Marathon Weekend 2019

[jennamfeo]

I’d love the green one if it’s still available!!

That's so awesome! I'd be interested in the red one if it's still available.

They are yours! PM me your addresses and I will sent them off this week!

 

[rteetz]

So how confident are we that ticket prices will increase tomorrow?? 100%? Because I still haven't purchased mine for marathon weekend.

I'm looking at you @rteetz

I have an official thread on Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies that will have a full run down once everything is out. I expect prices to rise for sure.

 

[rteetz]

Same here. But I have to guess marathon weekend isn't gonna be the cheapest ticket level. I'm only buying three park days which would be fri, sat, sun. So I just went ahead and bought tonight. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Perfect amount for Goofy!

 

[LSUfan4444]

Has everyone started with their training?

Not yet, but almost. I have my last half ironman of the year this Sunday, then a week "off" and my marathon plan starts first week of November

 

[LSUfan4444]

I have an official thread on Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies that will have a full run down once everything is out. I expect prices to rise for sure.

For the first time ever I am kind of hoping for a price increase and more blackout dates for non florida resident APs.....but only as confirmation for my purchase

I bought APs again for us this weekend and plan to activate them when we go on January. Im hoping to get January, plus a week in the summer and then a quick trip once Galaxy's Edge opens off of the APs while they have no blackouts.

 

[JulieODC]

They are yours! PM me your addresses and I will sent them off this week!

Thank you!!! Literally off to google potential RunDisney costumes in green

 

[roxymama]

Thank you!!! Literally off to google potential RunDisney costumes in green

Tiana, tinkerbell, Mike wazowski, Ariel, petes dragon, disgust...

 

[jmasgat]

My training is going ok. That's pretty much how all my training cycles go. I tend to miss a lot of runs. I try my hardest, but life is hectic and motivation has always been a problem for me. After my HM last weekend I've decided to incorporate some speed work and tempo runs in the hopes of improving my pace a bit. I also bought some new sneakers because my plantar fascitis is really flaring up. I was almost in tears the last two miles of the HM. I've also got to do much better with my diet. Not just to lose weight, but also to fuel my body better for long runs. Hopefully it's not too late to turn things around and really start giving my best effort.

On that note, I'm reading all this PoT stuff and kicking myself that I didn't train harder for my PoT race. Argh. I hate that I will be stuck in the back with hordes of people when I know I could have been up further.

Don't beat yourself up! To quote Bobo the Bear from Muppets in Space...."Baby steps, sir, baby steps" (Insert your gender-specific pronoun). Don't overwhelm yourself with trying to take on too much. In that spirit, here are some totally unsolicited suggestions.

Pace....If you want to improve your pace, then look at any training plan and pull out some ideas (Higdon, Hanson's, etc) and try a few. Half mile repeats are good, as are tempo runs at HM or M pace (not sure what race you are doing)

As for your PF, have you tried using a tennis ball to roll the bottom of your foot? are you stretching your achilles and soleus (lower calf) muscles?

Diet....we all strive for improvement. Just pick one thing you can work on to improve (my downfall is chocolate consumption--but I have made progress in saving the wine for weekends)

Fueling....we are all an experiment of one. There are some standard recommendations for carb consumption by body weight/hour-then the form is what you can tolerate (solid, gel, liquid). You'll get lots of opinions on what to try here.

As for the POT and corral placement---what's done is done. People here have had varied experiences starting in a back corral, and not all awful. There are ways on race day to minimize the stress.

Sorry for being long winded. Just trying to say there are still things you can do without overwhelming yourself to still make a difference. Good luck.

 

[KattyBelle]

They are yours! PM me your addresses and I will sent them off this week!

Thank you so much! Sent you a PM.

Tiana, tinkerbell, Mike wazowski, Ariel, petes dragon, disgust...

Dopey!

 

[roxymama]

I saved $5.44 total by buying my 3-day parkhopper tickets last night. (would be more if I had added the flex day thing.) What can I buy at Disney for $5.44?
The good thing is that since my Dad will be buying tix too, just not sure on three or two days for him...at least I know he will not be seeing an insane increase. It would appear that they believe that marathon weekend isn't going to be as high-season as the previous weekend, but still a little higher than the remainder of the month.

NOTE: this screen grab is only for someone looking at 3-day parkhopper with no flex dates.

 

[ZellyB]

I'm really hoping that this year the crowds are more manageable. Last year was insane.

 

[PrincessV]

My thoughts on PoT:

1. Back when I first started doing rD races, the cutoff for PoT for halfs was higher - I want to say 3:00. As someone who has always started from mid- to back-pack, I've seen no positive change in crowd management since they went to a 2:45 cutoff. And I've only seen negative change since they went to a giant corral started in many mini-waves. IDK their reasons for doing it as they currently do, but if it had anything to do with crowd management, it's not working well.

2. Despite the more crowded conditions now vs. 5+ years ago, I've never not been able to run the race I want to run. Well, okay - PHM was sketchy. But at risk of sounding like a broken record, I nabbed a 20-minute PR in the marathon this year, starting from the back of G. It's always preferable to be in an earlier corral if that suits one's pace, but being further back isn't the worst thing ever, either.

3. @DopeyBadger I know mine was one of the first on-the-cusp PoTs we looked at and I am happy to report that rD backed up their email to me saying my 1:14:20 10K equated to a 2:44 half: I am, indeed, in E for W&D.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I'm really hoping that this year the crowds are more manageable. Last year was insane.

I’m heavily banking on the crowds being influenced more by the holidays than Marathon Weekend last year. I’m fully aware that Disney is never not busy now, but I’ve got to hope that last year was as bad as it gets.

