Marathon Weekend 2023

[Kerry1957]

Greetings fellow Marathoners!

I'm very late to the party and haven't been checking this forum like I normally would leading up to Marathon weekend.

Is the Goof Troop still a thing? The Pandemic sure changed things with the cancellation of the 2021 Marathon. I didn't end up signing up for the 2022 Disney Marathon and actually gave in to laziness and just ran some halfs and other distances. But, I did get a spot in the Dopey Challenge in 2023, and can't wait to get down there again. Do you know if the old Goof Troop is planning on meeting while down in Disney in January?

The Goof Troop meetups in 2020 were so fun, and hopefully we can get together during the weekend!

Some of the longer term Goof Troopers can probably answer better than I can, but I think the short answer is yes, but the Goof Troop has evolved. There is still a HH meetup, and a DATW at Epcot on Monday. @lhermiston , the de facto leader of the Goof Troop has taken a few years off. Some of the new "members" like me are slower and can't keep pace with the original Goof Troop so we get more spread out during the actual race.

Please join us and add to the shenanigan's!

 

[FFigawi]

Greetings fellow Marathoners!

I'm very late to the party and haven't been checking this forum like I normally would leading up to Marathon weekend.

Is the Goof Troop still a thing? The Pandemic sure changed things with the cancellation of the 2021 Marathon. I didn't end up signing up for the 2022 Disney Marathon and actually gave in to laziness and just ran some halfs and other distances. But, I did get a spot in the Dopey Challenge in 2023, and can't wait to get down there again. Do you know if the old Goof Troop is planning on meeting while down in Disney in January?

The Goof Troop meetups in 2020 were so fun, and hopefully we can get together during the weekend!

The Goof Troop is alive and well. Rest assured, the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) will be happening again in January.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM)

What is this? Y’all just hang out and run together?

 

[Baloo in MI]

@FFigawi glad to hear that the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) is happening. I can remember seeing you all out on the course and clearly you all were having a very good time!

This is a good time as any to bring up a couple of the other traditions that have come from the Marathon Weekend Thread - Pre race Meet-ups before the call to corrals, Hurricane Hanna’s Gathering and of course DATW on Monday post marathon.

Are people interested in doing these again? In the past @DopeyBadger or @lhermiston and a few others organized the pre race meet ups and HH. I don’t think Billy is going to MW? Anyone know about Lee?

Either way it can be as simple as deciding a location and time for pre race meet ups. And HH was usually in the afternoon on Friday (10k day).

Are people interested? I would be happy to plant myself at a location and time to be decided pre race, but I can’t do HH. What say you all!?!

 

[Herding_Cats]

This is a good time as any to bring up a couple of the other traditions that have come from the Marathon Weekend Thread - Pre race Meet-ups before the call to corrals, Hurricane Hanna’s Gathering and of course DATW on Monday post marathon.

Are people interested in doing these again? In the past @DopeyBadger or @lhermiston and a few others organized the pre race meet ups and HH. I don’t think Billy is going to MW? Anyone know about Lee?

Either way it can be as simple as deciding a location and time for pre race meet ups. And HH was usually in the afternoon on Friday (10k day).

Are people interested? I would be happy to plant myself at a location and time to be decided pre race, but I can’t do HH. What say you all!?!

I would LOVE to attend the meetups again!
I feel like HH was an easy, central location for on-site people because you can hop on a bus (or 2, as we did last year) or take the skyliner or just WALK to it. Something in DS might be easier for off-site people, but I also know that some of the podcast groups (or the clothing groups) meet there as well on race weekends and that could potentially be confusing. I like Friday afternoon because it seems the most inclusive for people who are running the shorter distances or "just" the half or full because they should [still] all be there at that point.

I'll go dig up the pictures from the previous race weekends, but using the lightposts in the runner area was the easiest way for me to find @Naomeri and @Livelovedance at SS. There's so many banks of portas and foodtrucks that landmark didn't work for my brain. I absolutely failed on locating the meetup for MW, although I was also having massive amounts of anxiety the morning of the full that I got in my corral as soon as I could.

