Marathon-Last Corral?

[beckyb29]

Hi everyone!

My husband and I are signed up for a half marathon in a few weeks, but it does not look like we'll be able to go (work getting in the way). We were going to use it to submit a time for the WDW marathon to hopefully not be in the last corral. We estimated that we would finish the half in about 2:40. (I have fun half marathons in the past, but have never run a Full).

So...now that we will be placed in the last corral, I'm a little worried. Will we still have time to take photos along the course, or are we doomed to fear the balloon ladies and have to skip photo ops? (Having never run a WDW race, I have no idea how long the lines can be).

Any info or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ariel484]

Hi everyone!

My husband and I are signed up for a half marathon in a few weeks, but it does not look like we'll be able to go (work getting in the way). We were going to use it to submit a time for the WDW marathon to hopefully not be in the last corral. We estimated that we would finish the half in about 2:40. (I have fun half marathons in the past, but have never run a Full).

So...now that we will be placed in the last corral, I'm a little worried. Will we still have time to take photos along the course, or are we doomed to fear the balloon ladies and have to skip photo ops? (Having never run a WDW race, I have no idea how long the lines can be).

Any info or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Not totally sure how "doomed" you will be, but I can comment on the lines - the longest one I remember waiting in during the 2013 marathon was 7-8 minutes (I have Garmin data to prove it). That was for Mickey and Minnie in "royal" attire on the backside of the castle.

If the pictures are important to you, my advice would be to look at some old reports and try to get an idea of what kinds of characters are out and where they will be. The actual characters themselves aren't always the same from year to year but you can at least get an idea of where the photo-ops normally are (example: always someone in front of the Lunching Pad in Magic Kingdom, in front of the Mad Tea Party, etc.). So at least you know when someone is coming. For me personally, the portion of the course through the Magic Kingdom always takes the longest just because there are a lot of characters there.

I'd also suggest being sort of "picky" about who you stop for if you're worried about time. I try to only stop for rare characters or characters I haven't met, which helps me bank time for other stops I want to make later.

In general, though, the lines move pretty quickly. There are always two CMs there to take pictures (one taking the current picture, the other getting the next camera ready) and there are no autograph books or prolonged interaction. You pretty much just pose, get your picture and you're on your way. So it moves along.

 

[Nole95]

If you are stuck in that last corral then you will want to do everything you can to try to get to the front of that corral before the race starts. One to give yourself some breathing room, and two, not be stuck behind what could be a bunch of walkers.

If you thought that you could finish a half in 2:40, then you would be at about a 12:25 pace. Even factoring in that your pace will most likely be slower than that in a full, you should be fine if you are at the front of the corral.

That last corral is big, so if you are at the front and come out at a good pace, you should be well ahead of the balloon ladies before they pass the start line.

 

[ANIM8R]

Hi everyone!

I have fun half marathons in the past, but have never run a Full

You can use your Half Marathon time as your Proof of Time for your Estimated Finish Time for the full marathon.

Does that help or am I completely misunderstanding your predicament?

 

[beckyb29]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I feel much better now

Unfortunately, the half-marathons from my past are too old to submit as qualifying times, which is why I was worried. We have to be there early anyways, so might as well line up at the front of the corral as soon as we can.

Thanks again, and happy training everyone

 

[goofeygirl]

Your time estimate is 240 which is what I normally do a RD half in. That is without stopping and getting caught up in the crowds.

You will likely finish a full in probably just under 6 hours.

My advice...is not to stop and take photos. Here is why:

It will add a bit more time and while the clock may not be your concern, your legs and your mind will be the issue in this. Now your legs may be well trained as were mine when I did my first full a few years ago. However my mind was a different story. By mile 21 I was cooked, done, over it. I finished the full but it was mental torture.
I did the Dopey this year and I was well prepared for the full mentally this time.

I was totally glad I never stopped and had pic's taken. If I had, it would have added at least 5 minuets on my time...most likely more. Well, when you are at mile 19 or 20 or 21 - those 5 minuets that you spend in line - you wish you could have them back to be 5 min's ahead!

I would say it doesn't matter what coral you were assigned to, the story would be the same.

I would focus on finishing safely. I would take photos while passing the characters.

 

[Castle2Castle]

So...now that we will be placed in the last corral, I'm a little worried. Will we still have time to take photos along the course, or are we doomed to fear the balloon ladies and have to skip photo ops? (Having never run a WDW race, I have no idea how long the lines can be).

Any info or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, you will still have time, although for peace of mind to not worry about the sweepers you may want to be more selective than those running in the earlier corrals.

The 16:00/mi pace starts with the last person to cross the starting line, so you have whatever cushion you can get in place from the front-back of the last corral + the difference from your pace to the limit. By one calculator anyway your 2:40 anticipated finish time for the half marathon corresponds to a 12:12/mi pace or an equivalent 12:23/mi pace for a marathon (5:24:27 total).

With crowds and for the sake of simplicity, let's just bump your pace to 13:00/mi. You'll have 3:00/mi you can afford to wait in line before you even start dipping into your cushion between the front of the corral and the back of the corral. While you won't have it all to start with, you'd be looking at 79 minutes along the course you can allot for pictures and other stops.

Since you do have to earn that time as you run the course, you may want to pass some of the character stops on the way to Magic Kingdom since, as others have said, there are more characters there and you may want to make multiple stops -- if you haven't stopped before then, or didn't have to stop for long, you can have a nice 'bank' of around 15 minutes to do pictures in the Magic Kingdom. But if you really like Captain Jack Sparrow, who seems to be a fixture on the road to MK, go for it and just skip another character later.

If there are long lines for a character you like and want a picture of, take your husband's photo with them in the background and vice versa -- don't forget that just having pictures of yourself in the parks during a race can be fun memories without the wait, too. The characters and parks are what set Disney races apart for us, and we love having the pictures from along the course to remember the experience. You won't get a picture of everyone and everything, but barring unforeseen circumstances you should have time to grab at least some of the ones you want.

One last note I'll include here is to remember -- or be aware if you didn't already know -- that the balloon ladies are not official pacers for the race. They're runners/walkers just like everyone else except that maintain the pace to try and keep others aware of the cutoff. Ultimately, it is the pacers on bicycles who call out the times at different points that you need to be concerned about and listen to (if you see them).