Marathon Weekend 2023

[jpeterson]

I typically run from one of the first two corrals and I'm always shocked at how so many characters don't have any line at all.

The very first character will usually have a bit of a longer line and a few fan favorites like Mickey. Surprisingly, I usually end up stopping at nearly every character just because the line is less than 5 people.

The one exception is at the end of the race when I'm ready to be done. Seems a lot of people feel that way because there usually isn't any lines at the end.

I've only done the half at Disney but the lines got shorter and shorter as the race went on. All my character stops were from the second half of the race for that reason.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I've never really stopped for pictures in the marathon in prior years. I think my daughter and I did one back in 2018 (Grave Diggers), but that's it. I think I'm going to try and stop for every character pic this year. That sounds like a fun new experience, plus I will welcome the breaks since my Oct/Nov training wasn't ideal. I think I'll start in Corral A, and hope to maintain something under 9 minutes when running. About how many picture opportunities are there on the marathon course? Also, are the lines pretty consistent throughout the course or do they vary a lot based on location (park, non-park), character, and place on the course (early, middle, late)? thanks for any input

You won't see much of any character lines from Corral A. The majority of the faster runners don't stop for character pics, and even when they do it takes like 5-10 sec at the most. Almost never lines. This youtube video is from RunArnoRun's 2020 HM in which he started at the very front of Corral A, maintained just about 2 hour HM pace, and he typically stops for most every character.

This Arno video is from the 2020 M and he ran the first half at about 10:30 pace.

Lastly, this Arno video is from 2018 M and he ran it just under 4 hours. First 5 miles in under 7:30 m/m, 7:45 through 10, 8:00 through HM, 8:52 through 20.

Based on past races, about 5-7% of runners at the runDisney marathon will finish under 4 hours.

ETA - I will add that if someone goes faster, like 6-7 min/mile pace, then I've had many occurrences where the characters aren't even out yet and/or the photographers aren't prepared for people. So it can be hit or miss sometimes in case someone else in that pace range is reading my past experiences.

 

[fatmanatee]

You won't see much of any character lines from Corral A. The majority of the faster runners don't stop for character pics, and even when they do it takes like 5-10 sec at the most. Almost never lines. This youtube video is from RunArnoRun's 2020 HM in which he started at the very front of Corral A, maintained just about 2 hour HM pace, and he typically stops for most every character.

This Arno video is from the 2020 M and he ran the first half at about 10:30 pace.

Lastly, this Arno video is from 2018 M and he ran it just under 4 hours. First 5 miles in under 7:30 m/m, 7:45 through 10, 8:00 through HM, 8:52 through 20.

Based on past races, about 5-7% of runners at the runDisney marathon will finish under 4 hours.

ETA - I will add that if someone goes faster, like 6-7 min/mile pace, then I've had many occurrences where the characters aren't even out yet and/or the photographers aren't prepared for people. So it can be hit or miss sometimes in case someone else in that pace range is reading my past experiences.

My fave RD vlogger!

 

[Herding_Cats]

And as a tangential experience with someone who starts out in the back part of the pack (S5 last year) the line for Mickey had been closed by the time I got there (MK) during the half. If you know the course, sometimes you see that character stops are set up in the median of the highway lanes, and you'll be running back on the other side later in the race, so when there was a HUGE line for some of the fairies from the tinkerbell series at the beginning of the race, it was WAY shorter when we came back past near the end of the race.

 

[cburnett11]

Thanks everyone for all the input on picture stops. All of the information was helpful and encouraging. I sorta assumed that the earlier stops would have more interest and then some of this would fade... as people decide they don't want to wait except for special/rare characters, they worry about their time, they worry about the sun coming out, or they are just wanting the marathon to end. I sounds like there were a ton of characters last year. I'll have to pay attention because I can be fairly unobservant sometimes.

I had forgotten about Arno. I watched that marathon before, so that gives me a good idea. He was right at the front and took off fast. I certainly won't start as fast as he did, but hopefully I can run reasonably even.

This will be #6 WDW marathon for me. Twice I "raced it" (my first marathon in 2016... aka gateway drug into marathoning and then again in 2017), so would not have considered stopping for pics. And then the other 3 times I've done this with either my daughter or wife and they were both too concerned with getting swept to want to invest any time in the lines.

 

[Baloo in MI]

I backpacked Grand Island in October 2020 and it was SO beautiful. I loved it so much.

How cool! That would be a great place to backpack.

 

[Naomeri]

I've never really stopped for pictures in the marathon in prior years. I think my daughter and I did one back in 2018 (Grave Diggers), but that's it. I think I'm going to try and stop for every character pic this year. That sounds like a fun new experience, plus I will welcome the breaks since my Oct/Nov training wasn't ideal. I think I'll start in Corral A, and hope to maintain something under 9 minutes when running. About how many picture opportunities are there on the marathon course? Also, are the lines pretty consistent throughout the course or do they vary a lot based on location (park, non-park), character, and place on the course (early, middle, late)? thanks for any input

Can’t speak to the marathon, but I started at the front of B for the W&D Half last month (as a Club runDisney member running 13-14 min/mile) and stopped for 16 pictures (and a selfie) and averaged just over 3 minutes/line. I think I only skipped 2 photo stops. With your speed, I can’t imagine you’d have a problem stopping for anything and everything you want.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Last year my training didn't feel great and I had an *amazing* race, but this seems different and I don't know where the line is between having a positive mindset and being realistic about just trying to survive.

