Marathon Weekend 2027

[The Expert]

This is the one I bought: https://goodr.com/collections/cheetah-g/products/stealth-mode-supreme

Their lens height is much shorter than other Goodrs I’ve tried, which I need to avoid glasses resting on my cheeks and getting shoved down onto my nose by my hat/visor. They’re also super sassy, which I love! Too bad my vision is blurry in them lol!

~~~

On the sunglasses topic, I’ll throw an unpaid plug here for Tifosi, a brand from which I’ve bought 5 different pairs of sport sunglasses over the years and they remain my favorite, most comfortable glasses of all. If they offered bifocals (I cannot do progressives), I’d pony up the cash to get Rx Tifosi’s made.

Thanks for the tip! Those look like they might be a tad wide, but I will definitely seek them out to try on at SS. I have a child-size head, which is super annoying for sunglasses and hats at expos!

 

[Zutroy]

I have a theory on these runners. They’re obviously genetically gifted to be able to run that fast and that efficiently, and up until this running boom, they’ve been able to get their external validation by doing the “big” marathons. Now with the running boom, these runners have competition for the first time, can’t get in to their big goal race, and cannot accept it gracefully because they’ve never had to accept failure before. These marathons have made up their own ratings, ie Abbot World Majors, and are extremely selective, which drives up demand.

It’s like when you started the college application process. Remember the selective/more selective/most selective system? Colleges and universities created that system, applied it to themselves, and watched as the Type A students drove themselves ragged to get in to the most difficult/selective schools to get accepted. It didn’t matter if these schools were any good. They applied a phony system to themselves and watched the bloodbath.

I don’t think that’s it. As a solidly ~3:20 marathon runner (I think I had a couple of seconds difference between MW 2025 and 2026), I’ve flirted with the idea of getting a BQ, but that would mean essentially doubling my training to get sub-3. My plan is to just get older and hope to keep the same pace, lol. If I spent that much time training to get a BQ but missed the cutoff, while someone else just bought their way in with a charity, I’d be mad too. It’s like if the band you liked for years and saw all their shows suddenly blew up, and now you can’t see them in concert because a bunch of new fans bought all the tickets.

It’s not about “never having to accept failure before.” It’s that all these new people who “haven’t paid their dues” are jumping on the marathon bandwagon. It was always kind of expected that you didn’t try a marathon until after years of running multiple halves and developing as a runner. It was about respecting running as a sport, not just an Insta photo op. Now people who haven’t even run a 5k are signing up for marathons. Not to gate keep, but I do think it’s a waste of a bib for that kind of person to sign up for a race that they will either DNF, DNS, or take 8 hours to complete.

 

[accm]

I started debating a split stay in the last week (during our 6-day weekend thanks to 4 snow/weather days that sandwiched the weekend) and am wondering if this is truly a DVC pipe dream: Is a BC studio possible to get at 7mo?

Right now I'm booked at Saratoga standard studio for Thursday-Sunday and then Sunday-Tuesday. It's currently split because we have 2 contracts with different UYs due to a really good deal and me being impatient with the resale market. (And I will call to combine them if I can't snag the split.) We are strongly considering trying to move the Sunday-Tuesday over to BC for something different, proximity to the parks, and a "new" pool. We stayed at BC about 10 years ago, so DS3 doesn't really have any memories of SaB because he was so young, and DD has never been.

While I'm also team "SaB is overrated," it's a resort that is near a lot of things and has a point chart that's close to SSRs, so I don't think I'd need to even buy OTU points. But I also know that it sells out for MW, and June is a long way off.

My experience has been that every time I've tried to get a studio at BCV I've been able to. Not for MW, but during the summer and fall. Usually stalking has been more successful than the waitlist, but I've also had a waitlist come through. With stalking it helps to have extra points available, so you can pick up individual nights as they become available, without having to cancel your backup plan.

 

[smrt1]

I don’t think that’s it. As a solidly ~3:20 marathon runner (I think I had a couple of seconds difference between MW 2025 and 2026), I’ve flirted with the idea of getting a BQ, but that would mean essentially doubling my training to get sub-3. My plan is to just get older and hope to keep the same pace, lol. If I spent that much time training to get a BQ but missed the cutoff, while someone else just bought their way in with a charity, I’d be mad too. It’s like if the band you liked for years and saw all their shows suddenly blew up, and now you can’t see them in concert because a bunch of new fans bought all the tickets.

It’s not about “never having to accept failure before.” It’s that all these new people who “haven’t paid their dues” are jumping on the marathon bandwagon. It was always kind of expected that you didn’t try a marathon until after years of running multiple halves and developing as a runner. It was about respecting running as a sport, not just an Insta photo op. Now people who haven’t even run a 5k are signing up for marathons. Not to gate keep, but I do think it’s a waste of a bib for that kind of person to sign up for a race that they will either DNF, DNS, or take 8 hours to complete.

I get what you’re saying and agree for the most part. However, the people that are taking eight hours to complete the race are still completing the same race that you do, it just takes them longer. I’m usually in the 3:30-3:35 range, so not too far off from you. I spent almost a year with an injury and had to walk the entire Phila. Marathon and the WDW Marathon. They both took me close to 6 1/2 hours to complete. I honestly think it was harder than running. Maybe not physically, but mentally. I don’t knock the people that walk at all. Especially at rD events. Not to mention, have you ever watched the last hour or so of the marathon in Epcot? It’s like a big party. You have to start somewhere, and there are tons of stories of people that never ran a step in their lives until they decided to do a rD event. One of the things I love about rD is that, yes, they are a real deal race. If you want to use it as a Boston qualifier or to PR it is a great race to do so. At the same time, it can also be treated as a fun event that you don’t have to take too seriously. Every race I run outside of Disney I always try to do the best I can that particular day. At Disney races, sure I want to run a fast marathon, but if something fun is going on or there’s a photo op that I want to take advantage of I certainly don’t get upset if I add 5-10 minutes to my time. That’s what we’re there for. As far as slower runners impeding the faster runners, I don’t really buy it. If someone is a fast runner and is looking to really run a great race I don’t see it being an issue. I’ve been in A corral for every rD event I’ve done. Are there “slow” people that bought their way in through Club Disney? Sure. Are those one or two people walking at the beginning of the race that I will pass within seconds going to have an impact on my time? Not at all. My complaint would be the people that run in a row four people wide that block the course.

 

[FFigawi]

It’s not about “never having to accept failure before.” It’s that all these new people who “haven’t paid their dues” are jumping on the marathon bandwagon. It was always kind of expected that you didn’t try a marathon until after years of running multiple halves and developing as a runner. It was about respecting running as a sport, not just an Insta photo op. Now people who haven’t even run a 5k are signing up for marathons. Not to gate keep, but I do think it’s a waste of a bib for that kind of person to sign up for a race that they will either DNF, DNS, or take 8 hours to complete.

Since when do we have to pay dues? None of my running friends ever asked me to pay dues. They heard I wanted to join them and run a marathon, and they said, "great! Here's our novice runner coach. He'll get you trained to cross that finish line standing up without injuring yourself." And he did. Two and a half months later, I completed my first 50-mile race. None of the experienced trail runners asked me to pay dues either. They welcomed me into ultra running and gladly shared all their wisdom and experience with me. It's people that view others as having to pay dues before they're worthy of being considered not a waste of a bib that are the problem, not the people signing up for those bibs.