Disney Marathon 2014 – New Corrals

It’s only a few more sleeps until the Disney Dopey Challenge!  And the other day I shared some tips for running at Disney World.  Today I have some new info about the updated corral system.

Coming soon…

Over on the RunDisney Facebook page, I noticed some trolls have been trolling.  I’m not used to runners behaving that way because when you exercise you release endorphins, which make you happy, and happy people don’t troll people.

They’re complaining about their new corral placement.  But like most people on the internet, they are making much ado about nothing, because they failed to edumacate themselves before spouting off.

As you may know, corrals are set up for your race pace.  The closer your corral is to the start line, the faster a runner you are.  This is a very good thing for races to do.  Imagine if it were reversed and walkers were at the front, there would be a lot of collisions from the faster runners trying to get around people.

In previous years the Disney Marathon only had like 7 or 8 corrals.  Which meant that there were thousands of people in each and every one.  I have always been in Corral B.  But this year I’m in Corral F.  Here’s the corrals for the Marathon…

Revised corrals with corresponding marathon pace. Click to enlarge.

Now if you’re like me, and used to being in the 2nd corral, at first glance it’s tempting to get upset at suddenly being in corral 6.  Hence the trolling.

But if they took the time to look, they’d see they are still in a corral with their pace peers.  They’d also see that the corrals are MUCH smaller this year.  Some have less than 100 people in them!!!!

I feel bad for the volunteers at the Expo, I know they’re going to get unedumacated people complaining about their corral placement.  And the website says there will be NO corral changes at the Expo!!!

I couldn’t find how long the start delays are for each corral, but I’m guessing it’s not more than a minute or two.

In years past they’ve shot off fireworks for each corral start, I’m curious to see if they’ll do that again this year!  That’s a buttload of fireworks they’ll be shooting for all those corrals!

Kaboomo!

If you’re running Disney this year, don’t be dismayed by the new corrals.  It’s all for the best!

How bout you?  Ever been in a big race with no corrals?  Ever had to change corrals.  Have you ever been a troll?

Run Disney Tip: Wakey Wakey Early Early!

Today is a rest day in my Disney Dopey Challenge Training.  It’s really weird having a rest day in the middle of the week.  It was tempting to go to the gym, but I’m going to stick to the schedule as I know what’s coming the next 4 days.

Anyway, I thought I’d give some tips today about running a race at Disney World.  Whether you’re running this year, or at some point in the future, I hope this helps.

Me and my sis running this past year’s Disney Marathon. Yup, it starts way before sunup.

I’ve run the marathon 3 times, so I kind of know what to expect.  First off, you must get there early.  And by early, I mean like 2:00 am alarm clock early.  They usually have to close some of the roads to stage the races, so if you don’t get there early, you could be stuck in traffic and risk missing the start.  This is from their website…

“…there will be SIGNIFICANT DELAYS starting at 3:30 a.m. due to road closures…Roads begin to close as early as 11:00 p.m. on the evenings before the Half Marathon and Marathon. GPS devices or other sources will be inaccurate due to road closures.”

So yeah, when we drive to the start line, we get there by 3:00 am-ish.  The races don’t start until 5:30 am, so you’ve got some time to chill.  Luckily they have live music, characters, etc. to keep you entertained.  Though it’s kind of surreal that early in the morning to see all that.

The boy and me and my sis before the 2013 Disney Marathon. It was early.

If you take a bus from a resort (like we did this past year), you have a little more wiggle time, but not much.  And keep in mind that where they drop you off, you still have a considerable distance to walk to the staging area.  More time on your feet = not what you really need.

Now, once you’re at the staging area, I recommend you stay there as long as you can.  They will try to encourage you over and over to make your way to the corrals, but I prefer to lay there and chill.

Once time to go to the corral, know that you will be walking about a mile, shoulder to shoulder with people.  From their website…

“You must be in your corral at the start line by 5:00 a.m. or you will not be allowed to start. Please note, it takes 20 minutes to walk from the Family Reunion area (Epcot® Wonder Lot) to the start line.”

If you’re not expecting that, it can be kind of disheartening.  You’re already worried about saving your legs, and here they have you adding a mile to your race!  But now that you know, I like to use this as my warm up.  Take it easy on the walk, and try to get loose while doing so.

After the death march I like to do my dynamic warm up before getting into the corral.  The port-a-potties are few at the corrals, so expect to go in the adjacent wooded areas!  All they while they have entertainment going on. They do a sort of live morning show there where they have celebrities and such giving you encouragement – all broadcast on some big screens.

All that’s left is to start the race…

I jumped really high to take this photo. Or I stole it, can’t remember.

I can’t stress enough to get there early.  Last year I got the chance to watch my mom run the Half Marathon.  You wouldn’t believe how many runners were running everywhere to try and get to the start.  We even set up at mile 4, and there were people trying to get on the monorail to get to the start while still getting dressed.  It was crazy!  So get there early folks!

Are you running any Disney races this year, or in the future?  How early do you get to the start line for a race?