Marathon Weekend 2020

[Barca33Runner]

Ultimately, I don’t know what is to be done about course cutting. For me personally, it has no impact; I know what I’ve accomplished and if someone else cuts the course it doesn’t diminish my own feelings on my race. On the other hand, I know that there are course cutters who influence things like BQ times or even the results of a race and that is unfair.

It’s such a strange situation. I’ll never understand the motivation behind it.

 

[IamTrike]

Ultimately, I don’t know what is to be done about course cutting. For me personally, it has no impact; I know what I’ve accomplished and if someone else cuts the course it doesn’t diminish my own feelings on my race. On the other hand, I know that there are course cutters who influence things like BQ times or even the results of a race and that is unfair.

It’s such a strange situation. I’ll never understand the motivation behind it.

this is strange to me too. Paying for a destination race like Disney is paying for the experience. For the most part course cutting seems like it only cheats yourself.
There are a couple of things that bother me about it.
1. If people cheat and then post about what their time's, it think it can be discouraging for other people. There were a slew of Insta people that we posting about how they were doing minimal workouts and then cranking out decent half marathons.( 1:45 - 2 hours times) When they post these times and brag about not training it can discourage people that are working hard and not seeing time improvements. It can also cause people to try and replicate them and get injured.
2. If I qualify for Boston I will most likely be a just barely qualifier. Knowing that I'd be person that could not get entry because someone else cheated does irk me when races make it easy for people to cheat.

I think the frustrating part of a course design like this is that it makes it easy to cheat and it makes it easy to cheat by a relatively small amount. Skipping those 2 miles in AK might not show up with wildly misaligned splits, but the 15-20 minutes save could absolutely push some people into BQ Range.

I'm hoping they have some timing mats in that park.

 

[IamTrike]

Ugh. I had a dream (nightmare?) last night about my Garmin (which I don't even own) malfunctioning and it said I was running a 12 minute pace but really it was like 20 minute pace and I was going to get swept before finishing the marathon (which I'm not even signed up for). So I decided to cut the course, but I still wanted to hit the 10k mat, which for some reason was near the end of the race (I don't even know), and I would have to do another shortcut after it. So I was planning to cut in 2 places to finish on time.

But even dream me was saying how wrong it was and there were obstacles in the way to try and cut the course - like a grounds crew at Magic Kingdom cutting/watering trees and having to slide down a sheet out of a window while Marie from Aristocats looked at me disapprovingly.

Moral of the story, is don't cut the course even in your dreams.

Wow ... and you aren't even tapering.

 

[FFigawi]

Ultimately, I don’t know what is to be done about course cutting. For me personally, it has no impact; I know what I’ve accomplished and if someone else cuts the course it doesn’t diminish my own feelings on my race. On the other hand, I know that there are course cutters who influence things like BQ times or even the results of a race and that is unfair.

It’s such a strange situation. I’ll never understand the motivation behind it.

this is strange to me too. Paying for a destination race like Disney is paying for the experience. For the most part course cutting seems like it only cheats yourself.
There are a couple of things that bother me about it.
1. If people cheat and then post about what their time's, it think it can be discouraging for other people. There were a slew of Insta people that we posting about how they were doing minimal workouts and then cranking out decent half marathons.( 1:45 - 2 hours times) When they post these times and brag about not training it can discourage people that are working hard and not seeing time improvements. It can also cause people to try and replicate them and get injured.
2. If I qualify for Boston I will most likely be a just barely qualifier. Knowing that I'd be person that could not get entry because someone else cheated does irk me when races make it easy for people to cheat.

I think the frustrating part of a course design like this is that it makes it easy to cheat and it makes it easy to cheat by a relatively small amount. Skipping those 2 miles in AK might not show up with wildly misaligned splits, but the 15-20 minutes save could absolutely push some people into BQ Range.

I'm hoping they have some timing mats in that park.

I agree with both @Barca33Runner and @IamTrike on this. The motivation behind cheating and course cutting is both strange and often directly related to obtaining a BQ and/or seeking social media adulation. Aside from the cheating itself, what also annoys the sh!t out of me is race directors who don't care to do anything about it. It's not hard to add extra timing mats to a course which will highlight and make clear those people who are cutting a course. It's also not that hard to design a course to reduce the temptation and ability to cheat and cut the course. The course for the Fort Worth marathon Derek wrote about this week was a two-loop course with one timing mat. Not exactly rocket science to figure out that's going to make it easy to cheat.

