How hilly is Jauary 1/2 course?

[Erin_Akey]

I do not live in an area with many hills, and so my training is on mostly flat areas. Are there very hilly parts of the course for the 1/2 in January???

 

[lukacseven]

The highway overpasses are often referred to as "Disney hills." you will encounter one around mile 2 and then 3 around mile 11-12. The over passes themselves are relatively short and gradual on the half course (there is a longer one on the marathon). The first one the home stretch is a looping ramp, followed by a slight incline on a straight run. The steepest is on the final approach to Epcot, but it is also the shortest in length. When you reach the bottom of the descent, you'll be near the bus drop-off area and enter backstage behind the Seas. There is also 2 short areas where you go under the road/lake. One as you enter the T&T Center and the other just before Contemporary.

 

[joel_maxwell]

I do not live in an area with many hills, and so my training is on mostly flat areas. Are there very hilly parts of the course for the 1/2 in January???

As said below... just overpasses.. and it looks like we will only have 4 during the W&D. Same one, just twice.

The highway overpasses are often referred to as "Disney hills." you will encounter one around mile 2 and then 3 around mile 11-12. The over passes themselves are relatively short and gradual on the half course (there is a longer one on the marathon). The first one the home stretch is a looping ramp, followed by a slight incline on a straight run. The steepest is on the final approach to Epcot, but it is also the shortest in length. When you reach the bottom of the descent, you'll be near the bus drop-off area and enter backstage behind the Seas. There is also 2 short areas where you go under the road/lake. One as you enter the T&T Center and the other just before Contemporary.

I shall smoke these compared to what I normally run as in hills.

 

[Erin_Akey]

I'm so nervous! Have to remember I still have over 5 motnhs to train. I may try to find someplace with a few hills for my longer runs.

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[lukacseven]

The most difficult incline is probably at mile 11 when you have to take the spiral ramp from World Drive and acsend to Epcot Center Drive. The ramp has a steep sidways pitch in addition to the incline and is lined with thick trees, so you can't see what's ahead until you near the top. It seems to go on forever. At least on the overpasses, you can see how far you have to go to reach the apex. Half-marathoners get a break on having to go down the spiral ramp. 2 years ago they modified the course to utilize the same start as the marathon and eliminated that turn (and other subtle elements). The half start used to be about a mile further up Epcot Center Drive.

 

[Disney Dawg88]

I'm so nervous! Have to remember I still have over 5 motnhs to train. I may try to find someplace with a few hills for my longer runs.

Thanks for the info guys!

Erin - don't sweat it or go out of your way to worry about hills. Like the other posters said, it's really nothing to worry about. If you really insist on finding hills to train on, I would just suggest finding a treadmill then while running slowly increase the incline over the course of a couple of minutes. You're only going to be going uphill on these off ramps for maybe a couple of minutes total over the course of your entire run. It's not nearly as bad as you think it is. :sohappy: