Marathon Weekend 2023

[jpeterson]

I had a nightmare last night that I was trying to register for Dopey and the website had a thousand problems lol. The stress begins.

Nightmare or premonition?

 

[GuinnessRunner]

Well DVC points rental came through so I know where I'm staying (Boardwalk). Now I just have to actually get a spot through the wonderful registration process in April.

 

[GreatLakes]

There's something about the multi-day challenges that I love too! I've done a Vacation Races challenge and have my eye on Lake Tahoe Trifecta, Gasparilla, and Flying Pig.

None of them are Disney though!

I've done multiple races at Gasparilla but never a challenge since the specific races I wanted weren't a challenge and I did the 3-way at Flying Pig. They are two of my favorite races and I think I'd place Flying Pig as the best race weekend I've experienced including Disney. I've done at least one race 4 times for that weekend.

I can't say enough good things about either weekend and think you'll love it.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

and I think I'd place Flying Pig as the best race weekend I've experienced including Disney.

What do you like about it? I live not far from Cinci.

 

[stitchsnk]

I'm going to be in Disney during registration for the MW, so I am hoping Disney pixie dust is in my favor!

 

[BigEeyore]

I’m disenchanted with the state of the parks right now. This January was my least favorite trip in relation to the parks that I’ve ever done. They were crowded, Genie+ is bad, CMs are doing their best but they aren’t being put in a position to succeed, construction is moving at a snails pace, attractions are being closed for refurbishment or breaking down with alarming regularity. In short, there was less magic than ever before.

100% agree - add on the slow drip of adding entertainment/shows/parades back and I am feeling on the fence about doing the parks during MW. It's sad - Disney has always been my happy place, and I usually make several trips a year, but things are just not what they used to be

 

[flav]

100% agree - add on the slow drip of adding entertainment/shows/parades back and I am feeling on the fence about doing the parks during MW. It's sad - Disney has always been my happy place, and I usually make several trips a year, but things are just not what they used to be

Reading all of this, I am less and less sure that I want to see Disney these years. I miss it but do not want to tint my memories. I haven’t been since running Dopey 2020. Is it just pandemic blues speaking? Or too much online reading?

 

[jpeterson]

Reading all of this, I am less and less sure that I want to see Disney these years. I miss it but do not want to tint my memories. I haven’t been since running Dopey 2020. Is it just pandemic blues speaking? Or too much online reading?

Unfortunately none of us can answer that for you. Things are definitely different. There are still offerings missing. Are they ones that matter to you? Can't say that. I still had fun on my last couple trips, but for other people it might not be worthwhile.

 

[GreatLakes]

What do you like about it? I live not far from Cinci.

I love that the whole city seems to celebrate the weekend. I stay downtown and you know it is race weekend which isn't always how it feels everywhere. I love the half course, it is just difficult enough and then finishing with a lot of downhill. Being able to stage in the Paul Brown Stadium concourse is a nice little bonus with plenty of added bathrooms. Lastly, at least pre-pandemic when the weather was decent, the finish area along the river is so much fun and feels like a party after.

 

[CP3uhoh]

so we have a local marathon Saturday....the math says I'm at 8:34/mi which is is 3:44 and change for a finish time. I would be ecstatic to get that time and it would be a PR by a wide margin. Already have a 1:47 half for Dopey Registration and I was in the second corral this past year which was fine but I am sort of obsessing over getting in that first one which I believe the cutoff was 3:45? Am i remembering right? No plans for another half to get under 1:45 before POT's are due. Just checking if my numbers are accurate on this. Thanks.

 

[Herding_Cats]

so we have a local marathon Saturday....the math says I'm at 8:34/mi which is is 3:44 and change for a finish time. I would be ecstatic to get that time and it would be a PR by a wide margin. Already have a 1:47 half for Dopey Registration and I was in the second corral this past year which was fine but I am sort of obsessing over getting in that first one which I believe the cutoff was 3:45? Am i remembering right? No plans for another half to get under 1:45 before POT's are due. Just checking if my numbers are accurate on this. Thanks.

This is what the all-knowing Billy said:

Alright, here is an updated POT cutoff estimates with confirmed values. They said there's some rounding in their values but these are close enough.

View attachment 590959

Admittedly, they are very close to the cutoffs I had estimated prior. So we're pretty close to the same calculation.

