Marathon Weekend 2027

[Psymonds]

The way the field thins out quickly between the runners, walkers and run/walkers, I don’t think this could be done feasibly and safely. I think that road will need to either be closed for runners or open for buses continually, not flipping back and forth.

other marathons do this regularly with a two lane run system (one side is open to runners the other to cars, similar to what they do for live pedestrian crossings in the park. SF marathon has whole sections where they alternate streets for several blocks to let cars through systematically.

ETA: see the dashed parallel lines sections in the course below. they alternate sides every few minutes and cars can get through on the surface streets (since the course isolates something like half the city on an island...

 

[Disneyhanna]

I just tried to find the info for this, and it looks like that offer expired 12/31/25. Dang.

I checked the Disney+ perks website and looks like they updated the offer to 2026. Worth trying again, though I remember it being tricky to sign up and one of my friends had to call support to get everything to link up.

Offer for one (1) complimentary Disney+ Perks x D23 Gold Member Monthly Plan membership (“D23 Gold Monthly Plan”) must be redeemed by 12/31/26.

 

[camaker]

Good morning RunDisney All-Stars! A winter storm is sweeping across the country and impacting a lot of us today. I hope everyone is staying safe, dry and warm today! As a result, let's talk about inclement weather running in today's Sundays Are For Disney (SAFD) question. What's your most memorable inclement weather running experience? Any weather is fair game. It doesn't have to be winter weather related.

SAFD: My most memorable inclement weather running experience came during my first running of the Blackbeard's Revenge 100k. I had just passed mile 51 when a severe thunderstorm hit the course on the Outer Banks as night fell. Fortunately, I was still in one of the little towns along the course and I was able to find a school with an overhang I could shelter under while I waited for DW to get there with the crew car. I ended up sitting in the car for 30-45 minutes waiting for the storm line to clear and race officials to reopen the course. I cooled off and stiffened up something awful during that wait and it was hard getting started again. Worse, within two miles a new cell developed and hit. I was between towns at that point with nowhere to shelter immediately. Some of the lightning was uncomfortably close. Finally, I came across a storefront with a narrow awning I could shelter under and text DW. She was at the next aid station and took a few minutes getting back to me for another 15-20 minutes of sitting and waiting for the weather to pass. After that cell moved on, the weather cleared and I was able to splash my way through standing water to the finish line a few miles away. Not the most pleasant race experience ever, but a memorable one!

 

[The Expert]

Yes, stay safe and warm everyone! We're hunkering down for our 1-2 FEET coming later today and tomorrow.

SAFD: My most memorable inclement weather running experience was with a race I was spectating. DH and his mom were doing the 2019 Star Wars 5K at WDW, so I drove them and hung around to spectate. There was rain incoming, but the morning went off as usual, including loading into the corrals. I went over to the spectator area just past the start line and the time to send off wheels came and went. We knew something was up and they were stalling. Then, we hear a HUGE clap of thunder and a streak of lightning flashes in the sky! The crowd audibly gasped and they very quickly made an announcement to clear the area. At this point, everyone was in the corrals and it started to rain, so it was pretty much chaos.

DH and I texted each other to meet at the car, and they were telling people to get on the buses already staged to take people back to the hotels or to head all the way back up to Epcot, and to watch social media for any official announcements. We JUST made it back to the car before it really opened up! Watching social media, once the buses filled up, they ended up opening some buildings in the front of Epcot to get people inside.

Ultimately there was about a 45 minute delay, and then rather than a restart, they just told everyone to make their way to the start area and GO! No announcers, no fireworks, just go. Those on the buses got out and started the race on the first mile of the course rather than come all the way over to the start (it wasn't timed, so no start mat). DH and his mom went through the start gate, and not five minutes later there was another very close thunder clap and lightning strike, but at this point I think rD knew they couldn't clear the course, so everyone just went. It was still raining, so several of the character stops were pulled and we got zero photopass pics. DH and his mom were soaked, but had a good time and a GREAT story!

(DH in the black shirt and his mom in red with the visor behind him.)


Edit to add: As a runner, it's for sure the 2020 marathon. It was my first full marathon, and I ran it by myself. I was just behind the course cut and finished it literally shoulder to shoulder with everyone in the back. People were dropping left and right -- it was genuinely scary!

 

[marty3d]

Stay safe everyone - after initial forecasts had the storm missing us (other than the deep freeze), it's now shifted north and we're expecting 12+ inches in the next 24h.

SAFD: I have nothing that can top @camaker or @The Expert . I've been lucky not to have to deal with major weather events during a race and I'll move indoors to the treadmill if it's training.

