Marathon Weekend 2020

[camaker]

Today was my first marathon, and I missed my goal by 45 minutes (and what I thought was my “worst case scenario” by 15). Can anyone make me feel better about this? Lol. Can I just blame the humidity? Ha.

The marathon is a different beast. Jeff Galloway himself says that your only (or at least primary) goal for a first marathon should be “finish”.

The conditions today kicked a lot of experienced marathoners butts. They were far from ideal for a time goal. Galloway also talked about that and the need to slow down dramatically due to the heat and humidity.

Enough about Galloway, though. I am not a fast runner. More the middle of the pack. But the most important thing I’ve learned in my races is that you have to judge your performance through the lens of reality, not what you had hoped for beforehand. That means if the race conditions are not ideal, you have to understand what is possible under those conditions. That goes for training and personal circumstances, too. Have a bad training cycle or go into a race injured or nursing something? Take what the race gives and then assess your performance against the conditions. If you did your best under the circumstances, be happy with your accomplishment!

Sorry for the long-winded reply. I hope it has helped a little, at least.

 

[afaroffplace]

@camaker @MissLiss279 @SarahDisney @Carol_ @Leia's Mom Thank you all for the encouraging words.

 

[garneska]

congratulations all you Marathon runners. Those were tough conditions today. I kept saying how happy I was to only be running the half this year. great to see so many people at the meet ups.

she does not look super happy but you can see the medal well.





this one because she was happy about to go on a walk

 

[Harlaxton]

Anybody else have their regular pictures pop for the half but still missing character pics?

 

[KevM]

Everest didn't open at 9, so your wait would have been longer. The Goof Troop arrives shortly after 9 and they were saying 9:30.....so we left and got around the back side of the ride and saw it open !

Ah, I did not know that. Definitely don’t feel as bad about missing it then.


And speaking of Goofy Troop, am I the only one disappointed that their where no Goof Troop characters out (besides Goofy of course). While out on the course I heard the Goof Troop theme song, On the Open Road, & Stand Out. My other disappointments were no Robin Hood characters and no Darkwing Duck characters.

 

[Greg P.]

Today was my first marathon, and I missed my goal by 45 minutes (and what I thought was my “worst case scenario” by 15). Can anyone make me feel better about this? Lol. Can I just blame the humidity? Ha.

I didn’t run the full today, but did the half yesterday. I was over 25 minutes slower than a half I ran just a few months ago up in Vermont on a hilly course due to the heat and humidity. I think the conditions were worse today. Don’t underestimate how much that can absolutely zap all your energy.

 

[JulieODC]

Congratulations to all the runners this weekend!!

I finished my first marathon today and it was amazingly The heat was really making me anxious - but I managed, cut back the pace big-time, and really hydrated, which made all the difference. I chafed horribly - but didn’t feel it until post-race. About to crash after walking around Epcot all afternoon and night!

 

[dtrain]

Anyone boarding the Dream tomorrow for the Castaway Cay Challenge?

Yes!

 

[Dopey 2020]

such a great weekend! Got to meet some great people on here and absolutely smashed my marathon PR shaving off 53 minutes even in these conditions
stuck to my plan to take it easier in the 10 and half
5K 24:54
10K 1:04:30
HM 2:15:14
M 4:22:52

Now I can’t wait to do it again

 

[Sleepy425]

Anybody else have their regular pictures pop for the half but still missing character pics?

Only a few from the course have come up. No character ones, and also not the one from the post-race area.
My character pic from the 10k (I think I only stopped for one) also hasn’t come up yet.

 

[1lilspark]

Ah, I did not know that. Definitely don’t feel as bad about missing it then.


And speaking of Goofy Troop, am I the only one disappointed that their where no Goof Troop characters out (besides Goofy of course). While out on the course I heard the Goof Troop theme song, On the Open Road, & Stand Out. My other disappointments were no Robin Hood characters and no Darkwing Duck characters.

One of the character instagrams I follow posted max goof out meeting during the full

 

[MissLiss279]

Ah, I did not know that. Definitely don’t feel as bad about missing it then.


And speaking of Goofy Troop, am I the only one disappointed that their where no Goof Troop characters out (besides Goofy of course). While out on the course I heard the Goof Troop theme song, On the Open Road, & Stand Out. My other disappointments were no Robin Hood characters and no Darkwing Duck characters.

Max was out, backstage of Epcot, the second time around - Or at least he was when I went by.

 

[steph0808]

I got a photo with Max in the Epcot backstage area as well.

