Official Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend - The Dark Side 2017

[bryana]

Can anyone help me remember where on the website one can go to sign up for messaging split times to those waiting for them at the finish?

Runner tracking is under the spectators tab of the website.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

CORRAL A!!!!!
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!!!!

Barely, but I'll take it. My first real running goal has been met, so give me donuts!

Re: Course... Two thumbs way up! A little HS, and the World Showcase is huge. The course hasn't been certified and released yet, but since World Drive (North) is open, Bear Island Rd should have two lanes going. If not... well... I won't think about that with all the good vibes so far today.

Re: Corrals... Yeah, waves and such, but dang! The way they are arranged, the early waves won't be by who is faster but by who shows up first. The crowds in those narrow chutes will be tough. (That's where the 20 minute walk comes in!) That experiment might be a big failure. But we won't have to walk through mud or stuff to get there! Woo-hoo!

 

[hipporina]

CORRAL A!!!!!
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!!!!

Barely, but I'll take it. My first real running goal has been met, so give me donuts!

Re: Course... Two thumbs way up! A little HS, and the World Showcase is huge. The course hasn't been certified and released yet, but since World Drive (North) is open, Bear Island Rd should have two lanes going. If not... well... I won't think about that with all the good vibes so far today.

Re: Corrals... Yeah, waves and such, but dang! The way they are arranged, the early waves won't be by who is faster but by who shows up first. The crowds in those narrow chutes will be tough. (That's where the 20 minute walk comes in!) That experiment might be a big failure. But we won't have to walk through mud or stuff to get there! Woo-hoo!

Congrats!! That's amazing! I'm just glad not to be in the last!

 

[RunningAriel]

One more question, the planner in me is going overboard! But looking at the route, it's probably hard to see someone on both the boardwalk and the finish line, correct? Especially, if you have to drive/park? My parents will have our 1 year old, so I want to make sure I get them set-up at the easiest spot, so it looks like the finish is probably best? Do you think Chear Squad would be worth it with a little?

The year I had hip surgery I cheered during the marathon. I was able to see my friends at the Boardwalk but missed them at the finish because I couldn't get through Epcot fast enough. I would weight out what's more important for y'all, seeing you finish with a mass of people or being able to see you and maybe give you a quick hug at the Boardwalk and then meeting you shortly after you finish. Just some thoughts!

 

[JohnRPG]

Thanks for posting Waivers and Corrals! I'm excited to be in Corral D.

 

[WhereInFlorida]

Re: Course... Two thumbs way up! A little HS, and the World Showcase is huge. The course hasn't been certified and released yet, but since World Drive (North) is open, Bear Island Rd should have two lanes going. If not... well... I won't think about that with all the good vibes so far today.

Re: Corrals... Yeah, waves and such, but dang! The way they are arranged, the early waves won't be by who is faster but by who shows up first. The crowds in those narrow chutes will be tough. (That's where the 20 minute walk comes in!) That experiment might be a big failure. But we won't have to walk through mud or stuff to get there! Woo-hoo!

Bear Island will be both lanes as it is in the marathon. There are a few connecting roads leading up to it that are 1 lane.

Waves? Is there something in the guide that discusses waves because past history they release the corral all at once.

 

[lovingeire]

Yes and no. They'll probably do the mini waves that they've started doing so it won't be that many people all going off at the same time, so I think it will flow fine.

I'm hoping for the mini waves as I'm also in F. Should be interesting. I guess getting to my corral early will be a priority for this race. Normally I'll grab a photo first before I head there, but I think queueing up in the corral might be more important!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Seems like everyone is wise to the POT better than 2:45 needs proof and have begun putting down 2:46 (or 2:45:01) if they don't have a POT. They need to figure out a better system to prevent that weirdness.

ETA: and by "that weirdness" I mean the second to last corral being 1/3 of the field and vastly larger than the last corral.

 

[DISRNR1000]

OK, this is really getting exciting now with waivers up!

Corral F here, and I'm surprised that it is so large! I don't feel like jockeying for a spot near the front. I think I'll just hang near the back of the corral and relax as best as I can before we start.

 

[mbwhitti]

DH and I got Corral C!! Woohoo! Super excited about that. Fingers crossed that we might squeak into corral A for the 10k!! 20 days until Disney bound!!

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I'm in F too. A little frustrating because I am getting so close to a 2:45 POT, I guess this is just more incentive to get there.

Seems like everyone is wise to the POT better than 2:45 needs proof and have begun putting down 2:46 (or 2:45:01) if they don't have a POT. They need to figure out a better system to prevent that weirdness.

Yeah they should have made the POT 3 hours or 3:30. I think the problem is they couldn't put runners under the 2:45 POT in with runners who didn't provide POT because there would be complains. And so many people put in 2:45 that they couldn't separate them. I don't envy whoever does these corrals I'm sure they get crap no matter what they do.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Yeah they should have made the POT 3 hours or 3:30. I think the problem is they couldn't put runners under the 2:45 POT in with runners who didn't provide POT because there would be complains. And so many people put in 2:45 that they couldn't separate them. I don't envy whoever does these corrals I'm sure they get crap no matter what they do.