I had it as 10 miler = 1:24:50, HM = 1:53:36 for the Marathon POT.
I had it as 10k = 54:33, 10 miler = 1:31:12, M = 4:21:36 for the HM POT.

So the 10 mile and M conversion for the HM POT remain very advantageous from a time submitting standpoint.

One thing I'll add. I wouldn't be surprised to see Corral A and B above combined into a single POT corral. Since there's usually only 5% of the field in each, I could easily see runDisney combining these into a single 10-12% corral.

ETA: My inclusion of Club runDisney as its own corral between POT and non-POT is my guess only. This was not confirmed (nor did I ask) by runDisney.

 

[PrincessV]

FWIW re: to WDW or not to WDW anymore... I'm a semi-local 30-year AP holder, and I really do not know if I'll renew when my AP expires in Aug. If I do, I'll be downgrading from the Gold I have now. Rising prices plus pay-to-play plus crowds have diminished the experience significantly for me and I'm really only planning a few more visits to get value out of my current AP; I don't actually want to go, particularly. I simply do not have the budget for G+/ILL, even if I was okay with the concept and execution, and what Genie et al's done to wait times and crowds isn't enjoyable for me. I miss Universal and will likely get a new AP there down the line.

What that means for future rD races is also up in the air... I'm sure I'll still do some, but I'll spend a lot less time doing anything WDW outside of the running: I won't pay for day tickets to only visit for a couple hours, and all-day touring isn't my thing.

 

[DopeyBadger]

so we have a local marathon Saturday....the math says I'm at 8:34/mi which is is 3:44 and change for a finish time. I would be ecstatic to get that time and it would be a PR by a wide margin. Already have a 1:47 half for Dopey Registration and I was in the second corral this past year which was fine but I am sort of obsessing over getting in that first one which I believe the cutoff was 3:45? Am i remembering right? No plans for another half to get under 1:45 before POT's are due. Just checking if my numbers are accurate on this. Thanks.

This is what the all-knowing Billy said:

Not taking into account that Wine and Dine 2022 has moved to a 2:15 HM cutoff which means the marathon could move to a 4:30 cutoff, but this is based on MW 2022.



If you want s1 for the M (or Goofy/Dopey), then you need either a sub 1:44 HM or a sub 3:40 M.

 

[1lilspark]

FWIW re: to WDW or not to WDW anymore... I'm a semi-local 30-year AP holder, and I really do not know if I'll renew when my AP expires in Aug. If I do, I'll be downgrading from the Gold I have now. Rising prices plus pay-to-play plus crowds have diminished the experience significantly for me and I'm really only planning a few more visits to get value out of my current AP; I don't actually want to go, particularly. I simply do not have the budget for G+/ILL, even if I was okay with the concept and execution, and what Genie et al's done to wait times and crowds isn't enjoyable for me. I miss Universal and will likely get a new AP there down the line.

What that means for future rD races is also up in the air... I'm sure I'll still do some, but I'll spend a lot less time doing anything WDW outside of the running: I won't pay for day tickets to only visit for a couple hours, and all-day touring isn't my thing.

Personally I’ll renew in April just for guardians & tron (even if it means having to pay to ply to ride at least once) than reevaluate in 2023

 

[Jason Bryer]

SAFD: I will most likely do Dopey again. The Saturday is my son's 16th birthday so one option he and I go down for the weekend and he do some races. My wife is a school librarian so is inquiring if she can take her personal days Thursday, Friday, and Monday. If so it will be a family weekend with my 8-year-old doing the 5k, my 13-year-old doing the 5k or 10k (he can do the 10k, just a little afraid), 16-year-old and wife doing the half, and I will be doing all four (unless I convince my wife she has one more marathon in her). The hope is to do a day at HS (kids haven't seen the Star Wars land yet) and other in Epcot (to ride Guardians). Hope it works out. As a bonus, our friends from Houston may join in (the dad and I did Dopey this year together and had a blast).

 

[NYC_MW]

SAFD: Definitely gunning for Dopey, if all goes according to plan. Trying hard to convince running buddies to join, but given that prices are steep and vacation days are rare, may end up being a solo trip. If enough bodies, may follow the suggestions of others on the thread to figure out how DVC renting works, otherwise staying at whatever the cheapest option would be. This would be my second ever adult trip to WDW (1st was MW 2016) so I'd like to go to the parks (at least MK and Epcot), but still unsure if that's a bad combination with a Dopey attempt or if I should just go with the FOMO and do all the things (though a little overwhelmed with the bad tastes people seem to be having with WDW lately).

