Official Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend - The Dark Side 2017

[tkbk]

Been lurking here, hello everyone. What a happy day, not only did corral assignments and the course map come out but our shirts arrived in the mail! We will be supporting our troops!

 

[Ariel484]

They did for the 10K Marathon weekend, and maybe the 5K (I wasn't really paying attention and may have missed that!). I don't recall them doing it for the marathon, though.

This is what I remember too - 5K and 10K had mini waves, marathon did not.

At Princess, all 3 races had the mini waves...for the half (which had P corrals) I don't think the mini-waves started until Corral E or something, can't quite remember.

 

[Dopey Devon]

I know disney don't publish the 5k corrals but does anyone have a rough idea what they will be? are they about 1000 people in each one or not? I know we can't know until we get our bibs at the expo but was just wondering

 

[Cyn]

Well add me to G.....seems I forgot to submit my POT even though I normally would be a C or D. Seems if I would have just put 2:46 I would be up an entire corral. Oh well, no worries my training pace has been awesome lately so I will still have a great time.

 

[wehrengrizz]

Speculation time! Looking at the 5K map, we're running back past the east side of Spaceship Earth, so, since that leaves the western part as "the Dark Side" ( ) even during sunrise...AKA perfect non-running area to have a sweet setup for a Death Star projection! Dear runDisney, DO IT!!!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I'm in corral G and not happy about it. Put a real damper on my morning. Based on my 3:06 from Light Side, I'm in the "correct" corral, but I do not like all non proof of time or 3:15+ runners being grouped in with the under 3:15 runners.

I'd like to hope that the open lanes to start the course will balance this out and the 3 hour finishers will mitigate what could be a problem. I know I'm not fast, but these corrals are strange.

Based on the event guide, all Kessel Run finishers are also eligible for 10th anniversary coast to coast because the only way to be eligible for Coast to Coast at Dark Side is to also be eligible for Kessel Run.

 

[cavepig]

Did 5k and 10k come out?

No, you find out when you get your bib on those.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

My sister and I both got corral E. The whole thing is a bit strange to me, though. The huge corrals for F and G are crazy, and I don't see how they could possibly not split that into waves. I'm thinking they probably will, and the smaller number of corrals is maybe a space/set-up thing. I guess we'll see. With around 7000 in F though, even if they didn't do waves it would take quite a while for that whole corral to get started.

Some other thoughts re: the course for the half (none of them complaints, just observations)
-I'm glad that the first 4-5 miles are road. That should be good for spacing people out before getting into the first park. And then there will be a few more miles before DHS and the pathway to Epcot that gets so congested.
-Looking more closely at the Animal Kingdom section, it cuts in pretty quickly and only goes on the Everest side and out by Dinoland. So really no point where we'll be going past the Tree of Life. I would have liked to have seen that.
-Did anyone else notice the section between DHS and Epcot runs on the Boardwalk side instead of Yacht and Beach? That was interesting to see. But I love how the 10K is on the Y&B side. For Challenge runners, we get to do both sides!
-Super pumped about the almost full loop of World Showcase. They really should have used this course for Wine and Dine once they moved it to the morning and the after party wasn't a factor. But who knows, if this set-up runs smoothly maybe they will, since the site still doesn't have a start or finish point listed for this year's W&D.

Anyway, I am so incredibly happy and really hope nothing happens to cause a problem for this race. The course is reminiscent of the old Wine and Dine, with obviously a bit less DHS, but it's as close as we're going to get with the construction. So getting to run the pieces of 3 parks in one race will be great! I absolutely cannot wait!

 

[jaxonp]

No, you find out when you get your bib on those.

We knew about the 10k for the lightside this year... Is the a DL thing?

 

[Chasing Dopey]

We knew about the 10k for the lightside this year... Is the a DL thing?

It might be. There is a different company managing the races for DL.

 

[jaxonp]

Ohh, that I didn't know. Interesting. Maybe that's why DL races seem to be better run.

 

[MyFavEeyore]

Speculation time! Looking at the 5K map, we're running back past the east side of Spaceship Earth, so, since that leaves the western part as "the Dark Side" ( ) even during sunrise...AKA perfect non-running area to have a sweet setup for a Death Star projection! Dear runDisney, DO IT!!!

There are many others who would like to see this as well. But I'm just wondering what the chances are really?

