Hi there everyone, Catie here! Addie asked me to talk to everyone about running from the front of the pack this week. So, here it goes!
Running from the front of the pack means that you will be starting in the front corrals. In WDW races, this often means from corrals A-E and at DL races, I would classify only corrals A & B. At WDW races, the upper corrals are much smaller than the corrals as they go further back. In DL, all the corrals are roughly the same size so corrals A & B would be the only corrals with an upper corral advantage. Starting in the forward or upper corrals means less wait time at the beginning of the race! No having to wait for an hour at WDW to get started or 30 minutes at DL races.
So, now that we know that you get to start with fewer people and have to not wait as long to get started, we get to my favorite part of starting in the front of the pack – the course is fairly wide open! This means that as a runner there is often more room around you and you typically aren’t running 7-10 people across. It also really cuts down on the number of congested areas on the course as well. Each course on both coasts have some areas known for being a terrible place for a bottleneck (looking at you Castles!) and in the front of the pack, you rarely have the same walking/stopping issues as you do when running from later corrals. Lastly, there are much shorter lines for the characters! Typically, I rarely wait longer than 30-45 seconds at a character stop when running from the front of the pack.
However, most importantly, is to remember that no matter where you start in a race, it honestly doesn’t matter. Every race is against the runner you were yesterday. Disney races utilize chip timing technology so YOUR race doesn’t begin until you cross the start line and ends when your bib crosses over the finish line. Typically, at Disney I like to focus on having a good time versus getting a decent racing time. Also, every runner, no matter where you start, will run the same course. The first and the last runner get to run through the castle, get to see every character on the course, and get to feel that immense pride as you cross the line and get your finisher medal!
So take home points, while there are some benefits to running in earlier corrals, there is nothing that trumps having a good time with friends and family while running a Disney race. Happy running and hopefully I’ll see some of you out on the course in the future!
TMSM is very excited to publish the “Racing Disney” runDisney series by Addie Clark, Catie Neal and Tali McPike. Please keep an eye out for more of their amazing and informative articles! If you missed of the articles in this series make sure you check them athttps://www.themainstreetmouse.com/tag/racing-disney/
If you are planning on running in a runDisney event and have questions, or have participated and want to talk about your experiences make sure you visit our runDisney Forum at http://goo.gl/RLB5ka
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