I was in a tough place mentally the day before I flew out for the 2022 Marathon weekend. My training had been fine, so I'm not sure what the issue was. I decided to acknowledge that I felt off and focus on the fact that I was going to Disney World with some park time after the races. Looking back I think that trying to reset my mental state of mind helped me not worry about feeling off. Ultimately, I bested my 2019 PR by around 10 minutes. Sometimes trying to survive can mess with a positive mindset so I think it helps me to go with what the race brings instead of focusing on what may not be that day. If running is supposed to reduce my stress, then I try not to worry about my pace so long as it's good enough to finish.

I've never really stopped for pictures in the marathon in prior years. I think my daughter and I did one back in 2018 (Grave Diggers), but that's it. I think I'm going to try and stop for every character pic this year. That sounds like a fun new experience, plus I will welcome the breaks since my Oct/Nov training wasn't ideal. I think I'll start in Corral A, and hope to maintain something under 9 minutes when running. About how many picture opportunities are there on the marathon course? Also, are the lines pretty consistent throughout the course or do they vary a lot based on location (park, non-park), character, and place on the course (early, middle, late)? thanks for any input

I'm a back of the pack runner and I've seen all sorts of character waits. Some short, some long. I've probably had some 5-10 minute waits. Accordingly I know that I cannot stop for every character and when I know what characters are going to be where during the race courtesy of the DIS chat setup, then I can prioritize what characters matter more or most and which ones I can skip. As it is, I will not stop for characters that hold no interest to me.

 

[The Expert]

Can’t speak to the marathon, but I started at the front of B for the W&D Half last month (as a Club runDisney member running 13-14 min/mile) and stopped for 16 pictures (and a selfie) and averaged just over 3 minutes/line. I think I only skipped 2 photo stops. With your speed, I can’t imagine you’d have a problem stopping for anything and everything you want.

Hmmmmm this makes me think I might have to set a goal for every race pic for Dopey this year. I also have upgraded corral placement, which I didn't get to use for the W&D 5K as I walked it with my stepdad and dropped back to his corral.

The only one that may trip me up is the full, since I am a solid 6+ hour marathoner thus far. Anybody with math skills care to guess if it's even worth trying??

 

[Naomeri]

Hmmmmm this makes me think I might have to set a goal for every race pic for Dopey this year. I also have upgraded corral placement, which I didn't get to use for the W&D 5K as I walked it with my stepdad and dropped back to his corral.

The only one that may trip me up is the full, since I am a solid 6+ hour marathoner thus far. Anybody with math skills care to guess if it's even worth trying??

My W&D half was just under 4 hours, if that helps at all

 

[GreatLakes]

I’ve heard things about the north country trail 50k out of wellston, mi. Might try to get DH to hike it with me this summer and decide if I’m insane enough to think about signing up for it. Downside is I think it’s in august

I'm not sure yet which one I'll do. I have the goal of running one race in each state that is at least a half marathon. I'll probably try to knock out a new state and make it a trip. My leading candidates would be NH or VT right now.

 

[stiebermom]

We are newbies to rundisney. Where would I find the map of the January 2023 half marathon? Also, are there official post-race parties? Thanks for our help.

 

[Cabius]

We are newbies to rundisney. Where would I find the map of the January 2023 half marathon? Also, are there official post-race parties? Thanks for our help.

Welcome!

The official event guide hasn't yet been released, but there were leaks posted via one of the sponsored charities a few pages back. You can find a large version of the images here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2023.3863625/page-291#post-64481279

 

[jpeterson]

We are newbies to rundisney. Where would I find the map of the January 2023 half marathon? Also, are there official post-race parties? Thanks for our help.

The 2023 maps haven't been released yet. Should be out anytime now.

There are no official after parties for any races except Wine and Dine.

 

[fatmanatee]

Hmmmmm this makes me think I might have to set a goal for every race pic for Dopey this year. I also have upgraded corral placement, which I didn't get to use for the W&D 5K as I walked it with my stepdad and dropped back to his corral.

The only one that may trip me up is the full, since I am a solid 6+ hour marathoner thus far. Anybody with math skills care to guess if it's even worth trying??

This is where I wish I knew where that blog post was bc the woman who wrote it and had done all the stops saw the balloon ladies, so she’d have a feel for the pace required to do this. IIRC it was pre 2020 and she saw them at WWOS from across the loop somewhere (??). So they weren’t pressing but she knew she couldn’t slow down too much.

Anyway, i think you get a head start of about an hour on the balloon ladies (unless there are heat concerns again, I don’t know when they had started this year but it was def earlier). 16 min per mile pace gives you roughly a 7 hour marathon, so if you ran the full in 6 hours, I think that’s two hours to be spent on character stops max.

 

[1lilspark]

We are newbies to rundisney. Where would I find the map of the January 2023 half marathon? Also, are there official post-race parties? Thanks for our help.

Like previous posters said the guides unofficially came out via a charity but the official guide with both course maps as well as pre/post race staging & expo layout will release soon enough

Wine & Dine is the only event with an official after party hard ticket though I do know this weekend is adjacent to a few Disney after hours events if not already sold out… also the fine folks here on the DIS have group meets

 

[lukemorenus]

We are newbies to rundisney. Where would I find the map of the January 2023 half marathon? Also, are there official post-race parties? Thanks for our help.

 

[kps7795]

We are newbies to rundisney. Where would I find the map of the January 2023 half marathon? Also, are there official post-race parties? Thanks for our help.

Keep in mind that the most important part of post-race activities is wearing your medal to the parks. Have a great race!

 

[FFigawi]

Keep in mind that the most important part of post-race activities is wearing your medal to the parks. Have a great race!

Keep in mind that the most important part of post-race activities is parking lot beers

Fixed it for you

 

[Herding_Cats]

Course map leaks have made it to the FB groups. How do we still not have an event guide? What else is there that would be different? *sigh*