Marathon Weekend 2020

I agree with @DopeyBadger in that my first thought, when they made the start earlier, is that they are changing the course so we get through MK a little later in the course meaning we have to start earlier to make up for that and get out of MK by the same time. I didn't put as much thought into it as he did (that's true of just about everything :rotfl2:) but I did get hopeful for some Epcot time at the beginning! We just have to wait and see I guess.
 
Alright, so I tried to figure out the back half. Again, this is all speculative. I'm reasonably sure (as I can be) that this idea is close to where they are thinking for the EPCOT possible start:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61089807
So that adds ~2 miles on to the route. I also thought they're eliminating the WWOS area.

Screen Shot 2019-09-20 at 9.49.22 AM.png

That goes from Mile 15.5 to Mile 22.75 (where I think the old and new course merge points are). So we'd need to find 7.25 miles of total addition. That means if the new EPCOT loop is real, then we need 5.25 miles from the Blizzard Beach route and possible other additions to remove WWOS.

Screen Shot 2019-09-20 at 10.00.32 AM.png

I came out to 2.85 miles on this route. Which falls short by 2.4 miles. That's a lot to make up in other areas, so I'm not nearly as confident with this option. Even extending the out-back on Western Way just before AK only yields an extra 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles). That still leaves us about 1 mile short.

Screen Shot 2019-09-20 at 10.13.53 AM.png

So I'm still not sure how the back half will look with the addition of BB. If it were me, I'd try and do something like above only because that gets the runners off of Osceola Pkwy for a big chunk, away from the Victory Way intersection, and off World Dr. That way the impact of runners is further minimized on the traffic in those specific areas and places us on a much less used Western Way. But I still don't know about all this.
 
Alright, so I tried to figure out the back half. Again, this is all speculative. I'm reasonably sure (as I can be) that this idea is close to where they are thinking for the EPCOT possible start:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/marathon-weekend-2020.3729134/post-61089807
So that adds ~2 miles on to the route. I also thought they're eliminating the WWOS area.

View attachment 437465

That goes from Mile 15.5 to Mile 22.75 (where I think the old and new course merge points are). So we'd need to find 7.25 miles of total addition. That means if the new EPCOT loop is real, then we need 5.25 miles from the Blizzard Beach route and possible other additions to remove WWOS.

View attachment 437466

I came out to 2.85 miles on this route. Which falls short by 2.4 miles. That's a lot to make up in other areas, so I'm not nearly as confident with this option. Even extending the out-back on Western Way just before AK only yields an extra 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles). That still leaves us about 1 mile short.

View attachment 437469

So I'm still not sure how the back half will look with the addition of BB. If it were me, I'd try and do something like above only because that gets the runners off of Osceola Pkwy for a big chunk, away from the Victory Way intersection, and off World Dr. That way the impact of runners is further minimized on the traffic in those specific areas and places us on a much less used Western Way. But I still don't know about all this.
Maybe add some additional mileage in HS??? I don’t know that that would be a mile though...
 
Maybe add some additional mileage in HS??? I don’t know that that would be a mile though...

Possibly squeeze a little extra out of the AK parking lot, BB parking lot, and a little extra in DHS??? Although running in DHS is when the park is open and if it were me designing the course, I'd stay away from Toy Story and GE only because of the congestion from normal park guests in those areas. Fun to speculate though!
 


Possibly squeeze a little extra out of the AK parking lot, BB parking lot, and a little extra in DHS??? Although running in DHS is when the park is open and if it were me designing the course, I'd stay away from Toy Story and GE only because of the congestion from normal park guests in those areas. Fun to speculate though!
I can see them using the Blizzard Beach parking lot & front entrance by the store with some back way in or out. Looping all the way around (I'm not sure if that's what you're thinking) I just don't see as it's narrow and goes under that cave by the lazy river (which could be drained being under refurbishment), it just seems a little hazzardous as it's not wide at all.
 
