Marathon Weekend 2022

[DopeyBadger]

I brought print outs of 1:53 and 1:54 half marathons that I’ve done in the past couple of months to see if they could move me to S2. She told me that those times would put me in S3 if I had submitted them.

This is for the solo marathon event, correct? The cutoff is a 1:53:45 based on the info runDisney shared with me earlier this year. What were the seconds on your 1:53 time?

 

[DisneyParrothead]

is there a reason there is NO Powerade at water stops... only water?! i really was hoping to use Powerade to replenish some electrolytes instead of having to carry things for 5k and 10k. hope it is different for half and full but i am doubting it, but i will have gels

I wondered that myself. I had to pull over after the second water station to get my salt chews out. And at the finish line I bypassed the water bottles and went straight to the Powerade. I chugged it on the bus ride back to my hotel.

thank you to whom kept the list of characters. I didn’t stop but I was trying to remember what they were for family andforgot a number of them

 

[Sara W]

This is for the solo marathon event, correct? The cutoff is a 1:53:45 based on the info runDisney shared with me earlier this year. What were the seconds on your 1:53 time?

1:53:12
Edit to add- yes, for solo marathon

 

[DopeyBadger]

1:53:12
Edit to add- yes, for solo marathon

That's interesting. So they're not technically wrong, in that if you had submitted a HM time that was after the POT cutoff, then you would have been placed in s3 (or s6). But technically speaking, if the POT had occurred within the acceptable window, then it would have been an s2 designation based on my previous correspondence with them. So keep that in mind for 2023 if you plan to run again.

 

[garneska]

@StarGirl11 it was me who said hi as I ran by. Sorry you were not feeling great.

 

[lhermiston]

Thanks to everyone who came to Hurricane Hannas. Jesus and I love you.

See you all around 3 am.

 

[camaker]

Thanks to everyone who came to Hurricane Hannas. Jesus and I love you.

See you all around 3 am.

Had a great time seeing and talking with everyone! Always good to see familiar faces and put new faces with new screen names!

 

[The Expert]

HH was fun! See you in the morning. I'll be the one dressed like this:

 

[cburnett11]

Pooh

1) i missed Pooh. Where was he?

2) where are people expecting to meet up pre race? Parallel to food trucks near 50th sign?

3) does anyone have balloon lady names for full. I know some people interested in tracking.

 

[Bree]

Thanks to everyone who came to Hurricane Hannas. Jesus and I love you.

See you all around 3 am.

My feet are still sticky.

 

[opusone]

1) i missed Pooh. Where was he?

Same place as Joy during 5k… Epcot close to The Land

 

[cburnett11]

That scent at the orange bird statue was nasty.

As I approached the orange bird I was excited. I even looked to see if there was a photo pass person because I would’ve stopped. After that puff of citrus perfume, I’ll never quite look at that evil bird the same. That was overwhelming.

 

[lhermiston]

My feet are still sticky.

I’m sorry, pal.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Thanks for tolerant my social awkward-ness at the meetup! Fun to put faces to name.

1) i missed Pooh. Where was he?

2) where are people expecting to meet up pre race? Parallel to food trucks near 50th sign?

3) does anyone have balloon lady names for full. I know some people interested in tracking.

I can’t help with 1 or 2, but for 3 I’m planning on tracking one of the pacers: Dennis Holler (he’s one of the 2 people pacing the 3:30 and 7:00 groups for goofy.)

 

[jrsharp21]

As I approached the orange bird I was excited. I even looked to see if there was a photo pass person because I would’ve stopped. After that puff of citrus perfume, I’ll never quite look at that evil bird the same. That was overwhelming.

Yes, that was terrible. I breathed it in and started immediately did a spit take like I had drank something bad. Took a bit to get that taste out of my mouth.

 

[patrickmit]

It was right before the last entrance into Epcot we make in 2019 so I’m going to assume it’s going to be there again. Side note as long as your ahead of the balloons you’ll be fine regardless of pace. Technically bikes can pick you up in the last bit, but you have to be in bad shape for a spotter to make that call.

