Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon (and DL Half)

Originally Posted By VickiHD

Corral placement and waivers are up. Less than a month to go !!!

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

Wooohoooo! These races seem to come up so fast now. I'm excited and ready! Still disappointed corral A is 2:16 and below. It needs to be broken up, at least to 2:00 and below. It's a lot of weaving the start of the race. I keep putting it in the survey every year. It'll be time to start checking the weather every day

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

I know...weather watching. I'm worried that it's going to be warm like it is for us for the DL 1/2. I really like the cooler temps to run in but I've also been training in the warm afternoons just in case of warm temps.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>Still disappointed that corral A is 2:16 and below. It needs to be broken up, at least to 2:00 and below.<<

How do you think all us guys feel, who are relegated to corral B? I'm not exactly Speedy Gonzales (typically finish right around 2:00 when not pushing too hard), but I certainly don't belong that far back. The whole thing has a certain Harrison Bergeron vibe to it : )

In general, it still confuses me why DLR hasn't adopted the smaller corrals like WDW (and why there seems to be a higher percentage of slower runners at DLR), but it usually seems to sort its way out within the first 3-4 miles. It's just a shame that those first miles are also the ones where you want to be spaced farther apart because of the geography of the parks

 

Originally Posted By phruby

You try running in stormtrooper armor and see how fast you go.

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

Vicki: I hope it's cool, but it is what is. I just ran the LA marathon and it was 85 by the time I hit mile 19 and around 88 at the finish line, it was NOT pleasant. So anything less than that at this point will be good for me .

Ferret: The DL1/2 had the smaller corrals last year, but the other 3 races did not. Not sure why. I know Tink is supposed to be aimed towards women more, and i'm sure I'm one of the few women who feel this way, but this "let's put women in the front" I don't get the purpose aside from the picture at the start line. The majority of races have corrals for a reason, runner safety. I'm not fast enough to be in the front (1:50-2:00, depending on the day), but I don't think 2:15 runners should be grouped with 1:30-1:45 runners, or that men should be in the back. Especially the faster ones speeding around people. This is when people fall, I've seen it in plenty of races, when people shove their way to the front of corrals just because they want to be in the front for the sake of being in the front. I just don't get it. Race starts when you cross the start line, stay with your expected pace. Ok, off my soap box

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>I don't get the purpose aside from the picture at the start line.<<

I think the real reason is so a woman is the first person to cross the finish line. At one of the first Princess Halfs, a man crossed first and was greeted by a less-than-enthusiastic crowd

Similarly in the World Marathon Majors, the elite women typically get a head start on the elite men (~30min), to ensure that their paths don't cross. Particularly for races that allow pace setters (London, Berlin), it's important that they don't have women pacing off of men, since it would theoretically impact their performance

>>Race starts when you cross the start line, stay with your expected pace.<<

Technically the race starts when the first person crosses the start line, and happens in real time; the first person to cross the finish line is the winner, not the person with the fastest time. What most of us do is technically a time trial, since we can pace off of the various people around us

All that said, I think it's overkill for a Disney race. They don't have prize money, and they're really not taken seriously (the first winner of Tink was wearing a tutu for pete's sake), so I think it would be okay to allow genders to mix (especially since there are no awards for men)

But personally, I really didn't mind starting in another corral for Tink or Princess last year. It seemed like everybody understood the unspoken rule that the first 3-4 rows of people in the corral were all guys, and there was very little congestion at the start. By the time we started to catch up to the back of the earlier corrals (which took more than a mile), they had dispersed enough that it was fairly easy to safely navigate through. Yes, it's annoying and a dumb rule, but I was surprised by how much of a non-issue it was for me and my race

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

Right, I know all that women head start stuff in the majors, but this is far from that. And some big races have the men/women challenge, with the women getting a slight lead. If they want a picture of a woman at the finish line, then just take a picture of the first woman. No one can tell in a picture.

I know the race starts at gun time, but 99% of the people running are not racing. I meant your time starts when you cross the mat, sorry to confuse you.

