Marathon Weekend 2020



SAFD: Started running to lose the baby weight with the incentive of a race at Disney and our first son's first trip. Didn't really get serious about it til after the birth of our twins. I of course wanted to do another race at Disney and during training for that, I started to really enjoy running. It was the only time that I had for myself and no one was screaming for me to hold them or help them, etc. Now I do it because I have grown to love it. I have more quiet time during the day now that all three are in school but I still enjoy the time I have to get out and run. I'm also still in the zone where my kids think all the races I do and medals I get are cool. Our oldest really wants to do a 5K and/or 10K with me at Disney so hopefully in the next year or two it happens.
 
WDWM Year
Mickey Race
Bibs (waivers) Available
Days Apart
Forum Pages
2020
1/12​
12/14 *​
28 *​
714 *​
2019
1/13​
12/17 (Monday)​
26​
593​
2018
1/7​
12/13 (Wednesday)​
24​
471​
2017
1/8​
12/16 (Friday)​
22​
350​

* projected based on recent trends

I'm not sure if my 12/14 prediction will be true -- because 12/14 is a Saturday. We could possibly access them this Friday -- Friday the 13th! -- or maybe this coming Monday. But we are getting closer...
 


You had me at Tableau....Love that tool! Here is a link to the presentation given by the author at last year's Tableau conference: Link to Video

Things I learned:

-The data supports mini-waves and less corrals being more efficient and reducing course congestion. Claim of less runners per second.
-The number of people who move ahead in corral assignment (legally or illegally) is roughly equal to the number of people who voluntarily drop back in a race. So the number of people within a certain corral remains rather static.
-Over the 20 years of data (2000-2019), the behavior of the runners has been changing. The distribution of runners finish times are becoming slower with more and more runners finishing towards 8 hours. Attributed to more runners taking advantage of other things a runDisney race offers.
-For those that have done multiple runDisney marathons, this graphic allows you to type your name in and see a visual of yourself (link).
-An interesting note on her graphs showing the change in methodology:
Screen Shot 2019-12-10 at 9.38.13 AM.png

For anyone interested in logic/data, this was a well spent 30 minutes. Highly recommend the listen.
 
SAFD: I run because I enjoy it so much. It's so good for my mind, body, and spirit. I love competing with myself, challenging myself, and fighting father time. I felt like something was missing during the periods of time in my life when I wasn't running. It must be in my DNA. I started running in junior high track and cross country, then continued into high school and college. I remember thinking before college that two miles was a long way, because I was mainly an 800 meter runner. I ran off and on (mostly off) from my age 30-50 years and when I turned 50, I lamented never running a marathon in my youth. I had run a number of half marathons while in my 20s, but never a full. So at 50, I decided I wasn't getting any younger and to run one. As a Disney fan, it wasn't hard to decide where my "only" marathon would be and signed up for 2012 MW. That's all it took to hook me on runDisney. Now eight years later, the 2020 MW will be my 9th annual marathon, 7 of those at Disney. Hopefully in 2021, I will do Dopey again. The running community is so great and I enjoy being part of it with this group online.
 
SAFD: I started running in 2001. I had moved away from home to attend grad school and was having trouble meeting people in my new city. I saw an ad on the Metro for a charity marathon training program and, for some reason that I still don't understand today, signed up. I completed my first marathon 6 months later, MCM 2001. What an amazing experience that was in the aftermath of 9/11. I still said never again to the marathon distance though. I kept running shorter races and eventually moved to NYC with my DH. Since I was living in NYC and was a runner, I figured I had to run the NYC marathon at least once. We ran together in 2005. I then took a break again from marathons, but kept running shorter races, mostly 10K and under.

I'm not sure how I heard about it, but I discovered the Disney marathon in 2008 and DH and I decided to run it in 2009. I started joking that marathoning was my personal Olympics because I was doing them every 4 years. We had a great experience in '09 and came back in '10.

Between 2011 and 2016, we had 3 little boys so running was in and out of my life. I came back to RunDisney in 2017 when I realized that the Princess weekend happened to coincide with the end of a family vacation. I recruited my sister, BIL and nephew to run the 5K with me. It was a huge accomplishment for me coming only 6 months after the birth of my 3rd son. I've been running more consistently ever since then and did the Fairytale Challenge in 2018 and Dopey last year.

