Official Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend - The Dark Side 2017

[MissLiss279]

I loved the course - way better than the W&D course (the only other half I've done at WDW).

It was definitely humid but it didn't end up bothering me that much. I think I was lucky to be able to start in one of the earlier corrals, and it stayed cloudy during the part of the race where the sun was up.

It was my fastest runDisney race so far (out of three I've done). The only negative I will say is the crowding, particularly on Bear Island road. Also, I nearly got blinded by some of the lights in the mock battle along that stretch...

I liked that fight scene on Bear Island Road, but I thought that it could be pretty blinding also... maybe if they could put it higher in the trees??

 

[McNs]

Congrats all you Dark Side runners!!!

 

[ywgckp]

I agree - higher would have been better! I took a blaster light to the head and couldn't see for a few seconds, in the midst of heavy traffic.

It was a very cool effect, though.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I took a blaster light to the head and couldn't see for a few seconds

It's the price we pay for fighting those rebel scum.

 

[rteetz]

Congrats everyone! Despite the heat it seems this weekend was much improved upon last years. I'm especially jealous of those Kessel run finishers.

 

[ryanj36]

This was my first rundisney event ever, and I really have no basis for judgement....but I had a blast on the half. I enjoyed this course, and the only thing I could complain about was the humidity. I still ended up with a PB though. RunDisney officially has a fan, and I hope to meet some disboard members on my next run. Now to enjoy the next week at Disney.

 

[DisSconnie]

I really had a great time today. Loved the course so much. The humidity was killer but luckily the sun stayed behind clouds until I was in world showcase. Couldn't have asked for better than that.

I was second wave of F and there was definitely a lot of crowding issues but it wasn't terrible, just slightly frustrating.

Because Epcot was open by the time I got there, I was able to grab a tiki torch from the Joffreys near Mexico. That slushy frozen alcoholic goodness was the best thing I've ever tasted. LOL

We started in the same wave! I, however, took their hydration recommendations a little too seriously and had to stop 4 times on the course just to go pee. The last three miles for us were rough once the sun came up. Definitely not a PR, but considering it was my official first half - it guess it was . I did hit all my goals, finished, didn't get swept, and didn't need a medic tent (although we did stop for some ice and the misters at the end, because it felt amazing). Congrats to all my fellow runners!!!!

 

[jaxonp]

Wow, what a half Marathon! The 5k and 10k course was just okay, but I loved the Half. The extended fireworks at the start of each Corral was fantastic and that fight scene on bear island road was the best effects Disney has done for a race. Just fantastic. I seriously thought the Ewoks were in the forest! Ha.

I was also happy to have grabbed the pre order jacket at the Merchandise Tent!

On to the weather, I didn't think today was that bad, it was humid but the temp and the cloud coverage was really good for this time of year. My last mile at Epcot was rough when the clouds disputed and that brutal Florida sun came out in full force.

The medals. Beautiful. The anniversary c2c medal is wounderful as is the Kessel. Glad I found time and was lucky enough to do both race weekends this year. The 10k medal is my favorite though.

On to Tinker next month.

 

[sidrich]

Is there a picture of that anniversary c2c medal?

 

[bryana]

The medals. Beautiful. The anniversary c2c medal is wounderful as is the Kessel. Glad I found time and was lucky enough to do both race weekends this year. The 10k medal is my favorite though.

I cannot get over how giant the half medal is! I was so surprised when I was given it!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Great race this morning! It was good to meet some of DISers this morning! I was less than a minute from a PR. With about 3 miles left, I knew I would be close, so I picked up the pace. Didn't quite make it (runner's brain probably kept me from knowing that it would be really hard to get, but it also helped me run faster at the end). I never try to PR Disney races, and with the heat and humidity of this morning, it makes me wonder what I could do. I had negative splits almost every mile! Crazy! I'm happy.

It was a great meetup! Thanks to @MommaoffherRocker for organizing and standing around with a sign. Sorry I didn't stick around too long, I was in the cattle pen F!

Congrats on your PR, especially amazing in the humidity today!!

Great meeting DIS folks for dinner last night and this morning in the staging area!!

I thought the course was well done today, although I imagine there were still a few tight areas that may have affected later corrals. That being said, with the exception of 0.4 miles in Animal Kingdom, the first 10 miles are all on roads. They did have a cool laser light show set to Star Wars sounds in the 2-3 mile range. I really liked that. They also had the normal periodic character stops, DJ, big screens showing Star Wars scenes, and random music/sounds here and there which keeps you entertained.