Thank you!!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Sorry for the long post, I’ve been having a rough few days (years) and just need to get some things off my mind.

I won’t be running the Half Marathon tomorrow or the Full on Sunday. About two miles into the 10k I started experiencing acute pain in my right knee and, to a slightly lesser degree, my left. I didn’t take any bad steps or have an inciting incident; but I got gradually worse over the course of the run. I’ve never had knee pain before and believe it is only tendonitis but I’m not risking anything. For now, it’s unimportant.

The bigger issue is that I’ve been dreading this Weekend for the last couple months. I’ve been trying to put on as brave a face as I could when I post here. This group is awesome and I didn’t want to dampen any enthusiasm. Signing up for this Dopey was completely aspirational. I have fallen way off the track in the last ~6 years and the last two have been the worst of all. I lost my perfect Dopey in 2020 because of blisters from poor preparation and I’m mortified by how much worse shape I’m in now than I was even then (leave alone when I was fitter). Once upon a time a RunDisney race helped me get healthier and I thought it could work again. Well, it didn’t.

I have spent a lot of time thinking today. I know I can finish the Half tomorrow and have some thought that I could gut out the Marathon if there were any stakes. But that’s the point. There aren’t. Slogging through the miles, ashamed of myself every step, putting myself at risk of injury; there wouldn’t be accomplishment at the end. Those medals are pretty but I don’t think I’d see them as the symbol of accomplishment they will rightfully be for so many others this weekend.

At some point I fell in love with Marathon Weekend, the talk about being a runner, the idea that simply getting it done was proof that I was improving myself. More than once I’ve said this Weekend is my favorite of the year. But, I wanted the celebration without any of the hard work. The decline was gradual but the further I’ve receded from my peak the more difficult it has become to get started back in the right direction.

Anyway, I don’t want this to be a total downer. I’ve had a great couple days at the parks with my niece and nephew and I’m excited about where I’m at mentally. It has long been a given for me that I was just going to run Marathon Weekend (Dopey specifically), but I’m changing things up for myself. I’m not sure when registration will be for Marathon Weekend 2023, but i am setting weight loss and mileage goals for myself that should be achievable as long as the mid-April “traditional” registration date is the earliest we see it. This year I will be earning my registration (rather than registering to try motivate myself to get back to running). I desperately want to once again finish a Dopey feeling proud of myself and energized, the way I did the first few years. I don’t know the exact numbers I’ll be looking at, but I’m thinking of reviving my long dormant journal when I have the plan crystallized.

Congratulations to everyone who is kicking butt this weekend. I’ll be following along and cheering for all of you.

ETA: Thanks for humoring me to anyone who read everything, I’ve talked a lot with my family today but it felt good to write things out and somewhat organize my thoughts.

TL;DR- I am dropping out of my last two races because I suck. But I don’t want to suck. And I’ve maybe figured out a way that I can stop sucking.

 

[Carol_]

Sorry for the long post, I’ve been having a rough few days (years) and just need to get some things off my mind.

I won’t be running the Half Marathon tomorrow or the Full on Sunday. About two miles into the 10k I started experiencing acute pain in my right knee and, to a slightly lesser degree, my left. I didn’t take any bad steps or have an inciting incident; but I got gradually worse over the course of the run. I’ve never had knee pain before and believe it is only tendonitis but I’m not risking anything. For now, it’s unimportant.

The bigger issue is that I’ve been dreading this Weekend for the last couple months. I’ve been trying to put on as brave a face as I could when I post here. This group is awesome and I didn’t want to dampen any enthusiasm. Signing up for this Dopey was completely aspirational. I have fallen way off the track in the last ~6 years and the last two have been the worst of all. I lost my perfect Dopey in 2020 because of blisters from poor preparation and I’m mortified by how much worse shape I’m in now than I was even then (leave alone when I was fitter). Once upon a time a RunDisney race helped me get healthier and I thought it could work again. Well, it didn’t.

