Disney Marathon

Jan 6, 18 13:44

Post #1 of 26 (7965 views)

Ok, so I'm here for the Disney Marathon and have to wake up super stupid early (2:30AM) to be on the bus or monorail by 3:30AM. I'm staying at The Contemporary and have easy access to the monorail. The race starts at Epcot.

Disney says we have to be on the bus/monorail no later than 3:30 but this seems crazy since we just stand in a corral waiting for the race to start two hours later. If you are in the last corral, as I am (I never turned in a time to get a better corral), then you may not start moving until 6:00 or later.

I thought about sleeping in and just taking the monorail (with the spectators/family) around 4:00-4:15 and getting to my corral with a lot less time to stand around and shiver. It's gonna be 41 in the AM. That's great running weather but not great to stand in for two plus hours. Anyone else do this? Did you have any issues?

Re: Disney Marathon [eye3md] [ In reply to ]

Jan 6, 18 16:23

Post #2 of 26 (7871 views)

You have about an mile walk to the starting line so that will take some time, also where the busses drop off for the race isn't exactly Epcot. I have gotten up in the past arouind 330 and on the bus by 4.

Re: Disney Marathon [Bulldogjcz] [ In reply to ]

Jan 7, 18 19:06

Post #3 of 26 (7558 views)

Isn't this race on Disney property? Why the heck starting at 6 am? Doesn't sound like a very friendly experience.

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Re: Disney Marathon [len] [ In reply to ]

Jan 7, 18 22:22

Post #4 of 26 (7488 views)

len wrote:

Isn't this race on Disney property? Why the heck starting at 6 am? Doesn't sound like a very friendly experience.

And it is freezing at the point but I guess they don't want to interrupt regular park business too much??? Again, doesn't sound great on what was a very cold morning here.

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Re: Disney Marathon [len] [ In reply to ]

Jan 8, 18 4:16

Post #5 of 26 (7400 views)

From what I hear, the stupid high cost of the race (with no road closures is an unacceptable cost) doesn't include entrance to the park so they have to make sure racers are kicked out before opening.

To the OP, the biggest problem with this race is it's deliberate ignorance of course cutters. Behind Honolulu marathon, this is Derek Murphy's nightmare race. Enjoy watching course cutters place ahead of you!

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Re: Disney Marathon [len] [ In reply to ]

Jan 8, 18 6:53

Post #6 of 26 (7277 views)

You run through the parks so they want as many people through them before they do. Given how many people are walkers this can take awhile.

Re: Disney Marathon [hadukla] [ In reply to ]

Jan 8, 18 6:58

Post #7 of 26 (7267 views)

The races are done very well. Besides the marathon they’re all stupidly expensive. That said if you’re taking a trip down there anyways the races are just a rounding error on cost. Also they have like 55k for the half and 35k? For the 5k. They may be a ton of money but they’re selling them out every year.

All the roads are close to traffic. They even have cones up in the parks if you’re still out there when they open. So saying the roads aren’t closed is just wrong.

Not sure where you’re getting that there is an abundance of course cutters? There is maybe one spot in the half you could do and it would only knock off about .3 miles. The full has a couple spots you could potentially do it but when I did it i don’t remember this being a massive issue

Re: Disney Marathon [Grant.Reuter] [ In reply to ]

Jan 8, 18 7:07

Post #8 of 26 (7244 views)

Grant.Reuter wrote:

You run through the parks so they want as many people through them before they do. Given how many people are walkers this can take awhile.

Pair this with the fact the sag wagon pace is pretty slow (I think 16min/mi) and those slow runners have to start in the back make this a very long race to complete.

They do a good job though, and it usually isn't this cold, seems to be about once every 8 years or so. It's Disney, so yes, it's expensive.

Re: Disney Marathon [djhuff7] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 7:39

Post #9 of 26 (6940 views)

djhuff7 wrote:

Grant.Reuter wrote:

... it usually isn't this cold, seems to be about once every 8 years or so.

The past two years have been damn cold for the marathon...

Re: Disney Marathon [Spartan70] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 9:31

Post #10 of 26 (6810 views)

Spartan70 wrote:

djhuff7 wrote:

Grant.Reuter wrote:

... it usually isn't this cold, seems to be about once every 8 years or so.