 

[opusone]

Did anyone else notice the section between DHS and Epcot runs on the Boardwalk side instead of Yacht and Beach? That was interesting to see. But I love how the 10K is on the Y&B side. For Challenge runners, we get to do both sides!

Last year, they did the same thing. That is, the 10k and half went on different sides of Crescent Lake. I really liked it.

 

[AThrillingChase]

Anyone with late registration experience know how often they update the waivers? It says these are good for registration through 3/23/17. I just want to know how often I'll need to stalk the webpage for my DH's waiver to come up.

I can't give you a more exact timeline, but I missed the cutoff in January and I think I waited maybe a day more. Then I noticed updates were coming SUPER quick. Like within hours. So keep checking.

I think whatever time they choose (3 hours seems reasonable, but they could leave it 2:45) there should be no delineation of times after that. Anyone without a verifiable proof of time inside of the cutoff gets evenly split into the last 2-3 corrals. I kind of feel bad for the people in G who probably tried to be honest and were jumped by a bunch of people who were just aware of how the system works.

I realize it's a no win situation; this just seems like they handcuffed themselves by soliciting estimated finishing times in a very transparent manner.

Agree. Also I was a guinea pig back in the day when this started and we didnt know if the old rule of any POT beats none, still applied. So I gave mine (2:47) and woof. Learned that lesson!

At the end of the event guide, they show all the upcoming rD races - they already have the date for 2018 Dark Side (April 19-22) so that should put an end to any rumors that they are discontinuing this race weekend! Light side is still on hold though.

Just squeaked into Corral B

Good catch!

Wine & Dine did not do Mini waves last year. Marathon was first I think with just some of the races doing them, someone who ran marathon weekend I'm sure can chime in.

I did the full and I don't remember any waves. Unless they were just that seamless.

I am in E, and at first my reaction was why am I only 2 corrals from the end?? Then I counted and realized less than 1/3 of the runners are ahead of me, and nearly 12k behind. "This is madness!"

 

[Ndusmama]

i can run a 12 minute pace (in 90 degree weather too) but I didn't have a proof of time when I registered. So I get to be in F with everyone else. I say we have the disboards Meetup in F! Anyone in front of us can come back. Otherwise I think I am going to try getting first bus to corrals and be towards front of the let's go before minimum proof time people who aren't at that pace, and I will skip a morning Meetup. Weaving is not a fun activity.

And really why shouldn't proof of time be 3 hours.

Think they will open Viking coffee as we run by? Coffee while finishing sounds good to me.

 

[lovingeire]

They really should have used this course for Wine and Dine once they moved it to the morning and the after party wasn't a factor. But who knows, if this set-up runs smoothly maybe they will, since the site still doesn't have a start or finish point listed for this year's W&D.

Anyway, I am so incredibly happy and really hope nothing happens to cause a problem for this race. The course is reminiscent of the old Wine and Dine, with obviously a bit less DHS, but it's as close as we're going to get with the construction. So getting to run the pieces of 3 parks in one race will be great! I absolutely cannot wait!

I agree, this course is what I was expecting out of Wine & Dine. I think people would have been happier with this course for that race since it's more reminiscent of the race as a night race. I hope it's as enjoyable a course and I think it will be. Having the park time to look forward to keeps me motivated!

 

[Calfan]

Super excited to see how happy everyone is with the course. This is my first WDW runDisney race, and I've only been to WDW a handful of times, so it's hard for me to evaluate, but seeing everyone's reaction has me very fired up.

 

[Ndusmama]

Super excited to see how happy everyone is with the course. This is my first WDW runDisney race, and I've only been to WDW a handful of times, so it's hard for me to evaluate, but seeing everyone's reaction has me very fired up.

This will only be my third trip to wdw ever! It's a nice change from DL.

 

[ywgckp]

I missed out on all the excitement earlier today as I am actually at WDW right now - just got back from Rivers of Light with the family. I'm back in 3 weeks for a solo race trip.

I did the Wine and Dine last year and this course looks much better - W&D only had Animal Kingdom and a bit of Epcot, and now we get an extra park (HS), the Boardwalk, and more Epcot.

I'm coming from Canada, so I've gone from slow training due to snow to slow running due to insane heat. Hopefully it cools down over the next few weeks...

 

[The Expert]

I'm not doing this race until 2018, but hope they keep the courses for the 10K and Half!