Marathon Weekend 2026

[The Expert]

They've been announcing the full schedule in January lately.

Another reason I still think we'll see a realignment of the rD season to match the calendar year. They changed the Club membership to that last year, since it was super confusing. And it makes sense to start off your race year with the biggest event.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Replies to recent topics....

• Route: Having missed MW 2025, this will be my first time with the new reverse routes. Not looking forward to it because, well, change from what I know. OTOH, I'll follow the crowd and finish. Nice thing about mid-pack is not getting lost, saying that after having missed a turn in a half last week. Oops....
• IT band and 20+ miles: No way that you need to push the 20+ miles to complete the training plan, especially if you are having any sort of joint or pain issue. At this point, the hay is in the barn (to use an expression I like), and as others have noted, you've done most of the distance. Continuing to aggravate the IT band is diminishing returns. If it were me, I'd take 3 or 4 days off to let it recover (saying that as someone who hates taking days off to recover) and stick to 5 to 10 mile runs between now and MW just to stay race ready. Also, unless you are trying to use your MW weekend races for a POT, you'll be stopping for character and castle photos, something you won't be doing on your training runs. Those in-race breaks count for a lot in terms of not needing to run full distance in training. And I'll echo what others have said about do what works best for you. If I were to run hard for the 5 and 10K, it would definitely negatively impact my half and full. My state of fitness is that for a Dopey it is walk (stroll) the 5K, jog the 10K, RWR the half and the full. I will agree that only walking the 3 longer races will set you up for soreness and issues, so definitely break up the walking with some jogging or running. I learned that lesson the hard way. IMHO, save the hard training for a race where you are after a PR or POT.
• Meetups: I circled Hurricane Hannahs for at least 15 minutes the first time trying to figure out which was our group and then to approach the group and start talking. I also circled the light pole the first time and didn't talk to anyone because I didn't realize that was our group. Someone started bringing signs, which has helped. As someone else has said, you are a stranger only for the first minute. Once I introduced myself and others did, and I matched screen names with IRL faces, then it was talking to friends, so absolutely walk up and say hi. We will be glad to see you!

 

[dobball23]

Meetups: I circled Hurricane Hannahs for at least 15 minutes the first time trying to figure out which was our group and then to approach the group and start talking.

I did the same thing my first (and only) time! I stood there on the path trying to ID if it was the DisBoards group. Luckily, when I approached, I was right!