Official 2018 Star Wars - Light Side Half Marathon Weekend - Cancelled

[Cabo_bum]

Boo! I'm not ready to register yet. Still giving it a month. Do they ever have coupons for Surf City?

Yes - the ambassadors have discount codes. I found this online today...."Save 10% off the 2018 Surf City Marathon with code “SCMTINER2018” for both the full & half marathon races!"

We just registered for Surf City so not doing Light Side if it opens up. Keeping my fingers crossed for y'all!!! Hope something is announced soon.

 

[kirstie101]

Yes - the ambassadors have discount codes. I found this online today...."Save 10% off the 2018 Surf City Marathon with code “SCMTINER2018” for both the full & half marathon races!"

We just registered for Surf City so not doing Light Side if it opens up. Keeping my fingers crossed for y'all!!! Hope something is announced soon.

Thank you!

 

[1mena7]

Hopefully they announce something on Force Friday.

It would be amazing if they do say something sometime soon. We need to start training if it is going to happen. I hope RunDisney realizes this.

 

[camaker]

It would be amazing if they do say something sometime soon. We need to start training if it is going to happen. I hope RunDisney realizes this.

There's nothing stopping you from starting to train. Start up a plan based on the announced dates. You'll be building a fitness base regardless of whether the race happens or not. Nothing wrong with being in better shape. Then if they announce registration you'll be ahead of the game and if they cancel you can either stop or find another race to use your training for.

 

[1mena7]

There's nothing stopping you from starting to train. Start up a plan based on the announced dates. You'll be building a fitness base regardless of whether the race happens or not. Nothing wrong with being in better shape. Then if they announce registration you'll be ahead of the game and if they cancel you can either stop or find another race to use your training for.

I have my own regular fitness routine. I don't wish to change it all up for something that wont happen. It's not about getting in shape for the race but rather about changing up certain routines to benefit my outcome in the race.

 

[Shannon Dearborn]

I have my own regular fitness routine. I don't wish to change it all up for something that wont happen. It's not about getting in shape for the race but rather about changing up certain routines to benefit my outcome in the race.

The Galloway training plans on the website do have you train for 19 weeks, but many programs have you train for 12 weeks. Also, Galloway's program has you run about 14 miles as our longest run while other programs have you run 10 or 11. I'm not saying any are better than the other; just saying you still have some time to start training if you don't want to start to right now.

I truly believe they are waiting to see how the DL half goes. I ran Tink and it was pretty bad. I didn't realize they used paid temp services and not volunteers. I didn't know what the reason was for it being bad, but it was and I sent feedback to rD. As a Tink legacy runner I was very upset and disappointed in the race. I was having foot surgery 4 days after the race and ran it to keep my legacy status. If I had known what it was going to be like, I probably wouldn't have bothered to run it and stated that in my feedback. My hope is that rD is taking feedback like mine into consideration because I know plenty of other people provided similar feedback.

I think the response from the Mom's Panel is accurate and rD doesn't want anymore big hiccups so they are waiting to see how this weekend goes even if it loses racers at LS. They know people are going ask about LS and Tink all weekend so they will either announce before this weekend to stop the questioning or they are waiting to see how DL Half goes. I'm certain of it.

 

[1mena7]

I think the response from the Mom's Panel is accurate and rD doesn't want anymore big hiccups so they are waiting to see how this weekend goes even if it loses racers at LS. They know people are going ask about LS and Tink all weekend so they will either announce before this weekend to stop the questioning or they are waiting to see how DL Half goes. I'm certain of it.

Yeah I really am hoping the Moms are right. And from everything I've read on this race I think that the outcome from this weekend is going to be the determining factor. I'm a Disney World runner so I had no idea that there were problems going on with the DL races until I decided to run the Light Side. Hopefully it all works out and it does happen. I bought my flight to Cali either way and I made plans in case it doesn't happen but I'm not losing hope!

 

[Shannon Dearborn]

Yeah I really am hoping the Moms are right. And from everything I've read on this race I think that the outcome from this weekend is going to be the determining factor. I'm a Disney World runner so I had no idea that there were problems going on with the DL races until I decided to run the Light Side. Hopefully it all works out and it does happen. I bought my flight to Cali either way and I made plans in case it doesn't happen but I'm not losing hope!

