Sweep Times

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Does anyone know how long you have to run the half-marathon before the sweepers come by? I want to run it in 2019 but can't fully train for it so I'll somewhat wing it. I'd really like to have time to see some characters so I'm just trying to figure out how much time I'll have.

 

[LAKid53]

Which half marathon? Some have more registrants and thus will have more corrals. If you're in the last one or two corrals, you may not be able to stop for many photos without being in danger of getting swept. And don't forget to allow for bathroom breaks. My advice, if you can, wait until you get to a park bathroom, no lines. @dreamfinder and @Texas84, is it safe to assume that most of the Halfs will start in the MK parking lot? That will determine the 1st park the course hits.

The Balloon Ladies are the last to cross the start line. And that's when the 16m/m pace calculation starts. Usually at the mile markers, race staff are available to tell you how far ahead of them you are in minutes. Technically, runDisney could sweep you up to the last tenth of a mile, but I'm thinking once you enter Epcot and are past the International Gateway you should be safe. It would be sad to be swept at mile 12.

Training under Galloway's program for a Half is 19 weeks. You've got plenty of time for any of the 2019 Half Marathons.

Good luck!

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Which half marathon? Some have more registrants and thus will have more corrals. If you're in the last one or two corrals, you may not be able to stop for many photos without being in danger of getting swept. And don't forget to allow for bathroom breaks. My advice, if you can, wait until you get to a park bathroom, no lines. @dreamfinder and @Texas84, is it safe to assume that most of the Halfs will start in the MK parking lot? That will determine the 1st park the course hits.

The Balloon Ladies are the last to cross the start line. And that's when the 16m/m pace calculation starts. Usually at the mile markers, race staff are available to tell you how far ahead of them you are in minutes. Technically, runDisney could sweep you up to the last tenth of a mile, but I'm thinking once you enter Epcot and are past the International Gateway you should be safe. It would be sad to be swept at mile 12.

Training under Galloway's program for a Half is 19 weeks. You've got plenty of time for any of the 2019 Half Marathons.

Good luck!

For the WDW Marathon. I will be running until then, just not quite the training I'd like to do for a half. Just don't have time between work/family. If the time is 16 min/mile, that should be more than enough. I have never actually taken a bathroom break during a race but I guess there's always a first time.

 

[LAKid53]

For the WDW Marathon. I will be running until then, just not quite the training I'd like to do for a half. Just don't have time between work/family. If the time is 16 min/mile, that should be more than enough. I have never actually taken a bathroom break during a race but I guess there's always a first time.

The issue then will be corral placement. If you don't provide a proof of time, you'll end up in one of the last corrals.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

The issue then will be corral placement. If you don't provide a proof of time, you'll end up in one of the last corrals.

Do they accept proof of time from any race or how does that work?

 

[LAKid53]

Do they accept proof of time from any race or how does that work?

An officially timed race 10K and up. When you register, you will be asked for the required info and link to that race results. PoT can't be more than two years old for the race you're registering for. So for the 2019 WDW Half, your PoT can't be from a race run before January 2017.

 

[LAKid53]

The page for the particular race on the runDisney site will have all the particulars for PoT. Look at next month's Marathon. Granted, dates will change for PoT - how old the race can be and when the deadline to submit is - but the rest won't change.

I'll probably be running in the 2019 Half, now that the Anaheim races are on hiatus. The following weekend was SW Light Side, but no more, at least until 2020.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

An officially timed race 10K and up. When you register, you will be asked for the required info and link to that race results. PoT can't be more than two years old for the race you're registering for. So for the 2019 WDW Half, your PoT can't be from a race run before January 2017.

Thank you. Good thing I just ran a 10k this past fall

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Thank you for asking these questions @MotherofaPrincessLover ! I'm doing the Princess half in 2019 and these are all of the same questions I had!

 

[Texas84]

is it safe to assume that most of the Halfs will start in the MK parking lot? That will determine the 1st park the course hits.

That seems to be the trend. But in January the half and full have started and finished at Epcot. Of course that could always change.

 

[dreamfinder]

Does anyone know how long you have to run the half-marathon before the sweepers come by? I want to run it in 2019 but can't fully train for it so I'll somewhat wing it. I'd really like to have time to see some characters so I'm just trying to figure out how much time I'll have.

runDisney says you need to maintain the 16 min/mile pace. How much wiggle room around that time will really depend on your corral placement. Figure an extra 3-5 minutes for each corral you move up, as the sweep timer doesn't start until the last runner crosses the start line. But in all reality, most people can fairly comfortably walk a 16 min mile so as long as you can work up to a 13 min mile or so, and carefully evaluate your character/bathroom choices, you should be fine. And depending on where you get passed, you may or may not get swept. Basically sweeping the course lets them open the roads. So if you fall behind pace after say you enter Epcot at mile 12, then you should still be able to finish/get your medal, they however may choose to not issue a finishers certificate/time as you didn't meet the requirements.

@dreamfinder and @Texas84, is it safe to assume that most of the Halfs will start in the MK parking lot? That will determine the 1st park the course hits.

I'd almost classify that as a recent phenomenon. I seem to recall races tending to start/finish at Epcot, but then when they brought ToT and W&D into the mix, they started moving starts around.

 

[WDW_Emily]

I haven’t done a half but i can give the info i have from the princess 10K in 2017.

I was supposed to start in corral C but went back to the last corral, F to be with a friend. Inside of the corrals there are mini corrals that go within 2-3 minutes of eachother. We started in the first mini corral of F, roughly 5-6 minutes ahead of the balloon ladies. Our average pace was 12-13 minutes per mile and we didn’t see a balloon lady once. We also met no characters because we were terrified of getting swept. Most character lines were about 10 minutes long and we figued we could do almost a whole mile in that time. We met all our characters in the 5k and just ran the 10K

We saw a big bus around mile 3 near backstage Epcot that was the only big sweep location we saw throughout the 10K.

 

[Texas84]

I've seen the end of races twice but never saw the balloons. One year I ran the marathon with my cousin (very slowly) and saw the street sweepers headed towards the entrance of WWoS as we exited. So we were about 3 miles ahead of the sweepers. A bunch of those people probably got bus rides.

Then at AK when we went early for Pandora we saw the end of the W&D half followed by a long line of busses about to pick up stragglers. I bet a bunch of those people didn't make it. And that was only about mile 6 or 7.