The most memorable inclement weather event I've been part of is one several of us here have discussed previously - the cancelled 2017 WDW Half and the almost arctic weather that moved in for the start of the Marathon. That year was my first Goofy. They cancelled the half the night before due to thunderstorms moving in. It was 100% the correct decision. That morning after the storms passed I ran my half marathon along with hundreds of other runners around Crescent Lake. It was pretty much a party atmosphere. The next day was so cold prior to the start that Disney opened the merch tent so people could buy warmer gear - and also shelter from the wind. It stayed cold for most of the marathon and I never ended up ditching any of my disposable layers. I still have my 2017 Goofy running jacket I bought that morning.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD:
I mean....I could say the half-of-a-half from 2 years ago at MW.

But I think it's this past summer when I was on one of my horrifically long training runs. We were not forecast to get any rain, but the great lakes do what they want pretty much all the time. The rail-trail I was on connects 2 small towns and as I jogged west I could see that the sky was getting noticeably dark off to the south west. I sent DH a quick text to please keep an eye on the radar since it looked like a system was flaring up, and being so close to the lake michigan shoreline we usually get *some* rain before systems break up as they hit land. I stopped to run hill repeats at the boat launch since it was starting to rumble a bit, and checked my radar again as DH said it was definitely going to rain. I had also stopped at the boat launch because it has bathrooms in the event that I needed an actual shelter. When it looked like it was going to break up/split and go around where I was running I got back on the trail and continued on, only to have a biker come flying in the opposite way, soaking wet, warning me that "it was pouring back there." Sure enough. I got caught in the rain for a few minutes. As this trail runs along a lake, there are many vacation homes with cute fire pits, storage sheds, gazebos, and pergolas. I took shelter under one for about 5 minutes while the system blew through, and then got back to my run.

The fun part about rain systems here is when you watch them come over the lake. You can see behind me, where the bottom left branches of the tree ends there's a "line" on the lake. That's the line of where the rain is.

 

[Dopey 2020]

Yes, stay safe and warm everyone! We're hunkering down for our 1-2 FEET coming later today and tomorrow.

SAFD: My most memorable inclement weather running experience was with a race I was spectating. DH and his mom were doing the 2019 Star Wars 5K at WDW, so I drove them and hung around to spectate. There was rain incoming, but the morning went off as usual, including loading into the corrals. I went over to the spectator area just past the start line and the time to send off wheels came and went. We knew something was up and they were stalling. Then, we hear a HUGE clap of thunder and a streak of lightning flashes in the sky! The crowd audibly gasped and they very quickly made an announcement to clear the area. At this point, everyone was in the corrals and it started to rain, so it was pretty much chaos.

DH and I texted each other to meet at the car, and they were telling people to get on the buses already staged to take people back to the hotels or to head all the way back up to Epcot, and to watch social media for any official announcements. We JUST made it back to the car before it really opened up! Watching social media, once the buses filled up, they ended up opening some buildings in the front of Epcot to get people inside.

Ultimately there was about a 45 minute delay, and then rather than a restart, they just told everyone to make their way to the start area and GO! No announcers, no fireworks, just go. Those on the buses got out and started the race on the first mile of the course rather than come all the way over to the start (it wasn't timed, so no start mat). DH and his mom went through the start gate, and not five minutes later there was another very close thunder clap and lightning strike, but at this point I think rD knew they couldn't clear the course, so everyone just went. It was still raining, so several of the character stops were pulled and we got zero photopass pics. DH and his mom were soaked, but had a good time and a GREAT story!

(DH in the black shirt and his mom in red with the visor behind him.)
View attachment 1041769

SAFD This would be mine as well. I was running it and knew something wasn’t quite right from the way the announcers were acting. It was a mad scramble to get people out of the start area and onto busses. Crazy was when they finally announced the start the storm was still close by. Lightning hit a couple spots very close by and a wave of runners jumped the corrals, fences, or any available opening and started all at once. I had started up front, came around the first corner, and ran into a few thousand people like a scene from the walking dead with runners streaming onto the course from all directions, ran on the grass for a bit, sloshed my way through a very wet course and headed back to the resort. Fun times and a good story.

 

[lhermiston]

SAFD: Great question! Weather certainly can make races more memorable.

Hands down the most chaotic race weather I ever experienced, and @michigandergirl will remember this, was the 2023 Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. Before the race even started, lightning was visible in the distance. As we were lining up to start the full and sprinkles were starting, the race director was like, "We're all adults here, we can choose whether we run today or not."

At some point in the first few miles we got bombarded with absolutely torrential rains. In no time, water was pooling up several inches deep along the course. It was unavoidable and we got soaked.