 

[michigandergirl]

So if the course goes through the world showcase in the beginning, I really hope they're not going to cut that part out at the end...

 

[LSUfan4444]

So if the course goes through the world showcase in the beginning, I really hope they're not going to cut that part out at the end...

They won't.

 

[steph0808]

So, in theory, besides the possible addition of running around World Showcase at the start, the course will be somewhat similar through MK, etc. at the beginning? I just want to know if my mom will be able to see me run by the Polynesian - since I booked there, so she could roll out of bed to see me on the way by (yes, yes, she could take the monorail over the MK, but she's not the fastest mover in the morning...)

 

[rteetz]

So, in theory, besides the possible addition of running around World Showcase at the start, the course will be somewhat similar through MK, etc. at the beginning? I just want to know if my mom will be able to see me run by the Polynesian - since I booked there, so she could roll out of bed to see me on the way by (yes, yes, she could take the monorail over the MK, but she's not the fastest mover in the morning...)

It should be. The time in Epcot at the beginning and the Blizzard Beach time are really making up for the time that used to be in ESPN.

 

[steph0808]

I won't miss all the turns in WWOS, plus the highway there and out of it. However, it was a great place for character stops. I hope they add those in to Blizzard Beach or AK.

 

[jennamfeo]

I definitely thought about cutting the course on my last Marathon because we had a ton of out and backs and I was tired. 26.2 miles is a long way. I would never do it, but the thought crossed my mind.

 

[Neon Cactus]

I won't miss all the turns in WWOS, plus the highway there and out of it. However, it was a great place for character stops. I hope they add those in to Blizzard Beach or AK.

That would be great if they have Ice Gator there.

 

[FawnJD]

Hey All!

I'm a former Dis poster (around 2002-ish--I was in the college program then), but I haven't been back in a long time (hence the new profile). I stumbled upon the boards again trying to find any hints about the course for the 2020 Full Marathon, and it led me here--I'm so happy to see a community of Dis Runners! Back when I first ran the Disney Marathon in 2005, it was really hard to find info about the race and what to expect. To date, I've run four Disney Races: 2005 Full, 2012 Full, 2013 Wine & Dine Half, 2014 Full.

I'll be running the full again this year after a five year hiatus from running during which I was diagnosed with Lupus. This past February, I couldn't even run a single mile, but I managed to train up to the Venice Florida half marathon in September (2:16:22). I'm running the 2020 Full for fun and not with any specific goals in mind, but I'll be running the Hilton Head Marathon about a month after Disney, and I'm hoping to hit 4:30:00.

Just for kicks, I'll weigh in on the last SAFD:
1) Start temps in the low 50s
2) That I finally settle on the right costume to wear (currently torn between Rapunzel and Tinkerbell...)
3) That I'm in good enough shape to enjoy a post-race lunch with my husband, parents, and two daughters (11 and 2)
4) NO soul-crushing out-and-back
5) Chip and Dale meet in their Rescue Rangers outfits
6) I get to say hey to some fellow Dis runners

Excited to join in with you guys. ✌

 

[PrincessV]

As someone who does not have much in the way at all of the color red, I'm very happy this year's marathon mouse ears are blue. And I will still treasure my 2019 red marathon mouse ears. But the blue is better.

I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing the hat and thinking about potential race outfits, lol! Ironically, I also don't have much red in my running wardrobe... but was planning on a red, black and grey theme for the full, using my one red shirt. Until I saw the hat. Blue it is!

Interesting listen and a pretty good course description, I don’t know all the Disney roads that well but I’ll bet that gives a lot of insight to those that do and are trying to map it out.

Awesome!! OK. Who is mapping this out? @willieT ? @PrincessV ?

On it! I have "stuff" I have to get through first, so hopefully in another hour or so I'll have my revisions...

 

[Barca33Runner]

I definitely thought about cutting the course on my last Marathon because we had a ton of out and backs and I was tired. 26.2 miles is a long way. I would never do it, but the thought crossed my mind.

I definitely understand thinking about it. I‘m pretty sure I’ve thought about it at almost every course cutting opportunity of every race I’ve ever run; but more from the “boy, it would be nice to be on mile 20 instead of mile 16” perspective. ETA: I think there is a pretty big gap between thinking about and doing in this case.

