The Running Thread - 2018

[Sleepless Knight]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

Disneyland (I visit frequently):

Friday: Arrive early to mid afternoon. Go to Expo. If running a challenge, head to hotel after Expo and rest up for 10K.

Saturday: Visit parks no matter what. However this is a light touring day. Avoid long lines, obtain as many fastpasses as possible, watch shows, movies, etc that involve lots of sitting down. Head back to hotel no later than 7:00pm for early bed.

Race day: Visit the parks after the race. Stay until the fireworks. May watch 10:30 Fantasmic if I'm not completely exhausted. Usually I head back after the fireworks when running a challenge.

Day after race (with annual pass): Go to parks for an hour or two to help shake out the soreness. Start drive home around 2:00pm.

I've done Disney World two different ways:

2012 Wine & Dine Half. I arrived in Orlando late Monday evening before the Saturday night half. Did normal parks touring Tuesday through Friday.

Saturday (late night race): Slept in. I had planned to stay off my feet altogether this day, but soon realized that I was going stir crazy sitting around my room and needed to find an outlet for my nervous energy. I decided to head to Epcot, which I chose because I could do things like ride Ellen's Energy Adventure and thus stay off my feet and out of the sun for a very long time, but still be doing something. Left Epcot around 4:00pm. Race went fine.

Sunday: Went to Epcot after sleeping late. Stayed for Illuminations.

Monday: Magic Kingdom and MVMCP. Left the next morning.

This plan was not ideal. I would have preferred to do the parks after the race. But it was this or not do the race at all. Interestingly enough, my ability to complete a half marathon days after getting over a cold and doing 4 days of intensive touring of Walt Disney World before the race told me that I could finish a 10K and Half on back to back days with proper training. This made the idea of doing the Rebel Challenge and Dark Side Challenge not insane.

2017 & 2018 Dark Side:

Wednesday: Red eye to Orlando

Thursday 2017: Expo and Disney Springs. Early bedtime.
Thursday 2018: One park and the Expo. My sister is coming with and has fewer days in Florida than me. Early bedtime.

Friday 2017: Magic Kingdom with breakfast at Be Our Guest. FastPass or short wait times. Dinner and early bedtime.
Friday 2018: 5K with same plan as last year.

Saturday: 10K with a park afterwards. Very light touring. FastPass or short wait times. Stay off feet!!!!!

Sunday: Half with a park afterwards. Again FastPass or short wait times. Watch fireworks to celebrate. Go to bed.

Monday: Sleep in. Tour parks afterwards. Last year I did the Star Wars Guided Tour the day after the race. That was entirely too much walking. I had the blister to prove it afterwards. Will take it easier this year.

Tuesday through Friday: Enjoy the parks. I reserve the right to sleep in at least one day if I want to. Wear my medals around the parks, especially the days immediately following the race.

I understand the reasoning behind staying off your feet before a race. However, any race held on Disney property also involves the ability to spend time in Disneyland or Disney World. So I try to sit down a lot when touring the parks before a race. I may tolerate longer lines after the race (or longest race if doing a challenge), but not before the race. This has worked for me. Maybe I'm compromising my time, but I define a successful race as not being swept.

 

[LSUlakes]

Haha, obviously I figured that was a given.

So I will just go ahead and pencil in EPCOT as the park day on the ole schedule for Monday after the race!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I don't drink, but I think Epcot is the perfect post race park especially after a race such as Dark Side or Wine & Dine with all the food booths offering so many great food options, many of which I will now eat after carefully monitoring what I eat before the race(s).

 

[KSellers88]

ATTQOTD: We normally don't arrive until a day or two before the challenges, but we still visit the parks on the days leading up to the runs. This year we leave tomorrow and I'll run the Challenge, but visit parks tomorrow when we get there and Saturday as well. I find that staying moving helps in my recovery and helps me sleep really well at night.

 

[Miranda]

I have another race to add, my running group picked our fall race.

September
30 - Miranda - Wineglass Half Marathon (NG / N/A)

 

[McNs]

ATYQOTD half to full change was by far the hardest, though I clearly remember the pain of my first half it had nothing on my first full. I remember the point training for my first full that a half wasn't far enough for a training run. Then I clearly remember my first full hitting the wall at 32km and fully understanding at that point just how hard a full is.

ATT5KQOTD well I'm fully metric so the 4th km (km3 - km4) is the hardest - fatigue setting in and lungs are burning but still far from the finish. The last km is the easiest in terms of just surviving but knowing I can collapse just after the line

ATTQOTD dunno, unlikely to get the opportunity, but knowing how hard my 6km run at POR was after a couple days touring suggests light days before the race.

 

[Anisum]

I have another race to add, my running group picked our fall race.

September
30 - Miranda - Wineglass Half Marathon (NG / N/A)

I loved this race. It was beautiful and I liked that people in the small towns just sat in their lawn chairs with signs in the morning or provided candy depending on where on the course they lived. Also, the finish line food was lots of goodies and also it's not a bad area to be in post race with the proximity to the finger lakes and THAT GLASS MEDAL.