I remember running through part of Cincinnati and seeing people sheltering in a parking ramp and kind of scoffing. Only after I finished did I get a voicemail saying there had been a shelter in place order go out.

My recollection is there was about an hour of persistent rain, a break, and then more rain, but it ended up clearing up by the end. Of course, I was soaked from head to toe throughout most of the race. Despite the weather, the crowd support was amazing - I had bacon, beer, and tequila on the course and the Goof Troop arranged for some church group or something to have a sign for me.

All in all, one of my favorite races ever.

For Disney weather, 2017 had the weather system that cancelled the half (I only did the full that year) and dropped temperatures from like 75 on Friday to 35-ish on Sunday. I remember people in the corrals wrapped up in seemingly anything that wasn't nailed down. It caught a lot of people by surprise.

And then was it 2020 when the course got cut short for heat? The Goof Troop avoided the cutoff and got to enjoy that awful loop through the water park parking lot.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

SAFD: No great stories for me on this one either (fortunately?). My two memorable weather related runs though would be Disney on Ice (MW 2010) with the ice cups at the water stations frozen on top and black ice through all of them with Powerade powder sprinkled on it as a makeshift attempt to give some grip.

But probably my favorite weather memory was training for my first marathon. I had to do 18 or 20 miles, but we had a cold snap and it was hovering just above freezing with an alternating rain/snow. I went to the greenway trail to run anyway. Needless to say, I didn't see a soul on the usually busy trail until about half way through when I saw two runners, bundled up like me, running toward me. When they got close to me one of the runners pointed to me and asked "marathon training?" I responded yep and we high-fived passing. Those were the only two other people I saw that entire run and was one of my first "runners really are crazy" moments.

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: I think my story has to be my unofficial half marathon PR. January 28, 2023, I ran the virtual MW half as a training run. It was about 5°F and mostly cloudy, with minimal wind. I had a whole route on nearby streets/neighborhoods planned so I didn't have to run any out-and-back section more than once. I even remembered to bring water with me, in my little handheld...except that it was so cold that the pull-up top froze shut and I did the whole 2:57:28 run without even a sip of water. I got home and curled up under a blanket in front of the fireplace while my grandma got me a bottle of water with some of my electrolyte powder. My face was so numb I could barely talk.

But it still stands as the fastest I've run a half marathon, even if it doesn't technically count.

 

[The Expert]

the race director was like, "We're all adults here, we can choose whether we run today or not."

That is unhinged!

 

[Psymonds]

SAFD: I live and mostly run in California so my weather related race stories involve "and then a light mist began to fall so I had to put on long sleeves" but I once showed up to a half marathon and the race director made an announcement at about 6:30 for a 7 am race that a drunk driver had taken down a power pole on the race course around 2 am and the had had to modify the half marathon course to about 10 miles.

on the weather that was the same race I saw people huddling around the light tower generator exhaust to stay warm (it was mid 30's).

 

[Baloo in MI]

SAFD:
Oh I remember the 2017 Half being cancelled and how inspiring it was to run later that morning with all the other runners around Pop; and I remember 2020 - I thought I my melt! But my most memorable inclement weather run was a training run in 2016. I was training for the Run Woodstock 50 miler and drove out to the race course area in Pinckney, MI. It is a great trail, hilly, super woodsy, winds around lakes and ponds but it connects to number of other trails and it is easy to get lost. It was raining when I headed out from the parking lot (I was not taking the hint). I was hoping it would get better but it only got worse. It went from running in the rain and avoiding the puddles on the trail to the trail disappearing and becoming more of a creek than a trail. I eventually gave up and turned around and coming back the way I had was now inches deep water, mud and muck. The hills were straight up scary, I gave up running completely and I still must have fallen 20 times. I got lost and took twice as long to get back to my car. Total nightmare, but I never loved the heater in my car as much as I did that day!

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: If I’ve had a bad weather race, I have totally forgotten it. The closest I have come is 2010 MW….aka Disney on Ice. This was my very first marathon, and as I used to do back then, I volunteered for the half (so I could get an immediate park ticket). The weather for the half was, shall we say, “inclement”- mid 30s and freezing rain. As “luck” would have it, I was stationed in Epcot right by the lake where World Showcase starts. This used to be a hairpin turn to take you back into Future World at the end of the race. So I was one of the last volunteers on the course. As a northerner, I had the gear for the freezing temps, including hand warmers—but it's different to just be standing around as a course marshal. My hand warmers never did work—til I got back to the room. I must have stood in a hot shower 15 minutes trying to bring my body temp up.

Of course, the next day was the marathon, but it was great to run in the cold. The slippery water stops and iced over water cups were a challenge though.

