Marathon Weekend 2023

[steph0808]

I did it. I ran Dopey. I will never run dopey again.

Same! It wasn't actually as bad as I thought, but doing it not 100% healthy sucked.

But it is too many early wakeups and time away from parks.

 

[Z-Knight]

PROOF - I won the marathon. Ignore the time, everyone ahead was disqualified.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I did it!! Huge thanks to @The Expert tor running with me again this year.

Count me in to the camp of one-and-done’rs because my body is wrecked this afternoon. I pretty much didn’t/couldn’t eat yesterday and basically ran the marathon on gels and Powerade today. And then pounded a huge Joffrey’s donut after finishing that DH handed off to me by mission space. And now I feel like I absolutely cannot eat again. Trying to figure out what I can eat tonight. Also my heel/Achilles/ankle is really mad at me.

Totally weirded out @Novatrix screaming hi at her as we ran through Epcot.

First dopey, first marathon in the bag. Shocked I made it after the lack of sleep (not for lack of trying; was in bed by 7 every night and riddled with anxiety).

This was also the case for me.

Deliriously happy and very much in pain everywhere but wow. We did that!!

Yes. All of this.

 

[AZMermaid]

Congrats to everyone who ran this weekend! It has been fun lurking and reading about all your accomplishemnts!

I see a lot of first time marathoners and Dopeys…. How was that? What was your fitness level a year ago? Asking for a friend…. Okay…. Me.

 

[Bree]

Had a good race, and weather was pretty good. Was a little concerned with humidity, since that is my Achille's Heel, but it didn't really bother me too bad.

Anyone else get caught in the starting coral confusion? I was coral B, and started heading back about 4:15AM, and at one junction they started sending people a different way saying all corals this way now. Then when we got up to the start area (roughly 4:45AM) they were telling people arriving we were late and were only allowed in coral F. They tried to enforce that but there were hundreds of runners still coming up and eventually people just started opening gates and hoping fences to get to the more forward corals, and they were letting people through. They were trying to say the corals were closed because with the loopback they had to clear the course, but the entrances to the corals were on the grass median which was clear, so no clue why they were trying to hold people. Anyway, was a little stressful but eventually got out towards the end of C, which was fine.

I was in corral B. I’m pretty sure they had already walked us towards the starting line by 4:45 which may be why they wouldn’t let you through.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I was in corral B. I’m pretty sure they had already walked us towards the starting line by 4:45 which may be why they wouldn’t let you through.

Yes! I take notes for trip reports and we moved up at 4:41. But we had friends who left to do one last port a potty break and they were let back in up with us.

 

[Herding_Cats]

For the half the walk-out road was still full of people at like 5:15. People were running to the corrals in front of D (where I was.)

This morning was a looooooong string of people running into C again, well after D had started walking toward the start line, and I was surprised it was allowed as I figured they would be closed and routed to F, but I guess if enough people just force their way in…

 

[GADisneyDad14]

This weekend has had great weather for parks and running (in my opinion), this evening is the icing on the cake. What a nice treat as some of us have to depart to colder regions!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

We must have been pretty close to each other. He passed me around mile 11 too.

You could definitely feel the temp drop just before sunrise. It was pretty comfortable for me in leggings and the race shirt at the start but about mile 8-9 it got cold. I noticed that suddenly I could see everyone's breath. By the end I had lost feeling in my fingers so getting my bib unclipped to see the gear check number took a minute. So glad I dropped a sweater into my gear bag!

Tomorrow doesn't look as chilly and it will warm up quickly. I'm just going to layer up in the morning and may even run in my throwaway sweater for a bit.

That stretch after the MK and on the way back toward Epcot does get pretty cold. I guess it’s the cold air coming off the golf courses in the water through there. I remember taking off a sweatshirt off before magic kingdom because the temperature had gotten comfortable, and then wishing I still had it on that back stretch.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Holy crap I did it! Finished my first marathon and my first dopey!

Even decided to ride Everest because the CM were beckoning to runners to join the single rider line.

Congrats! It
Is a fantastic feeling.

 

[Novatrix]

Totally weirded out @Novatrix screaming hi at her as we ran through Epcot.

That was you! I was startled because a) my calorie starved brain was hyper focused on getting some caramel popcorn and b) I wasn't 100% certain it was someone addressing me. I'm so sorry to have missed you and Kim!

 

[Bree]

What an epic day (except for AK to BB)!

