Marathon Weekend 2020

[jennamfeo]

@roxymama That Sebastian is nightmare fuel.

 

[PrincessV]

Still doesn't sound as bad as the special gift for legacy runners before the 5th Wine & Dine Half Marathon. A spatula. And not a special 5th anniversary Wine & Dine spatula. Just a plain old boring spatula. Like this one.

Spatula-Gate is really the gift that keeps on giving! I still laugh about it now, years later, and I never even earned one. Good stuff.

 

[steph0808]

My kids made me listen to "How Far I'll Go" from Moana four times this morning (and then I might have listened four more times during my drive to work), and now I really hope we still get to run through World Showcase at the end of the marathon because I remember that playing in 2018 and feeling so light and free. Gah, I love Disney songs.

 

[AFwifelife]

My kids made me listen to "How Far I'll Go" from Moana four times this morning (and then I might have listened four more times during my drive to work), and now I really hope we still get to run through World Showcase at the end of the marathon because I remember that playing in 2018 and feeling so light and free. Gah, I love Disney songs.

2019 was all about “digggggg a little deeper”

 

[Sleepless Knight]

and now I really hope we still get to run through World Showcase at the end of the marathon because I remember that playing in 2018 and feeling so light and free.

When "Let's Go Fly a Kite" came on when I was running through World Showcase this year during the marathon, I felt like I was flying. I may have also started to quietly sing along as I was a bit exhausted to belt it out at the top of my lungs. This was either the runners high or quite possibly a hallucination brought on by drinking a frozen fruit smoothie from the Morocco pavilion that tasted nothing like not cold powerade after spending 2 or miles running with an ice bag on my head to help keep me cool. The volunteers did a heroic job on that day by keeping the powerade from getting warm in that humidity.

2019 was all about “digggggg a little deeper”

My little sister commented about the mice singing "We can do it, we can do it, we can help our Cindrelly" as she ran through Epcot to finish the marathon.

 

[steph0808]

I remember entering WS when "Let's Go Fly a Kite" came on. It was also a fantastic song choice!

 

[lhermiston]

So what you're saying is I need to bring popcorn before the races to watch this sh*t show go down. Got it. Haha.

@roxymama That Sebastian is nightmare fuel.

It’s worth remembering that lobsters are only red after being boiled. Real amps up the nightmare factor.

2019 was all about “digggggg a little deeper”

That was my jam for Dopey 2019!

 

[Patrick Reinsvold]

SAFD:
-I am cautiously optimistic about the course changes. I LOVED the old course with the morning EPCOT loop, so I hope they bring that back.
-Seeing Galaxy's Edge with my Star Wars loving boys.
-Bringing our new daughter (due November) for the first time to WDW
-I will miss Illuminations dearly. A lot of tears were shed in July when we saw it for the last time. But, loving classic EPCOT, this part time show should be enjoyable.
-Skyliner

I other news, I had a race yesterday (Heartland Half Marathon) to improve upon corral placement. It was a driving rain storm with heavy winds. 6 miles in, they cancelled it. Apparently city personnel needed access to the trail that it was being run on. A few folks finished the race (running through standing water) and it was pretty miserable. I at least have my time from 2018 WDW marathon, but this would have improved by expected marathon time by about 15 minutes.

That's too bad. I did Omaha Half the week before for POT. A bit warm and humid but otherwise not bad.

 

[CDKG]

That’s awesome! I’m at the Cheyenne and they’re going to see if they can get more rooms at Sequoia Lodge. I’m doing 3 nights there and then after the Half, I’m going into Paris and have about 2 1/2 days. I really want to see Versailles and then the Eiffel Tower, probably the Louvre too. I would love to see the Loire Valley castles but, even as ambitious as my sightseeing usually is, I don’t think I’ll have time. Probably the same goes for Normandy. I’m open to suggestions too!

I’m very lucky though. I have enough miles for air and one of my good friends from college used to work for Pixar for years and just left for Illumination. They’ve sent her to Paris to work on a movie and she has an extra room where I can stay post-Disney.

I’m booked at Sequoia Lodge. In 2016 I stayed at the Newport Bay Club. It was the closest hotel to the race weekend activities, but the furthest walk because they closed the walkway and forced us to walk all the way around Lake Disney. Sequoia is cheaper and closer (assuming that walkway is closed again) than Newport Bay.