I think whatever time they choose (3 hours seems reasonable, but they could leave it 2:45) there should be no delineation of times after that. Anyone without a verifiable proof of time inside of the cutoff gets evenly split into the last 2-3 corrals. I kind of feel bad for the people in G who probably tried to be honest and were jumped by a bunch of people who were just aware of how the system works.

I realize it's a no win situation; this just seems like they handcuffed themselves by soliciting estimated finishing times in a very transparent manner.

 

[MissLiss279]

I'm in corral C! Barely, but I made it.

 

[drummerwife]

Seems like everyone is wise to the POT better than 2:45 needs proof and have begun putting down 2:46 (or 2:45:01) if they don't have a POT. They need to figure out a better system to prevent that weirdness.

ETA: and by "that weirdness" I mean the second to last corral being 1/3 of the field and vastly larger than the last corral.

Yes to this!
I run a 2:55 half and did not submit a POT. I checked the finish time reflecting my current ability (at registration) and was placed correctly in corral F. My big complaint is by rD not requiring POT for anyone who runs over 2:45 half they are potentially corralling me with runners who have no problem lying about their running ability and there by making my run less enjoyable.
Feel free to flame away but I will not change my opinion.

 

[tigger536]

DH and I got Corral C!! Woohoo! Super excited about that. Fingers crossed that we might squeak into corral A for the 10k!! 20 days until Disney bound!!

I'm in C too!

 

[bryana]

Bear Island will be both lanes as it is in the marathon. There are a few connecting roads leading up to it that are 1 lane.

Waves? Is there something in the guide that discusses waves because past history they release the corral all at once.

Waves started after Disneyland Paris, I think. They also did it at Marathon weekend this year.

Seems like everyone is wise to the POT better than 2:45 needs proof and have begun putting down 2:46 (or 2:45:01) if they don't have a POT. They need to figure out a better system to prevent that weirdness.

ETA: and by "that weirdness" I mean the second to last corral being 1/3 of the field and vastly larger than the last corral.

Is this the first race where they haven't just made multiple 2:45-2:50 corrals? I swear marathon weekend had like 5 different corrals for that time frame.

I think whatever time they choose (3 hours seems reasonable, but they could leave it 2:45) there should be no delineation of times after that. Anyone without a verifiable proof of time inside of the cutoff gets evenly split into the last 2-3 corrals. I kind of feel bad for the people in G who probably tried to be honest and were jumped by a bunch of people who were just aware of how the system works.

I realize it's a no win situation; this just seems like they handcuffed themselves by soliciting estimated finishing times in a very transparent manner.

I really feel like this is the best thing that they could do.

Additionally, didn't POT used to be 3 hours? I swear my first rD race it was something like that.

 

[DisSconnie]

Yes to this!
I run a 2:55 half and did not submit a POT. I checked the finish time reflecting my current ability (at registration) and was placed correctly in corral F. My big complaint is by rD not requiring POT for anyone who runs over 2:45 half they are potentially corralling me with runners who have no problem lying about their running ability and there by making my run less enjoyable.
Feel free to flame away but I will not change my opinion.

I think the issue is that this is the first half for a lot of folks and they don't have a proof of time. I've been consistently training to finish around the same time ~2:55, but since I haven't run a competitive race 10k or longer before, there's no real way to prove that. It'd be super annoying to be placed in the last corral simply because it's my first race. I think one way to improve it would be ask for POT for everyone who has it and place them accordingly like:

Corral F : 2:45-3:00 - POT provided
Corral G : 2:45- 3:00 - No POT provided
Corral H : 3:00 - 3:15 - POT provided
Corral I : 3:00 - 3:15 est - No POT provided

It might help reduce the effect of those trying to game the system. It also doesn't necessarily "punish" runners who don't have POT, but would provide a benefit for those that do.

 

[rteetz]

Wow those Corrals are interesting... I would have to imagine Mini-Waves are in order for corral F at the very least.

 

[hipporina]

I think the issue is that this is the first half for a lot of folks and they don't have a proof of time. I've been consistently training to finish around the same time ~2:55, but since I haven't run a competitive race 10k or longer before, there's no real way to prove that. It'd be super annoying to be placed in the last corral simply because it's my first race. I think one way to improve it would be ask for POT for everyone who has it and place them accordingly like:

Corral F : 2:45-3:00 - POT provided
Corral G : 2:45- 3:00 - No POT provided
Corral H : 3:00 - 3:15 - POT provided
Corral I : 3:00 - 3:15 est - No POT provided

It might help reduce the effect of those trying to game the system. It also doesn't necessarily "punish" runners who don't have POT, but would provide a benefit for those that do.

I like that idea. We were in the last corral for our first two races because we hadn't run any other races. We are in F this time.

 

[stal]

I mean when that time was submitted I was 230ish on average and I am rolli


Well looks like I will try to be as close as I can get to the front of corral F. My goal is to get sub 2 hours. I will have to do a lot of juking for the first 2-3 miles. Luckily it is all open road for the first 4 miles.

Hey, Don't worry about it. My first half was the Wine and Dine last year and so didn't have a POT. I was placed in the last corral, and run a 9 minute mile and worried about it for nothing. Sure it will be congested to start with, but don't sweat the small stuff! Plus I've heard the later corrals are a lot more fun!