The past two years have been damn cold for the marathon...

Last year was the race was on the coldest day in Orlando history.

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Re: Disney Marathon [hadukla] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 9:36

Post #11 of 26 (6793 views)

hadukla wrote:

From what I hear, the stupid high cost of the race (with no road closures is an unacceptable cost) doesn't include entrance to the park so they have to make sure racers are kicked out before opening.

To the OP, the biggest problem with this race is it's deliberate ignorance of course cutters. Behind Honolulu marathon, this is Derek Murphy's nightmare race. Enjoy watching course cutters place ahead of you!

Correct, it's a Cheat-Fest ... not only the course cutters, but the bib-swappers [and there are certainly probably bandits in there, too]

https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/?s=disney

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Re: Disney Marathon [RandMart] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 11:13

Post #12 of 26 (6720 views)

If you're running Disney to PR or BQ, you're doing it wrong.

Re: Disney Marathon [RussTKD] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 12:52

Post #13 of 26 (6632 views)

RussTKD wrote:

If you're running Disney to PR or BQ, you're doing it wrong.

You are so correct!!! If you start in any corral besides the very first one, you are going to have a lot of people to go around. Even at the beginning, there can be large groups walking side by side taking up a lot of the road. It's really obnoxious.

Also, it's not two hours you have to stand there, it's more like three hours. Disney wants you on the bus or monorail by 3:30. Corral H, the last one, did not start moving until right at 6:30. So, if you got there on time, as directed, and then started in Corral H, you stood around for three hours. And it was freezing. Wind was blowing pretty good and temp was 41F. At least to me, that's cold to stand in for three hours

Re: Disney Marathon [RussTKD] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 13:38

Post #14 of 26 (6603 views)

RussTKD wrote:

If you're running Disney to PR or BQ legitimately, you're doing it wrong.

There ya go

Plenty of PR or BQs on offer if you know where the shortcuts are

https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/...ualifying-times.html

Quote:

Course Map

In reviewing the 2017 results, the most common place to cut the course is the loop the section between the 1/2 split and the 20 mile marker. It seems from looking at the data that many runners cut somewhere between miles 16 and 17, missing the 20 mile mat, and skipping the entire Wide World of Sports Complex. Maureen missed the same timing mat in 2013, 2015, and 2016. Splits are not available at Disney before 2013.

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Last edited by: RandMart: Jan 16, 18 13:39

Re: Disney Marathon [eye3md] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 18 13:46

Post #15 of 26 (6591 views)

You are correct. Last time I ran Disney was 2004 and even back then this was true where you needed to be in the first corral (and even then towards the front half) to get a clean start if trying for a BQ, otherwise you lost time dodging large groups of walkers etc who didn't seed themselves properly.

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Re: Disney Marathon [Brian in MA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 17, 18 13:44

Post #16 of 26 (6406 views)

Brian in MA wrote:

You are correct. Last time I ran Disney was 2004 and even back then this was true where you needed to be in the first corral (and even then towards the front half) to get a clean start if trying for a BQ, otherwise you lost time dodging large groups of walkers etc who didn't seed themselves properly.

When I did the Dopey last year I did it alongside my OH who had spent the better part of a year getting over calf injuries so had next to no training. We knew the marathon at least would be basically walked for the entire distance so we gave a prospective finish time when registering as fast as we were allowed to that wouldnt need proof. This gave us the front corral behind all those who gave qualifying times but way quicker than we were in any reality going to manage.

We were one of those groups of walkers who had to be avoided but we were very aware of that and tried our very best to walk the edges as much as possible to keep out the way. Others were not so helpful.

Re: Disney Marathon [chunkytfg] [ In reply to ]

Jan 17, 18 14:35

Post #17 of 26 (6373 views)

Their seeding is fricken horrible.

The runs I submitted for verification estimated my finish time to be 3:52ish, they stuck me in the 4:08 coral. Ran a 3:46 seconds off of my time from 20 years prior. Had I been seeded correctly I might have come close to a BQ time (50-54).