 

[camaker]

SAFD: Definitely gunning for Dopey, if all goes according to plan. Trying hard to convince running buddies to join, but given that prices are steep and vacation days are rare, may end up being a solo trip. If enough bodies, may follow the suggestions of others on the thread to figure out how DVC renting works, otherwise staying at whatever the cheapest option would be. This would be my second ever adult trip to WDW (1st was MW 2016) so I'd like to go to the parks (at least MK and Epcot), but still unsure if that's a bad combination with a Dopey attempt or if I should just go with the FOMO and do all the things (though a little overwhelmed with the bad tastes people seem to be having with WDW lately).

I find the parks to be an excellent active recovery exercise after each race and can't imagine being there and not going into them. The only caveat to that is to let your fatigue guide you and not overdo it during the day and to make sure to bail in time for an early 2am wake-up call-friendly bedtime.

 

[CP3uhoh]

Not taking into account that Wine and Dine 2022 has moved to a 2:15 HM cutoff which means the marathon could move to a 4:30 cutoff, but this is based on MW 2022.

View attachment 651412

If you want s1 for the M (or Goofy/Dopey), then you need either a sub 1:44 HM or a sub 3:40 M.

so it's 3:40 for a full, interesting, probably not realistic with current weather forecast. 1:44 HM is doable I suspect but won't have one by April OR POT cutoff. Real question will be if they are changing things up if I'm better off with submitting the 1:47 Half or whatever I get Saturday which will hopefully be in the 3:45-3:50 area. Slightly relieved TBH, because I was picturing a 3:45 and change and getting left out of S1 but that sounds probably anyway. S2 was fine minus the 5K which was clearly not placed by any real POT.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Catching up on SAFD....

Good Morning runDisney All-Stars! For today’s Sundays Are For Disney it’s time to put ourselves on the runDisney staff.

What is something you would change with runDisney to improve the runner experience?

I agree with moving POT back to something more attainable for more people. The way it works right now, a very small group of runners actually have POT, while the rest are left to self sort and we know that when you can self sort, lots will sort themselves faster to avoid being swept or to give themselves more time for fun on the course.

Also the merch at the expo. Hold back merch each day so that everyone has a chance, regardless of what day they go. Or limit purchases further than 2 per size per item. The extra merchandise will sell at the tent at the race.

Good Morning runDisney All-Stars! It is Sunday, time for Sunday’s Are For Disney. Today’s question: Now that we have a date for Marathon Weekend registration, share what your plans are - what races do you plan to register for, where are you staying, going to be a big trip with family, a solo trip, going to parks/no parks, etc.

Right now the tentative plan is Dopey with a few friends. Various folks running various distances over the weekend. Fly in Tuesday - expo then races. I really don't want to spend much time in the parks, so I'll likely do my own thing and let my friends do theirs. I'm a little burnt out on Disney right now and am only willing to do this race because one of my friends is ready to start having babies and we want to do this race together before that starts. I want some photos though... so I'll likely do 2 park hopping days (2 parks per day) and just have fun with pictures and prioritize only 1 or 2 rides per park. I'll try to coordinate to be in Magic Kingdom when my friends are...

My ideal two days would be Hollywood Studios morning and Epcot afternoon/night on one day and Animal Kingdom morning with Magic Kingdom afternoon/night on the other.

 

[kristenabelle]

Very late SAFD:

Going to try for my first Dopey! Since it's a big first (and work/family has me taking hardly any self-vacation time this year), I'm making it a big trip. Flying in Tuesday night for the Expo bright and early, and staying home at BWV. I have reservations through Saturday the 14th, but made two separate bookings to try for a split stay at the 7-month window. If I can't get an MK area studio, I'll combine the reservations into one.

I booked such a long trip because I want to rest before the races, and tour afterwards. I'm assuming my body will need time to recover, and I don't want to push myself to get in park time/my favorite attractions during race weekend. Tentative plans for a friend or two to join me, but for now I'm just counting down to registration when it'll be really real (fingers crossed)!