If there is anyone who has run the Disney Marathon in the last few years and hasn’t thought “I could just turn around and starting running on the other side of these cones, it would be so easy” as you were headed into WWoS I have deep respect and admiration for you.

 

[aalvis]

Noooooo! The sleet during the half and the spillages at the water stations during the full turned the courses into dangerous patches of black ice. We don’t want

 

[aalvis]

I don't want dangerous ice! Cold temps but not freezing would be nice.

 

[PrincessV]

I'm coming out a little over at 26.5 miles - that's including Pandora and SW:GE, though. Get rid of them and it's probably 26.2.

A couple things occurred to me while mapping...
1. Yep, easy course-cutting opportunities at Western Way into AK and also on Buena Vista, where one could just skip BB.
2. To use Bear Island and Western Way to both enter and exit AK will require using only half the road each direction. We currently use the entire width going one direction. So if the field is the same size, we could see some congestion in there. But maybe they did decrease the size of the field to thin that out?

 

[huskies90]

I'm coming out a little over at 26.5 miles - that's including Pandora and SW:GE, though. Get rid of them and it's probably 26.2.

A couple things occurred to me while mapping...
1. Yep, easy course-cutting opportunities at Western Way into AK and also on Buena Vista, where one could just skip BB.
2. To use Bear Island and Western Way to both enter and exit AK will require using only half the road each direction. We currently use the entire width going one direction. So if the field is the same size, we could see some congestion in there. But maybe they did decrease the size of the field to thin that out?

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Thanks!! Love it!! I don't care if everyone else cuts the course. I am certainly not winning the race and I am not qualifying for anything either. So I am gonna run my 26.2 and let other folks worry about their own race.

In the podcast he said, a loop around AK, so I would be surprised if Pandora is not included but he clearly says "you'll do a quick hit in and out of the Studios" before heading back to EPCOT so I do not think SW:GE will be included. In fact, later in the podcast when they talk about the Star Wars Rival Run, he dodges the question about the course going through GE.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

So course cutting. I think that most of those who do cut the course do it for what I will term prestige reasons. Namely, they probably want the medal and/or need to show photos of it all over social media so they can appear to have done something incredibly difficult and thus receive all sorts of kudos that they think will make them feel better about themselves. And worse because they might give someone a very false notion of what it takes to accomplish such a task and lead to injury or worse.

As for runDisney, yes they can remove finisher times if someone cut the course, but given their medal policy to begin with it's not like they're going to go back to the course cutter and take away the medal.

As someone who ran my first 3 races solely because I wanted the medal and tolerated training because it was the only way to get said medal, I at least understand that rationale for course cutting, but do not agree with it.

I have learned a lot about my own ability to do difficult things through running. I used to have all sorts of ideas and notions about my ability as a runner that have since been proven false. I once laughed when a CM suggested I would be back in a few months for the marathon. Well, he was right, except it would take a few years before I did return for the marathon.

But cheating yourself goes deeper than just pretending to accomplish something that you did not. You also deny yourself the opportunity to learn what it truly feels like to accomplish something after all the hard work, sacrifice, and training that you put into it. But more importantly you deny yourself the opportunity to learn something about yourself.

In the podcast he said, a loop around AK, so I would be surprised if Pandora is not included but he clearly says "you'll do a quick hit in and out of the Studios" before heading back to EPCOT so I do not think SW:GE will be included.

That sounds exactly like the same in and out of the Studios I've done at Dark Side 2017, 2018, and Marathon 2019. Too bad, but expected. My next real hope for running through Galaxy's Edge is Star Wars Rival Run. But if I'm being completely honest, I will not be at all surprised if a WDW race never goes through Galaxy's Edge. If races come back to Disneyland (and that remains a big if), that might be the first opportunity to run through Galaxy's Edge.

 

[PrincessV]

In the podcast he said, a loop around AK, so I would be surprised if Pandora is not included but he clearly says "you'll do a quick hit in and out of the Studios" before heading back to EPCOT so I do not think SW:GE will be included.

I agree - I don't think SW:GE will be in the course. Mainly because it would have to also include TSL, and I just cannot see running a race through there while the park is open. In my map, I jumped in and out of BB quickly, mostly because I haven't been there in a few years and can't recall all the paths, but they could definitely add a bit more distance in there than I included.