 

[steph0808]

I'm really hoping that this year the crowds are more manageable. Last year was insane.

Agreed. I had no idea that the crowds would be that heavy - I am assuming because people were still on winter break. I had planned to run because I usually work the second Sunday of every month and last year, the marathon was the first Sunday, so it worked out perfectly.

In 2013, the crowds were nice and low - it was a second Sunday then. I hope it's back to that!

 

[steph0808]

I saved $5.44 total by buying my 3-day parkhopper tickets last night. (would be more if I had added the flex day thing.) What can I buy at Disney for $5.44?
The good thing is that since my Dad will be buying tix too, just not sure on three or two days for him...at least I know he will not be seeing an insane increase. It would appear that they believe that marathon weekend isn't going to be as high-season as the previous weekend, but still a little higher than the remainder of the month.

NOTE: this screen grab is only for someone looking at 3-day parkhopper with no flex dates.
View attachment 358789

I saved $97 on two 5-day parkhoppers by buying from undercover tourist before the price increase. If I had bought direct from Disney, I think my savings would have only been $40 or so.

 

[DopeyBadger]

2. Despite the more crowded conditions now vs. 5+ years ago, I've never not been able to run the race I want to run. Well, okay - PHM was sketchy. But at risk of sounding like a broken record, I nabbed a 20-minute PR in the marathon this year, starting from the back of G. It's always preferable to be in an earlier corral if that suits one's pace, but being further back isn't the worst thing ever, either.

This is a great point. And this data would back that up:

Even in Corrals F, G, and H there were still several runners running in the 3-5 hour range if that's what someone wants to do. So for others, don't immediately be discouraged by a particular corral assignment because the data backs up that it's completely possible to run a fast race (if you choose to do so) in pretty much any corral. I've shown that occurs even for runners actually starting in that particular corral and not just having been reassigned or corral jumping. Granted there do appear to be runners who were initially assigned a different corral who ran in an earlier corral (thus skewing the data above), but that's a different story.



This also nicely shows the mini-waves (4 in F and 6 in G for example).

3. @DopeyBadger I know mine was one of the first on-the-cusp PoTs we looked at and I am happy to report that rD backed up their email to me saying my 1:14:20 10K equated to a 2:44 half: I am, indeed, in E for W&D.

 

[ZellyB]

Agreed. I had no idea that the crowds would be that heavy - I am assuming because people were still on winter break. I had planned to run because I usually work the second Sunday of every month and last year, the marathon was the first Sunday, so it worked out perfectly.

In 2013, the crowds were nice and low - it was a second Sunday then. I hope it's back to that!

Our first marathon weekend was 2013 and the crowds were amazing. I think it really spoiled us and we've been disappointed to find things more crowded each year. But nothing could compare to what last year was like. We went this past summer in July and it was a piece of cake compared to marathon weekend 2018.

 

[PrincessV]

So, with about 86 days to go, this week's Sundays are for Disney is a training check-in. Has everyone started with their training? How is it going? What's been working well for you? What's not working? Who wants to brag? Who needs a bit of motivation?

Well... we finally had a few hours of "Fall" here in the Sunshine State and they happened to coincide with my 14.5-miler - yippee!! Less effort, better pace FTW.
But, it seems my right Achilles has suddenly rejected the low-drop shoes I've been wearing for a year: it is not a happy camper. So I'm trying to give it some TLC while also trying to find new shoes with a higher drop. It's a steady rotation of shoes being delivered to my door, and then going back to the UPS store for return.
BUT, "Fall" left as quickly as it arrived and we now have record-setting temps, which overall sucks, but means I can get into my unheated pool and do some non-impact pool running and/or swimming, so I've got that going for me.

 

[Jason Bryer]

I’m not really sure what your calculation is trying to do but why in the world would it include gender and age in the equation?

It seems I hit a nerve, that was not my intention. I am an academic and enjoy engaging in these types of exercises. Of course Disney will only change the process if it is perceived as broken (i.e. they get more people than on this board complaining about coral placement). I do know Disney has an army of data scientists, I wonder if any are helping the runDisney group.

I included age and gender in my initial model because prior data suggests these are at least somewhat correlated with running speed. Perhaps they wouldn't be important in this situation, but I wouldn't know until I run the models. Same with number of photos. And I didn't even bring up the possibility of interaction effects ;-)

Am I wrong that most think the large corals and placement for non-POT runners is problematic? I think so, which is why I submitted a POT. Maybe for half the runners it's not a big deal. But it is fun to think about possible better solutions.

 

[rteetz]

It seems I hit a nerve, that was not my intention. I am an academic and enjoy engaging in these types of exercises. Of course Disney will only change the process if it is perceived as broken (i.e. they get more people than on this board complaining about coral placement). I do know Disney has an army of data scientists, I wonder if any are helping the runDisney group.

I included age and gender in my initial model because prior data suggests these are at least somewhat correlated with running speed. Perhaps they wouldn't be important in this situation, but I wouldn't know until I run the models. Same with number of photos. And I didn't even bring up the possibility of interaction effects ;-)

Am I wrong that most think the large corals and placement for non-POT runners is problematic? I think so, which is why I submitted a POT. Maybe for half the runners it's not a big deal. But it is fun to think about possible better solutions.

Just a question, are you newer to runDisney? runDisney doesn't operate on data science. They are a very strange and often don't always do what makes sense.

It may be problematic but Disney isn't changing from it. runDisney races are ones that many try to PR, its more of a fun have a good time race. If you are looking to PR or place you are likely submitting a POT.