Marathon Weekend 2023

[Dom497]

(TL;DR Is it a bad idea to run my 2nd marathon in October followed by my first Dopey in January?)

3 months is honestly lots of time to recover. Just make sure to take a nice break after your October marathon. In fact, I'm running a marathon in the first weekend of October, will be taking 2 weeks off (no running at all) and then will ramp back up for Dopey.

 

[YawningDodo]

Ah, Thackery Binx. My first childhood love.

I feel like so many girls growing up in the nineties had a crush on that cat...myself included.

I wouldn’t do this. We had to delay a trip earlier this year, and ended up changing rooms twice at Kidani. I don’t think we got a room before 3pm any of the 3 times we checked in. I wouldn’t want to be “homeless” after waking up at 2:30.
We’re staying in a 2 bedroom at BLT with family, and even though they’re leaving on Sunday, we’re spending the extra points to not switch rooms until the following day. I want the option of being able to crash in bed if I want to.

This isn't one I've learned from experience, but I agree with you and the others who have pointed out the issue of being "homeless" midday on a split stay. That's always been one of my biggest concerns when booking hotels for out of town races because I think lacking a place to shower and crash post-race would be really rough. Heck, I like knowing I can go back to my room to crash even on a normal Disney trip.

 

[XoxoAmy]

We may be staying at Swolphin for the first part of our trip since I can't get us into Shades of Green for the first few days. That means my runners would be catching the race buses from Swolphin. Is it better to be on the Swan or Dolphin side (or Swan Reserve??) or is it irrelevant?

I stayed at Swan for SS weekend. I grabbed the bus right before 4am both days (10k and 10M) and we went straight to the starting line, no other resort ick ups. Not sure if they grabbed dolphin or swan reserve before our stop. Also swan was always the first stop on the way home (even with RR and CB sharing our bus) and that was pretty great.

 

[Naomeri]

I feel like so many girls growing up in the nineties had a crush on that cat...myself included.

I just looked at Hocus Pocus on IMDb, and I knew that Thackery Binx the human was Sean Murray (Tim McGee on NCIS) but I didn’t know that the voice of Thackery Binx the cat was the same guy that did the voice of Max Goof, and the voice of Kovu (in Lion King 2)

 

[ColoradoLime]

Before I commit to a race in 2024, can you guys tell me what time the 10k usually starts?

 

[Z-Knight]

Before I commit to a race in 2024, can you guys tell me what time the 10k usually starts?

all races currently start at 5am...with busses leaving resorts starting at 3am

 

[dancingtodisney]

Question for the experts!

I ran my first marathon at the 2022 MW. With limited time off it was quite a whirlwind (flew in Saturday morning, ran the marathon Sunday morning, flew home Sunday night and went to work Monday morning). Thanks to @DopeyBadger 's training plan I felt great throughout the entire race and into the next days. My coworkers were surprised that I was (a) at work the day after running the marathon and (b) not limping through the day. My next races were all three Princess and Springtime Surprise races.

My next goals were Dopey 2023 and eventually trying a non-Disney marathon (no specific date in mind). My original thought was the MCM. I still want to go for it at some point in the future, but I was just reminded that there's a local marathon and I think I'd like to attempt that one first.

The race is late October. Am I crazy to consider running that this October, followed by Dopey in January? As a new marathon runner (I still can't believe I can say that!) is it a bad idea? Should I focus on Dopey instead and strive for the local marathon in 2023?

I was figuring I could use the same training plan again for the October race, and then some form of a continuation plan to lead me to Dopey. My plan didn't require me to run the full marathon distance in training, but I know others do so it didn't seem too far fetched. Thoughts? Be brutally honest, I can take it lol.

(TL;DR Is it a bad idea to run my 2nd marathon in October followed by my first Dopey in January?)

I'm running the London Marathon in early October so I'll be doing the same (although I'm not doing Dopey this time) I did previously run Dublin late October and then Dopey in January - I did find I was a little 'over' the long runs right after Dublin and I wish I'd given myself a little more time to recover physically before going back to the big miles in the training plan for Dopey (so maybe gradually increase those instead of jumping back into the plan)

 

[FFigawi]

(TL;DR Is it a bad idea to run my 2nd marathon in October followed by my first Dopey in January?)

Not at all. A week or two of low intensity recovery running will feed nicely into a gradual buildup in November and December. If you keep your mileage lower than a typical training plan, you can probably even get by without crazy long runs in late December and have a shorter taper.

As a point of comparison, my fall A race is the first weekend of December. I will have no taper at all. You’ll be just fine.

 

[Golfermickey]

From everything I read there is no chance of a refund? My wife and I were going to do dopey together and only one of us got in.

 

[garneska]

How are you gonna get to the race bus from your campground? I assume the race buses don't go through every loop?