I’ve been to Paris a few times (2005, 2008, 2016) but never made it to Versailles or the Loire Valley. This trip my focus will be on the UK (England and Scotland). I’ll be flying on miles too (I’ve been saving up!) and my entire trip will be about 3 weeks.

 

[Neon Cactus]

I’m booked at Sequoia Lodge. In 2016 I stayed at the Newport Bay Club. It was the closest hotel to the race weekend activities, but the furthest walk because they closed the walkway and forced us to walk all the way around Lake Disney. Sequoia is cheaper and closer (assuming that walkway is closed again) than Newport Bay.

I’ve been to Paris a few times (2005, 2008, 2016) but never made it to Versailles or the Loire Valley. This trip my focus will be on the UK (England and Scotland). I’ll be flying on miles too (I’ve been saving up!) and my entire trip will be about 3 weeks.

That’s going to be amazing. You’re doing it right! We’ll have to meet up around the races there.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

SAFD:
Running The Oswald/Donald Buddy Challenge (I don't think they really were ever buddies, but for the sake of my challenge they are)
Checking out SWGA
Staying at Pop and riding the Skyliner

 

[Dis_Yoda]

That’s awesome! I’m at the Cheyenne and they’re going to see if they can get more rooms at Sequoia Lodge. I’m doing 3 nights there and then after the Half, I’m going into Paris and have about 2 1/2 days. I really want to see Versailles and then the Eiffel Tower, probably the Louvre too. I would love to see the Loire Valley castles but, even as ambitious as my sightseeing usually is, I don’t think I’ll have time. Probably the same goes for Normandy. I’m open to suggestions too!

I’m very lucky though. I have enough miles for air and one of my good friends from college used to work for Pixar for years and just left for Illumination. They’ve sent her to Paris to work on a movie and she has an extra room where I can stay post-Disney.

We just got back from our France adventures. The races were fun but there were some logistical things that we did not like. Loire Valley was fun but at a certain point, you can reach Chateau overload. Our favorite part of the trip was actually Brittany.

 

[Neon Cactus]

We just got back from our France adventures. The races were fun but there were some logistical things that we did not like. Loire Valley was fun but at a certain point, you can reach Chateau overload. Our favorite part of the trip was actually Brittany.

It sounded like you had a great time overall. I'd love to hear what you liked and didn't like.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

It sounded like you had a great time overall. I'd love to hear what you liked and didn't like.

I'll eventually get to Disneyland Paris in my trip report but as I'm only on Day 6 of the 19 day trip - it will be a while as I need to get through all of Brittany, Normandy and Paris first! I just finished all my Versailles & Loire Valley adventures.

What we liked:
1) The 5k & 10K Courses. They were mostly in the parks with very little backstage overall. It made the course fly by!
2) The location of the race end in Walt Disney Studios in comparison to our hotel (Disneyland Hotel) Yes, we had a bit of a longer walk than some of the other hotels to the start line but it was great when you are in that post race zone where all you want is a shower.
3) The crowds at the beginning of the race as you head through Disney Village. It was a different feeling to have that much cheering at the start of the race versus what you get at Walt Disney World. It really energized me.
4) Squeeze bottle tops for the Powerade (I know a weird thing to like!)
5) The chips given with the food boxes. I'm going to stalk my local European market to see if they can get me some of those!
6) The rides. Phantom Manor was the best version of the Haunted Mansion I have been on. It really felt like a story was being told and I like how the graveyard scenes actually felt like the ride was appropriately placed within Frontierland which originally seemed weird to us. Their hyperspace mountain was smooth but more adventurous. Ratatouille made me excited we are getting the ride although I hope ours will seem less fuzzy on the screen. Crush's Coaster was a lot of fun too!
7) The pre-show. While it kinda felt like a talk show more than a pre-show, we really enjoyed the difference in it. They had someone on to talk about the design process of the medals, commercials for Disney+, no horrible jokes.
8) Disneyland Hotel. Something about your hotel being over the entrance of the park just feels special.