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Re: Disney Marathon [Billabong] [ In reply to ]

Jan 17, 18 14:53

Post #18 of 26 (6355 views)

If you do Goofy they’ll normally drop you back a corral. But for those first few corrals they have a limit to the number of people so even though you put that time in, if they had faster people and the corrals filled up you’re SOL.

Re: Disney Marathon [Billabong] [ In reply to ]

Jan 18, 18 9:13

Post #19 of 26 (6192 views)

Billabong wrote:

Their seeding is fricken horrible.

The runs I submitted for verification estimated my finish time to be 3:52ish, they stuck me in the 4:08 coral. Ran a 3:46 seconds off of my time from 20 years prior. Had I been seeded correctly I might have come close to a BQ time (50-54).

I believe Derek is lobbying BAA not to accept BQs from Disney or Honolulu due to the numbers of course cutters

https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/...rathon-cheaters.html

Quote:

When a race takes the side of cheaters, and welcomes those that are caught to participate future races, they are putting their bottom line ahead of the integrity of the sport. As it stands right now, this woman (and others) are entered into Boston at the expense of runners that legitimately deserve to be in Boston

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Re: Disney Marathon [RandMart] [ In reply to ]

Jan 18, 18 11:02

Post #20 of 26 (6129 views)

RandMart wrote:

Billabong wrote:

Their seeding is fricken horrible.

The runs I submitted for verification estimated my finish time to be 3:52ish, they stuck me in the 4:08 coral. Ran a 3:46 seconds off of my time from 20 years prior. Had I been seeded correctly I might have come close to a BQ time (50-54).

I believe Derek is lobbying BAA not to accept BQs from Disney or Honolulu due to the numbers of course cutters

https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/...rathon-cheaters.html

Quote:

When a race takes the side of cheaters, and welcomes those that are caught to participate future races, they are putting their bottom line ahead of the integrity of the sport. As it stands right now, this woman (and others) are entered into Boston at the expense of runners that legitimately deserve to be in Boston

I don't think a wholesale ban on those races is needed. Why punish many legitimate finishers for the few cheaters. My Garmin files for that race actually show my run to be 26.32 miles.

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Re: Disney Marathon [Billabong] [ In reply to ]

Jan 18, 18 11:56

Post #21 of 26 (6086 views)

Billabong wrote:

I don't think a wholesale ban on those races is needed. Why punish many legitimate finishers for the few cheaters. My Garmin files for that race actually show my run to be 26.32 miles.

Actually, what he suggests is that additional data be provided for those registering for Boston from Honolulu.

But yeah, definitely not cool to completely cut out those races. Honolulu is a tough race to qualify with (heat), and I'm proud of my BQ time.

Not sure if it will be enough this year (I only beat mine by 1:43), but I'd be pretty pissed if it wasn't accepted because of some other cheaters.

Re: Disney Marathon [Kula] [ In reply to ]

Jan 18, 18 12:13

Post #22 of 26 (6062 views)

Kula wrote:

Billabong wrote:

I don't think a wholesale ban on those races is needed. Why punish many legitimate finishers for the few cheaters. My Garmin files for that race actually show my run to be 26.32 miles.

Actually, what he suggests is that additional data be provided for those registering for Boston from Honolulu.

If you have a BQ from either, AND your name has double letters, you're out

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Re: Disney Marathon [RandMart] [ In reply to ]

Jan 18, 18 13:16

Post #23 of 26 (6029 views)

RandMart wrote:

If you have a BQ from either, AND your name has double letters, you're out

Dang it -- my first name does have double letters ...

Re: Disney Marathon [RandMart] [ In reply to ]

Jan 18, 18 13:35

Post #24 of 26 (6012 views)

Disney may not care that much but I highly doubt the race has that many more cheaters than any other. The race only has a couple points along the way that you could easily cut the course and if you’re trying to BQ there aren’t going to be too many racers but a lot of people watching that would notice. I think trying to single out Disney is a little odd given how many other races have literally no spectators and much easier courses to cheat on.

Re: Disney Marathon [Grant.Reuter] [ In reply to ]

Jan 19, 18 6:51

Post #25 of 26 (5881 views)

Grant.Reuter wrote:

... other races have literally no spectators and much easier courses to cheat on.

Lehigh Valley Via Marathon, for one

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

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