 

[fatmanatee]

@FFigawi glad to hear that the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) is happening. I can remember seeing you all out on the course and clearly you all were having a very good time!

This is a good time as any to bring up a couple of the other traditions that have come from the Marathon Weekend Thread - Pre race Meet-ups before the call to corrals, Hurricane Hanna’s Gathering and of course DATW on Monday post marathon.

Are people interested in doing these again? In the past @DopeyBadger or @lhermiston and a few others organized the pre race meet ups and HH. I don’t think Billy is going to MW? Anyone know about Lee?

Either way it can be as simple as deciding a location and time for pre race meet ups. And HH was usually in the afternoon on Friday (10k day).

Are people interested? I would be happy to plant myself at a location and time to be decided pre race, but I can’t do HH. What say you all!?!

Lee’s taking a long break from Dis/RD, possibly permanent? He hasn’t checked in since his goodbye post in January, said he was going to focus on other destinations with his kids getting older and Disney getting more expensive. And Billy will likely respond soon but I believe he’s doing PW and not MW next year.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Planned Meetups

Now that we've got locations, courses, and timing, anyone interested in pre-race meetups? Is there a particular place people would prefer? Something easy to find?

View attachment 644678
View attachment 644817

I see four lightposts in the Reunion Area forming a square. So the meetup would be at the southwest lightpost when you see each forming a square. Like this:

This was used for Princess weekend, which I think was *also* the lightpole closest to the gEar Check trucks.
of course the pic won't show up for some reason?


Here's a pic from a MW youtube video that shows the stage/big screen on the left, and the info/baby/med tents on the right. Just before this you walked past all of the tents where they have the post-race food boxes also on the right. Just in case you are person like me who doesn't do well with "north, east, south, west" directions and need very concrete and specific references. LOL! It would be the tallest/highest/nearest light pole in the picture I think?


ALSO, sharing costumes helps a TON.

 

[Bree]

What is this? Y’all just hang out and run together?

It's a group that just likes to have fun out there on the courses over the weekend. Lots of photo stops, pit stop for an adult beverage in AK and maybe hop on a ride.

@FFigawi glad to hear that the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) is happening. I can remember seeing you all out on the course and clearly you all were having a very good time!

This is a good time as any to bring up a couple of the other traditions that have come from the Marathon Weekend Thread - Pre race Meet-ups before the call to corrals, Hurricane Hanna’s Gathering and of course DATW on Monday post marathon.

Are people interested in doing these again? In the past @DopeyBadger or @lhermiston and a few others organized the pre race meet ups and HH. I don’t think Billy is going to MW? Anyone know about Lee?

Either way it can be as simple as deciding a location and time for pre race meet ups. And HH was usually in the afternoon on Friday (10k day).

Are people interested? I would be happy to plant myself at a location and time to be decided pre race, but I can’t do HH. What say you all!?!

Lee will not be at MW.

I am down for all meetups. I think we had a Q&A type post closer to MW last year asking what we were running, Y/N to pre-race meetups, HH and DATW. It could all be blending in from other years and other races though.

I think HH is still a good spot for Friday afternoon. It's not in a park and relatively easy to grab lots of tables and chairs. The bartenders there are always great and they will make some good tips that day!!! I'll be happy to bring name tags and sharpies. I am awful with names. I recognize faces, but names always escape me unless it's something unique

DATW is the same every year. Monday at 11am in Mexico!!!!

 

[The Expert]

I think that meetup location works well for pre-race as it's a bit away from the crowds. I'm only five feet tall, so definitely not as effective a beacon as Lee or Billy, but I am doing Dopey and try to arrive early for every race and am happy to stake a claim on this spot if it's helpful. I can share my flat me each evening so you'll know what costume to look for!

IIRC we've done HH at 2pm on Friday and usually hang around for a few hours, or until everyone decides to leave. I think it's a great location and convenient timing, even though I'll be coming from BLT instead of BWV this time.

 

[camaker]

@FFigawi glad to hear that the Goof Troop Roving Road Party (TM) is happening. I can remember seeing you all out on the course and clearly you all were having a very good time!

