I cannot believe it is less than a month until Marathon Weekend. My Peak Week for training is next week and I’m in the gah I don’t want to run anymore but wow look I’m almost done stage of things! I’ve been the past two years for Princess Weekend but this is my first every Marathon and first time being there for this particular weekend. I have a few questions for those more experienced that me with RunDisney events…
My mom is joining me on this trip but will not be running. I think she will maybe want to post up along the course to cheer me on. Is there tracking available for runners as they complete the course so she can time her cheering? Also, what’s the easiest way to navigate to different points along the course come race day?
We are staying at BWI. I’m thinking the course may run on the Boardwalk toward the end. Is that correct? Have they released the official course map for this year’s Marathon? I haven’t seen it…
For my previous RunDisney races, I have attended the Expo on the first day and it has been a madhouse. We will be arriving Thursday, and heading to the Expo on our way in. Is it much different from the first day in terms of how crowded it is? Expected wait time in line?
Also, I pre-purchased merch when I registered. Is this easy and quick to grab at the Expo?
Yes, there will be tracking. Information about that will be either on the event website or in the virtual event guide closer to race day.
For where to spectate, the 5k and 10k stay around Epcot, not much different than Princess Weekend. The half marathon starts at Epcot, up to MK, running through Cinderella Castle, then back down to Epcot. The monorail will be running (unless it breaks down) and Main Street USA in MK will be open for spectators. The full marathon runs all over the place. Busses will be going, so will the monorail. The Skyliner may or may not, depending on the time of day. But they do a really good job of getting everyone from where they are to where they want to go.
The official course map should come out probably about a week before Christmas. It hasn’t come out yet. The course will go from DHS around Crescent Lake into The International Gateway, through World Showcase, and then something left in Epcot right before the finish. The course does switch on if it goes around Crescent Lake on the BWI side or the YC/BC side.
For MW, our Wednesday is what you’ve seen on Thursday. Wednesday is crazy crazy. The runDisney merch area uses a Virtual Queue to get in, not much unlike Guardians of the Galaxy. After that first day, things calm down a lot. So if you’re not running the 5k or Dopey, and don’t care about the rD merch, you’re better off skipping Wednesday and come later.
Yes. That should be somewhere in the bib or tshirt pickup area. It will be marked, and all else fails, ask a rD CM on where to go.
Sort of. It’s not quite live but is based on your pace as you hit different milestones. It’s a fair approximation assuming one doesn’t suddenly become lightning fast or bonk
Marathon runs on the path behind boardwalk along the canal between it and swan dolphin
Every day other than day 1 has minimal if any waits
I recall hitting the boardwalk quite often last year during all the different runs. We will not know for sure until they drop the maps…hopefully next week.
The tracking is a little delayed, as mentioned, if you have certain running watches and phones, you could have them track you that way as well. The most reliable would be if you could send her a text every once in a while to estimate when you will hit boardwalk.
We usually avoid expo until around 4pm on Wednesday. By then, the chaos is gone and it is smooth sailing.
And yes…I am tracking the number of runs until peak week is done as well. I am so done with these runs!!!
I put this in the Marathon Weekend thread, but I’ll post this here, as well. Blizzard Beach is closed on Marathon Sunday. So that’s giving me the inkling that they will be running a course very similar to this past January’s.
1 & 2) There is tracking available, but as others have said, it is slightly delayed. If you have a Garmin, use their live tracking feature or if you have iphones, use the “find my location” feature to share your location with her for better accuracy. Using Disney transportation (bus or monorail), if possible, is the easiest way to navigate since so many roads are closed. The busses have ways to get around the closures. But Uber/lyft is also possible. I would have her avoid driving herself - that could end up being nerve wrecking.
I did the 2022 full marathon and my cheer crew was able to find me twice. First they found me at the road in front of the poly. We were staying at the YC. If memory serves me correctly, they took a bus to EPCOT and then monorail-ed over to the TTC and then walked to Poly to see us. If the tracking would have been working a little better, they could have seen us run by the TTC too. Then they reversed it; monorail back to EPCOT, bus back to YC. Then they walked over to the entrance of the Boardwalk (on the Swan and Dolphin side) and they saw us there.
If you’re mom is up for getting up and navigating, then she could easily see you twice, possibly three times if she can time the TTC and poly (run through MK is between the two spots). I know if it was fun to see my crew and they had fun too. Good luck to you and your mom!! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
@OBNurseNH and @lauren_alicia thanks for the tracking tips. I’m remembering now that I have used my Garmin in the past for DH and the kids to track me and it was really helpful (and accurate)!
Looks like the course runs on the BW side!! Yay!! And we have a water view room so I’m hoping we’ll have a BW facing balcony and she can just sit and watch everyone run by. That’d be so fun for her!
It will be super fun for her! It’s so inspiring to watch the runners. That’s actually what got me to even consider running a full marathon. I was in EPCOT for the 2019 MW and instead of heading to attractions, I stood there for a long time just watching and cheering on runners. It was so fun!