2018 Princess Half Marathon

[lisatav]

Hello all!

This PHM will be my first half marathon and my first runDisney event! I realized a few weeks ago that when I submitted my 10k time, I did not adjust my estimated finish time. I set my estimated finish at 3 hours because I hadn't started training and was just guessing. My submitted 10k time would estimate me finishing in 2:30ish minutes. I contacted runDisney and was told that once placements are sent I can reach out to have my placement adjusted. Has anyone else had to do this? What are the chances they will actually adjust my corral? I was told if your estimated time was 3 hours or above they don't even look at your submitted times. I have a friend running and was hoping to be in or near her corral as we have been training together.

Thanks for your help!

More experienced Rundisney runners might have a better answer but I believe they only look at the time you submitted and not the estimated finish time.

 

[bumbershoot]

I contacted runDisney and was told that once placements are sent I can reach out to have my placement adjusted.

They don’t do that. Did you call? Alas calling tends to get you to normal Disney CMs. Emailing gets you rundisney CMs.

If you emailed, keep that response to point to later.



Can you adjust the estimate now, though, in your active.com account? Worth a try.

More experienced Rundisney runners might have a better answer but I believe they only look at the time you submitted and not the estimated finish time.

In very recent years people have reported that you need to adjust the estimate to match the POT estimate.

 

[Bree]

Does my 12yo need to pick up her own bib for the 5K? I can’t remember if I can do it for her or not.

 

[xJenna]

More experienced Rundisney runners might have a better answer but I believe they only look at the time you submitted and not the estimated finish time.

They don’t do that. Did you call? Alas calling tends to get you to normal Disney CMs. Emailing gets you rundisney CMs.

If you emailed, keep that response to point to later.
In very recent years people have reported that you need to adjust the estimate to match the POT estimate.

I tried logging in to adjust first, then upon realizing I couldn't edit the estimated time I sent an email through runDisney. When I saw that the response time was 10+ days, I called and was put in contact with someone at Track Shack on behalf of runDisney. She told me that I could be put on a list of people whose placements need to be reviewed and an email address to send information to. I received an email back from the address she had shared with me stating (this is directly from the email) "Please plan to review your placement when waivers come out 2 -3 weeks prior to your event, and if you feel you'd like us to review your submission at that time, we will be happy to do so with you." Then I got another email back from my original email (which is also a response from Track Shack) stating the same. So maybe this is a new system that they're using? It's my own fault and not the end of the world. Thanks for your responses.

 

[daisyray4]

Does my 12yo need to pick up her own bib for the 5K? I can’t remember if I can do it for her or not.

Hi! I’m new here, but I did the 10K last year with my 10 year old and didn’t have them with me when I picked up the bibs.

 

[Crystalpistol]

Hello all!

What are the chances they will actually adjust my corral? I was told if your estimated time was 3 hours or above they don't even look at your submitted times. I have a friend running and was hoping to be in or near her corral as we have been training together.

Thanks for your help!

I have been running this weekend since 2013 and have heard all sorts of stories. I know people have reported issues. Make a copy of your active registration and bring it with you to packet pickup. Worst case you can pick up your bib and take both things to the runners relations stand. They have corrected people's corral placements in the past. It's worth a shot... And worst case your friend can come back to your corral and y'all will still have a magical race day. Every corral is full of great people and rundisney is great about posting race educate and you should be able to pass on one side though the non park portions of the course... Good luck with the updates!

 

[xJenna]

I have been running this weekend since 2013 and have heard all sorts of stories. I know people have reported issues. Make a copy of your active registration and bring it with you to packet pickup. Worst case you can pick up your bib and take both things to the runners relations stand. They have corrected people's corral placements in the past. It's worth a shot... And worst case your friend can come back to your corral and y'all will still have a magical race day. Every corral is full of great people and rundisney is great about posting race educate and you should be able to pass on one side though the non park portions of the course... Good luck with the updates!

This is great advice. If it doesn't get solved ahead of time, I'll be sure to do this. Thanks a bunch.

 

[jdd]

So, this may have been asked and answered, but I don't remember seeing anything on it. Do we have any idea how the corrals are going to work for the half? I was just reading a trip report from the WDW Marathon weekend, and it said they cut down the number of corrals and were sending out runners in waves within the corrals. I know when I ran in 2015 we had corrals A thru P and I thought that worked really well. I'm concerned that if they're bigger, there is going to be a lot of competition to get to the front of each corral. I'm not big on pushing my way to the front

 

[FFigawi]

So, this may have been asked and answered, but I don't remember seeing anything on it. Do we have any idea how the corrals are going to work for the half? I was just reading a trip report from the WDW Marathon weekend, and it said they cut down the number of corrals and were sending out runners in waves within the corrals. I know when I ran in 2015 we had corrals A thru P and I thought that worked really well. I'm concerned that if they're bigger, there is going to be a lot of competition to get to the front of each corral. I'm not big on pushing my way to the front

Disney has been using waves within the corrals for most races during the past year. They work fairly well in getting people across the line smoothly and without as much immediate crowding as there has been in the past. I'd guess they'll continue with this for the foreseeable future.