What we didn't like: (I didn't run the half but my husband did so the half comments are his)
1) A portion of the half course had to pass the Dinotopia props three times.
2) At the end of the half, if you have challenge medals, you have to head back to the expo to get those medals. Either we didn't research enough or it was something that changed from previous years as I don't recall reading about it. My husband was not happy that after running 13.1 miles he had to walk around a mile (or what felt like a mile) to go back to the expo to get his challenge medals before walking back to our hotel
3) The lines at the expo and the inefficiency of them all. We had pre-purchased photopass for the run+rides. The pass was good for up to 3 bibs which was perfect for our use. We spent at least 40 minutes at the expo getting the card so it could be activated. I just feel it could be better managed as maybe I'm spoiled by WDW's system. We are also not sure how many photos we got as it didn't seem the photographers were really taking that many photos unless you stopped in front of them. I will go online to download the photos this weekend and see what we ended up with.
4) The food quality. I realize we went to Disneyland Paris after having two weeks on a Tauck Tour and other amazing meals on our own but the food in the table service restaurants felt overpriced for what we received. I'm not sure if we had done Disneyland Paris as the start of the trip rather than the end if our opinions would have been different though.
5) Course etiquette during the 10K. This is a mindset change versus the WDW runs. In Paris, the 10K is not timed and thus is viewed as a fun run & the corrals for the non-challenge runners are very random. If you are trying to run for time, you will get frustrated. My husband was. His corral was actually behind mine and when he caught up to me, I could see it on his face before he went ahead.
6) Guest behavior. We experienced some really rude behavior at the parks that we hadn't seen elsewhere on our trip even in more crowded locations. I got repeated elbowed in the back in line at Pirates to the point I kept moving to avoid it but he kept adjusting to continue it. It was probably the only instance in our trip where us not speaking French hindered us in communication and my husband did sternly comment to the guy but confused looks occurred and my back still got hit. I was glad when the ride got shut down and we could get out of there! Probably a freak instance. We also ran into way more smokers here than anywhere else in France but we knew that would be the case since they don't really respect designated smoking areas.

 

[Neon Cactus]

Thanks for the tips. I've read that about the food quality and the corrals, but I'll start preparing myself for the parks NHL style! I'm thinking of trying the Pirates restaurant, it seems similar to the Blue Bayou. I'm not a big fan of the food at Blue Bayou either, but if I'm going to eat mediocre food at least it's in a good atmosphere. I'm looking forward to reading your TR.

 

[CDKG]

Thanks for the tips. I've read that about the food quality and the corrals, but I'll start preparing myself for the parks NHL style! I'm thinking of trying the Pirates restaurant, it seems similar to the Blue Bayou. I'm not a big fan of the food at Blue Bayou either, but if I'm going to eat mediocre food at least it's in a good atmosphere. I'm looking forward to reading your TR.

When we were there in 2016 we ate at both the Ratatouille restaurant and the Pirates restaurant. I’m vegetarian, so I ordered the vegetarian entree (I think there was only one). The other three in my party are not, so they ordered other items on the menu. They all agreed my vegetarian entree looked better at both restaurants!

My three courses at Bistrot Chez Rémy:






My entree at Captain Jack’s (although I feel like the restaurant had a different name back then?):


Please excuse this detour from Marathon Weekend talk to Disneyland Paris. You may resume your marathon training...

 

[lhermiston]

Good morning, runDisney all-stars! Anyone free for a little Marathon Weekend action in about 100 days?

Given this milestone in our countdown, this week's Sundays are for Disney is a training check-in. How's everyone doing? How far along are you in your plan (if you've started)? Need some encouragement? Want to brag?

My official Goofy + Oswald (Long Ears Challenge?) training doesn't begin for about two weeks. I'm tapering for next Sunday's Lakefront Marathon. My training went well and I feel pretty good. My shoes are getting close to being done and I'm beginning to feel a little sore in the area where I had a stress fracture a few years back. After the marathon, I'll be switching shoes.

After next Sunday, I'm going to take a week off and jump back into training using a modified Dopey training plan.

That's all for me ... Have a great week, everyone!

 

[rteetz]

Given this milestone in our countdown, this week's Sundays are for Disney is a training check-in. How's everyone doing? How far along are you in your plan (if you've started)? Need some encouragement? Want to brag?

Got my POT! Now it’s time to enjoy the training into Wine and Dine and then Dopey!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

My husband's training will start this week for Dopey. Paris Half was slower than he wanted as he didn't run enough this summer in the heat so time to focus on endurance work.

 

[FFigawi]

SAFD: Training plan starts this week. Inshallah.