Marathon Weekend 2023

[GreatLakes]

Hiii!! runDisney newbie with coveted Dopey registration snagged for me and my husband for the 2023 Marathon Weekend.

We are traveling as a family of 3 adult (Grandma's coming along!) and 3 kids and are not sure how to plan our days after the shorter races. Do you go to the Park? Do you chill at the pool? Other activity suggestions?

We plan to have restful (non-park) days for the Half and Full marathon days. Thanks!

I just did the marathon but this was my day this year:







I went from the race to open Epcot and closed the park. It was a great day and staying walking around all day made my recovery much better than any other full I've done. I woke up the next day no more sore than after running a half.

If I were doing Dopey I'd make sure to keep moving after each race, as others have said, and would probably do a park after the 5K and 10K and skip the park after the half. I would do Epcot after the full. It is so full of runners since it is right there and you can keep moving while enjoying World Showcase.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I went from the race to open Epcot and closed the park. It was a great day and staying walking around all day made my recovery much better than any other full I've done. I woke up the next day no more sore than after running a half.

You practically did Dopey in one day!

 

[dobball23]

I just did the marathon but this was my day this year:

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I went from the race to open Epcot and closed the park. It was a great day and staying walking around all day made my recovery much better than any other full I've done. I woke up the next day no more sore than after running a half.

If I were doing Dopey I'd make sure to keep moving after each race, as others have said, and would probably do a park after the 5K and 10K and skip the park after the half. I would do Epcot after the full. It is so full of runners since it is right there and you can keep moving while enjoying World Showcase.

That's impressive! My highest step total in a day is just over 60,000, and that was when I nearly closed DHS after the marathon in 2020.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Good Morning runDisney All-stars! It is time for this week’s SAFD. I had a different question in mind but then during my run yesterday I was ”inspired” with a new quesition…

Have you ever fallen/tripped while on a run - tell us the story!

Ever heat the saying “trail runner, it is not if you will trip but when you will triip”. Well I lived it again yesterday. I was running 9 miles on a trail not too far from my house. On mile 8 I was cruising, enjoying the scenery, listening to a blog and just kind of zenning out. I did not see the knob, it was just one second I was crossing a wooden bridge and the next I had no leg to put forward and was headed down hard and fast. I ended up off the edge of the trail in swampy water/bushes. I had tripped right at the end of a bridge; one second cruising next second wet but sitting in a fairly gross puddle. Lost my hat, sunglasses, AirPod and phone. Luckily only the hat went in the water. And my phone was fine - thank goodness. However I hit the ground on my left knee, hip and shoulder And yet somehow ended up on my but? All hurt today! Morale of the story, zenning out is great but don’t forget to always be scanning the trail!

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

SAFD: Yes, I have! Most recently, I fell at PW. Just after passing the Contemporary, about to head into MK, during the half, I came up on a woman who was walking and talking on her phone. I tried to go around her, and caught my foot on a bit of uneven pavement, and found myself down very hard, with my water bottle rolling away. Some very kind runners stopped to make sure I was okay and chase down and return my water bottle. I was scraped up a bit, but thought I was mostly okay until I started running again. My shoulder apparently took quite a shock when I landed on my hand (I know that’s the wrong way to fall, but I threw out my hands to brace myself). Anyway, I’m still having shoulder trouble all three plus months later. I don’t think the woman who was just suddenly there in the middle of the road ever noticed that I had fallen. She just kept walking and talking, I’m pretty sure. I did gather myself up and ran down Main Street. I was not about to let a fall spoil my favorite part of the race. I finished the race, too, but a bit more gingerly than I had planned. Thank you to the runners who stopped to check on me!

 

[striker1064]

SAFD: Oh yes! The most memorable time was in the snow. We got around 8 inches (which is a fair amount for us all at once). I had a 6 mile run that day, and I had an out-and-back stretch that was almost exactly 3 miles, so the plan was to double it because I thought it would be pretty well plowed.

Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

Things were going along just fine the first 3 miles, but continuing the out-and-back required a hairpin 180 degree turn. I intentionally stepped in a larger snow pile to try to create friction, but - surprise! - there was ice underneath the snow. My body was already turning, but my plant foot was firmly airborne, and I went down face-first into more snow (thankfully). I wasn't hurt - no bumps, no bruises, no twisted ankle - so I simply brushed myself off and kept going. There were even a couple teens hanging around and they applauded when I popped back up!

Anyway, that's my story. I've tripped and fallen on a couple other runs, but the snow fall was actually fun!

 

[eey777]

SAFD: I am notoriously klutzy and have had so many near misses on uneven pavement just walking around, but so far (touch wood!), I've only had one bad near miss running that I can remember:
I was running on a track in cold weather, and hit a patch of ice. Nearly went down but saved it (and let out a pretty embarrassing screech in the process LOL). Pro-tip: use extreme caution on a rubberized track if it's near freezing! LOL

I have had so many falls off horses over the years that I unfortunately know very well the slow- & fast-motion combined feeling of seeing the ground come up to meet you, as well as the "how the heck did that body part get a bruise?!?". If I did more trail running I would probably wear a helmet for that, too! Haha

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: I have not fallen on a run (knock on wood). This honestly shocks me, because I’m definitely the klutziest person in my family.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

SAFD: I was training trying to do a run but was tried and not feeling it and fell twice. Decided to cut it short the run short. Nothing crazy with the fall though. Just was getting sick I found out a little later when I was getting a fever.

 

[LilyJC]

SAFD: Growing up in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, I did quite a bit of trail running. My most damaging fall was catching my shoe on a rock in the trail, sailing downhill, and landing my knee on another jagged rock. All I remember is going into shock, an ER visit and stitches. I never ran that particular trail again and the friend I was running with at the time had the exact same thing happen to her a few weeks after my incident!

Most recently, this past January exactly one week before Marathon Weekend, my husband and I were on an easy 4 mile run with our Rhodesian Ridgebacks. It had just finished raining, so everything was still fairly slick. I noticed either a cat or bunny up the hill from the sidewalk we were running on and decided to try to run past it as quickly as possible before my high prey-drive pup noticed. Bad decision! The animal spooked and ran ahead of us, and my dog saw and went for it. My dog happens to be incredibly muscular, strong, and weighs about the same as I do. I figured I might get more hurt if I tried to put on the brakes on the wet pavement, but it all ended up with me sailing through the air again as he pulled me off my feet. I essentially belly flopped uphill in a pile of mud. I was grateful not to have a serious injury right before Marathon Weekend 2022 and also thankful it was really dark as that debacle happened alongside a really busy road. We left the Ridgebacks home for our remaining taper runs that following week.

 

[camaker]

SAFD: I don't think it counts as a trail race for me until I've fallen at least once. The most spectacular was during my first trail half marathon. I'd been very careful throughout the race and managed to avoid the lunging roots until mile 12. At that point, I crested a hill, caught my toe on a root and rolled almost all the way down the slope before I could recover. Fortunately, nothing worse came of it than a few scrapes and bruises.

I've only fallen once during a training run. My running path goes through a park with softball fields up on a hill above the paved greenway. There's a low spot where the slope comes right down to the path and water pools on the pavement. In an attempt to avoid running through the standing water I planted a foot on the upslope to go around it on the grass. The grass was too wet and the soil too saturated to hold me so down I went, covering myself from head to toe in mud down one side. It wasn't the most comfortable way to end the run, with mud slowly drying and caking. Once again, though, the only real injury was to my pride.

 

[1lilspark]

SAFD not during an actual race but once when I was jogging around the neighborhood my phone started ringing with a spam call and I went to hit decline and caught my toe on some uneven pavement

 

[GreatLakes]

SAFD: Twice that I can remember. Once on an uneven sidewalk and once on ice. Neither caused an injury.

I've caught rocks and roots on trails but have always managed to stay on my feet. I'm confident that luck will run out at some point

 

[Jillfo]

SAFD

Many times. Most falls resulted in nothing worse than scrapes to my knees or palms but I did break my left elbow (the olecranon) when I tripped on an uneven sidewalk during a training run. That required surgery and two pins which were removed a year later because they were shifting out of place. I also broke three left ribs when I tripped during a trail Ragnar.