It was definitely quite a bit warmer than I prefer, and the humidity just gave us all a big hug the entire time, but I think that is to be expected this time of the year in Florida.

All-in-all a great time and great weekend!!

Great to meet you! Agreed about the course. I really loved last year's 501st-palooza in DHS and DAK, but I'm guessing SWCO depleted their resources. It was also too little DAK time given its location on the route (=MK in WDW or PHM), didn't give me enough of a pick-me-up mentally. I think if there was a little bit more DAK time (no idea how they'd do it), it would have been a much-needed mental boost.

I'm seriously over humidity = hug image!

Is there a picture of that anniversary c2c medal?

Here you go!

 

[croach]

Fun race today. Second half was much better for me than the first. Congrats to everybody today! And thanks for the meet up @MommaoffherRocker. Always nice to meet Dis'ers. Was it just me or did it seem to cool off or drop in humidity some later in the morning? Maybe just a breeze or something?

 

[jaxonp]

Does anyone have final participation numbers? All of the races seemed bigger than Wine & Dine last year which had mostly sold out. Are the races capacity being expanded?

 

[bryana]

Does anyone have final participation numbers? All of the races seemed bigger than Wine & Dine last year which had mostly sold out. Are the races capacity being expanded?

According to RunDisney's website, there were 16302 finishers for the half. W&D had 12658.

 

[rteetz]

Okay I saw a sign on Facebook, "Run like someone from United is trying to take your seat!" That's hilarious!

 

[MissLiss279]

Fun race today. Second half was much better for me than the first. Congrats to everybody today! And thanks for the meet up @MommaoffherRocker. Always nice to meet Dis'ers. Was it just me or did it seem to cool off or drop in humidity some later in the morning? Maybe just a breeze or something?

I think the humidity probably dropped a little when the sun came out. It did feel a little cooler, and the breeze helped.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Does anyone have final participation numbers? All of the races seemed bigger than Wine & Dine last year which had mostly sold out. Are the races capacity being expanded?

Wine and Dine has usually been the smallest half marathon. Its capacity is much smaller than the others.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

This weekend was rough for me. I finished the 10K (slowly) and hoped to try at the half but my ankle was really in too much pain and I pulled myself after Animal Kingdom. I'm ok with that choice and losing legacy. What did seem weird is that they didn't record my bib number anywhere between medical or the 'parade bus' so I don't even show as a SAG in the results (or at least not when I looked yesterday at lunch) 18 days until surgery and then I can do better next year.

The parade bus at Animal Kingdom (right after 501st) was full - some people in varying states of injuries, heat exhaustion, or undertrained. It seemed this time people were more ok with it than in November.



My husband had an ok 10K and he decided to just enjoy the half and had his personal worst as well at 2:20. He did stop for the majority of the photos (although he's mad he missed the ewoks!)

I'm happy we got our BB8 & Jabba the Hut photos though!

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I really enjoyed the half. Thanks to everyone that came to the meet up. I enjoyed the conversation and it definitely helped the time go by quicker. As far as the race goes I loved the fireworks before each corral, they seemed grander than any other race I have done before. I stopped for lots of pictures (woohoo for Ewoks!) and the 501st were awesome!! The weather didn't bother me until the sun came out for the last couple of miles. My only real complaint were the pace groups. I had to pass the 3:15 & 3:30 groups after every stop and they were wall to wall people. I don't what could be done about that but it was a little frustrating.

With there being 16302 finishers and I think 19000 bib numbers, does that mean they created bib numbers that that weren't sold or that many DNS or DNF? and from a back of the pack perspective I couldn't imagine another 3000 runners.

 

[Ariel484]

With there being 16302 finishers and I think 19000 bib numbers, does that mean they created bib numbers that that weren't sold or that many DNS or DNF? and from a back of the pack perspective I couldn't imagine another 3000 runners.

My guess (and it is nothing more than a guess): I DO think that they created bib numbers that weren't sold because they had the "last minute registration" area at the expo - I think they needed to order a set number of bibs from Track Shack to have the B-tags all ready to go ahead of time. Makes me wonder if a person could go to the "last minute registration" desk and buy a bib on the spot AND get correct corral placement - were all of the last minute registrations in the last corral or did they spread them out among all of the corrals?...if that makes sense.

Only 284 people on the SAG list...the wild card being, like you said, that we also have DNS runners. No way to know how many there were but I doubt almost 3K runners didn't start the race!