Question about corral placement

[becca1976]

A few friends and I are planning on running Marathon weekend 2015. I am curious how corral placement works. I am a new runner and will be training specifically for the half (I'm still trying to decide between the half and the 10k...can I do the half??). My friends are not super fast, but they are avid runners (they have done several races before...including a half). We want to run together as we are mostly doing this for the experience...not looking for qualifying times for the Boston marathon or anything. How can we get the same corral placements?

 

[JeffW]

Don't worry about everyone having the same corral, anyone can drop back from a forward corral to a later one. Just plan to run in the corral of the person with the slowest submitted time (a 10k time counts for Half placement, BTW). I always drop back to run the Half with my wife, then run the Full in my designated corral.

 

[becca1976]

Is there a disadvantage to a later corral? Do you have to make up time?

 

[steves1019]

Is there a disadvantage to a later corral? Do you have to make up time?

You start later and if you run faster you'll have people to dodge as you pass. The other thing is the 16 min per mile pace needed to be kept starts when the last person starts. So if you're near that pace you want to be as far away from that last person as possible. I've also heard others say the character picture lines are longer the later you start.

 

[paxsarah]

Everyone can drop back to the corral of whoever is corraled farthest back, as others have said. Regardless, if you're doing the half, everyone should race a 10K or longer in advance so that you can submit proof of time for corral placement. That will help ensure you're placed generally with runners of a similar pace, rather than in the last corral. It will also give you a better sense of your estimated finish time - you can plug your 10K time into a calculator like McMillan that will give you a ballpark of your corresponding race times as well as appropriate training paces.

 

[Diskidatheart]

The corrals are set up so that you run with people that run the same as you do. You will need to submit a time from a race that is 10k or longer (in order to get a corral placement for the half). Please note that when you sign up, you should provide an estimated time of completion too. I believe they take your proof of time and your estimated time into consideration when assigning corrals.

There is not an advantage or disadvantage to running in a certain corral. If you are near the back, you may have a little more congestion than others. Many people like to take pictures/videos during the race, so if you are in one of the early corrals, it provides a little cushion from the back of the pack.

I say go for the half. It's a fun event and it's challenging. You'll feel such a sense of accomplishment too and the course goes through 2 parks rather than one for the 10k. Good luck!

 

[paxsarah]

I did want to add that yes, you should totally aim for completing the half marathon. You're in the exact timeframe I was when I set the goal to complete my first half marathon at Disney (11-ish months out), and it was plenty of time to prepare. On the way, I actually finished another half marathon first (it was my town's inaugural half marathon, how could I not?), but it didn't take away from the experience at Disney. If you set yourself intermediate goals along the way (5K, 10K, etc.), it will help you start training and keep training consistently.

 

[becca1976]

Thanks for the encouragement! It would be a huge accomplishment for me!