Goof Troop was a party of two on the course today. Stopped for lots of pics, rode Everest and had a beer in AK. I contemplated TOT, but passed. We had friends waiting for us in Mexico with beer and margaritas. I finally checked off crossing the finish with a drink this year.



Got sunburned in the parking lot drinking beers Inhaled a margherita flatbread in less than 5 minutes then crashed hard for 3.5 hours.

Only downside to this weekend was losing the third place age group award for the 10K by 30 damn seconds. Story of my life

 

[HangWithMerida]

I see a lot of first time marathoners and Dopeys…. How was that? What was your fitness level a year ago? Asking for a friend…. Okay…. Me.

Happy to be an enabler here! I had done several HMs and I was in good shape heading into 2022. I decided towards the end of 2021 that I wanted to shoot for Dopey this year so I planned out the year to set me up for success. I did base training through the summer and committed to my marathon training. It meant skipping some camping and family trips in the fall to make sure I had time to get everything in. I had some Achilles tendonitis around Thanksgiving and had to take a week off then another week to ramp back up. I altered my race day strategy to make sure I finished healthy, and so far I feel good.
This experience was great and I'm sure that is partially because I was prepared. Also, I didn't do a lot of park time and instead made sure I got sleep and tried to eat well (or at least not terribly!). I just made this trip about Dopey and it was a blast. Some of these folks go hard with multiple park days but I knew I would suffer if I didn't take some down time.
I met some of the wonderful people from these boards at various meet ups and am headed to DATW tomorrow. I really can't recommend the experience enough!!

 

[Z-Knight]

What an epic day (except for AK to BB)!

Goof Troop was a party of two on the course today. Stopped for lots of pics, rode Everest and had a beer in AK. I contemplated TOT, but passed. We had friends waiting for us in Mexico with beer and margaritas. I finally checked off crossing the finish with a drink this year.

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Got sunburned in the parking lot drinking beers Inhaled a margherita flatbread in less than 5 minutes then crashed hard for 3.5 hours.

Only downside to this weekend was losing the third place age group award for the 10K by 30 damn seconds. Story of my life

Apparently they don't do age group awards anymore. Great job and thanks for saying "Hi" during the half marathon.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

Congrats to everyone for the great races today and all weekend!

Happy to say my marathon went really well today too. My plan going into the weekend was to shoot for 5:15, but I pushed too hard in the half yesterday and my quads hurt before even starting this morning, so I decided I would plan to back off a bit and shoot for 5:30. Even with that slower pace ,the first few miles felt hard and I was ready to back off more to achieve my weekend goals of (1) finishing with a smile and (2) not getting injured. But after about mile 4-5, something happened and my pace picked up with what felt like less effort. Even stopping for Everest (I couldn't resist since they were flagging us into the line), 3 bathroom stops and 3 biofreeze stops for the quads, I crossed the finish at 5:13 with a nice negative split and mile 26 being my fastest mile by almost a minute!

Want to also thank @DopeyBadger for the fantastic training plan. Looking forward to keeping this momentum going.

Hope to see folks at DATW tomorrow for a bit before I have to head out.

 

[Bree]

Apparently they don't do age group awards anymore. Great job and thanks for saying "Hi" during the half marathon.

That’s what I thought until I found out yesterday they sent them out for W&D.

 

[Bree]

Can we talk about the spectators? I have never seen so many during the Disney marathons I have run. I may have gotten a little choked up on the boardwalk….

 

[Z-Knight]

That’s what I thought until I found out yesterday they sent them out for W&D.

Really?

@Dopey 2020, did you say you made 3rd place in age group but didn't receive anything for Wine/Dine... Or did you just miss 3rd place?

 

[Stitch&Co.]

Congratulations to everyone who ran this weekend. It’s fantastic to hear how everyone did. This was my second MW half and fifth half in total. Ran with my brother who was doing his first race ever. So much fun!

I know I’ve never fueled properly during a race and didn’t even get enough for breakfast Saturday morning. I usually rely on raisins during the race and grabbed a couple bags of Sports Beans of which I only ate one because they were so cold and hard to chew. I just never felt like I had enough in the tank when I really needed it. After the big fueling discussion before this weekend I’m curious to know how everyone did with their fueling plans. Did you feel like you ate enough to get you through? What do you think worked the best?

Thanks to everyone for all the advice that gets posted here. It’s been a huge help as I have dived down this rabbit hole that is RunDisney.

 

[marty3d]

Can we talk about the spectators? I have never seen so many during the Disney marathons I have run. I may have gotten a little choked up on the boardwalk….

they were AMAZING!