Official Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend - The Dark Side 2017

[opusone]

Now that we are getting closer to race day, I thought I would re-post my Saturday group Italian dinner invite: Il Mulino at 5:00pm (Boardwalk area, Swan Hotel). This is plenty early to still get good sleep before the half marathon the next morning. The reservation is for eight folks, and we still have six spots available if anyone's interested.

I am traveling solo, so it's a good excuse to meet other rD DISboards folks.

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Saturday Dinner Meet-Up

So, last year we had a great Saturday dinner before the Dark Side half marathon with a few DIS'ers, plus friends. A friend of mine, plus @Z-Knight, @Fruto76, @Fruto76's sister along with two of their friends were there. @HockeyMomNH and her daughter almost joined us as well.

In any case, I thought I would see if we wanted to get a small DIS group together again for the 2017 Dark Side weekend. I have made reservations at Il Mulino at 5:00pm on Saturday (4/22) for eight people. So far, it's just me and a friend of mine. Anyone want to join us?

Il Mulino (Swan Hotel)

 

[cavepig]

Thanks for posting & inviting @opusone, we'll have to pass as our plans stay pretty flexible and we'll be with our brother's family since he just signed up.

Seriously though, my plantar fasciatis foot is getting better (dealing with since Oct.) but..........now my sciatic flared up making my hip kill. Monday I woke up with my hip hurting, Sunday was off so it's not from running but I think from sleeping as I keep waking up all night with it hurting the last few nights. So, last night made an effort to sleep different, only walked a mile yesterday and today it was snowing so took off running but it's been bugging me all day. Why is it if it's not one thing it's another.

Hoping for some soft openings of Pandora maybe since it's opening is now set for May 27. You would think they need to do some testing and April would be good idea I think so we can all visit it!

 

[croach]

@opusone put me down as someone who would be interested in a meet up. I'll be solo as well and I've never been to Il Mulino. Just have to rearrange that Brown Derby dinner to lunch maybe.

@cavepig I thought the same thing about a possible soft opening for Avatarland. Don't know if that's too far out but maybe we will get a surprise. And hope the hip feels better - it does always feel like it's definitely something.

 

[opusone]

@opusone put me down as someone who would be interested in a meet up. I'll be solo as well and I've never been to Il Mulino. Just have to rearrange that Brown Derby dinner to lunch maybe.

You got it! Let me know for sure once you've moved Brown Derby.

 

[croach]

You got it! Let me know for sure once you've moved Brown Derby.

Moved to Sunday lunch. Thanks for the invite!

 

[ryanj36]

For the half marathon, does anyone know if family members elect to do the cheer squad...do they get on early bus at the same time as me or is there a later bus?

 

[cavepig]

For the half marathon, does anyone know if family members elect to do the cheer squad...do they get on early bus at the same time as me or is there a later bus?

They can get on any bus they want so it just depends how early the family members wants to arrive.

 

[opusone]

For the half marathon, does anyone know if family members elect to do the cheer squad...do they get on early bus at the same time as me or is there a later bus?

The start and finish will be at different places, and I am assuming your family will want to head to the finish line, correct? If so, they shouldn't board the bus with you to the starting line. Last year for the half marathon, the buses from the resorts to the starting line ran from 2:30am until 4:30am (which will likely be 3:00am until 5:00am this year with the later starting time). Then, the buses switched at 4:30am (likely 5:00am this year) to take folks from the resorts to the finish line.

 

[cavepig]

The start and finish will be at different places, and I am assuming your family will want to head to the finish line, correct? If so, they shouldn't board the bus with you to the starting line. Last year for the half marathon, the buses from the resorts to the starting line ran from 2:30am until 4:30am (which will likely be 3:00am until 5:00am this year with the later starting time). Then, the buses switched at 4:30am (likely 5:00am this year) to take folks from the resorts to the finish line.

Oh True, good point if they don't want to see the start (which who knows how it will be setup for any spectating)!!!

So, then curious do they then offer a bus from the start area to the finish area? Or do you have to go back to your resort?

 

[opusone]

So, then curious do they then offer a bus from the start area to the finish area? Or do you have to go back to your resort?

Good question. I think they normally dissuade spectators from going to the start. I assume there will be no official race transportation from start to finish, but spectators at the start could walk all the way across the parking lot (Floridian Way to the TTC) to catch the monorail or buses. However, I don't know at what time the transportation systems will begin on race day with these new courses.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

Like other's said probably won't see it until the guide comes out, it's fun to follow what this person puts up though http://www.darksidechallenger.com/2017-star-wars-dark-side-half-marathon-map.html. Who knows how accurate his guess will end up being.

I think his routes are wishful thinking. If it were going through MK or AK, I would think they would say so, since MK especially would attract more people. I could be wrong.

BUT... and this is embarrassing, but the guy who writes that blog just got called out at marathoninvestigation.com for using a mule. Pictures and everything. He's the one guy they decided to make an example of. Ouch.

 

[cavepig]

BUT... and this is embarrassing, but the guy who writes that blog just got called out at marathoninvestigation.com for using a mule. Pictures and everything. He's the one guy they decided to make an example of. Ouch.

Wait, really, I just read that article today & didn't see the connection between the 2... Okay, just read more of comments and see that posted. Wow, that is embarrassing!! I found the marathon Investigation article interesting though because I know of a few corral cheaters too who lie about times to get corrals and it is really annoying but there's no way of just looking at results to know they cheated/lied to get that corral since you don't know what people stopped for.