 

[Disney at Heart]

SAFD:

SAFD: I don't think it counts as a trail race for me until I've fallen at least once.

Truth. Although I DID have a significant fall on a training run. I just don’t remember it! Several (6-7?) years ago DH and I were running a mountain bike trail. We started together, but he was doing a longer loop, so that after I fell, he came up behind me and found me unconscious at the bottom of a hill. Apparently, I had tripped on something, slid or rolled down a hill, and hit my head on something. He called an ambulance and luckily one of my former “kids,” (40 year old I taught in high school) who maintains the trail was out in his Gator, so he took me back to the road where we met the ambulance. My first vague memory is an arm across me holding me in the Gator, and then I became fully conscious as the gurney slammed into the ambulance. What a jolt! Obviously, I am fine, and after a CT scan, was released from the ER in a few hours, but if I ever forget something or misspeak, I always have the excuse, “I’ve had a head injury.”

More recently, at W&D half last year, my foot slipped on a while line that was wet with pre-dawn dew and humidity, and down I went, scraping my left knee and hand and getting a tiny cut on the right elbow. I was able to get up and run the rest of the race, but was pleased at the kindness of the people around me. Several stopped/hesitated to see that I was fine, realized DH was with me, and continued on. Then a kind woman came up behind me asking, “Do you know you have blood on your elbow?” She was a nurse willing to stop her race to help me! I told her I was fine, but would stop at the next medical tent to get it cleaned up. Then when I got to the medical tent, they not only washed out the dirt and gravel from my palm and elbow, but they REALLY wrapped both! I crossed the finish line with the left had wrapped from forearm to fingertips and my other elbow wrapped from elbow to almost the wrist!!! At that point I didn’t even show them my knee!!! A small bandaid would have been fine on both areas, but I think the medical staff was bored!

So I may win the “Biggest Klutz” award!

 

[Disney at Heart]

SAFD

Many times. Most falls resulted in nothing worse than scrapes to my knees or palms but I did break my left elbow (the olecranon) when I tripped on an uneven sidewalk during a training run. That required surgery and two pins which were removed a year later because they were shifting out of place. I also broke three left ribs when I tripped during a trail Ragnar.

Maybe you win the Perseverance Award. After all that, you still get out there and run!

 

[Kerry1957]

I have not fallen since.....Friday. My training is about 90% trail, although the majority of that is crushed limestone and not single track. I thought through it last year and came up with that I generally fall about once every 300-400 miles of training. So for me, that equates to 3 or 4 times a year. I also took a hard tumble in a trail race this Spring, so I'm right on track to complete my 3-4 falls in 2022.

I think like most folks, I do not fall in some sort of movie version slow motion. One moment I'm up and running, the next on the ground. In spite of that I seem to automatically go to a sort of tuck and roll going down, so my shoulder is often as banged up as my palms. Fortunately for my now 64 year old bones, I have never injured myself more than a few scrapes.

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: Um yeah--currently wearing the boot to deal with the break...and hopefully the broken bone has healed enough that I get an all clear at my Ortho appointment on the 14th.

Funny (or not) what a small round stick on the ground can do if you land on it, and it rolls your foot.

 

[bryana]

Ran my first half in a few years this morning. Got a 5 minute PR (2:23) on a really tough, hilly course. I’m pretty stoked on it. Hoping that another couple of months of consistent training will mean another PR and hopefully a POT at one of the two halves (flat courses!) I’m registered for in September.

SAFD: I legitimately have no idea how I haven’t fallen yet (knocking on all of the wood). I’ve had a few close calls but have always managed to catch myself. I don’t run on trails but I have a habit of catching toes on uneven pavement, even when I’m trying to consciously pick my feet up to avoid them.

 

[steph0808]

I used to run the single track trails at the local state park fairly frequently and fell once over a root but was none the worse for the wear.