Marathon Weekend 2020

[lhermiston]

Does anyone who has attended Marathon Weekend before, preferably doing more than one race, have any experience with staying out late the night before a race?

I've attended many Marathon Weekends and so far I've been diligent about getting to bed nice and early, but there's some after hours events happening during marathon weekend this year and I'm trying to decide if disrupting my sleep schedule is worth it and how much of an impact on my running it will have. Has anyone here run with little to no sleep during the weekend before?

I think it depends on how you define “worth it.” For Dopey 2019, I stayed out past dark before the 5K, 10K and full. The night before the full, my daughters and I probably got back around 11 and I was up by 3 Sunday morning. It was “worth it” to me because I don’t want to miss fireworks and it was my first opportunity to show my girls how fun MK is later at night.

That said, while I didn’t go to bed early before the half (10ish) I did go back to the hotel early (6ish) because it was evident I was burning the candle at both ends and it might not be sustainable. During the full, I ran what I considered to be a great race until I hit the wall at mile 18. That could’ve been from staying out the night before, cumulative fatigue or the heat. I still had my second fastest full.

All that said, I’d do it pretty much exactly the same (maybe no nachos the night before the half). I didn’t want to sacrifice park time for running time.

 

[rdiver]

Those flying Southwest, check your flights. Mine dropped $40 per one way.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I have always chosen to play it safe when it comes to staying out late in the parks before a race. I would hate to feel like I couldn't finish the race because I was too fatigued from staying out too late in the parks leading up to the race. That said we'll see if Rise of the Resistance being open impacts my thought process this January.

 

[Neon Cactus]

I've only done the marathon so far, but I've been good about not staying in the parks too late. But I'm so used to staying up late, that falling asleep early has been really hard. This year, I took a mid-day nap the day before so that really helped with the rest. But both years, I've ended up putting the NFL playoff game on and falling asleep while it was on. I wake up about midnight with the TV still on, but at least it gets me to sleep.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

But I'm so used to staying up late, that falling asleep early has been really hard.

As a night owl, I either have to be very sick or extremely tired to fall asleep early. However, I have found that the early wake up calls for multi race weekends help me to not be lying in the dark with my eyes closed for a couple of hours.

 

[SheHulk]

Just got a crowd level alert from TouringPlans.com and crowds look loooooow for marathon weekend. Is nobody coming to this thing?

 

[Disneyslowrunner]

Just got a crowd level alert from TouringPlans.com and crowds look loooooow for marathon weekend. Is nobody coming to this thing?

I was wondering the same thing because they keep opening more entries for the 5k and 10k and when they open up, it takes a fair amount of time to fill. But, I have been looking at switching my hotel and I was surprised at how many of the hotels appear to be sold out already. Disney hotels are always pretty full, but it feels like quite a few of the room have sold out earlier this year.

 

[Disney at Heart]

Just got a crowd level alert from TouringPlans.com and crowds look loooooow for marathon weekend. Is nobody coming to this thing?

We can only hope. The lowest crowd I ever encountered was when Hurricane Irma was on the way. We rode Frozen twice in a row and had a boat to ourselves because no one else was in line!!! Oh, I long for short lines again!

 

[PrincessV]

I never, ever stay out late during race weekends! My body just crashes without adequate sleep, so that's a priority. Bedtime before races is 6pm, usually asleep by 7, so I can get 7ish hours of sleep.

Just got a crowd level alert from TouringPlans.com and crowds look loooooow for marathon weekend. Is nobody coming to this thing?

It's an historically low-crowd time of year - one of the lowest, really. A couple years ago, Marathon Week fell during a time when FL schools were still on break, as well as northern schools, so it was MUCH busier than the norm. This year it falls later into Jan., when schools are starting up the second semester (ours go back Jan. 7).

 

[AFwifelife]

This year’s crowds weren’t too terrible with many of Florida and Georgia’s schools back in session that same week.

Having a lot of people there doesn’t really bother me though as long as the weather isn’t oppressive. I’ll wait in lines no problem as long as I’m not sweating.

 

[steph0808]

The only bad Marathon Weekend I have ever been at was 2018 when it fell when some schools were still on Christmas break. It was sooooo busy. And it was the polar vortex and freezing (ok, in the 40s and better than -20 in PA when I left), but still. We couldn't even walk around AK because it was so packed. I'll just skip Marathon Weekend if that happens again.

 

[PrincessV]

The only bad Marathon Weekend I have ever been at was 2018 when it fell when some schools were still on Christmas break. It was sooooo busy. And it was the polar vortex and freezing (ok, in the 40s and better than -20 in PA when I left), but still. We couldn't even walk around AK because it was so packed. I'll just skip Marathon Weekend if that happens again.

Some friends and I made the mistake of trying MK after the 5K that year. HUGE mistake. I've been visiting WDW during peak crowd times for years as a local - July 4th, Easter week, Christmas, Thanksgiving - and that stupid day in Jan. was the worst I've ever seen! And yeah, the fact that I was frozen, even wearing a down parka lol, did not help.

 

[momandmousefan]

SAFD: I just can't with the heat anymore!!!

Tell me about it! It’s been in the 80s here in OHIO! Luckily during this mornings run it was a little overcast but the heat and humidity for this time of year here is nuts! We actually even went swimming on Oct 1st...outdoors!! We’re usually starting to be raking leaves by this time of year normally.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

SAFD: Training is going pretty well. In my "hell week" for MCM before the taper starts next week, so definitely in the stage where everything is a bit sore and I am questioning my sanity. On the plus side, for first time in 5 years I'm arriving at this point unhurt, so knock on wood that continues and I can make it through the 22 this Sunday.

 

[lhermiston]

Just got a crowd level alert from TouringPlans.com and crowds look loooooow for marathon weekend. Is nobody coming to this thing?

TouringPlans was showing around the same thing about this time last year, IIRC. Then several parks shot up a few weeks before the weekend.

All in all, I thought this year was pretty manageable, though.

 

[pluto377]

My training is going slow at the moment. I took the whole summer off so I'm trying hard to be able to run more that :30 at a time. I'm up to 2.5 miles for distance, but if I don't speed up I'm not going to make it to the finish. I had to skip this whole week because of family stuff. Hoping next week will go better.

 

[rteetz]

These are wine and dine but I am thinking the finishes might be similar for January.

 

[flav]

These are wine and dine but I am thinking the finishes might be similar for January.

I find them very repetitive... I like Epcot but, for MW, would prefer a 5k in AK and a Full going through HS (ie more than setting one foot in it).

 

[WhereInFlorida]

These are wine and dine but I am thinking the finishes might be similar for January.

I hope not, I wanna run down towards Spaceship Earth to finish up the marathon.

 

[rteetz]

I hope not, I wanna run down towards Spaceship Earth to finish up the marathon.

So do I but I’m not sure we’ll be able too.