Marathon Weekend 2024

Bree said:
They cut the course again. Routing runners that haven’t made it to WS to go straight to the finish line. They closed the character lines and politely told the reunion area to scram.

I am at the Fort and it’s raining pretty hard.
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I was wondering about that because as I passed guardians the balloon ladies were standing off to the side with the bike guys.

I ended up walking almost the whole thing due to ongoing stomach unhappiness. Didn’t stop for any photos and was bummed most the photo pass in WS had packed up by the time I got there.

Ready for a nap, lunch with my parents and some mk time later!
 
Bree said:
They cut the course again. Routing runners that haven’t made it to WS to go straight to the finish line. They closed the character lines and politely told the reunion area to scram.

I am at the Fort and it’s raining pretty hard.
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Can’t say I’m surprised. Like I said upthread the pattern was reminding me of the warmer years. So I figured they were either going to sweep faster or cut it off or both.

Curious you know what time the new cut occurred. Curious if any of my friends got caught in it because of them participating in shenanigans
 
As I watch the drizzle from my room without a single thunder clap, I’m convinced they should have either cancelled the race or done the actual half. This compromise just left everyone unhappy. And for everyone claiming it’s for our safety, I passed a full bus stop on the way to my hotel of people waiting to get into the parks. If it’s not safe enough for us to run through Magic Kingdom before the storm, then it’s not safe enough to allow people into the parks to walk around when the storms actually hit. But Disney already has our money, and they don’t have all the money from ponchos and trinkets from the folks waiting to get in.
 
Got way behind on the thread and haven’t checked in for a while. I thought they did the best they could this morning, they were handed lemons and made a quite sour and watered down lemonade. I think it can both be true that they did the best they could and that what this race was still wasn’t very good.

I was in a good frame of mind and had a good time on the course but, between the congestion and abundance of highway/ramps, this was the worst course experience I’ve had in over 50 rD races.
 
Disney did the best they could with this situation. That was a rough run. The course was narrow on the roads and lead to missed intervals decreasing the opportunity for runs affecting the time. The constant ponding of the off-ramps also compounded the problems. It did become fun once we hit EPCOT. I finished just as the storms started to hit.

They appeared to simply give up on the waves at the start of the race leading to a very narrow course. I was toward the beginning of E corral and heard a race official said that after we went they were just going to drop the barricades and let all of F in. This lead to simply too many people to run/walk as moving over become a hassle.

Good character stops though, even though I didn’t make any.
 
@huskies90 i saw the same couple, i was really impressed because he had a huge backpack on! They were in a few lines with me. Another person I kept running into in lines was a lady dressed as Anna with a full wig and Olaf doll. Actually lots of great costumes. I was also surprised by the length of the lines. Usually they’re pretty empty when I pass through. But since it was such a short course I stopped at a few (12). Loved the Merlin one! Unfortunately 2 had to take breaks when I got in line. Waiting for rideshare at Epcot was terrible. After waiting 20 min, one cancelled on me. I waited another 10 min for a ride but realized no ride shares had shown up at all so took the monorail to MK and was lucky to get one there.
 
Zutroy said:
As I watch the drizzle from my room without a single thunder clap, I’m convinced they should have either cancelled the race or done the actual half. This compromise just left everyone unhappy. And for everyone claiming it’s for our safety, I passed a full bus stop on the way to my hotel of people waiting to get into the parks. If it’s not safe enough for us to run through Magic Kingdom before the storm, then it’s not safe enough to allow people into the parks to walk around when the storms actually hit. But Disney already has our money, and they don’t have all the money from ponchos and trinkets from the folks waiting to get in.
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The storm chance/ lightning was always supposed to hit around 9a after a couple of hours of initial rain, so let's give them a little more time before saying they made a bad call.

As for it not being safe to be in the parks if it's not safe to have the race, I think you're missing at least one critical factor. People in the parks can duck into any one of innumerable buildings for safety in the event of a storm. Runners on miles-long stretches of highway between the parks are exposed and have no shelter available if the storm arrives. I understand the frustration with the shortened race, but come on...
 
My race went as well as a windy, shortened half marathon could, I guess. I was back at CBR by 6:45 and headed out for my wet and wild make up miles immediately after dropping the race swag off at the room. There were just a couple of other folks out when I started, but the numbers grew with every lap. For those scoring at home, that's:

7.22 mi of shortened course
6.16 mi of rainy running around CBR
13.38 mi total run? Priceless!

I'm going to call that mischief managed for the day, regardless of the IP-bending and shufflepuff off to a hot shower now.
 
camaker said:
The storm chance/ lightning was always supposed to hit around 9a after a couple of hours of initial rain, so let's give them a little more time before saying they made a bad call.

As for it not being safe to be in the parks if it's not safe to have the race, I think you're missing at least one critical factor. People in the parks can duck into any one of innumerable buildings for safety in the event of a storm. Runners on miles-long stretches of highway between the parks are exposed and have no shelter available if the storm arrives. I understand the frustration with the shortened race, but come on...
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And the buildings have multiple lightning rods.

I read a really good post on FB. Cliff notes version is that this is a USTAF course and there are weather protocols they must follow to continue being a member.

It is more than sprinkling at the Fort. It has been a steady rain for at least an hour with periods of heavy downpours.

I live in FL and lightning is absolutely a fear of mine. I’ve also learned since moving here to pay more attention to the radar than those little hourly updates in the weather apps.
 
nancipants said:
Yeah, it’s not being IN Magic Kingdom that’s the problem during a storm, it’s running TO MK during a potential storm. I was in Epcot once during a tornado warning and got a last minute dinner reservation at The Land because they asked everyone to shelter in place.
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This and the fact that that for some racers the evac process isn’t as simple as shove everyone onto a bus. Wheelchairs have to be evaced to somewhere they can actually get on (not the bus in other words). So if we get caught out in the open were the most screwed.

And I get we’re a small population of the runners. But our safety is still important. We’re still here

Also I think they have to factor in volunteer and staff safety here. Because sure most runners will clear out before the storms. But volunteers and staff are going to be around for a while longer helping wrap things up.
 
I forgot who asked about corral C but it was basically a double wide today and they seem to have let the right side out first. I purposely went left today because that side moved much faster when you get to the sharp turn for the start line. So if it’s the same tomorrow go right and then once you get into the chute move left.
 
I like how people are claiming it was too dangerous to run the race, yet go run around a parking lot in circles in the same weather to get a make-believe half marathon. I was at RFK stadium in the 90s when lightning struck and killed someone. I get it. But the lightning was never going to get here before 10, and walking around Magic Kingdom in a thunderstorm is just as dangerous as running to and from it. If it was really that big of a threat Disney would not open their gates
 
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cs size is related to the POT system. Since I think that’s where the lack of need for one starts. And if you have a bunch of people submitting they’re going to run right on the border. Then they’re all going to end up in the same place
 
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