That still leaves us about 1 mile short.
I've tried plotting some routes with EP at the start, no Western Way, and no WWOS, too, and keep coming in a mile or so short. Adding Western Way back in would fix it, though, so there's (an ugly) possibility:
Epcot Ctr Dr to Backstage into EP
EP, exit to parking lot, exit onto Epcot Ctr Dr, World Dr exit
World to MK, exit MK on Floridian
Floridian to Bear Island, Western Way out-and-back, Bear Island into AK
AK - could do the W&D route here, with Pandora instead of EE? - exit onto Osceola
Exit Osceola onto Buena Vista, BV to BB
Exit BB on BV, BV to DHS at our usual entrance point
DHS - Sunset, TSL, GE (!!!!!!!!!!!!), out to Hollywood & exit
BW path to YC/BC, enter EP
WS and a couple little loops in FW, exit to parking lot

That got me to 26-ish
 
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I can see them using the Blizzard Beach parking lot & front entrance by the store with some back way in or out. Looping all the way around (I'm not sure if that's what you're thinking) I just don't see as it's narrow and goes under that cave by the lazy river (which could be drained being under refurbishment), it just seems a little hazzardous as it's not wide at all.

Completely fair. I haven't visited BB since 2010 and I certainly don't have any concrete memories of it either.
 
When do they actually release the course? I feel like it is not very long before the race.
 
Not sure on the Start -> Epcot via Backstage/Overpass because that is generally the route the runners take to the corrals. Being in a later corral the past few years, I see people still entering the corrals long after the wheelchairs go. That will not work if we still enter the corrals via Woodpecker/Backstage and the race starts to the south. They can always change the route we take to get to the corrals though. If the start goes in that direction we just fill the corrals from the north.

The old Blue/Red starts sent us north from the start line. We merged about mile 3.4 or so at Backstage if I recall and mile 4 was just about parallel with the start line. If those starts (one or both) get re-instituted, the balloon ladies would clear MK by 9 assuming a 5:45 start for the balloon ladies.
 
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Oh I also just thought isn't it Blizzard the volunteers that get bused out to water/powerade stops meet at in the morning. That's always in the parking lot with buses but I doubt it would do much to having the course use the lot.

Maybe Blizzard Beach Ice Gator shows up for meet & greet there!
 
I will say that I signed up for the W&D 5k because it ran through AK, and then it changed to EPCOT after I signed up...
Same been doing ‘just the 10k’ since the inaugural in 2016 but since I did the 5k/10k for 2018 dark side and a 15k/8k challenge at another non Disney race weekend I decided to add the 5k this year for a change of scenery and then the day after AP Registration they make the announcement ....
 
The main point of getting the race retreat isn't the food, character meet/greets, bag check, or some sort of status thing to separated from the other runners. At 3AM I don't care about getting my picture with a princess—I am too tired. Instead, it is mostly to simply have a chair to sit in that is not outside. It would be a sort of "Hey, instead of offering you some shelter from the cold/rain, let's just charge you $120 to stand in a "special area" and drink $10 worth of coffee and a bagel while you freeze, rather than over there where you can stand for free for pretty much the same thing.
Exactly. Race retreat was worth it for me solely on the basis of allowing me to sit down in a comfortable position thus allowing me to rest my body given what I was about to do. I didn't even use it after the marathon even though it was still open because it was out of my way and I didn't really want to walk any more than I had to right then.
For anyone wondering or wasn’t around two years ago they tried to take the characters off the course almost completely at the 5k. This went just about as well as your probably thinking and was one of the quickest backpedals I’ve seen performed by runDisney.
Yeah, it was. The characters out on the course for the 10K the next day was a variety of random characters that didn't really fit the theme. Granted, Tinker Bell had a very limited theme to begin with, but runDisney knew that had better not compound the first mistake by doubling down on it for the next 2 races.
Maybe add some additional mileage in HS??? I don’t know that that would be a mile though...
That would be nice. I ran the 2017 and 2018 Dark Side Challenges and the 2019 Marathon and have barely spent any time in DHS for those 3 races. The 2012 Wine & Dine spent some quality time in DHS. I understand that construction played a part, but that shouldn't be the case anymore for that park.
 
I came out to 2.85 miles on this route. Which falls short by 2.4 miles. That's a lot to make up in other areas, so I'm not nearly as confident with this option. Even extending the out-back on Western Way just before AK only yields an extra 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles). That still leaves us about 1 mile short.