I have spent a lot of time thinking today. I know I can finish the Half tomorrow and have some thought that I could gut out the Marathon if there were any stakes. But that’s the point. There aren’t. Slogging through the miles, ashamed of myself every step, putting myself at risk of injury; there wouldn’t be accomplishment at the end. Those medals are pretty but I don’t think I’d see them as the symbol of accomplishment they will rightfully be for so many others this weekend.

At some point I fell in love with Marathon Weekend, the talk about being a runner, the idea that simply getting it done was proof that I was improving myself. More than once I’ve said this Weekend is my favorite of the year. But, I wanted the celebration without any of the hard work. The decline was gradual but the further I’ve receded from my peak the more difficult it has become to get started back in the right direction.

Anyway, I don’t want this to be a total downer. I’ve had a great couple days at the parks with my niece and nephew and I’m excited about where I’m at mentally. It has long been a given for me that I was just going to run Marathon Weekend (Dopey specifically), but I’m changing things up for myself. I’m not sure when registration will be for Marathon Weekend 2023, but i am setting weight loss and mileage goals for myself that should be achievable as long as the mid-April “traditional” registration date is the earliest we see it. This year I will be earning my registration (rather than registering to try to get back to running). I desperately want to once again finish a Dopey feeling proud of myself and energized, the way I did the first few years. I don’t know the exact numbers I’ll be looking at, but I’m thinking of reviving my long dormant journal when I have the plan crystallized.

Congratulations to everyone who is kicking butt this weekend. I’ll be following along and cheering for all of you.

ETA: Thanks for humoring me to anyone who read everything, I’ve talked a lot with my family today but it felt good to write things out and somewhat organize my thoughts.

TL;DR- I am dropping out of my last two races because I suck. But I don’t want to suck. And I’ve maybe figured out a way that I can stop sucking.

Believe it or not, your honesty and tenacity is inspirational.
I had big (ok small) dreams of running at least the 5k but even that proved to be too much this year for me… I’ve done the HM twice. Both times with precious little training. This year was just about spending time with family. So we did that. We slept in. I’ll try to come back at least virtually next year. The training sounds like the good part now.

 

[bumbershoot]

3, 4, or more abreast becomes a moving barricade. Very rude IMHO

FWIW often groups that seem to be that big aren't one group. You can easily get 2 small groups or even 2 groups and a solo person all in line with each other.

Now...sometimes it's one big group, and I've definitely been behind groups like that (especially at princess), but I find it's healthier to figure it's a couple groups that are in a horizontal line briefly, and I just happened upon that circumstance.

RunDisney has always emphasized walkers to the sides, not just to the right.

When I started rundisney events they said walkers to the right. Then they went with walkers on the sides. Then they went silent on the whole thing. I did see that for this event they've said walkers to the right again, but the wording I saw online wasn't...obvious. It was cutesie. (I've also been at a rock 'n roll event or two where they said walkers to the *left* so it's not a universal thing, to be on the right)

Slogging through the miles, ashamed of myself every step, putting myself at risk of injury; there wouldn’t be accomplishment at the end.

You're amazing. That is an incredible realization, and I'm very proud of you, perfect stranger. (to paraphrase one of my fave spectator signs) It is SO hard to decide to put your health (physical and emotional) first. I'm very impressed.

 

[princessbride6205]

I sympathize with you on this! It can be really hard to decide. For me (given my own health and family situations), the worry about covid is worth it, in order to enjoy the in-person races. I've been to a few in-person races this year, and they've been really good for my mental health.

I hope you're able to find a solution that works best for you.

Thanks! I’ve had so many “on the other hands” discussions with myself about coming this weekend. I literally wasn’t 100% decided until yesterday (Thursday). But I’m here! And I will make it as relaxing and magical as I can.