Marathon Weekend 2023

[Livelovedance]

I finished my first Dopey, and I felt good! I’ll update more in my training journal, but I am so proud of myself for accomplishing a goal I never would’ve even dreamed of years ago. I’m so thankful for the time and support @DopeyBadger offers through his personalized training plans and advice. I’ve now completed two WDW marathons and felt great afterwards both times, and I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been able to say that without your help! I’m also so thankful for everyone here for being so friendly and supportive. Despite my social anxiety, I was happy to meet up with some of you before a couple races. Even though I’m a solo runner, it felt great to have a DIS community to talk to and help keep me grounded!

I have to go back eventually and check my goals post again, but I think I almost met all of them.

The PP girl that was there this morning was doing a GREAT job with her pics. Multiple poses, helping arrange your medals and make sure that the spinner on dopey was up in the right position, etc.

I wish I was there today! I was in a hurry to get medal photos done yesterday before my flight. The first PP girl I got to was awesome. I took off my ears to put all the medals on and my mom helped me arrange them on my arm, but I forgot to put my ears back on so I’m not thrilled with those photos even though the shots themselves are good. I realized it after viewing the photos so I went to another PP girl by the castle. I was on my own at that point and she didn’t offer to help so I just struggled trying to set up the medals on my arm lol. Needless to say the photo came out terrible, my hair was caught in a ribbon and it’s just an overall bad photo

It ended up being good that I didn’t get a capture your moment session yesterday because I would’ve either missed it or been so frazzled that it wouldn’t be enjoyable. I think one of my goals was to purchase something special for myself, and I never made it to Art of Disney, but I think I might try to treat myself to a double capture your moment session right after Springtime Surprise with all of my runDisney race medals and ears from 2023, and possibly a shirt change for each race weekend. Lofty (and costly) goals, but I think that’d be a fun way to celebrate many miles of accomplishments!

Congratulations to everyone that participated in any event this weekend! I didn’t really care that much about the theming initially, but it brought such a unique vibe to the weekend and I had such a great time!

 

[The Expert]

If anyone doesn’t mind sharing some more creative medal photos, I’d love some ideas. We’ll be heading to MK tomorrow morning, and I’m hoping to get some good photos. I really like the railing one.
Also getting my ear hat embroidered, since I didn’t have the energy to wait for it last night.

DH took some for me at the Snow White cottage at the exit of SDMT. I like them better than the castle ones! The CM was nice about letting us back there. (I cropped my bag out for my social posts.)

How long was the wait for hat embroidery yesterday?

The wait today about noon to put in the order was probably 20 minutes, and they texted about 2 hours later that it was ready for pick-up.

Congrats to all MW runners! It's been so fun following along.

Anyone have advice for spectating on Main Street? Asking for family members for Princess Half next month. They'll be coming from the Poly and don't have park tickets.

Get there early because it fills up! The only way in is the monorail, and they open the area about 5am.

 

[The Expert]

I was SO disappointed to miss DATW today! But if it's any consolation, after a couple hours of MK for hat embroidery, medal photos, and a final ride on Splash, I was done. DH wanted proper Dole Whip, so we popped over to Poly. I crashed for a 90 minute nap when we got back to the room! And I'm not a napper. I guess my body is telling me to cool it.

 

[Livelovedance]

I don’t know why I just thought of this, but was anyone else excited about the character photo setups yesterday? I noticed a number of character stops where the character was first and the line was after them, so you saw the character first and then continued running until you got to the end of the line. I don’t know why this isn’t normal practice but this way makes so much more sense!

 

[softballpooh]

Congrats to all! I don’t post often but I’ve been following the thread since it was created. I completed my first (and last!) Dopey challenge and still get a little teary thinking about it! I set a goal in 2018 after completing Goofy to be ready for Dopey on the next anniversary year and I can’t believe I really did it! The advice, encouragement, and wisdom shared here is top notch and I’m so SO appreciative of you all!

From nutrition, to fueling, fueling belts, IT band videos, driving routes for my first time staying off property, off property recommendations, plantar fasciitis heel inserts, KT taping tips, training plan strategies, weather conditions, and even the advanced character lists…it’s all such good stuff! I was so much more confident this weekend because I was prepared and it’s because of you!

 

[Dom497]

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[softballpooh]

I’m trying to catch up but running out of time, and I haven’t cried at all this weekend until starting to read so many of your success stories! I’m so happy for and proud of you all!!!

I’ll come back when I have more time to say and read more, but wanted to share this: I did it. I actually managed to finish the marathon. It still doesn’t feel real, and I feel like I pulled off some kind of heist, lol! It was not easy, but it also wasn’t as bad as expected, in some weird way. I was in a ton of pain Sun night and this morning, but it’s gotten better through the day. V 1, unspecified autoimmune disease 0.