 

[jdd]

Disney has been using waves within the corrals for most races during the past year. They work fairly well in getting people across the line smoothly and without as much immediate crowding as there has been in the past. I'd guess they'll continue with this for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for your response! I agree that using waves could definitely help with the overcrowding, but couldn't they just leave the corrals the way they were, and maybe do two waves out of each corral? Just seems like this might throw off the whole idea of pacing - I'm probably overthinking it though!

 

[KSellers88]

What sneezy smell? We are staying at BLT during PHM weekend and I can’t stand bad smells. Oh no

We stayed at BLT for Marathon Weekend for the first time and I did not notice any smell...we will be there for PHM week too. My mom never mentioned anything either and she hates things that smell funny. Probably just a personal preference; the only place I've noticed a smell if the Polynesian and I love the smell of their lobby!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

My only concern about the update Corrals is how they handle Men. Before Men could never be in Corral A - they would be in Corral B though. Are they going to do the same with the larger corrals?

(Obviously this doesn't affect me but it does affect my husband)

 

[Ariel484]

My only concern about the update Corrals is how they handle Men. Before Men could never be in Corral A - they would be in Corral B though. Are they going to do the same with the larger corrals?

(Obviously this doesn't affect me but it does affect my husband)

So dumb that they do that. I assume it'll still be like that.

 

[PrincessV]

So, this may have been asked and answered, but I don't remember seeing anything on it. Do we have any idea how the corrals are going to work for the half? I was just reading a trip report from the WDW Marathon weekend, and it said they cut down the number of corrals and were sending out runners in waves within the corrals. I know when I ran in 2015 we had corrals A thru P and I thought that worked really well. I'm concerned that if they're bigger, there is going to be a lot of competition to get to the front of each corral. I'm not big on pushing my way to the front

They've done this new way (fewer corrals, more per corral, multiple wave starts) for a while now - I've been through it for Dark Side 2016 and 2017, W&D 2017, and Dopey 2018. I've been in the second-to-last corral for each and it's worked fine. DS and WDW Half/Full worked the best, IMO: they did many waves for our corral of 6-7,000. W&D was less successful with only a couple waves for 6,000 people. Since that was the one-off and they went back to multiple, smaller waves for marathon weekend, hopefully they saw that fewer, bigger waves wasn't so great.

FWIW I refuse to take part in the Hunger Games at the front of a corral and have been starting from the middle to back of my corral at all of these races - no issues at all.

 

[Luv2Run]

Thanks for your response! I agree that using waves could definitely help with the overcrowding, but couldn't they just leave the corrals the way they were, and maybe do two waves out of each corral? Just seems like this might throw off the whole idea of pacing - I'm probably overthinking it though!

This is how it was for W&D. I was in the second wave of my corral. The only way I noticed the waves was because there were no fireworks when we were allowed across the start line.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

So dumb that they do that. I assume it'll still be like that.

Which is where the annoyance comes in so now rather than having a few hundred people in front it will be more like 1000 to 1200. Oh well - I guess I should warn him!

 

[Bree]

If I’m checking out of my resort on Sunday, should I bother with the race retreat? I purchased it last year (and LOVED it), but I checked out on Monday. I live 40 minutes away so I’m not concerned with having to shower right off, but I had considered spending the day at Stormalong Bay with my kids after checkout if the temps were warm enough. PHM weekend is also just training runs for me. I started a new training plan to improve my HM time for the DS half at the end of April.

 

[FFigawi]

Thanks for your response! I agree that using waves could definitely help with the overcrowding, but couldn't they just leave the corrals the way they were, and maybe do two waves out of each corral? Just seems like this might throw off the whole idea of pacing - I'm probably overthinking it though!

I'm confused as to how being in a smaller wave in a corral vs. in one mass start in a corral is going to throw off the whole idea of pacing. Why wouldn't your pacing be the same in both cases?

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not big on pushing my way to the front

Get to corrals early. Don’t push forward. BE forward.

They've done this new way (fewer corrals, more per corral, multiple wave starts) for a while now - I've been through it for Dark Side 2016 and 2017, W&D 2017, and Dopey 2018.

I know they had miniwaves for 2017 princess. I liked it.

If I’m checking out of my resort on Sunday, should I bother with the race retreat? I purchased it last year (and LOVED it), but I checked out on Monday. I live 40 minutes away so I’m not concerned with having to shower right off, but I had considered spending the day at Stormalong Bay with my kids after checkout if the temps were warm enough. PHM weekend is also just training runs for me. I started a new training plan to improve my HM time for the DS half at the end of April.

Do you have others to pack up the room?

Are you fast? Will you have time to enjoy it after?

 

[jdd]

I'm confused as to how being in a smaller wave in a corral vs. in one mass start in a corral is going to throw off the whole idea of pacing. Why wouldn't your pacing be the same in both cases?

I'm sorry - not trying to be argumentative at all! But I would think with say 16 corrals (which they had for the Princess half in 2015), you would have smaller pace groups. So (and I'm totally making up these numbers) corral C would be 9:00 to 9:15, corral D would be 9:15 to 9:30, corral E would be 9:30 to 9:45, and so on. Now, if you have half the number of corrals, you have corral C being 9:00 to 9:30, and the 9:30 runners can easily be up front, and the 9:00 in the back. It just seems like a larger discrepancy in pacing groups. Like I said, I'm sure I'm just overthinking it, and it really won't make a difference!