The only people I've ever heard of staying at FW for races drove their own car to the starting line.

@YawningDodo

i want to clarify that buses do run from Fort Wilderness to race start and back. They pick you up in front by check in. I can also confirm that the internal fort buses are running throughout the campground at 2:30 am to bring you up front. now I always recommend if you have a vehicle to take it up front instead of using internal fort buses. Mainly for after the marathon. Once off the race bus i did not want to get on an internal bus.

as for tent camping, I agree with others I would not do it. I stay at the fort on race weekends but I have a camper with a comfy bed!

 

[deadvc]

From everything I read there is no chance of a refund? My wife and I were going to do dopey together and only one of us got in.

You can email and plead your case but it is not likely.

 

[cdlafl]

landed on POFQ for MW...only in for the marathon as of now, but booked to cover dopey. holding out some hope that I will be able to upgrade to dopey between now and then. if not, have a nice area to run at POFQ and Riverside leading up to Sunday and perhaps I will press the gas on race day...gotta look at the bright side of things

 

[HangWithMerida]

Also chiming in with an accommodation question.
Is it a bad idea to consider moving from AllStar Wed night (just me) to Pop Thu/Fri night (+2 ppl, 1 doing 10K) to Kidani Sat/Sun night (+4 more ppl, 2 doing marathon) if I'm doing Dopey?

I also like to unpack and move in so a split stay would only be out of necessity for me. And 2 moves would be a hard no.

(TL;DR Is it a bad idea to run my 2nd marathon in October followed by my first Dopey in January?)

Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all! You have plenty of time between long races to recover and your fitness will be there.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Now that we are past the first stressful part of race weekend (the registering, or not registering) how does everyone feel about flight prices? I know that a few of the carriers haven't released those dates yet (SW, Spirit, Allegiant, etc) but everyone else is currently "high" according to google flights. I know that's somewhat being fueled by the goings on in Russia/Ukraine, but do we think that they will stabilize and come back down to "normal" prices once some of the discount carriers hit the market? (It's also worth noting that Frontier's calendar is out and they are more than Delta and American at this point.)

If I booked today, I could save over $200 by flying down on Wednesday instead of Tuesday (plus a day of rental car AND a night of lodging), but I want to be camped out at the expo Wednesday morning and nothing lands before 10am that I'm finding.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Also, do we think that the virtuals will sell out like insanity today? (That's today, right?)

 

[Dom497]

Now that we are past the first stressful part of race weekend (the registering, or not registering) how does everyone feel about flight prices? I know that a few of the carriers haven't released those dates yet (SW, Spirit, Allegiant, etc) but everyone else is currently "high" according to google flights. I know that's somewhat being fueled by the goings on in Russia/Ukraine, but do we think that they will stabilize and come back down to "normal" prices once some of the discount carriers hit the market? (It's also worth noting that Frontier's calendar is out and they are more than Delta and American at this point.)

If I booked today, I could save over $200 by flying down on Wednesday instead of Tuesday (plus a day of rental car AND a night of lodging), but I want to be camped out at the expo Wednesday morning and nothing lands before 10am that I'm finding.

I live in Toronto and round trip flights to Orlando used to be ~$500 CAD (during a sale you could get them for ~$400 or even lower). They are currently about $550....given everything going on in the world I decided to just book my flight now rather than "hope" for prices to go down at some point.

You also have to remember that the start of MW this year is very close New Years so I think prices will probably remain on the high end (especially with lots of built up demand)

 

[lookingforsunshine]

landed on POFQ for MW

See ya there!

 

[steph0808]

As of right now, I'm still on the lookout for a DVC reservation for MW, but I'm not holding out hope.

Between the moderates (POFQ, Caribbean, and Coronado), what would be your choice for someone running Dopey? I have already stayed at Riverside, and as I'm trying to eventually stay at all Disney resorts, I'd like to try something new. I'm leaning toward POFQ for its smaller size but like the option of skyliner at Caribbean. Just worried about being stuck far away.

 

[Kerry1957]

From everything I read there is no chance of a refund? My wife and I were going to do dopey together and only one of us got in.

This is a good example of some changes in registration that runDisney should consider. One is allowing multiple registrations without the chance of selling out while going through the registration process.

The other is being able to "legally" transfer bibs for people who bought and cannot use them. At some races (Run the Bluegrass comes to mind) there is a "match-up" service where people transfer a bib to someone else. Since the organizers run it, there is less chance of shenanigans or profiteering.

 

[Dom497]

One is allowing multiple registrations without the chance of selling out while going through the registration process.

This is already possible. You can add multiple registrations before paying and if the event sells out (or if there are less spots available than the number of registrations you are paying for), none of the registrations would go through. This is how you avoid the problem @Golfermickey ran into.