The good news is you can come to CA no matter what! I signed up for the Fairy Tale challenge hoping to earn my Pink Coast 2 Coast this year, so I am trying to keep the faith that they will still come through

 

[1mena7]

The good news is you can come to CA no matter what! I signed up for the Fairy Tale challenge hoping to earn my Pink Coast 2 Coast this year, so I am trying to keep the faith that they will still come through

Yes! That's plan B! lol

 

[True Romance]

I truly believe they are waiting to see how the DL half goes. I ran Tink and it was pretty bad. I didn't realize they used paid temp services and not volunteers. I didn't know what the reason was for it being bad, but it was and I sent feedback to rD. As a Tink legacy runner I was very upset and disappointed in the race. I was having foot surgery 4 days after the race and ran it to keep my legacy status. If I had known what it was going to be like, I probably wouldn't have bothered to run it and stated that in my feedback. My hope is that rD is taking feedback like mine into consideration because I know plenty of other people provided similar feedback.

I am curious of what exactly was bad at the last Tink? I have run all the DL races (except LS) and have done W&D and Dopey in WDW. They each have had their pro's and cons, like any race. What went wrong with Tink or any of the other DL races? I am a little out of the loop here.

 

[Shannon Dearborn]

I am curious of what exactly was bad at the last Tink? I have run all the DL races (except LS) and have done W&D and Dopey in WDW. They each have had their pro's and cons, like any race. Won't went wrong with Tink or any of the other DL races? I am a little out of the loop here.

Well, it started with security lines being completed backed up. Runners couldn't get through the security lines to get to the race corrals in time. If you went to bag check, you had to go through security twice. The corrals were overly crowded; they should have made more corrals. This made the course more crowded than usual. There was little race etiquette used by other runners, which I know rD cannot enforce, but I did mention this as a safety issue. As someone having foot surgery a few days after the race, I was a slower runner. I stayed to the right like I am supposed to do, but runners who stopped for pics raced up the right hand side to make up time, tripping over me or almost making me trip and fall, making the situation a bit dangerous, especially in the parks where the course where was crowded. They changed the course, we ran in some of the DL parking lots....boring; they didn't have any fun things out in the backlots like they usually do; there weren't any characters out for the 5K (I didn't do the 5K, but I heard about this). There wasn't any course entertainment when we were out in the City of Anaheim, I missed seeing the cheerleaders and bands, etc.

Here is an article that gives a review of some of the other problems: https://www.mouseplanet.com/11776/Changes_Cause_an_Uproar_at_2017_Tinker_Bell_Half_Marathon_Weekend

 

[StarGirl11]

Well, it started with security lines being completed backed up. Runners couldn't get through the security lines to get to the race corrals in time. If you went to bag check, you had to go through security twice. The corrals were overly crowded; they should have made more corrals. This made the course more crowded than usual. There was little race etiquette used by other runners, which I know rD cannot enforce, but I did mention this as a safety issue. As someone having foot surgery a few days after the race, I was a slower runner. I stayed to the right like I am supposed to do, but runners who stopped for pics raced up the right hand side to make up time, tripping over me or almost making me trip and fall, making the situation a bit dangerous, especially in the parks where the course where was crowded. They changed the course, we ran in some of the DL parking lots....boring; they didn't have any fun things out in the backlots like they usually do; there weren't any characters out for the 5K (I didn't do the 5K, but I heard about this). There wasn't any course entertainment when we were out in the City of Anaheim, I missed seeing the cheerleaders and bands, etc.

Here is an article that gives a review of some of the other problems: https://www.mouseplanet.com/11776/Changes_Cause_an_Uproar_at_2017_Tinker_Bell_Half_Marathon_Weekend

Maybe it's because I've done other races and seen these issues outside of rD (I did Marine Corps the year they tried to use four metal detectors for all the runners, you can guess how well that went). But security didn't bug me as much as it should have. But then again I have a tendency to show up way ahead of most of the crowd.

