Official Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend - The Dark Side 2017

[FFigawi]

Grrr. There's goes our plan of parking at the TTC for the start and monorail back after the finish @FFigawi

I know. Maybe we can valet park at Poly & walk over?

 

[BigEeyore]

Interesting info on the bus transportation...happy to see that they seem to be firming up race weekend specifics! The courses can't be far behind!

Training....we have spring break next week (Disney Dream here we come!!) so I am planning on getting in a 12 mile run before we leave, and then will keep up some short runs on the boat (and maybe Castaway Cay). I may try to do one more long run before Darkside but if I don't, I should be fine topping out at 12 3 weeks out.

 

[lovingeire]

I'm trying to figure out my training plan here. I have a 10K April 8th. The timing isn't ideal, but I wasn't worried about it because I thought I'd already be pretty trained up at this point. So I could try to do a long run Sunday sometime. I ran 4 this past weekend and would like to increase my mileage a bit, but not sure if I should try 8 this weekend or do 6 and then 6 and 8 next weekend and then I could try 10 the weekend before the race? But I'm not sure that's ideal. Darn this stress fracture! I know I'll finish, but just not sure how to squeeze in what I'd like before the race weekend.

 

[Goofy2015]

So I am going down with a ton of friends from work for this Half. They want to do one day at Universal, which I am cool with. I haven't been to Universal since 1995 and I go to Disney like 3-4 times a year. Outside of my intense training, I am going to try to watch all of the Harry Potter movies and of course Star Wars movies before we leave. This is my tentative movie watching plan.

Saturday, April 1st, 2017: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Saturday, April 8th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Saturday, April 8th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sunday, April 9th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price
Sunday, April 9th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Monday, April 10th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Tuesday, April 11th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Wednesday, April 12th, 2017: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Saturday, April 15th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Saturday, April 15th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Sunday, April 16th, 2017: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Sunday, April 16th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope
Monday, April 17th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Wednesday, April 19th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode VII - The Force Awakens

 

[Ndusmama]

So I am going down with a ton of friends from work for this Half. They want to do one day at Universal, which I am cool with. I haven't been to Universal since 1995 and I go to Disney like 3-4 times a year. Outside of my intense training, I am going to try to watch all of the Harry Potter movies and of course Star Wars movies before we leave. This is my tentative movie watching plan.

Saturday, April 1st, 2017: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Saturday, April 8th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Saturday, April 8th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sunday, April 9th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price
Sunday, April 9th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Monday, April 10th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Tuesday, April 11th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Wednesday, April 12th, 2017: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Saturday, April 15th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Saturday, April 15th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Sunday, April 16th, 2017: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Sunday, April 16th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope
Monday, April 17th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Wednesday, April 19th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode VII - The Force Awakens

I love it, a movie training plan!

 

[Sakigt]

Has anyone done the bus from resort to ESPN for packet pickup? We've always driven in.

I'm coming in with a camper, 2 kids under 5 and 2 friends to FW. Check in is 3p and Mickey BBQ is 530p

Should we:
Arrive early to FW and hope for early check in. Unhitch camper and drive to ESPN while guys set up

Arrive early and park with camper attached at ESPN

Arrive early and worst case leave car and camper in parking lot to take bus to ESPN

Not worry about pickup and get packet Saturday morning (only running the half)

 

[lovingeire]

So I am going down with a ton of friends from work for this Half. They want to do one day at Universal, which I am cool with. I haven't been to Universal since 1995 and I go to Disney like 3-4 times a year. Outside of my intense training, I am going to try to watch all of the Harry Potter movies and of course Star Wars movies before we leave. This is my tentative movie watching plan.

Saturday, April 1st, 2017: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Saturday, April 8th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Saturday, April 8th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sunday, April 9th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price
Sunday, April 9th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Monday, April 10th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Tuesday, April 11th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Wednesday, April 12th, 2017: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Saturday, April 15th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Saturday, April 15th, 2017: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Sunday, April 16th, 2017: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Sunday, April 16th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope
Monday, April 17th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Wednesday, April 19th, 2017: Star Wars - Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Now this is a training plan I can stick with! (Although having to watch the prequels kills me a little each time...) .

 

[bcarey2k]

Has anyone done the bus from resort to ESPN for packet pickup? We've always driven in.

I'm coming in with a camper, 2 kids under 5 and 2 friends to FW. Check in is 3p and Mickey BBQ is 530p

Should we:
Arrive early to FW and hope for early check in. Unhitch camper and drive to ESPN while guys set up

Arrive early and park with camper attached at ESPN

Arrive early and worst case leave car and camper in parking lot to take bus to ESPN

Not worry about pickup and get packet Saturday morning (only running the half)

If you're not concerned about the merchandise, I'd roll with getting everything set up and then IF you have time, take the bus Friday afternoon ... otherwise Saturday morning would work just fine.

We usually do Friday afternoon .... we run the 10K and half.

Brian

 

[Goofy2015]

Now this is a training plan I can stick with! (Although having to watch the prequels kills me a little each time...) .

The prequels are defiantly no where as good as the originals. However, at least there are some fun scenes like the Darth Maul lightsaber scene, the coliseum battle scene in AOTC, and I enjoy seeing Anakin slowly switch to Darth Vader in ROTS.

 

[cavepig]

Great movie training plan @Goofy2015 I like the prequels...the whole Padme & Anakin on Naboo eating floating pears kind of gets to me but overall I enjoy them. Besides showing Anakin turning to Darth Vader I like how they show Palpatine's rise.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

I looked at last year's certification and the course was measured in Oct. but it wasn't certified until a couple days before the race. I wonder if that's normal or if Disney asked them not to sign off on it until then.