Conditions were tough today, so if you finished, you should be proud!

Now I'm taking a break! Two marathons in two months is just too much training.

Also - did anyone think photo lines were super short today? The longest I waited was like 1.5 minutes. And i stopped for about 75% of characters.

 

[DIS-OH]

Congratulations to all the Marathon,
Goofy and Dopey runners!

I cheered for a while at Tower of Terror this morning...was wearing a Jedi Mickey t-shirt, clapping and yelling right as you entered Hollywood Studios. Hope I helped encourage some of you!

One lady runner kept asking “Epcot? Epcot? Is this Epcot?” I sure hated to tell her it wasn’t!

 

[sandam1]

Did anyone do the runner's square yesterday and/or today? Looking for reviews...

 

[Carol_]

Only a few from the course have come up. No character ones, and also not the one from the post-race area.
My character pic from the 10k (I think I only stopped for one) also hasn’t come up yet.

I ran the half, stopped for Stitch only... no pic yet, only my finish line pics so far

 

[The Expert]

Also - did anyone think photo lines were super short today? The longest I waited was like 1.5 minutes. And i stopped for about 75% of characters.

Yes! As a slower runner I'm used to long lines and skipping most photo opps, but lines were definitely shorter for later runners today. I think everybody just wanted it over! I was floored to walk right up to the Adventurers Club guys with no wait!

 

[huskies90]

Congrats to everyone who competed this weekend. I completed my first Dopey and had a blast despite the weather. For the marathon, my goal was to break 4 hours. I trained for a 3:40 marathon so I would be able to still stop for pics and to have some cushion just in case I needed to slow down due to tough conditions. Today’s heat was bad but I trusted my training and maintained a consistent 9:00 pace which included many picture stops, lonnnng water stops and a few extra bathroom breaks due to the long water stops. I finished hitting my goal @ 3:56:17 so I am very happy.

A few observations:

Course: I liked the opening thru EPCOT but I am not sure the part from the Animal Kingdom exit to Hollywood Studios was any better than Osceola Parkway/ WWoS. I wasn’t crazy about all the backstage areas. There really is nothing magical backstage and in fact takes away from the beauty that you see in all the guest areas - even busy highways. There was little to like about the weaving paths and parking lot at Blizzard Beach. And obviously the new course was culprit to the cluster at the start of the race. Disney is very good at things they do in repetition but struggle when anything new is introduced - like new traffic patterns.

Characters: I was pretty disappointed with the lack of and variety of characters for the marathon. The half might have been better. I also saw many character spots today with a photographer and no character but I imagine this may have been due to the heat and they needed more breaks/changeover. I am curious what the actual list of characters was and who I may have missed.

Overall, it was a great 4 days. Nobody can control the weather so we all just had to make the most of it. Safe travels to everyone heading back to reality this week!!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Wow that was a hot one for me! Squeaked in under 6 hours at 5:59:13 not that getting under 6 hours was a goal for me but still pretty funny how close I came. while getting under that new hour mark. My goal for my first (and let's face it, only) Goofy was to try to actually have fun in a Disney race and that was accomplished. I stopped for character pics on course for the first time, yesterday and today, and did not stress once about my race time. I bumped into the Goof Troop and flirted with the idea of dropping my run/walk plan to stick with them, but realized it probably wasn't smart to go against my plan given that my training was less-than-perfect, and maybe less-than-adequate. Probably a smart choice because, even with sticking to plan, I got super nauseous right at the 16 mile mark which I think Carissa said was a sign of heat sickness. So I walked a much greater portion of the race from there on out, just to finish. The plan was basically to run where there was shade, and walk where there wasn't. So not much running from then on.

I agree with @MissLiss279 the lack of characters in WS was disappointing because it was the first time I would really have liked to stop! In the past, I always went past Mushu and kind of looked longingly but never stopped, worried about my time.

The bus trip to the start was made much more pleasant because I ran into @flav on the elevator! I would have been very nervous about the traffic delays but she's cool as a cucumber.

All in all, I had a great weekend. You can't control the weather or injuries but you can control how you react to them, I'm finally learning that after 30 years of running!

It was nice meeting you today. I realized after our conversation was over that I don’t know that I ever congratulated you on your Goofy achievement. I apologize for my social awkwardness; I get so uncomfortable that I often forget my manners and talk in circles.

Sounds like it was a great weekend. Congrats on your Goofy!

 

[DerTobi75]

Does anyone knows the name of the guy who did the WarmUp on Stage before the 5K?