Also race etiquette problem is not new or limited to runDisney for that matter. This has been a reoccurring issue for runDisney regardless of race weekends. Announcers can remind people all they want but the vast majority don't listen. I did a 10k last Nov (not Disney) and not only did you have a bunch of people not sure where they were supposed to be inspite of signs. But you had a pace bike cut through the crowd with the leading runner. Which was it own set of issues.

The characters were apparently to try and keep less people from being swept. Which of course went over spectacularly. Thankfully they fixed it by the 10k. That was actually my biggest complaint was the characters.

Don't really have a comment about corrals

 

[True Romance]

Well, it started with security lines being completed backed up. Runners couldn't get through the security lines to get to the race corrals in time. If you went to bag check, you had to go through security twice. The corrals were overly crowded; they should have made more corrals. This made the course more crowded than usual. There was little race etiquette used by other runners, which I know rD cannot enforce, but I did mention this as a safety issue. As someone having foot surgery a few days after the race, I was a slower runner. I stayed to the right like I am supposed to do, but runners who stopped for pics raced up the right hand side to make up time, tripping over me or almost making me trip and fall, making the situation a bit dangerous, especially in the parks where the course where was crowded. They changed the course, we ran in some of the DL parking lots....boring; they didn't have any fun things out in the backlots like they usually do; there weren't any characters out for the 5K (I didn't do the 5K, but I heard about this). There wasn't any course entertainment when we were out in the City of Anaheim, I missed seeing the cheerleaders and bands, etc.

Here is an article that gives a review of some of the other problems: https://www.mouseplanet.com/11776/Changes_Cause_an_Uproar_at_2017_Tinker_Bell_Half_Marathon_Weekend

Wow, that is awful. I had no idea it had gotten that bad. That's really too bad, it sounds like having races in Anaheim is just becoming to difficult for rD. I know they have a lot more freedom on WDW. But all of us rD fans on the west coast cannot get to Florida all the time. I hope this weekends race is better and successful. I really wanted to share the love of Run Disney with my kids in 2018.

 

[1mena7]

Here is an article that gives a review of some of the other problems: https://www.mouseplanet.com/11776/Changes_Cause_an_Uproar_at_2017_Tinker_Bell_Half_Marathon_Weekend

Wooooowwww, seeing it from the perspective of a former volunteer/ now paid temp is a completely different story than that being told by runners. I mean, yes some runners complained about different issues but that article showed the true behind the scenes problems. I hope Run Disney paid attention and read the feedback given so that they can evade these problems. We'll see how this weekend goes!

 

[FredtheDuck]

There was a really informative thread about the issues at Tink here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/tink-weekend-issues-and-changes-long.3606219/

 

[Shannon Dearborn]

There was a really informative thread about the issues at Tink here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/tink-weekend-issues-and-changes-long.3606219/

I've done many DL half marathons; I'm a legacy runner for Tink, this was by the worst experience. I have also done many other half marathons. This was by far my worst experience.

 

[True Romance]

I would have been so disappointed and mad if they did not have characters in the 5K and you were expecting them. I wanted to take my boys and do the Light Side 5K in Jan. and my daughter and do the Tink 5K in May. If there are no characters or entertainment at all, forget it. Not worth the cost or hassle. I am a big runDisney fan and am trying to do all the races. My kids see me doing the races and want to get involved. I really hope they get these issues ironed out and this weekend goes off well. I will be anxiously watching the boards and reading the threads on how it goes.

 

[GrandAdmiralStrife]

word coming out of DL this weekend is that there may not be half marathons anymore at DL due to Anaheim police wanting more money from Disney for shutting down the streets during the half marathon races. This is why Light Side and Tink are on hold, either they come to an agreement , or it becomes a 5/10K only, or cancelled altogether.

 

[Kathymford]

word coming out of DL this weekend is that there may not be half marathons anymore at DL due to Anaheim police wanting more money from Disney for shutting down the streets during the half marathon races. This is why Light Side and Tink are on hold, either they come to an agreement , or it becomes a 5/10K only, or cancelled altogether.

Out of curiosity, who’s word? More rumors? Or is this what the RD booth is saying.

 

[GrandAdmiralStrife]

not rD, but one of the vendors at the expo was telling people that. But again, until we hear directly from runDisney, everything is rumor. I doubt they'll even address it before Paris.