Agreed. I'm not arguing for a lottery. I'm asking for people to only sign-up if they are going to take the training seriously. I'm not sure rD can fix this issue short of requiring some kind of proof of completing something. Maybe show a POF of a half to do a challenge.
I understand life events happen. But the fact that the number of DNS at Disney is so much larger than any other marathon suggests there is more than "life happens."
I'd guess it's a number of factors, including injury, maybe some people not realizing the additional cost associated with a Dopey trip (hotel! park tickets!). But yeah I'd guess most of them either don't/aren't able to put the training in and have to cancel or start to push hard and realize they don't want to do it. Hence recommending a half first. It helps to have that in your pocket ahead of time, both as a gauge for how you feel after running that long and where you might stand in terms of pace.
This. I have no issues with new runners, what I take issue with is people who don’t take it seriously. Social media definitely feeds into the hype and it’s when I see new runners say they want the 10k or half, and then they get registered for Dopey. How did they go from 6.2 or 13.1 miles to 48.6?
I do think rD should offer insurance and/or deferrals. I understand why they don't offer transfers, that would just create a black market (like we see with the merch). I'm not sure on the timing thing, the last few major lotteries I have entered are about 10 months out.
rD shouldn't allow person-to-person transfers, because you're totally right about the black market; but they absolutely should offer some kind of deferral system where they take the bibs back, give either a Disney gift card or a voucher for a future race, and then randomly re-release the bibs to the general public just like they do now with whatever bibs they find between registration and race day.
Unused charity bibs will pop up in two ways fairly close to race weekend, either directly on RD, or those charities will offer the bibs at significantly reduced or no fundraising requirement. I don't think there's any date set in stone because they don't want to encourage people waiting it out, I'd imagine they're not that thrilled that people know about it already. They also don't do this that early. If you're in a position to get a Dopey bib when these bibs start dropping then you should be prepared enough to run it in a few weeks.
I have no problem with newer runners wanting to tackle a marathon or even Dopey, and think it can be a great way to get people motivated to be healthy and active, and even help with mental health. But I do wish there would be more emphasis among influencers of "Marathons are hard, even marathons with longer cut-offs." I've seen several regular runDisney runners who get too busy to train hard, but still complete the marathon or Dopey, so it can appear "oh, you don't need to train as much!" But that doesn't take into account that the influencers have been doing this for years, have a higher level of base fitness, etc. etc.
You are so right. I do wonder how many rD runners signup with a 5k being their longest run. I see too man posts over on FB alluding to as much. I agree the half to full is a bigger jump than 10k to half, but having people prove they have done one half before would reduce the number of DNS/DNF.I will say, as a still relatively new runner, that running the marathon was COMPLETELY different than doing a half. It was a completely different beast. I KNEW that going in, but it was still a huge learning experience when I hit mile 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20... and I still had to keep going. I was like, oh. This is way harder than the jump from 10k to half.
I'm curious. Have you run a marathon before? My training this year was not great but the entire time I knew what I was getting into.
Yes. I ran a local one in 2021, then goofy in 22, and dopey in 23, 24, and 25.
There should be some sort of option to "send" their registration to them (at least that's what its been like historically.) Sometimes that makes it "disappear" for everyone as far as a rundisney account goes. *IF* that happens, you can email rundisney and they'll be able to make it show up (this could take a couple of weeks as it is a very small staff, a race weekend is coming up, and other people will also be emailing with the same issue. You may not get any notification that they have taken care of the issue.) Additionally, when you register someone else, it's very common for that person to end up with "multiple accounts" on their login, and they can find this other account in the top right corner with the down-carrot button and the words "switch accounts"
I just did this for a friend I registered! Following the instructions here seemed to work.
