Marathon Weekend 2024

[RunWI1265]

I'll be flying down from Minnesota after a trip to Wisconsin, so I'm hoping the weather will cooperate.

Same! I always try to connect through ATL so once I’m in the air I’m at least out of the Midwest any potential snow/ice storm.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Same! I always try to connect through ATL so once I’m in the air I’m at least out of the Midwest any potential snow/ice storm.

I have a direct flight from MSP to MCO. It's getting to MSP that could be a little dicey. Delta discontinued the MSP-LSE flights and so I'm having to drive that portion with a rental car in both directions.

American flies from LSE to O'Hare, but American does not fly to my home airport (yet). O'Hare in January (or any time, really) is not necessarily a better option than MSP.

At least I have no plans to be on an Amtrak that has the heat and toilets go out in western Minnesota because it's -40, so I've got that going for me!

 

[Baloo in MI]

We always fly direct out of fear of weather delays/cancellations and try to travel the day before the expo opens just in case. But we are flying out of Detroit. Only once have we been legitimately scared the flight would be grounded due to weather. But lots of times getting from our home to Detroit (1.5 hour drive) has been a real adventure. Twice we have stayed the night at one of the airport hotels before our travel day just to be safe. January travel in Michigan can be so much fun!

 

[matt and beth]

We always fly direct out of fear of weather delays/cancellations and try to travel the day before the expo opens just in case. But we are flying out of Detroit. Only once have we been legitimately scared the flight would be grounded due to weather. But lots of times getting from our home to Detroit (1.5 hour drive) has been a real adventure. Twice we have stayed the night at one of the airport hotels before our travel day just to be safe. January travel in Michigan can be so much fun!

Same! We rolled the dice 2 years ago with Delta and tried flying out of GR. Airport was awesome flying out of. Return flight, terrible, was cancelled by Delta with a 2 day minimum lag until they could fly us out. Not a single compensation was offered. They, as I told the Delta desk, abandoned us at the airport. I booked the quickest car I could find and ran downstairs. The car rental told me they do this all the time. Same story every day of overbooking. We drove back to GR, grabbed my truck, and then drove back to metro Detroit. Lesson learned. Fly only major airports during bad weather seasons and fight hard to be compensated even when they ignore your emails

 

[RunWI1265]

My next biggest airport is just under two hours away and I’ve realized me driving alone in winter is way more stressful than the under 15 minute drive to my little local airport. Even if there are delays. Since we have the Delta Amex I feel obligated to always fly them so I have to connect whether I fly out of my airport or the bigger MKE one. We do have a seasonal Frontier direct but it only runs a couple days a week…too risky. Fingers crossed we all have smooth travels. I know it’s been close the last couple years and some have even missed their events due to not being able to fly out.

 

[cburnett11]

My favorite money saving hack is to buy an AP so I can justify more trips to justify my AP, obviously savings lots of money in the end Then renewing it every year to save even MORE money!

Of course, this always reminds me of the time Disney paid ME to go to WDW. I activated an AP over Thanksgiving and got a 2nd trip in just before shut-down in 2020. I took the prorated refund and ended up only having spent like $350 on the AP, and got two week-long trips out of it. Not sure I'll ever come out that far ahead again

Yeah we bought APs in late 2019 I think. We didn’t activate them until Princess weekend 2020 and were there a full week using them. I think there was an ap price increase right before we went. So when we got our refund, it was actually slightly more than we paid for our APs. On top of that, I had bought the APs with gift cards purchased at Target so had already saved. I really felt like I made it over on the mouse (for once lol) because we got paid some to do parks for about a week.

 

[Baloo in MI]

SAFD:

Good Morning runDisney All-Stars! It is time for this week’s Sunday’s Are For Disney. Today’s question: Do you have a Fall ‘A‘ race in the works and if so how is the training going? And if no race in the works this year, do you have one you hope to do someday?