Way to go!! I kept reading your exit strategy plan posts and was secretly hoping that by just formulating a plan it would be all you needed to keep going and complete the race!! Congratulations

 

[Novatrix]

I finally just took a look at my Garmin sleep scores for the 4 nights before each Dopey race.

5k - 0
10k - "No sleep data recorded."
Half - "No sleep data recorded."
Marathon - "No sleep data recorded."

Felt about right!

 

[Novatrix]

So sorry to duck out of DATW early, but I needed to fly back for work in the morning! Between this and the other meet-ups it was great to touch base with some familiar faces and meet some new ones.

I can't guarantee that I'll be running Marathon weekend next year, but I look forward to continuing to read up on everyone's exploits on this board!

 

[Naomeri]

I don’t know why I just thought of this, but was anyone else excited about the character photo setups yesterday? I noticed a number of character stops where the character was first and the line was after them, so you saw the character first and then continued running until you got to the end of the line. I don’t know why this isn’t normal practice but this way makes so much more sense!

That seems so much safer! Otherwise, people run past the line, see that it’s a character they really want, and then have to backtrack against the flow of traffic. Or get in line and wait until they find out it’s a character they don’t really care about, which is just annoying.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

That seems so much safer! Otherwise, people run past the line, see that it’s a character they really want, and then have to backtrack against the flow of traffic. Or get in line and wait until they find out it’s a character they don’t really care about, which is just annoying.

Yep agree!! I wish rundisney did surveys so we could let them know this is some we liked that they changed. Also having a list of characters was great too soo I could prioritize what I wanted.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Yep agree!! I wish rundisney did surveys so we could let them know this is some we loke that they changed. Also having a list of characters was great too soo I could prioritize what I wanted.

My understanding is the lists were leaked and weren't supposed to be released, but it was helpful!

 

[jmasgat]

Congrats to all MW runners! It's been so fun following along.

Anyone have advice for spectating on Main Street? Asking for family members for Princess Half next month. They'll be coming from the Poly and don't have park tickets.

So IF the course is the same as last year, then this advice to spectator's from last year's guide would still be good.

"Mile 4.8 - Magic Kingdom Park- Main Street, U.S.A. Area 5:15 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. Take monorail from Epcot to Ticket & Transportation Center, exit monorail and walk down ramp, follow overhead signs and take the monorail to Magic Kingdom Park. *Theme park admission ticket not necessary before 7:30 a.m.*"

Since they are using monorails for race transportation, I assume the resort monorail would be running and not just express from TTC to MK. As to where to stand in MK--their options will be limited, and the crowd will be thick. Just agree on a spot or two in advance. Personally, I think it is easier to spot and stop for someone when the course curves to leave Main St for Tomorrowland.

 

[Livelovedance]

Yep agree!! I wish rundisney did surveys so we could let them know this is some we loke that they changed. Also having a list of characters was great too soo I could prioritize what I wanted.

My understanding is the lists were leaked and weren't supposed to be released, but it was helpful!

Agreed! Having the character list was incredibly helpful, I prioritized character stops and switched costumes the last two days because of it! I wouldn’t write to them about that though because they might further restrict who gets that information and make it more difficult to attain. I’d definitely be happy to share how great it was to have the character photo lines reversed though. That was a huge improvement in my opinion!

 

[Baloo in MI]

After many days of getting up early, and way to early, for race days or park days today is they day I am up early to head home. Always comes too fast! Had a wonderful time with family, really proud of my 7th Dopey and a good effort & result for the marathon.

So time to pack and start thinking about 2024, it is a sickness!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I have to work today... I hurt. I don't want too...lol

 

[PrincessV]

Got a little time before I need to hit the road, so here’s my race weekend story and some random extra thoughts…

For background, my marathon #7 training was the same as with every other marathon - wasn’t doing anything differently - but felt SO much more difficult. Endurance felt fine, but I was having intense pain in spots where tendons connect to muscle that I’d never had before. My longest training run was 16 and it was so bad, I decided I’d just try to get to mile 13. A couple weeks before the race, a lab test indicated they have a rheumatoid autoimmune disease, which explains what was happening with my body, but I can’t get to a specialist to further define high disease/s or start treatment until next week. So I went into this race weekend undertrained, with my body actively trying to kill itself, and with no idea what to expect.

Thursday was rainy and my body was very, very achy: my feet were so sore just from lunch at Springs, expo, and grocery shopping. The 10K left me in a lot of pain, despite taking my slow, sweet time - my left knee started in with IT Band pain for the first time in years, both quad tendons were swollen and painful, and my hands and feet were not happy. I slow strolled through EP after the 10K with frequent stops to sit, and heat of the sun helped enormously - that was good information to learn. Slept 12 hours that night!