I guess by the time you guys caught the back of the first pack, it thinned out, but it was a lot of back and forth and stopping and trying to get around the slower runners who made their way up to the front of A. There were a bunch of us in A complaining about this, a few women were even yelling at these people to get to the side. I didn't think that was necessary, but it's definitely an issue at the beginning, but it only takes a mile or two to get around them. I just don't see the real purpose.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I agree that it's not ideal, but it also didn't bother me all that much. I'm a Gallowalker, so I'm used to getting passed by other people and passing them back, so it didn't really seem that strange to me to have to deal with it along the way. In general, I agree that it's dumb to do it this way, when it doesn't really help anybody and it inconveniences (and potentially endangers) so many

Disney has stopped putting travel agent and race sponsor runners in the front corrals because they realized it wasn't fair to other runners or safe for anybody. It's a shame that they continue this practice for the women's races (and as a caveat, I'm okay with the ~95 perfect Marathoners getting to be in A; they've earned it, even if they're slower these days)

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

Perhaps I'm a little more sensitive about because I've seen people face plant, being tripped by someone trying to pass them, when they shouldn't have been up so far, or the passer being tripped by someone because they were further back. At DL half a few years back some guy clipped my foot, not sure why he was so far back, I stayed towards the back of A, he must have been in B or further back, and he went face first skidding across the asphalt. The only reason I didn't fall was because two of my friends grabbed me. I just think safety, is more important then a picture, or having a woman be first. There are enough injuries/illness that can happen in a race, why add to it. That's just my opinion.

I realize there is going to be passing, and some people may not be running their normal pace due to training, injury, or just a bad day, and I'm always pretty aware of what runners around me are doing, but starting out with an increased risk, no thanks.

I didn't even know the travel people got to go up front. That seems like an odd benefit, but I guess there's gotta be something. I agree with the perfect marathoners getting to be in A. In the LA Marathon last month, there were ~178 legacy runners (30 years! crazy, how do you not get sick or injured, or some life event getting in the way) they all got to start before the main pack even started, but after the elites. They deserve it, especially since with running 30 years, the youngest is something like 45 and the oldest is in their 80s. I always congratulated them as I passed them throughout the race. That's quite an accomplishment. I'm proud of my upcoming measly 10 year legacy for DL and that's just the half. haha.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>I didn't even know the travel people got to go up front. That seems like an odd benefit, but I guess there's gotta be something.<<

I think it was more to make it easy for the travel agents, rather than any sort of special perk. That way, they didn't have to collect everybody's anticipated finish time and proof and all that, and they just dumped them all in the same place. Now that Disney's gotten stricter about that, they've had to adjust their policies for everybody

 

Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s

I'm in Corral A and plan to head to the back for the start. I can get 2:16 if I don't stop, but I plan on stopping for photos along the way.

I've never been in Corral A before, but I've been a faster starter in a slower corral and that is annoying. I do my best to try to fit into the part of the corral where I should be near runners like me. But I didn't find that to be the base at Princess this year. Plenty of women walking from the moment they crossed the start and our corral was <2:30.

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

kidz> it's too bad more people don't understand the point of corrals and place themselves accordingly. If i know I'm running slower for whatever reason, I've been sick or run with a broken toe. I go to the back of my corral or even have hung back with friends in different corrals. I guess they don't understand the purpose.

In the end, it's a minor inconvenience, it's just unnecessary and can be frustrating. The races will still be fun and hopefully the weather will be on our side.

 

Originally Posted By darcy-becker

You guys are making me glad I'll be in the last corral when we do it next year. Had to defer this years. It will be my first half marathon and I intend to walk except maybe just to cross the finish line.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I'm sure you'll do great! It's always a big accomplishment, but the first one is definitely the biggest!

It's sort of like walking around in the parks, where it takes a while to get used to your surroundings and how to act in the crowds. First time guests don't intentionally block traffic by stopping in the middle of Main Street to look at their park map, but more experienced guests know to find an out-of-the-way spot to do it. Similarly with running, there are some tricks to race traffic that you'll pick up on with time

 

Originally Posted By oneyepete

My wife and I are doing the Neverland 5k on Friday.

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

It's going to get even busier over race weekend with the Tomorrowland movie premiere at the AMC DTD Theaters on 5/9. I wonder if the course will be different this year since we run through DTD to the DL hotel.
What do you guys think??

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

The course has been posted, and looks like the same basic layout as last year:
<a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/pdf/tinkerbell/2015/2015_TBHM_Maps_Half.pdf">http://as1.wdpromedia.com/medi...Half.pdf</a>

I assume that whatever they need for the premiere can be cleared out by the wee hours of the morning, though there's a decent chance that nobody's noticed the overlap yet

 

Originally Posted By sunNrainfall

Interesting the movie premiere is the same weekend. I'm sure they have a game plan...at least I hope they do. Maybe we'll be running down a red carpet
Less than 2 weeks!

 

Originally Posted By VickiHD

Well at least it will be nice a cushy soft.