Very abnormal. I used the USATF search to browse around various states, small and big events, new and old... I didn't find one that certified more than 5 weeks after the measurement. Most of them certified within a week or two.

 

[kariandy6698]

I'll be there. This is my first Disney race.

 

[lovingeire]

The prequels are defiantly no where as good as the originals. However, at least there are some fun scenes like the Darth Maul lightsaber scene, the coliseum battle scene in AOTC, and I enjoy seeing Anakin slowly switch to Darth Vader in ROTS.

I love Darth Maul I must say! He is awesome!

Great movie training plan @Goofy2015 I like the prequels...the whole Padme & Anakin on Naboo eating floating pears kind of gets to me but overall I enjoy them. Besides showing Anakin turning to Darth Vader I like how they show Palpatine's rise.

Yes, it's not the story of the movies that bothers me really, more just the execution of the films. And I'm not a film buff really or anything like that. My oldest son was obsessed with the prequels though, well with anything Star Wars, so we have watched them quite often!

 

[PrincessV]

Half says 3:00am and it starts at 5:30 this year versus 5 from last year so seems right. 10k says 3:30am, which seems like most 10ks if I remember right.

Yep, this is in line with what I'm used to at WDW rD races, too. Thanks for posting - I didn't realize they updated it!

I honestly wish it was still 5. It would give us an extra half hour of race time before sunrise which in late April would have been nice.

Me, too. I did 11 miles this past weekend - started at 8am... by 9am all shade and clouds were gone and it was HOT! (I'm 90 miles west of WDW.) The air wasn't super heated, but the sun was intense. Actual temps were 65 when I started, 78 when I finished.

 

[cavepig]

I'm trying to figure out my training plan here. I have a 10K April 8th. The timing isn't ideal, but I wasn't worried about it because I thought I'd already be pretty trained up at this point. So I could try to do a long run Sunday sometime. I ran 4 this past weekend and would like to increase my mileage a bit, but not sure if I should try 8 this weekend or do 6 and then 6 and 8 next weekend and then I could try 10 the weekend before the race? But I'm not sure that's ideal. Darn this stress fracture! I know I'll finish, but just not sure how to squeeze in what I'd like before the race weekend.

10 the weekend before might be too much since you wouldn't have been built up to it like I'm sure you would like, recovery might be slower with your training being behind. Seems like I always read that anything less than 10 days before the race doesn't really benefit you, mentally I'm sure it does, but not physically. I would try to do 8 this weekend and maybe try 10 next to hopefully reap the most benefits out of the longer runs. So, not much advice but just thoughts as I sit here in our ongoing gloom and rain.

 

[Ndusmama]

Now this is a training plan I can stick with! (Although having to watch the prequels kills me a little each time...) .

The prequels are defiantly no where as good as the originals. However, at least there are some fun scenes like the Darth Maul lightsaber scene, the coliseum battle scene in AOTC, and I enjoy seeing Anakin slowly switch to Darth Vader in ROTS.

Great movie training plan @Goofy2015 I like the prequels...the whole Padme & Anakin on Naboo eating floating pears kind of gets to me but overall I enjoy them. Besides showing Anakin turning to Darth Vader I like how they show Palpatine's rise.

The prequels aren't bad if you watch them as a separate trilogy in themselves. Really just watch the force awakens then original trilogy finish with the prequel trilogy. There now I have my movie training plan!

 

[Ndusmama]

Yep, this is in line with what I'm used to at WDW rD races, too. Thanks for posting - I didn't realize they updated it!


Me, too. I did 11 miles this past weekend - started at 8am... by 9am all shade and clouds were gone and it was HOT! (I'm 90 miles west of WDW.) The air wasn't super heated, but the sun was intense. Actual temps were 65 when I started, 78 when I finished.

Sounds like my run. I think I am prepared for the temps, humidity still not but what can I do. And sunblock must pack sunblock. I have switched to tanks to run in and have come home a little redder then I should be for the past three weekends. I need to find a sweat proof sunblock that works.

 

[DisSconnie]

I need to find a sweat proof sunblock that works.

If you find any, please share! I'm a Northerner whose Irish, pale skin hasn't seen the sun in 6 months. I fry without any sunscreen.

 

[PrincessV]

Sounds like my run. I think I am prepared for the temps, humidity still not but what can I do. And sunblock must pack sunblock. I have switched to tanks to run in and have come home a little redder then I should be for the past three weekends. I need to find a sweat proof sunblock that works.

If you find any, please share! I'm a Northerner whose Irish, pale skin hasn't seen the sun in 6 months. I fry without any sunscreen.

YES to sunscreen! I slathered in 50SPF and still got a little pink the other day.
I use a couple kinds here in FL, where I start sweating the moment I walk out the door in summer:
1. Neutrogena Ultra-Sheer Dry Touch - comes in a variety of SPF levels.
2. Neutrogena Clear Face Oil-Free - also comes in a few different SPF level.
3. Neutrogena Kids Wet Skin stick - I buy the itty-bitty stick and carry it with me on long runs so I can reapply. It works REALLY well on wet skin!

 

[RunningAriel]

If you find any, please share! I'm a Northerner whose Irish, pale skin hasn't seen the sun in 6 months. I fry without any sunscreen.

Redhead and former lifeguard here! I use Thinksport sunscreen. Never once have I burned and my skin actually looks better with each use! It's not cheap like drugstore brands but I have been treated for both Squamous cell carcinoma and Basal cell carcinoma in the past 10yrs so I don't mess around when it come to sunscreen. Also a huge plus is that I have never once had to reapply even after 12+hrs kayaking or swimming!! If you can't find Thinksport then Bullfrog works well too.