This is a good time as any to bring up a couple of the other traditions that have come from the Marathon Weekend Thread - Pre race Meet-ups before the call to corrals, Hurricane Hanna’s Gathering and of course DATW on Monday post marathon.

Are people interested in doing these again? In the past @DopeyBadger or @lhermiston and a few others organized the pre race meet ups and HH. I don’t think Billy is going to MW? Anyone know about Lee?

Either way it can be as simple as deciding a location and time for pre race meet ups. And HH was usually in the afternoon on Friday (10k day).

Are people interested? I would be happy to plant myself at a location and time to be decided pre race, but I can’t do HH. What say you all!?!

I definitely think we should plan on keeping the traditions of the pre-race meet-ups, Hurricane Hannah's on Friday afternoon and DATW on Monday.

 

[camaker]

ALSO, sharing costumes helps a TON.

It does, as long as the person whose costume you locate doesn't find the wrong group to hang with on race morning, right @The Expert ?

 

[GuinnessRunner]

I'm interested in the meetups and might actually make it to one this year . Currently scheduled to head back home Monday, but decided to drive down in case I twist my own arm and want to stay for DATW.

 

[surfde22]

I'm down for a prerace meet up too. May not make HH or DATW on account of being with two young kids, but will be there for prerace meetups. Also, going to try to be more active on the boards for these last few months leading up to Dopey. Planning on taking the 10k and Half real easy, so wouldn't mind finding someone to join on a casual jaunt for those two races, and maybe the 5k as well. I'm heck bent on breaking 4 hours in the marathon, so I don't want to run the other races too hard.

 

[garneska]

Just adding i am in for meet ups and am planning DATW on Monday this year.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I'm in for both HH and DATW. I will try for the morning meetups.

How fast does the goof troop go?

 

[The Expert]

It does, as long as the person whose costume you locate doesn't find the wrong group to hang with on race morning, right @The Expert ?

What better way to learn where NOT to go right?! LOL!

 

[DopeyBadger]

@fatmanatee is right, I'm at Princess 2023 this coming year. For almost every MW since 2015 I've put together a spreadsheet/PDF like the attached with helpful information, and a consolidated go to for meetups and the such. Even though I'm not coming to MW, I could put something like this together again. A lot of the spreadsheet is automated and doesn't take me a ton of time to compile. Usually I start gathering the hard details in mid-December once meetups, and the course are finalized. I agree with others that the meeting location we used for Princess 2022 (the light post) was a good one because it can be seen from a distance, and it's an immovable object in the parking lot area.

The DIS List contains:

-Timing information for each race (like what time the corrals open, or the walkout to the HM/M start line)
-Pre-Race Meetup location and timing (FYI we changed to the light post for Princess 2022 so ignore the meetup locale in this PDF)
-When you individually will hit milestones on course based on your estimated pace and start time estimate.
-A suggestion as to whether your spectating friends will need to take a pre-race bus or a post-race start bus to see you at the finish line.
-HH meetup information
-Riding rides estimates based on your pace and start time
-Alcohol locations on course
-Real bathroom locations on course
-Magic Kingdom dark sky estimates based on your pace and start
-Pacer information (if available)
-DATW information

 

[Baloo in MI]

Awesome! Sounds like there is a lot of interest! In a few weeks I have a “revisit marathon weekend goals” question for SAFD. (Yes, I am a total dork and planned out questions all the way through MW. I wear this badge proudly ). For that week I will add an option to include interest in the meet ups that @DopeyBadger can make part of his very helpful spreadsheet!

We will just need to define times as we get closer and get race info from runDisney. I like the location suggested by @Herding_Cats for the morning meet ups. And it sounds like there are a few of us willing to be there to be there early to be conspicuous.

3pm for HH?
11am for DATW.

Wow, this makes MW feel a little more real!

 

[marty3d]

I'd also be interested in the morning meetups and HH. Wasn't able to make HH last year so that sounds like fun!

 

[Kerry1957]

Here's a pic from our DATW from a couple of years ago.