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Latest reviews by Kate Bunting
Kate Bunting recommends this race
(2019)
"My First Peachtree"
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This was my first Peachtree Road Race. I registered as an Atlanta Track Club member after the guaranteed race entry deadline so I had to enter the lottery. Luckily I got entry through the lottery. The week of the race my friend and I headed down to the expo. It was a good size with a decent variety of vendors.
On the day of the race I got up at 4:00am and had to drive to a Marta station. Then we had to ride in to a nearby station and walk about a mile. The parking for this race is not easy to deal with, and is a hassle. Once closer to the race there are some directions towards porta potties and corrals.
The waves are pretty well organized, but a lot of people will just go in ones they aren't assigned to.
Because I was in a slower corral, the first mile there was a lot of bottle necking. A lot of people will just stop and walk and slow down a big group. Once I was running it was great. Really cool that people will come out and watch. I even saw a guy riding an electric skateboard with his dog onboard. Cardiac hill is tough, and pretty much everyone walks anyway. It was a fun experience. I will definitely doing it for the 50th.
The hardest part was the walk back to Marta after the race!
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Kate Bunting recommends this race
(2019)
"The 50th "
Overall
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This was my second Peachtree. I knew when it was the 50th I had to sign up again. I think it's a really well put on race. They manage it well, and I definitely recommend you do it at least once. This year it was the hottest one they've ever had so that made it harder than usual. I had a lot of fun, the only complaints I have are that Marta sucks and I wish I could just park and the food at the end wasn't great this year. I mean come on, no peaches??!! it's the Peachtree!
Kate Bunting recommends this race
(2019)
"Second Disney Half"
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I arrived on Thursday and went to the expo really quick to pick up my bib and shirts. I didn't get to enjoy it much, so I went back on Saturday and went to more booths. Disney always puts on a great expo. It's fun and has a lot of vendors. There's always an excited vibe.
Morning of the race I had to get up at 2:45 am to make the 3:30 am bus requirement. My fiance and I got on the bus and arrived at the parking lot where the start was by 3:45. The first wave wouldn't even start the race until 5:30am. We got in a huge line for bathrooms, then a huge line for coffee then I went to the bathroom about 45 more times before they released the first wave. My wave wasn't released until 6:20ish.
While on the course they had several character stops, and cool stuff. I liked how they set up lights and lasers on the course and played music and sounds. It made the race a lot more fun. They had a lot more things like this on the course, than the half I did in Disneyland. They had a lot of water stops too. It was super HOT and HUMID, so I'm really glad they had plenty available.
I really enjoyed this race, it was a lot of fun. The really great thing about Disney races is that they are pretty judgement free, the focus is on the fun. Tons of people dress up in crazy costumes and there's a lot of stuff to look at and experience so you aren't so focused on the struggle. I definitely recommend RunDisney races for beginners to elites. There's definitely something for everyone.
What I think they need to change and work on:
1. Start times. Having people who won't even begin running until after 6:00am shouldn't have to be there by 3:30 am. That just doesn't make sense. It definitely takes away from the fun, especially if you are doing multiple races and have to get up that early three days in a row. I think this could be staggered according to actual race start times. Then the lines wouldn't be so long for photos and bathrooms when you arrive.
2. Proof of time/waves. - I submitted a crappy proof of time because that's all I had for the qualifying distance. That meant I was in a corral in the back. I was in another RunDisney race, but I was able to fight my way upstream. For this race that was impossible. The entire course there were so many people in front of me only walking. They didn't follow the stay to the right directions they took up the whole course. People would just stop in front of you and walk the whole way all across the course. You had to waste a lot of time and energy weaving around people the entire time. The people along the course should try and enforce the stay to the right rule. There were also groups who didn't follow the rule of two abreast and took up the whole road. This is not fair or courteous to other runners. I understand that this race is walker friendly, but runners should be able to go up the left side. This was extremely frustrating for me to deal with. Even at the finish a group of 6 across blocked the whole road and I had to duck under their arms to even get around.
I definitely recommend these races, but make sure you submit a fast time or you'll be stuck fighting huge crowds the whole course. Be prepared for fun, but also major lack of sleep during race weekend.
(2019)
"Quite the experience..........."
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I had high hopes for this race. I've always seen/heard great things about RunDisney races. I signed me and my mom up and thought it would be a fun experience for us to do together (her first 5k).
We flew down to Orlando to do the 5k and I was also doing the half marathon. We hit the expo real quick on Thursday night and just grabbed our bibs and shirts. I wanted to go back because the expo at Disney is always awesome. They have tons of vendors and merchandise to purchase. It's always a really fun atmosphere that helps get you psyched for the race.
Friday morning we got up at 3:15 am because they said we had to be on the bus by 4:00 am. The bus didn't arrive to get us until after 4:15 so we had to stand there for a while waiting. Then it took us to the Epcot parking lot and everyone got off and made their way towards the bathrooms/start area. They had some cool backdrops set up with characters you could take pics with. Everything was so crowded that unless you get there beyond early and wait in a huge line you don't get to take advantage. After waiting an hour and a half, we lined up in our corral and they made announcements and played some star wars videos and music. They seemed to really be dragging things on, and the race start time went past and they were still talking. Finally they told us there was a delay due to weather and made us evacuate. It was chaos. There weren't clear directions and people just kind of went everywhere. My mom and I got on a random bus where we waited for about and hour and a half. During that time it started to downpour. After waiting a while, someone got on the bus and said the race was back on and to just jump on the course when we saw runners go by. We got off and jumped on once runners passed our bus. It continued to pour the whole race, and before we even got to mile 1 there was a huge bolt of lightning that struck 3 miles away. After that we just kept walking and rain didn't stop. Because they released everyone at one time the course was majorly clogged. The push assist and fast runners couldn't get through because everyone was crushed together. We managed to push through and made it to the end, but it was a truly miserable experience.
I think if they had released us earlier we could have finished before the bad weather got there. Delaying it made it worse. Releasing all waves at once was a mistake also. They should have delayed until the weather passed completely or canceled. There was still lightning when we were on the course so it wasn't any safer. I would try another race, but the management needs to work on their inclement weather planning, the way it was handled was not safe for participants.
Kate Bunting recommends this race
(2019)
"Awesome way to start your St. Patty's Day"
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Atlanta Track Club really knows how to put on great races. It was well organized, and fun.
Morning of, my friends and I rode Marta to get there (they don't have good options for parking). There were only 3 waves for the 5K. They weren't very strict about who went in what wave. I saw a lot of people in the wrong waves. The course was pretty tough. There were a lot of hills. There were some vendors and they gave you food after you finished. Awesome medals! I definitely recommend you try out this race, especially since there are different distance options.