I have a really hard time believing these crowd levels. I can't imagine things being as bad as last year's crowds which were much closer to New Year's in combination with a much closer to sold out race weekend. From the explanation in the blog, it sounds like they're not even looking at true crowd levels. It seems like the crowd levels are more like a "real feel" estimate to use a weather analogy due to lower park staffing levels.
What surprises me right now is that we haven't had the normal Disney Parks Blog post introducing the merchandise for Marathon Weekend yet. Let's see it!
On a sour note, DD20 went out for a training run yesterday, stepped on a root and sprained her ankle. It's just a Grade 1 and I think she'll be able to run, but it's not going to make for a fun marathon for her.