So I'm still not sure how the back half will look with the addition of BB. If it were me, I'd try and do something like above only because that gets the runners off of Osceola Pkwy for a big chunk, away from the Victory Way intersection, and off World Dr. That way the impact of runners is further minimized on the traffic in those specific areas and places us on a much less used Western Way. But I still don't know about all this.
To add the extra miles, I see one possible course route, which others have referenced: the old Red (or Blue) start through Epcot. We would add 4 miles to the beginning with this route, but, after the 5 mile point, the course could then follow last year's route through MK and AK. By adjusting the course after the 5 mile point, we would run through the castle at mile 9.5 rather than at mile 10.7 with the old Red/Blue course.

As far as keeping to the same 'time of day' schedule as recent years, we would be 'only' 20 to 25 minutes off schedule starting at mile 5 and through both MK and AK. The recent courses reached the castle around mile 6 (sometimes mile 5.8), so assuming the earlier 30 minutes will allow for 2 extra miles, the additional 1.5 miles would add about 20 to 25 minutes. I'm not sure if this extra time would be enough to discourage the race planners from bringing back the Red or Blue start.

Regarding BB: I'm very interested in seeing the route off Osceola Parkway and into BB. We cannot block West Buena Vista Drive for the All Star resorts, plus McDonalds, and the fire station behind McDonalds. If the runners use the North side (normal westbound traffic side) of Osceola Parkway, this would open up eastbound Osceola Parkway for traffic -- and runners will have easier access to BB; however, closing this side for the runners will impact the traffic into AK. One possible option: runners will use 2 lanes of the westbound side of Osceola Parkway -- which is the BB side. We will run through the AK toll booths (north lanes only) as we exit the AK parking lot and the road will be coned off all the way to World Drive. Not ideal, but it works from a traffic flow standpoint.

Here is the Red start from 2009 -- we may use this route in the beginning 5 miles:

437549
 
To add the extra miles, I see one possible course route, which others have referenced: the old Red (or Blue) start through Epcot. We would add 4 miles to the beginning with this route, but, after the 5 mile point, the course could then follow last year's route through MK and AK. By adjusting the course after the 5 mile point, we would run through the castle at mile 9.5 rather than at mile 10.7 with the old Red/Blue course.

As far as keeping to the same 'time of day' schedule as recent years, we would be 'only' 20 to 25 minutes off schedule starting at mile 5 and through both MK and AK. The recent courses reached the castle around mile 6 (sometimes mile 5.8), so assuming the earlier 30 minutes will allow for 2 extra miles, the additional 1.5 miles would add about 20 to 25 minutes. I'm not sure if this extra time would be enough to discourage the race planners from bringing back the Red or Blue start.

Regarding BB: I'm very interested in seeing the route off Osceola Parkway and into BB. We cannot block West Buena Vista Drive for the All Star resorts, plus McDonalds, and the fire station behind McDonalds. If the runners use the North side (normal westbound traffic side) of Osceola Parkway, this would open up eastbound Osceola Parkway for traffic -- and runners will have easier access to BB; however, closing this side for the runners will impact the traffic into AK. One possible option: runners will use 2 lanes of the westbound side of Osceola Parkway -- which is the BB side. We will run through the AK toll booths (north lanes only) as we exit the AK parking lot and the road will be coned off all the way to World Drive. Not ideal, but it works from a traffic flow standpoint.

Here is the Red start from 2009 -- we may use this route in the beginning 5 miles:

View attachment 437549

I've got the balloon lady exit from MK guest areas at 7:55-8:10 (depending on a start of 6:15 vs 6:30am) on the old course. So an additional 20-25 min would put it at 8:15-8:30 on the course above with the new start time. Still before the 9am opening, so it's feasible if they're using that timeframe as a hard cutoff.
 
A little off the topic of all the course speculation..... I'm back in for MW 2020!!!!! So so so so so beyond excited. Took advantage to the 5K and 10K opening up again and registered for both today! I'm leaving Friday night so I'll miss the big events, but I'm just so glad I can participate at all! And I finally get a Pluto medal! Looking forward to getting back into this thread and back into training. I took the whole summer off from running so I have a long way to go, but I'm not looking to set any speed records.
 

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