 

[matt and beth]

SAFD:
Oh I remember the 2017 Half being cancelled and how inspiring it was to run later that morning with all the other runners around Pop; and I remember 2020 - I thought I my melt! But my most memorable inclement weather run was a training run in 2016. I was training for the Run Woodstock 50 miler and drove out to the race course area in Pinckney, MI. It is a great trail, hilly, super woodsy, winds around lakes and ponds but it connects to number of other trails and it is easy to get lost. It was raining when I headed out from the parking lot (I was not taking the hint). I was hoping it would get better but it only got worse. It went from running in the rain and avoiding the puddles on the trail to the trail disappearing and becoming more of a creek than a trail. I eventually gave up and turned around and coming back the way I had was now inches deep water, mud and muck. The hills were straight up scary, I gave up running completely and I still must have fallen 20 times. I got lost and took twice as long to get back to my car. Total nightmare, but I never loved the heater in my car as much as I did that day!

SAFD: I know this trail well and it’s also my worst experience. Trail Marathon on the Potawatomi several years ago. I was struggling with this cold for two months. The trail race was in April. This crazy weather front moved in and it snow 4” overnight. I froze during that run slipping and sliding around. The branches were all bending down under the weight of wet snow. Ducking and climbing around. Right during a section I was second guessing life choices I came up to an aid station. Some sweet lady was there all alone. She had a cup of soup in a thermos that saved me. I’ll always remember the kindness.

 

[fatmanatee]

SAFD: I don’t really have any incidents where I’ve run in “inclement” weather exactly. Either it gets cancelled (I just had a cancellation today) or I don’t run it bc it would just be a miserable experience. There was one local half in September or October and we were expecting to have “hurricane-like” weather, people were waiting on a call, it never came. So I woke up early, got my gear, then started heading out the door, saw the rain and wind and was like “you know what… nope”. If it was a RD race I would feel differently bc of the expenses involved.

And speaking of RD, not inclement weather but worst conditions were probably 2022 MW full. Just brutally hot, the stretch from AK to HS was as bad as it gets for me.

 

[RuntheMouse]

SAFD: Boy you guys have had some rough weather encounters! Mine are pretty tame, mostly involving downpours without lightning except for once this past summer.

My worst was probably my last 14 miler for this past MW. It was 34 degrees with light rain when I started but a cold front was headed our way. I rushed out the door at 8am to try to beat it. I have a big loop I run for that and about halfway, I texted DH and told him the wind was picking up so I was going to shorten to 13 because I thought it might get bad. At mile 10 the rain changed to sleet and started accumulating on the roads and sidewalks turning them to ice. As I was getting pelted trying not to fall, my pace slowed by 30 sec and I took every shortcut I could to get home, 12.59 miles By that time, it had changed completely to snow. Hated every second of those last miles.

 

[smrt1]

2023 Dirty German 50-miler in Philadelphia. It’s a trail race where, on a nice day your completely covered in mud. In 2022 and 2023 it poured. 2023 stands out though because the temperature was barely warm enough to keep me from shivering. The are hills that are difficult in dry weather but were near impossible after all the rain. I had to pull myself up hills by grabbing onto shrubs and tree branches. The course is made up of three laps. After the first lap the trail was in such poor condition from all the runners passing through that much of the race was spent walking. It ended up taking me almost 12 hours to complete, which was three hours longer than it had taken me on a dry day in the past. The worst part was that every part of my body that touched my clothing was covered in “rug burn” from the 12 hours of wet clothing grinding against my skin. I’ll never forget the scream I let out when I finally got home and took a shower. My most painful race “injury” ever, no contest. It was an absolute miserable experience. Having said that, it is possibly my favorite race, neck and neck with Disney Marathon. Can’t wait to run it again in May.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

SAFD: I have two candidates. Both races were fine, but the 2019 MCM marathon/10k and 2025 Honolulu marathon/10k had down pours before the races started. For MCM, the 10k starts on the mall, near the Smithsonian Museums, and we huddled under the ones that had covered entrances. The rain tapered off and it had stopped by the time we started, but we were all soaked.

Same story in Honolulu. We got a monsoon before the races started and we were all soaked. When it’s raining that hard, it’s impossible to try to keep the shoes dry.

 

[DianaMB333]

SAFD: no story to share, honestly if I see low temp (threshold is like 45 F ) or slightest chance of rain I just stay inside.

As I only race at Disney (and started just in 2023) so far I haven't been in a situation to decide whether or not to run, most likely I wouldn’t..

Admire your persistence and discipline to go through such bad weather experiences and make the most out of it!!