Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Latest-ID-81840.asp" target="_blank"><b>Latest: Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Registration Opens at Noon Eastern Today; Read About th</b></a> <p class="MsoNormal">Registration will open today at Noon Eastern for the Walt <span class="il">Disney</span> World Marathon Weekend presented by Cigna. In addition to adding the Dopey Challenge, the Walt <span class="il">Disney</span> World 10K featuring Minnie Mouse and all new medals for the news races, Half Marathon, Marathon and Goofy Challenge, <i>run</i><span class="il">Disney</span> is making additional enhancements to improve the race experience.</p> <ul> <li>Men’s and women’s cut tech shirts available for the 10K, half, full, Dopey Challenge and Goofy Challenge</li> <li>Lowering our weekend capacity by 2,000 runners, mostly in the half marathon</li> <li>Proof of time required from more runners <ul> <li>Runners in the half marathon must supply proof of time if 3:15 or less</li> <li>Runners in the full marathon must supply proof of time if 6:30 or less</li> </ul> </li> <li>More detailed information required for proof of time to allow better verification</li> <li>More corrals allowing us to better place runners with similar abilities together and therefore spreading out the field on the course</li> <li>No corral changes based on proof of time will be made after November 1 </li> </ul> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Here's a video with Faron Kelley, Director of Communication and Marketing for<span class="il">Disney</span> Sports, talking about some of these changes.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">[[yt:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DrvCpm8WCA&feature=youtu.be]]</p> <p> </p>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros As a heads up for anybody who is interested, the 10K is currently 93% full. If you want to sign up for it, do it now, as it will fill up tonight. Dopey is listed at 76% full, and the 5K is 65% full. Dopey will probably sell out within 24 hours, and could possibly sell out tonight. There's probably a little more time for the 5K, but with a reduced number of entries available (roughly half of the spots are now for Dopey runners), it could also go very quickly The Half Marathon, Marathon, and Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge don't have a listed capacity yet, meaning they are less than 50% full. Not too bad for a set of races that officially opened registration about 7 hours ago (though there was a not-so-secret pre-registration link that many people used beginning last Wednesday)
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The 10K has sold out The other races are still showing the same percents full, but there's a decent chance that they will jump up once people see another of the races has sold out
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper My sister and I have already signed up for the half marathon. Will be my second year in a row running and my sister's first. Can't wait!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's great that your sister is joining your next year! I've found that it's not too hard to convince people to run at Disney, even if the distances are a little excessive. I've signed up for Dopey with a few of my friends, and even convinced my mom to do the 5K! As of right now, Dopey is 96% full (I suspect it will be closed this evening), and the 5K and 10K have both sold out. The Half Marathon is at 51%, and the Marathon and Goofy are both under 50%
Originally Posted By Bobwelbaum I've entered the marathon and only the marathon. If the weather cooperates, I'm hoping to make a run at qualifying for Boston (pardon the pun).
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I really like how in WDW you can say that you're "only" running a marathon, and it seems perfectly normal. And starting this year, you can say that you're "only" doing Goofy, and people will know what you mean. That's great that you have a chance to qualify for Boston. My only hope at this point is to magically get transformed into an 80 year old woman! It's a very flat course that has the possibility for great speed, and is broken up into really nicely sized chunks for mentally pacing yourself. The crowds can be kind of tough if you start in one of the further back corrals, but I assume if you have hopes of Boston you'll have a qualifying time that can put you near the front
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Check out a fundraising opportunity by Give Kids the World whereby you raise money for their charity and when you hit the benchmark ($3,000) you earn a number of benefits including three nights accommodations at the Swan or Dolphin.
Originally Posted By Bobwelbaum Ferret, I know what you mean. The only advantage to aging I can think of is the qualifying times keep dropping. I ran a 4:21:13 in November. I hope that will get me close enough to the front that I won't have to worry about traffic.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I ran a 4:21:13 in November. I hope that will get me close enough to the front that I won't have to worry about traffic.<< You should be fine with that. When I registered last year, my fastest was 4:20:30 (though I may have used a time from a Half that was at a faster pace) and I was in Corral B. They base their corrals mostly on the projected finish time, and just use your proof to verify that it's something plausible. They've said that they will have more corrals this year but with the same overall capacity, so you might be in a further back corral, but there still shouldn't be too many people in front of you. This means that they're looking at pushing the start time up even further (to 5am, meaning buses will be running from the hotels 2:30-3:30, making for some VERY early mornings) in order to open MK at the same time (but with 3 other parks that all operate while the race is going on, I don't see why they can't push back MK's opening time a little bit to let the last runners through) Just make sure to line up near the front of your corral, and you'll be fine. There's a pinch point around mile 1.5, where the course takes a one-lane off-ramp, and I spent some time running in the grass around there. If you can avoid the crowds at that point, you should be fine for the rest of the race (with a couple small exceptions like running through the castle, and the tunnel into the speedway)
Originally Posted By Bobwelbaum Thanks! I haven't researched the course that thoroughly. I just know it's a fun marathon, should be mostly flat, and if the weather cooperates it should be pretty fast.
