How many miles of Congestion?

[Pennyguy23]

How long does it take for the Congestion to go down. I will start at pretty close to the back fo the pack of the Full Marathon. Thanks for the help.

 

[dsnyfan21]

For awhile. For the half I don't think I came out of the "congestion" until I got past the Poly parkinglot area whic I think is around mile7-8. I was at the Water Stop Mile 11 for the full and the racers seemed pretty together most of the time.
Remeber that this will be doing a race with 30,000 of your bestest friends. Most people aren't out their to PR. - mostly because of the fact that it is a bit congested. I would say the first 4 miles tend to be the "worst" as people get there paces set up.

I'm sure more people can help with this.

Tracy

 

[Pennyguy23]

I guess what I meant to say was how long until you can actually run/jog your pace. What would you say the pace is for the first couple miles? I'm not going for a PR but I guess it would be because it will be my first Marathon

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

The pace for the first bit is ideally that of your corral placement. So, the theory is that you will be flowing at relatively the same pace as your corral mates. If you've got a fast game on, be wary of that fast start. We all tend to go out too fast and will burn out unless we are mindful of our pace.

Back of the pack is congested, but I find myself getting my pace on rather quickly, big thing for me back there is to keep it at my comfort level and to pay attention to not going too fast too quickly.

There are folks in all of the corrals that for whatever reason will have injury, or a bad day. The congestion will take a few miles--until after the merge (after Epcot?) to sort itself and you will have some better on-pace stretches. The miles are filled with weaving and as the roads widen and narrow along the entire route there will be bunching. You should have a decent pace early where the road is wide and hopefully back of the pack-wise be at the pace you want.