Oh and my brother is hand-painting my half tank (I didn't get the artistic gene like all my siblings did) and it is looking so cool, so excited to wear it!!!

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

I think his routes are wishful thinking. If it were going through MK or AK, I would think they would say so, since MK especially would attract more people. I could be wrong.

I agree that the route that included MK was probably wishful thinking and that maybe they'd advertise that to try to attract more people (I never expected MK to be included anyway though) but I don't see why AK is too far-fetched. The distance seems to work out pretty well, and it would be hard to get 13.1 miles without it. I would hope they'd go to AK over WWOS. It's pretty wide open, since unlike for the 10K, the RunDisney website lists no details about the half course other than start and finish.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

Wait, really, I just read that article today & didn't see the connection between the 2... Okay, just read more of comments and see that posted. Wow, that is embarrassing!! I found the marathon Investigation article interesting though because I know of a few corral cheaters too who lie about times to get corrals and it is really annoying but there's no way of just looking at results to know they cheated/lied to get that corral since you don't know what people stopped for.

I recognized him from his picture. He's blogged elsewhere as well. Yeah, the issue of 'expected finish time' has been done to death on the disboards. What's fascinating is going through the same contortions people use to BQ just to get a better corral placement, considering how much easier that is.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

... the RunDisney website lists no details about the half course other than start and finish.

That makes me nervous.

We can assume it will finish in the Epcot parking lot like the 10k, since all the stuff will already be there. But otherwise... my money (although not much of it) is still on WWOS. They CAN make that part awesome, but we shall see.

 

[croach]

Wait, really, I just read that article today & didn't see the connection between the 2... Okay, just read more of comments and see that posted. Wow, that is embarrassing!! I found the marathon Investigation article interesting though because I know of a few corral cheaters too who lie about times to get corrals and it is really annoying but there's no way of just looking at results to know they cheated/lied to get that corral since you don't know what people stopped for.


Oh and my brother is hand-painting my half tank (I didn't get the artistic gene like all my siblings did) and it is looking so cool, so excited to wear it!!!

I found the post a title confusing but like you I wasn't quite sure how he was getting to his conclusions. It felt like kind of like he just wanted to post about runDisney.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

That makes me nervous.

We can assume it will finish in the Epcot parking lot like the 10k, since all the stuff will already be there. But otherwise... my money (although not much of it) is still on WWOS. They CAN make that part awesome, but we shall see.

We definitely shall. But I really hope it's AK over WWOS. To me, it doesn't seem like there's any reason why the race can't include it. Any AK portion of a race should be over before the park opens. But who knows what they're thinking. I just hope that if it is WWOS, they do make that park awesome. And then they definitely better have DHS too, since a race with only one park would be a major letdown.

 

[Ndusmama]

Now that we are getting closer to race day, I thought I would re-post my Saturday group Italian dinner invite: Il Mulino at 5:00pm (Boardwalk area, Swan Hotel). This is plenty early to still get good sleep before the half marathon the next morning. The reservation is for eight folks, and we still have six spots available if anyone's interested.

I am traveling solo, so it's a good excuse to meet other rD DISboards folks.

----------------------- Previous Post ---------------------------

Saturday Dinner Meet-Up

So, last year we had a great Saturday dinner before the Dark Side half marathon with a few DIS'ers, plus friends. A friend of mine, plus @Z-Knight, @Fruto76, @Fruto76's sister along with two of their friends were there. @HockeyMomNH and her daughter almost joined us as well.

In any case, I thought I would see if we wanted to get a small DIS group together again for the 2017 Dark Side weekend. I have made reservations at Il Mulino at 5:00pm on Saturday (4/22) for eight people. So far, it's just me and a friend of mine. Anyone want to join us?

Il Mulino (Swan Hotel)

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I may be a maybe if you still have a spot. Give me a week or two though to figure out my schedule since I just decided last week to run. At least the easy part is over signed up for challenge, told sister. It going to Europe and booked flight and hotel, just did t tell her I was running darkside instead. Think I can avoid telling her and just show her medals!

 

[Ndusmama]

Probably not a lot - all of April is generally less humid than August, more humid than January. Unless some kind of front comes through that pulls moisture away, assume anything from 60-80%, higher if we have rain. Where a week later does make a difference is in the intensity of the sun; I am not joking when I say that by April, every week picks up intensity as we head toward infernal summer. Admittedly, I'm used to the humidity here, but to me it's not the major issue - the sun is. So add that later date plus a later start and the end of the half for slower runners could be very, very warm.

ETA: I just looked at my data from last year - on April 17 I had 64* and 68% humidity at the start of the half. For the 10K I had 72* and 76% humidity. 5K was 68* and 94% humidity.

Can I have those temperatures but not the humidity. I don't want that humidity.

 

[FFigawi]

Wait, really, I just read that article today & didn't see the connection between the 2... Okay, just read more of comments and see that posted. Wow, that is embarrassing!! I found the marathon Investigation article interesting though because I know of a few corral cheaters too who lie about times to get corrals and it is really annoying but there's no way of just looking at results to know they cheated/lied to get that corral since you don't know what people stopped for.

It's very easy to see if someone cheated to get into a corral. If you know who they are, you can look up the races they've done and see if they cut the course or used a bib mule in any or all of them. In the post on the marathon investigation site, he provides fairly clear evidence of that Brian guy using a bib mule and implies he has evidence of course cutting.