Any word on 2016 Marathon Course

[GreatLakes]

I think that would be a much bigger change than just a course change, as a lot of the branding for the event talks about 4 parks, and all the race merchandise has the 4 park icons on it. At this point last year we were wondering about which icon they would have on the race shirt for studios as the hat was in the process of being torn down.

I don't think there is any chance of it actually happening. No way they won't run through all 4 parks.

I always thought the Earffel Tower should be the icon for the park, even when that abomination, I mean hat, was parked in front of The Great Movie Ride.

My only concern about cutting out DHS is that I love the finishing stretch running along the water, onto the boardwalk, and into Epcot. If they cut out DHS it would be very difficult to achieve that same finish, which is my favorite part of the course.

I really like that part too and would want it to stay even if DHS was axed.

Hopefully when all the construction is done there will be some better routes through the park with less turns and wider areas.

 

[Ariel484]

I think it would be really cool if they changed the order of the parks every year. Every time you ran, you'd get a different experience, and if you ran multiple years you'd get to see all or most of the parks at the beginning, middle, and end.

Logistically, that's probably almost impossible. Certainly more trouble than it's worth. But it would be really cool and might encourage people who thought the marathon was a "one and done" for them to sign up again.

That would definitely be a cool idea...I can't see them changing the order though, because I know they want to get the Magic Kingdom cleared out before it opens.

For my "races" the last 5 miles is only about finishing. At WDW I love every mile. If I get tired, I walk. If I see something cool, I stop and check it out. I talk to everyone around me. I stop for pictures (character and otherwise). It is just different, and not about racing at all. Heck, I'd rather finish in 6 hours and have fun than finish in 4 and miss everything.

I don't think there is any chance of it actually happening. No way they won't run through all 4 parks.

I always thought the Earffel Tower should be the icon for the park, even when that abomination, I mean hat, was parked in front of The Great Movie Ride..

I agree - running through all 4 parks is the "hook" of this race.

And I agree with you on the Earffel Tower...

 

[IamTrike]

My only concern about cutting out DHS is that I love the finishing stretch running along the water, onto the boardwalk, and into Epcot. If they cut out DHS it would be very difficult to achieve that same finish, which is my favorite part of the course.

I love that section of the race too. It's one of my favorite places to run at disney

I don't think there is any chance of it actually happening. No way they won't run through all 4 parks.

I always thought the Earffel Tower should be the icon for the park, even when that abomination, I mean hat, was parked in front of The Great Movie Ride.

I think the hat, earful tower, tower of terror and the chinese theater have all been used as park icons. They should go way back and use the Golden Girls house as the park icon. Jim Hill talked about them replacing the tower of terror statue? thingy that's in the middle of the road with something star wars related. It would be interesting if the new icon had a Star Wars component.

 

[cavepig]

It's advertised as running through all 4 parks, they aren't cutting Studios out "The course takes you through all four Walt Disney World® Theme Parks, starting at Epcot®, continuing on to the Magic Kingdom® Park, Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park and Disney's Hollywood Studios before an exhilarating finish back at Epcot®."


As above said Studios sadly has never been just one park icon, I am glad the hat is gone and prefer the Earful Tower as the icon over Tower. Should be interesting to see which is on the shirt as this years was the hat I think still.

 

[SunDial]

I did my first full marathon this past January at Disney. I agree about having more parks on the back half. Agree it will not happen. I did like the MGM (HS will always be MGM to me) thru Epcot resorts then thru Epcot. There is definitely a lot of support in this area.

Now here is where my pipe dream 1 mile make up of losing the race track comes into play. For those that dream of more park time, "IF" dream with me "IF" ramps for the WedWAY PeopleMover were as wide as a one lane road and a temporary surface was placed on the track... The PeopleMover is 5484 feet long. Sounds like it would be a good place to make up the race track mile. 1 mile thru Tomorrowland would be fun. And the lights inside Space Mountain would need to be on.

Don't wake me up yet

 

[Ariel484]

Now here is where my pipe dream 1 mile make up of losing the race track comes into play. For those that dream of more park time, "IF" dream with me "IF" ramps for the WedWAY PeopleMover were as wide as a one lane road and a temporary surface was placed on the track... The PeopleMover is 5484 feet long. Sounds like it would be a good place to make up the race track mile. 1 mile thru Tomorrowland would be fun. And the lights inside Space Mountain would need to be on.

That would be amazing.

I mean...I agree it's not possible, but come on, Disney! Every mile is magic, right?!

 

[LSUlakes]

For my "races" the last 5 miles is only about finishing. At WDW I love every mile. If I get tired, I walk. If I see something cool, I stop and check it out. I talk to everyone around me. I stop for pictures (character and otherwise). It is just different, and not about racing at all. Heck, I'd rather finish in 6 hours and have fun than finish in 4 and miss everything.

I just want people handing out orange slices on the course around miles 18-22, Ill slow down for a few of those! We have different views on the marathon, although as time goes on here, I have more issues/injuries coming into play. So that may change my overall goal. For me though, running the race is fun to me, and adding a PR to it makes it that much better.

I did my first full marathon this past January at Disney. I agree about having more parks on the back half. Agree it will not happen. I did like the MGM (HS will always be MGM to me) thru Epcot resorts then thru Epcot. There is definitely a lot of support in this area.