What started as a way to meet people and be more social has turned into something that's just for me. It's my time to reconnect with myself and do something that is mine and mine alone. It has really helped me with my struggles with anxiety and depression after my 3rd son was born. I still don't love the marathon distance and prefer to run up to 10K. That said I'm hoping to take another shot at Dopey in 2022 (when my youngest will finally be in kindy). I was really disappointed with my training last year and I know I can do better. After that I'll probably retire from marathons again. I'm getting old and running that far just hurts these days.
 
Based on the course description provided earlier, my map 'guesstimate' has Mile Marker 22 at the West Buena Vista / World Drive overpass. Real interesting that we have an overpass at the same mile marker for Sarge the Toy Story Army Sergeant... works out well... and having the Tower of Terror in the background will make for a nice view. Of course, I'm just assuming Sarge will be there, but it seems likely...

457901
 
Another recommendation is to keep in mind the options that are available. Although I generally agree with the advice of "don't try anything new on race day," things went off the rails during my first marathon. I could not stand anything solid, including my gels (that worked great for all of my long training runs). Somewhere in the looooong stretch between GF and AK I remembered someone from this board's recommendation of walking each station, taking some Poweraid followed by water.
Something similar happened to me. I realized before I was about to take in my normal race morning applesauce the day of the marathon that my body did not even want applesauce and just might rebel. I had read that a plain bagel with peanut butter worked for many people, and it actually sounded quite good at that time. So as much as I still try to adhere to nothing new until race day, I am flexible if I need to be.
For this week's Sundays are for Disney, I want to know ... why do you run? What motivates you? And why did you choose the particular race(s) you plan to run next month?
I started this insanity because I really wanted the Sleeping Beauty Castle medal that you got for finishing the Disneyland Half. I had a difficult first race, but finished. I didn't enjoy the experience, but I wanted the Coast to Coast medal, so I decided I could tolerate it for two more times in order to earn that medal. Except the second and third times I actually had fun.

Busy life forced me to take about 18 months off from running after 2012 Wine & Dine, but the Star Wars races proved to be sufficiently motivating to get me back into this.

I still look forward to the medals, but the perspective has changed too.

Ultimately I decided on Dopey 2020 because I enjoyed my first Dopey (and marathon) in 2019. The anniversary year of Goofy meant I would at least do that and even the possibility though now not realized of a Chip and Dale medal for the 5K or 10K was sufficient to get me into another round of Dopey.

I finally signed up for the marathon when I realized that it was something I wanted to experience for myself. It took me years to reach that point, but I just sort of knew the time had come to challenge myself in that direction.
When I first heard about Dopey, I thought those people were totally and completely insane. Now it seems like a good next goal! 🙂
I thought the same thing when I saw Goofy runners after my first half at Disneyland in 2011. I could barely even move that day and could not fathom doing a 5K that day, let alone a half.
I'm only doing the half, but will be walking all day at the park the day before.
I've finished many half marathons and even Dopey after spending the previous day in the parks. I'm not at all fast, but it is very doable.
I wanted to go out and excel. I have decided that excel just means something different now. To excel is to challenge myself, to push through the tough times and to be present in the moment.
I really like this. Whenever I attempt to run faster, I almost always get intensely sore during and/or after that run. Sometimes to the point of excessive pain. Maybe I will never be fast. But given my family history of foot problems, I am extremely grateful that I can handle these races without debilitating pain for days or weeks afterwards.

To the point of being in the moment, I resolved to make sure that my first marathon would not be a repeat of my first half marathon. I allowed myself to stop for photos and knowing how sweeps work helped me to not miss out on the runDisneyness of it all by fearing the sweep.
 
I have to say, trying to figure out how I might be able to ride ROTR while I'm there is turning out to be the most complicated part of my Dopey strategy. The revised DHS opening time of 8am just nailed the coffin, I'm afraid. :(

I'm using the ROTR nightmare as fuel to run my fastest 5K and 10K ever in order to make it over to HS in time after the race to grab a BG.
 

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