Spent Sat in my resort room, doing laundry and watching Endgame with a heating pad and felt decent before bed. Bundled up Sun with throwaway sweatpants and a fleece jacket over my thin capris, tee and light running jacket, plus gloves with heat packs tucked inside and kept my muscles and tendons nice and toasty until the marathon start. I would have liked to start running with the sweatpants still on, but they were too big and wouldn’t stay up when I ran, so had to ditch them. I put an ITB strap on the left to ward off more ITB knee pain.

I set a series of self-check points for my race:
1. Get through EP: still felt fine at that point, so decided to keep going. My legs were numb with cold, and I couldn’t feel my toes, but my hands were toasty!
2. get to MK: yes! Still could not feel my legs at all, so I honestly had no idea if I was in pain or not, which I wasn’t sure was a good or bad thing lol!
3. Get to the GF or Poly: this was the big reckoning - great places to exit and monorail back to my car, but if I opted to go on, it would be a long stretch to my next check in at AK… I was only just starting to have feeling in my legs and seemed okay, had plenty of energy, so I rolled the dice and kept going.
4. Get to AK: another major check point because I knew the next starch to BB would be tough under any circumstances. I almost stopped, just out of fear, but one of my friends texting me through the race said no, keep going, so I did.
5. Get to BB: mile 20, the pain hit. My feet were worse than the usual amount of marathon pain, my ankle tendons, especially. But much worse, my RIGHT knee started with stabbing IT Band pain! Texted my friend that I thought that was it for me and he told me to come up with a new strategy - my race brain needed that seed thought: I pulled over, swapped my ITB strap from left to right, changed my intervals from :30/:30 to :30/1:00 and that bought me about 4 miles of reduced knee pain. Coming out of BB, I also stopped at the med tent, where a med volunteer deeply rubbed Biofreeze into my knee and that helped a bunch.
6. FINISH IT: at 24, with about 15 minutes on the sweep, I knew I could slow down a bunch and still make it. My knee hurst a lot, my feet were angry, and my lower back joined the pain party, but once I hit DHS I was all smiles! My friend had an ice cold beer waiting for me when I entered EP and that went down a treat lol! WDW Marathon #7 DONE.

It seemed so unlikely to happen, I’ve really spent the last two days in disbelief. Like, did I really do that?! Yep, I did. It’s interesting to me that I didn’t suffer at all from undertaining endurance-wise: in that respect I felt great. Plenty of energy. And most of the rheumatoid pain stayed at bay… I did the unthinkable and took an Aleve pre-race, which I know helped (I also hydrated very, very well to offset the kidney hit.) I stopped for more pics than I usually do, made 2 more restroom stops than my usual 1, and enjoyed it all more than I ever have. It was a really, really good one to go out on, if it’s my last.

General thoughts:

Did my usual start from the very back of my corral for both races and never encountered any truly awful congestion. Only had a few seconds here and there that I needed to wait to resume my own pace.

Never felt the lack of volunteers - water stations worked beautifully!

AK CMs spectating get the prize for most enthusiastic, excited, motivational spectators on the course.

That finish line med tent has never been better run: I hope they can get the military medics to run it every race, because they turned what normally a confusing fiasco into a triage center of efficiency and precision.

Where I really felt the undertaining was the ITBand stuff. I’d normally have had more mileage on my own steeply cambered roads to better handle WDW’s insanely cambered roads.

The 10K and marathon medals feel so much lighter this time! I wore the 10K for hours and realized I didn’t have the neck pain I usually get from doing that. I love that!

Animal crackers in the snack box was a big plus.

I still hate the 90s theme, but you bet the marathon medal is being hung with pride.

 

[HangWithMerida]

I'm headed home today too after one last breakfast at Boma, my fav post race meal. It was awesome to meet so many of you! I'm still thinking one and done for Dopey and the marathon but I would come back to MW in a heartbeat. This weekend was so much fun!

 

[1GoldenSun]

I know this has been discussed but I can't find it now. I keep trying to link my photos to my Photopass and I keep getting "You've entered an invalid PhotoPass number." I'm entering 2023WDWMARA0XXXX. I only did the marathon so my race number is 4 digits so I enter that at the end with a 0 in front. What am I doing wrong? I rememeber I had trouble last year too but don't remember what I did to fix it.

 

[dweibel]

I know this has been discussed but I can't find it now. I keep trying to link my photos to my Photopass and I keep getting "You've entered an invalid PhotoPass number." I'm entering 2023WDWMARA0XXXX. I only did the marathon so my race number is 4 digits so I enter that at the end with a 0 in front. What am I doing wrong? I rememeber I had trouble last year too but don't remember what I did to fix it.

Not sure if this is your issue. There are a couple options to link the codes in the Disney app's Photo section. 'Link Ticket, Pass or Magic Band', 'Type to link PhotoPass Card', 'Link Memory Maker'. We were initially trying to use the wrong option. The one we didn't initially use worked. Can't remember which one, I would recommend trying the other options.