I feel like i should chime in. While we might need
@Disney at Heart DH to chime in. I did my first RD event in 2003 for the marathon. We started at 6 am. There were 9412 finishers for the marathon. Both the half and the full ran on the same day. One had the blue epcot start and the other the red epcot start. The half finished at MK parking lot. As for the sentiment, the parks were not busy. it did fall during one of the later marathons like this past year. I remember because i stayed a week and had my birthday at MK. I was not part of these boards and really had no knowledge of what to expect.
The first day (i am assuming Sunday) when i went into the parks i did not even wear my medal. I did not know i was supposed to. Thankfully by my slow walking people asked if i ran. The second day i did wear my medal. Lots of congratulations and cast members were so into it. Asking me questions and everything. It was very different. I then ran again in 2007 till now. I really think it changed a lot around 2015.
I found out about the marathon when i took my honeymoon in Feb 2021. We stayed concierge at Yacht Club. I went for a morning run and the concierge asked if i did the marathon. I had no idea that it existed. At that point in time i had run 1 marathon before. Now i have run a lot and most of them at disney. its different now.
DH has run all but 3 marathon weekends since 1994 and many W&D, Star Wars, and a couple of DL races. (Never Princess!) The 1994 marathon started on or just outside Main Street with characters, a parade, and fireworks show! We could all hear the speakers, and the music had not become a DJ playing the same songs every time!
We had a long discussion this morning, and DH’s biggest concern now is that all the races are the same. In the past we have had night races (TOT, W&D, and one SS) that started at 10:00 pm, and courses that started at TTC, ESPN, Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom, as well as Epcot. (Jingle Jungle 5k all through Animal Kingdom was one of my favorites!) Now he says, “You have to look down at your bib during the race to remember which one you are running!”
As someone else said, time in some parks is a joke. I’d prefer less time running in TTC and BB parking lots, and more time in HS or World Showcase. (Oh how I miss the HS disco tunnel and the Osborne lights.) Even the old run through ESPN around the track and baseball field was better!
The crowds are the next problem. Unless you are in Corrals A or B, there are too many bottlenecks where you just can’t run. Of course, he used to always be in A. Running from D this year our time (mostly my time because he ran with me) dropped significantly from the last 13:03 training run to the 14:30 marathon. The only miles that were on or faster than training pace were the open road ones. We got faster after leaving MK because there was more room to run: like fewer extremely long, narrow ramps, no more cone alley or MK path. Although getting out of AK where we were meeting other runners was also pretty tight, it wasn’t terribly long.
Despite the changes over the years, runDisney is still the most entertaining, fun bunch of races I’ve done, and although I’ve decided to give up the marathon distance, I’ll keep spending too much money to run Disney races… and to see you guys!