 

[LSUlakes]

Fun Friday QOTD: What extra ticket type of event at Disney have you done or want to do? Which would you not recommend?

ATTQOTD: So far we have not participated in a event unless of course you count a Disney race. For the sake of this topic I will leave it out. We are planning on MNSSHP for our September trip which DD is already talking about lol. I guess we made that suggestion a little early since we have a trip before that one. A few days after the marathon we want to check out the HEA dessert party to celebrate the marathon. I would like to do one of the tours, but will wait for the children to get much older as I don't want to ruin the magic for them while they are young. I've heard good things about after hour events, but those seem like they may be better for a adult trip only or when the kids get older as well type deal.

 

[rteetz]

Fun Friday QOTD: What extra ticket type of event at Disney have you done or want to do? Which would you not recommend?

I have done the Star Wars Dessert Party and that was a lot of fun. I would do that again. I am looking to try a tour for my March trip as I have never done one. I have done DIS events too but those are special once in a lifetime type things.

 

[LSUlakes]

A friend of mines outfit for the race this morning. She makes legit costumes for every race it seems. There was also a viral picture of her truck with all the runDisney stickers on it. Lady loves her some runDisney!

 

[KingLlama]

Occasionally I will use a Gu gel (mocha, chocolate, or vanilla type flavors). My stomach doesn’t seem to be too picky.

-I snagged a few Gu gels yesterday(toasted marshmallow), and some chews(not Gu, but I can't remember the brand), so I'll try those out this weekend. Thanks for the suggestions.

-ATTQOTD from yesterday: The upcoming Dark Side Half is my first Disney race. Flying in Saturday morning and headed straight to the Expo. Chilling at the Expo/Disney Springs/hotel the rest of the day. Race and AK Sunday, then parks on Monday/Tuesday, fly home on Wednesday. Didn't think I'd be able to enjoy the parks pre-race because of nerves and fears of putting too much time on my feet.

-ATTQOTD from today: Does the World of Color Dessert Party count? If so, that's easily the best. Good food, great seat, OUTSTANDING show.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Fun Friday QOTD: What extra ticket type of event at Disney have you done or want to do? Which would you not recommend?

I have never done one of these events, but the most appealing to me is a tour. The parties look like fun, but not sure the cost/reward would pay off for me. I would rather spend that money elsewhere.

 

[camaker]

-I snagged a few Gu gels yesterday(toasted marshmallow), and some chews(not Gu, but I can't remember the brand), so I'll try those out this weekend. Thanks for the suggestions.

If your stomach ends up being picky (mine did), just keep trying things until you find something you can work with. For me, Huma gels were the answer. After a bad marathon experience using a combo of Honey Stinger and Clif gels that seemed to work in training, I've run 2 marathons with the Huma with absolutely no issues. The other thing to keep in mind, too, is that the race distance matters. For a half marathon where you're only taking a gel or two, you may not have issues with anything. Stepping up to a marathon, though, with several more gels, your stomach may rebel.

 

[camaker]

Fun Friday QOTD: What extra ticket type of event at Disney have you done or want to do? Which would you not recommend?

I've done three of the extra ticket events:

Pirate & Princess Party (now defunct)
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

They've all been very enjoyable with their own highlights. The special fireworks, parade and trick or treating make MNSSHP our favorite. MVMCP has "snow" on Main Street and hot cocoa and cookies as highlights. Ultimately, though, while enjoyable, my complaint with them is that Disney has progressively sold more and more tickets so that the party has gone from a much reduced crowd event to being just as crowded as the park is on a normal day.

 

[SarahDisney]

Fun Friday QOTD: What extra ticket type of event at Disney have you done or want to do? Which would you not recommend?

I haven't done any extra ticket events, but I'm interested in the after hours event. It's not cheap, but I love magic kingdom at night, do I feel like it's probably worth it (the shorter lines help too )

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: We did the Pirate & Princess Party years ago. It was a blast and so uncrowded and worth the price at the time.

We have not done any during our last 3 trips.

 

[KSellers88]

ATTQOTD: We did Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and enjoyed it, especially the seven dwarfs photo op and snow on Main Street. We plan to do Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year and I am looking forward to it because I love Halloween!

 

[Capang]

ATTQOTD: I did MNSSHP this fall. We didn't wait for characters but we loved the parade, decorations, merch, and walking on the rides. The photos were an added bonus as well. Loved it and loved disneybounding during the party. Highly recommend for those that love Halloween. Looking to try MVMCP in a year or two and (fingers crossed) Moonlight Magic at Epcot in July.

 

[PCFriar80]

ATTQOTD:
We did Party for the Senses back in 2010. Nice experience, but don't think we'd do it again.

 

[ZellyB]

ATTQOTD: We did Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party when we went to run Wine and Dine. It was a fantastic party. We spent a lot of time in character lines for the 7 dwarves and Jack Skellington as Sandy Claws. We loved it though. And the Holiday Wishes show was amazing. I'd love to make it to the Not So Scary at some point in time as well. Hoping for a redo on W&D half and that we could make it in early enough to catch the end of those parties on year.