway?

As far as I am aware runDisney does not have a gambling license in Florida. They may not run any form of raffle or lottery.

When we were all in the entry process we were all given a number visible on the screen. If that's a number for a place in a virtual line fair enough, but if it's a number for a lucky draw that's gambling. As we know that people were able to arrive late and get short or even zero wait times we know it wasn't a line. That only leaves one option.

This wouldn't be to bring any particular lawsuit against runDisney (although they may want to take a real hard look at the New York Marathon Lottery case) but it might make them much more transparent about what they do when people enter the waiting process for entry to an event.

If someone did take this to court, nobody would be laughing except the lawyers (on both sides).

Who wouldn't like the whole process to be more open and transparent? If it is just a line then there is no need for people to have multiple open browsers on multiple computers, your place in line is shown on your screen, and opening a second browser will always give you a later place in line so there would be no point. Wouldn't this make the website much less likely to crash?

What would be more expensive for runDisney, to pay annually for a Florida gambling license, or to fix their race entry system?

You aren't paying cash to get into the queue, you are getting into a random queue to have the opportunity to pay for a registration. All you'd be doing is making some lawyers some easy money trying to sue over this.

 

[sandam1]

I know we may need to wait until the course maps are released but generally speaking, does anyone know of a good half way point where my family could meet me?

My best friend/race support crew usually meets me in the Magic Kingdom. It's before the halfway point, but it is a special moment for the two of us to share and considering how many early morning wake-ups she endures to humor my runDisney obsession, it's important to both of us to have this. I'm not going to ask her to stand at the side of a random road, waiting for me.

I've passed her non-working headphones and a jacket in the past and usually she carries extra fuel (applesauce and sportsbeans) for me. But nothing more elaborate than that.

 

[sandam1]

So I'm talking to my best friend/travel partner today and we are going through how we both envision the race weekend going since I'd like to get some preliminary plans (hotel, car) set up. As the conversation goes on , she says something about "both races" for her. What???? I'm in for Dopey and she decided to do the 10K this year - as opposed to the 5K that we've done together in the past. Right? No, apparently, she thought that she was doing both the 5K and the 10K.

And then, after listening to me on Tuesday vent for about 20 minutes about the way registration day went, she actually asks "well, is it too late to add the 5K for me now?" WHAAAAAAAT!!!! Palm in hand - repeatedly - only because there wasn't a brick wall to pound my head against.

Now I need to 1) hope that more 5K spots become available and that I can grab one (not counting on it) or 2) find a charity with a reasonable fundraising goal ($500 is not a reasonable goal for a 5K bib IMHO) that I can grab. Kill me now!

 

[YawningDodo]

Might have jumped the gun, but I went ahead and booked my airline tickets - blew a bunch of miles on getting first class for the trip back, but I think a lay-flat seat on the first leg two days after the marathon will be welcome. Going down January 6, coming back the 10th. Gives me one day in the parks (probably just Epcot, maybe also DHS) after the marathon itself.

 

[GreatLakes]

I find it very interesting that as of right now (about 4.5 hours after opening), all of the virtual race options are still open. I would have thought that, with Tuesday's carnage, that people would have shifted to the virtual option. Maybe Disney did too?

Frankly I'm not sure why Disney limits the virtuals at all. They should have enough clout to get more medals and shirts produced if they oversell their initial allotment.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I either saw you posted this in an rD FB page or someone else had the same thing happen to them! Already had donations and everything. Ugh what a mess this has all been!

I was pretty bummed out, but the young woman who called me was extremely nice and apologetic about it. Like someone else said, the system allowed an extra almost 100 people to register after it had sold out.

I had a weird experience with registration because it wasn’t clear which fundraising level you had to choose when you registered. I have my own room already at BC so I picked the level that didn’t require a hotel stay in my initial registration. It was only after that they put a note on the website which said you had to choose the higher one for Dopey regardless. So, I panicked and did another registration under a different email address, which was also accepted. It turns out they cancelled my initial registration (done within the first minute), and kept the second one (done 14 minutes after). Customer service assured me I was good to go when I reached out.

When I explained all of this to the woman on Friday, she said she *might* be able to make a case for me to be at the top of the waitlist since I had a time stamped registration within the first minute which was cancelled for no apparent reason. So, There IS a chance I still get a Dopey bib. She said worst case scenario, they would probably be willing to buy back my Goofy bib if I’d like to still partner with them, which I would.

 

[Baloo in MI]

SAFD:

Good Morning runDisney Allstars! It is Sunday, so here is your question this week. Since we seemed to have lots of new folks on the thread this week, SAFD = Sundays Are For Disney a weekly question that is put out and everyone who wants can answer. Questions range from running specific to Disney items. Hope you will join in.

Question: As has been our tradition after registration for WDW Marathon Weekend It is time to talk goals. Fair to note this year’s registration left much to be desired. If you ended up on the wrong end of sell outs please maybe share goals for a different race you are thinking about. So…. Share what you got and what your goals are For MW. They can be about any part of the weekend. Examples: looking to PR one race or all six races, hoping to stay ahead of the Ballon Ladies, rock incredible costumes, eat all the snacks, drink all the drinks, ride a particular ride during the race, have fun with family, etc.

My Answer:
I was able to get Dopey for myself and the Half Marathon for my daughter. My goals are simple this year. Be faster than last year in all four races, and a reach goal of all four races in under 8 hours. And enjoy all the snacks!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

SAFF: My goal is to run my first marathon. I want my pace to be under 6 hours to have time to stop at a characters and I also want to end with a drink. I would like to ride everest but I think I might be to worried for that one.