Now here is where my pipe dream 1 mile make up of losing the race track comes into play. For those that dream of more park time, "IF" dream with me "IF" ramps for the WedWAY PeopleMover were as wide as a one lane road and a temporary surface was placed on the track... The PeopleMover is 5484 feet long. Sounds like it would be a good place to make up the race track mile. 1 mile thru Tomorrowland would be fun. And the lights inside Space Mountain would need to be on.

Don't wake me up yet

The last time we went to DW the people mover was closed during our honeymoon. I was very sad about that. That was 6+ years ago and at that time I was overweight and had never dreamed of running a marathon. Interesting how time changes things...

 

[RunDisneyDad]

I love me some People Mover...."paging Mr.Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow."

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I just want people handing out orange slices on the course around miles 18-22, Ill slow down for a few of those! We have different views on the marathon, although as time goes on here, I have more issues/injuries coming into play. So that may change my overall goal. For me though, running the race is fun to me, and adding a PR to it makes it that much better.

We are just at different stages in our running lives. My PRs are all behind me. I totally understand what you are trying to accomplish. I didn't run my first rD race while running a PR was still a priority. I waited for the Disney runs until I needed other motivations for the really long runs. Because of runDisney races, distance running has become fun again.

When you reach a point in your life in which you can still run, and run long, but you recognize that you will never be as fast as you once were - it is time to look to other things to make running fun, or other ways to challenge yourself. That is where I am. I run Disney for fun, and I run other races either for qualifying times or for the challenge.

 

[LSUlakes]

We are just at different stages in our running lives. My PRs are all behind me. I totally understand what you are trying to accomplish. I didn't run my first rD race while running a PR was still a priority. I waited for the Disney runs until I needed other motivations for the really long runs. Because of runDisney races, distance running has become fun again.

When you reach a point in your life in which you can still run, and run long, but you recognize that you will never be as fast as you once were - it is time to look to other things to make running fun, or other ways to challenge yourself. That is where I am. I run Disney for fun, and I run other races either for qualifying times or for the challenge.

Solid post and completely understand. This years race is to run a course outside of our home state and to bring the little one to DW for her first trip. So we are killing two birds with one stone type of deal. Worse case scenario with this trip is if I am unable to run for whatever reason, we will still have a blast being at Disney. It's a win win for so many reasons.

By the way... Its game week! How are you feeling about the match up this weekend?

 

[JClimacus]

We are just at different stages in our running lives. My PRs are all behind me. I totally understand what you are trying to accomplish. I didn't run my first rD race while running a PR was still a priority. I waited for the Disney runs until I needed other motivations for the really long runs. Because of runDisney races, distance running has become fun again.

When you reach a point in your life in which you can still run, and run long, but you recognize that you will never be as fast as you once were - it is time to look to other things to make running fun, or other ways to challenge yourself. That is where I am. I run Disney for fun, and I run other races either for qualifying times or for the challenge.

I reset all my PR's when I took up serious running again last year. Back when I was 18 I could run an 18 minute 5k and 40 minute 10k. I didn't run races again after that for 30+ years. Those earlier PRs belong to an entirely different runner as far as I'm concerned. Reset! Much more fun that way....

 

[opusone]

We are just at different stages in our running lives. My PRs are all behind me. I totally understand what you are trying to accomplish. I didn't run my first rD race while running a PR was still a priority. I waited for the Disney runs until I needed other motivations for the really long runs. Because of runDisney races, distance running has become fun again.

When you reach a point in your life in which you can still run, and run long, but you recognize that you will never be as fast as you once were - it is time to look to other things to make running fun, or other ways to challenge yourself. That is where I am. I run Disney for fun, and I run other races either for qualifying times or for the challenge.

I reset all my PR's when I took up serious running again last year. Back when I was 18 I could run an 18 minute 5k and 40 minute 10k. I didn't run races again after that for 30+ years. Those earlier PRs belong to an entirely different runner as far as I'm concerned. Reset! Much more fun that way....

^^^ THIS ^^^

I reset all my PRs when I hit 40.

 

[SunDial]

^^^ THIS ^^^

I reset all my PRs when I hit 40.

I didn't need to reset anything. I didn't start until I was 53.

 

[opusone]

I didn't need to reset anything. I didn't start until I was 53.

...but you may want to reset them when you are 70!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

By the way... Its game week! How are you feeling about the match up this weekend?

I feel like this is a game that is going to be decided by mistakes. Both teams have defenses that put a lot of pressure on the opposing offense. Which team keeps it together? It's gonna be fun to watch.

 

[SunDial]

...but you may want to reset them when you are 70!

I wonder what the time for BQ is for that age group?

 

[FFigawi]

4:25 for men, 4:55 for women

 

[opusone]

Event Guide (with course overview): http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/disneyworld-marathon/2016-WDW-Program.pdf

Looks like the extra to make up for the Indy track is an out-and-back on Western Way.

 

[Ariel484]

On quick glance...same as last year except speedway is replaced with out & back near Animal Kingdom??

 

[IamTrike]

Thanks. It looks like they added a little out and back before ak to make up for the loss of the speedway. Going into AK your mileage is a little lower than last year but you exit both years at mile 14