First, I will add on and also mention the speed bumps! They sneak up on you when you are in the zone. I have not run this course yet, but they have been on all the other disney courses I have run.
I am also in H but will finish around 2:25-2:30 since my POT was PHM that included photos and the dreaded potty stop. There are usually faster runners in each corral since we have to submit POT pretty early in training. So, you certainly will not be alone. Also keep in mind that H bib numbers are around the 6000 mark. So, at that point only about 1/3 or so of the runners will be on course.
That pace is my finish time for the last three long runs I've had. I only made 13.1 last sunday, but the three runs before it were 10.5 and 11.7 and 12 even. And tacking on the additional miles at my pace I kept finishing between 2:24 and 2:29. The actual 13.1 last sunday was 2:25. What I'm struggling with is the desire to stop for pics vs the desire to have a good time to submit for Princess and Tink. I do think it's dumb that the cut off for PoT for Tink is BEFORE the Princess is run. It just seems to me so natural that many people running the Princess may run the Tink esp if their goal is a C2C (which is mine, and I wanted the pink one so it HAS to be this combo I think). Maybe my pacing won't improve that much between Nov and Feb, but I really would have liked the chance to use Princess for Tink instead of having both races rely on W&D.
That's okay, now I'll just have to run W&D next year to make up for not being able to run for fun this year
That sounds pretty much like my experience with the 2012 ToT. It was my first race back after about a decade of not running and my training times had me faster than my corral seeding. Thinking most folks were honest back then (silly me), I thought how bad could it be and decided against changing corrals. I ran from the front of my corral and a little before the first mile mark I caught the tail end of the corral in front of me. Groups of people walking 5-6 abreast covering most of the space across Osceola, it was horrible. After about 2 miles of constantly weaving and saying "on your left", "on your right", and "excuse me", the crowd thinned out enough to run normally. I was thrilled when they changed the corral system for the following ToT and other Disney races I have been in since then.
I can also say beware of the grass, especially in the dark, it only took the 2nd of three steps on the grass in that first ToT to roll me ankle.
Hahahaha
That reminds me of the 10k I did at Gillette Stadium over the July holiday. The race is apparently a local tradition and the finish is on the 50 yard line (this is where the Patriots play, in case any were wondering) and so about a mile out, every time you'd stop, the volunteers would be all amped up and fanatically encouraging you "Don't Stop!" "You're almost there". I was on intervals so I had to hold back. I wanted to be able to sprint at the end (which I did) and had I have listened to those folks I'd have been crawling! LMAO
So no details on the NB's to be offered? Or is it too early for that? I'm happy- I only see a couple things I like AND will realistically use. My wallet is safe. For now. LMAO
I too thought it was weirdly early for runDisney (and thought it was so they could give themselves time to put up an Avengers preview as well), but you're TOTALLY right that they want to sell those spots. They even made sure to mention it in the blog post.
It was said somewhere else on the board (in this thread?) that it really stinks that they're doing a "welcome reception" to have people pay for earlier shopping opportunities instead of opening a pre-order for runners.
I'm not impressed by that at all.
I was one of the ones who shared that sentiment. And to tack it on when they did said clearly no one was thinking. At the point that it was announced in a wide spread fashion, most of us had already paid for airfare, or made their work committments/time off requests. Personally, I *could* have shifted work and *could* have shifted to an earlier flight- but who's going to go through all that trouble based on what they were offering? The value just wasn't there for me.
I don't know why they are so lazy about a pre-order for runners. When I was still heavily into Pins and Vinylmation I would go to the September expo and they had a pre order thing. think of like a raffle system where you said okay I want 6 of A and 2 of B and 4 of C, and if the system picked you, you might get all of A, part of C, and none of B. So you got something ahead of time. Then, you could come to the expo and try your hand to get the remaining items. Now, the leftover merchandise was not offered to the public until AFTER the last day of the expo; so totally only ticketed attendees had first crack. And that's the way it should be for races too!
We spend the time training (well I like to think the majority of us do), we put in the miles when we ache, when we're sick, when we're tired, when we'd rather sleep in/go to bed, etc. We fork over the RIDICULOUS bib fee. (Though fair enough, Disney bling is some of the best out there) We pay to fly in to run said race. You don't have to reward me with anything free- but AT LEAST give me first shot at merchandise to commemorate the event that I've worked so hard to train for before you let some @$$hat walk in and sweep the shelves and then turn around put it on eBay at a 200% markup!
Was there going to be any special New Balance stuff for this race, too? I can't remember how early we found out about that stuff for Tink. I don't know if this race usually has shoes and stuff too, though.
I'm wondering the same thing...
I wish they just sold the I DID IT stuff at the finish line. I do not like the bad mojo of buying something that says I completed an activity before I actually completed it.
I guess the big issue with having merchandise be by bib only would be that many of the ebayers who make a ton of money off of runDisney would just buy up the 5K bibs just to be able to go get official merch.
THIS! To both sentiments. Then you'd have people not able to get in who legitimately want to run because the ebayers only bought a bib to get a chance to shop. It'd be a logistical nightmare, but maybe event specific merch should be reserved for people participating in that particular event (ie no GSC buying if you're not actually doing the GSC or no buying Dopey stuff if you're not doing the Dopey, etc) until after a certain period. Then it opens to all racers. THEN to the general public. Super fair in concept; hard as all heck to actually implement I'll bet.
At Tink it was not everything that was sold out. They still had plenty of the non-race runDisney gear, and they had a lot of commemorative shirts and sweatshirts and "I Did It!" shirts left. It was the stuff like the jackets, the glassware, the bottles that were sold out. I saw so many people wearing super cute teal jackets that had fairy wings printed on the back and I remember lamenting not ordering the jacket during the registration, and someone was like oh that's not that jacket, that was for sale at the expo. Never even saw those! I got the cotton "I Did It!" shirt and a commemorative tech shirt. Then when I got home I ordered the special "I Did It!" tech shirt that went on sale at the online
Disney Store after the race.
Now that my SO is not coming with me, I will be unsupervised at the expo with no one to make me feel bad about buying ALL THE THINGS! At least you get Disney Visa discount at the expo.
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already knows who her shopping buddy needs to be
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Electronics of all sorts always go in my laptop bag, so my Garmin will be in there. I guess anything else I can replace at the expo. Socks, gels, handheld water bottle + Nuun, SPIbelt if I don't wear my untested SparkleSkirt... SparkleSkirt if I decide I need a new one... 