My answer: I do have a fall ’A’ race. I am running in the Marine Corp Marathon at the end of October. I began the training program three weeks ago after a running hiatus in June and much of July. After the Bayshore Marathon in May I really needed a break, but now I am struggling with bad habits formed while not running and repeatedly having to slow myself as I am clearly not in the shape I was. I really needed the break but I think I might ultimately have to adjust my goals for MCM. I still have 2 1/2 months, but also a long ways to go. Regardless, I am early looking forward to the race! Have a good week all.

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: Running the W&D 10k and Half. I had a rough July after injuring my achilles (non-running related) in June and only managed 30 miles the entire month. Everything seems good now so I'm focusing on building distance again in August and then will get serious about training in September. I'm hoping my POT will put me in one of the early groups so my main goal for the half is similar to my MW goal - get all the pictures I want and still finish around well under 3 hours (likely 230 -245 depending on how often I stop and the lines).

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: No really "A" race on the books. But I do have a couple of small local races in the plans. A 10k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and then a 10 mile race. Same as I did last year leading up to MW.

I do want to try to run the marathon that we have here in town (The Woodlands, TX). I have done the half before, but never the full. It is supposedly one of the fastest courses in the US. Lot's people run it to try to qualify for Boston and NYC. It is in early March (on my bday). So thinking about maybe doing it in 2024. Not getting any younger, so might as well.

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: I've never been a volume racer, so the idea of 'A' races or B or C etc has never been a thing for me. That said, I have my "farewell to the marathon" race at NYC in November. Training has been going pretty well, but even at a "Level 1"of training, a marathon plan is a lot of miles.

My training might be slightly interrupted very soon....as of last Friday, I am a grandma! I promised my daughter I would come out and help when she decides she wants me there. But I did tell her I still needed to train. She gets it though--she's a runner who ran through almost all her pregnancy.

 

[matt and beth]

SAFD:

A race? I suppose Wine and Dine in November
B race? Tune up race at Holland Haven in September

The Sunday long runs have been brutal usually following beer festivals and golf outings.

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: Twin Cities Marathon Weekend’s Loony Challenge (10K+5K and 10 Miler) on September 30th and October 1st. Training is going pretty badly, actually. I thought I was being smart by adjusting my sleep schedule so I could run in the mornings instead of the heat of the day, but it turned out to be terrible for me and I’ve been skipping runs because I’m tired. Add to that a bunch of extra yard work and it‘s just been a lot to deal with.

I shouldn’t have a problem finishing, but I probably won’t set any PRs.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

SAFD: My daughter and I are running the 4 Bridges Half in Chattanooga TN in October. I'm hoping to set a new PR after training in the summer heat. I am almost certain my daughter's first half time will be faster than anything I'll ever do.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

SAFD: I'm doing the Space Coast Marathon in November, with a tune-up half next month. Marathon training starts tomorrow!

 

[garneska]

@jmasgat congratulations. That is going to be so exciting for you!

 

[GuinnessRunner]

SAFD: I have a local HM here in mid September (Dream Mile HM - September 17th). This is my make-up attempt to get a POT for Disney after the kidney stones sidetracked my last attempt in May. Training has been going well other than the miserable T&D of the summer. Hoping it cools off a bit before race day.

 

[azrivest]

SAFD: None, as my real "A" training will be Dopey. I'll only do a tune-up race if Billy puts it into my training plan.

 

[Bree]

SAFD: No A races of any kind. NY marathon and Space Coast Half are on my schedule, but keeping it low key and just enjoying running at an easy pace.

 

[fatmanatee]

SAFD: I have a local HM next month, will be very fun to get a HM time on my regular running routes, and the Staten Island HM later on. Not remotely prepared for either, got another round of covid in May and between that and the summer coming along I scaled back my runs. Hoping to get back this week because I set a milestone goal at the beginning of the year for halfs and was on track to get there before this went down.

 

[RuntheMouse]

SAFD: I kind of have an ”A” race by default. Running Twin Cities 10 miler on 10/1 and really looking to PR. I blew up with horrible IT Band pain last year. I feel confident even though I’ll only be 4 weeks into my actual ”A” race training plan for MW. We’ll see!