Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

OG Runner

Well-Known Member
Hello! I am not trying to be disrespectful to any that have come before, or may come to these boards in the future,
but should we maybe, just maybe start a new discussion for the Marathon Weekend, especially if they end up having
the race this year. This same discussion has been going on for almost ten years? Just wondering.
 

uncle jimmy

Premium Member
Hello! I am not trying to be disrespectful to any that have come before, or may come to these boards in the future,
but should we maybe, just maybe start a new discussion for the Marathon Weekend, especially if they end up having
the race this year. This same discussion has been going on for almost ten years? Just wondering.
Like the 2021 W&D and Princess threads I'd be cool with having one for 2022 when we get word.
 

Surferboy567

Well-Known Member
Hello! I am not trying to be disrespectful to any that have come before, or may come to these boards in the future,
but should we maybe, just maybe start a new discussion for the Marathon Weekend, especially if they end up having
the race this year. This same discussion has been going on for almost ten years? Just wondering.
I am actually going to see if we can do another restructure of the forum once we understand what runDisney is planning to do. For now, I think we should leave things as they are. Once they have an announcement I agree with you. Of course this is all reliant on everyone in agreement.
 

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
I am actually going to see if we can do another restructure of the forum once we understand what runDisney is planning to do. For now, I think we should leave things as they are. Once they have an announcement I agree with you. Of course this is all reliant on everyone in agreement.

Agree. There's a lot of race history in the individual race threads. And unless we ask the mods to lock a thread, people will post in the old ones and whatever new ones are created.
 

Demarke

Have I told you lately that I 👍 you?
Personally I don’t see any added value creating new threads, particularly as the topic will remain the same.
I agree, I like having a “one stop shop” to discuss the event and the ability to search back in the same thread if you are looking for historical context or information. As long as Marathon Weekend stays Marathon Weekend (no retheme), my vote is to keep the one thread system as is.

I worry that if we start doing year by year threads we’re going to have a lot of overlap with people still wanting to discuss a race that’s just happened while at the same time people start wanting to discuss their plans for the next year’s race. The possible result being pinning 8 threads (1 each for current and next year’s) for the four live events, another one for virtual series, and another 2-4 for Paris events (current and next year assuming they bring back two weekends), plus keeping the “what did you do” up top, which all could get cluttered quick 😁
 
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uncle jimmy

Premium Member
Okay, the crowd has spoken. Does anyone have an idea when they may announce if any of the usually upcoming races
will be live this year?
Can I guess? This is just a guess.
Based solely on the training programs & guides RD has for beginning runners I'd go off how many weeks runners need to train for what is the next race they will have.
Which the next races after the summer virtual 5K's is W&D half marathon weekend and the program is 19 weeks for beginners.
They would need to announce something and have runners sign-up by June for them to train the full 19+ weeks...

Runners signed up Yesterday, 5K training program RD gives is 13 weeks... Which is when the 1st 5K virtual race starts in June.
 

Swissmiss

Premium Member
Can I guess? This is just a guess.
Based solely on the training programs & guides RD has for beginning runners I'd go off how many weeks runners need to train for what is the next race they will have.
Which the next races after the summer virtual 5K's is W&D half marathon weekend and the program is 19 weeks for beginners.
They would need to announce something and have runners sign-up by June for them to train the full 19+ weeks...

Runners signed up Yesterday, 5K training program RD gives is 13 weeks... Which is when the 1st 5K virtual race starts in June.

I’m not sure I would read too much into the training calendars - I think these ones have been posted on the RD website for some time now.
 

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
If I remember, the race calendar is released early Spring. The calendar starts with W&D in November.
Wine and Dine is typically announced as part of the previous race calendar though. Registration for Wine and Dine is historically in March. Then you have MW in April, Princess in I think June and so forth.
 

uncle jimmy

Premium Member
I’m not sure I would read too much into the training calendars - I think these ones have been posted on the RD website for some time now.
I'm sorry, I don't think I'm reading in to the fact that RD would need to consider the weeks runners would need for training for the next race they announce. As a runner, former coach and race organizer, date announcements are always considered with athletes training schedules. The same is true when races have to be cancelled or delayed, athletes training schedules are always considered. Also the RD training programs is from Jeff Galloway, coach and former Olympian, what does it matter if they've been up for a while it's a weekly program to follow to build up mileage.
 

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
I'm sorry, I don't think I'm reading in to the fact that RD would need to consider the weeks runners would need for training for the next race they announce. As a runner, former coach and race organizer, date announcements are always considered with athletes training schedules. The same is true when races have to be cancelled or delayed, athletes training schedules are always considered. Also the RD training programs is from Jeff Galloway, coach and former Olympian, what does it matter if they've been up for a while it's a weekly program to follow to build up mileage.

The training schedules used to be updated with starting and ending training dates for each race, so you'd see the training schedule for the Marathon races, Princess, SW, etc. Now it just generic.

I wouldn't put too much stock into Galloway's training schedule on rD's website. I believe they were provided, even for the virtuals.
 

uncle jimmy

Premium Member
The training schedules used to be updated with starting and ending training dates for each race, so you'd see the training schedule for the Marathon races, Princess, SW, etc. Now it just generic.

I wouldn't put too much stock into Galloway's training schedule on rD's website. I believe they were provided, even for the virtuals.
Sorry @LAKid53 I agreed with you on a spring announcement. I was just saying training for runners would need to be considered that's why I think its spring. I'm sorry I shared my thought now, cause I feel foolish for what I shared and know.
 

Demarke

Have I told you lately that I 👍 you?
If I remember, the race calendar is released early Spring. The calendar starts with W&D in November.
I did some sleuthing and it looks like they released the 2020-2021 calendar two days after the 2019 Wine and Dine half. So, it seems that normally we’d know about a year in advance for dates and registration windows for W&D and however many months longer for each of the next three respectively.

Obviously that’s not happening with this round, my personal speculation is that they’d announce all the live races that are able to happen at once after they get a better sense of how it would work and what restrictions are eased up as more people are vaccinated. I think they’d probably need at least 6 months of lead time to fit in an announcement, have registration take place, and prepare for whatever the first one back ends up being. My guess is that if W&D comes back we’ll get an announcement by mid-May, if Marathon is first back, we’ll get the calendar by July, and so forth.

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DrewmanS

Well-Known Member
My guess is the delay in any race calendar has more to do with determining the format of the races and if it makes sense ($$) to conduct the race rather than choosing the dates. The Atlanta Track Club has been conducting races based on assigned start times. Small groups of people assigned to every 5 minutes. Participants are urged to arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before their assigned time and leave after the race. This worked well for the 10 mile, Half, and Full marathons, but only because everyone drove to the locations (motor speedways) and they rotate parking as people arrived/left. This format however requires the course to be closed for longer durations and would create complications for scheduling busses or other public transportation.

For the Peachtree Road Race (10k) which usually has 60k runners though downtown ATL, they are holding the race over 2 days and will be limiting total participants. There is also talk of requiring vaccinations (an option not available in Florida). They have not released full plans yet, but they are to include increased transportation options, staggered start times, and other social distancing measures.

So RunDisney is likely wanting to see how the logistics works for other large races and looking to CDC guidelines to determine if special protocols will be required into 2022. We could end up with midnight runs, reduced capacity, tighter time limits, social distant photo ops, restricted international participants, and/or shorter courses with multiple laps. The best case scenario is that we reach herd immunity in the US by early summer and the races can proceed with traditional formats and minimal restrictions.
 

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