Marathon Weekend 2026

[disneyrunnergrl]

And runDisney Grey. Always a runDisney grey to be found.

Thank you for this - I needed that. I really struggled with the constant “do it for the ‘Gram!”-ness of this past MW. I don’t know how to define that, exactly, but there was a vibe… and it left me feeling very off. MW used to be my favorite weekend because it seemed more immune to that than, say, PHM or W&D, but not so with this last one. I’m still torn about whether I want to participate at all, or if I do which race/s to choose, but this is helping to temper my expectations.

The announcers aren’t helping. They were really hyping up the “panic crafting” that was apparently trending on Instagram leading up to the race. Most of the people they were pulling for interviews were part of those groups. I guess that’s their job but idk it also left me feeling off.

 

[nancipants]

Several times this past weekend, I felt like I did back in high school, where all the popular influencers got all the attention and I'm off on the sideline with the weirdos from Drama Club. Thankfully, I stopped caring about being popular in middle school.

(I don't necessarily have anything against "influencers" (I really hate that term). I like seeing their costumes and reels on Instagram and sometimes they give good advice about runDisney or running in general. And some of them are super nice! But others have a "do it for the 'gram" vibe that comes off as very inauthentic, and that's what annoys me.)

 

[Herding_Cats]

DH came home from work today talking about DVC points....how many do we have, where can we book, what resorts are in our "budget" and so on. So that's where he is after our discussion last night. I called member services and moved some points around, and we are now booked Tuesday to Tuesday at Saratoga.

After a lot of points and counter-points last night, we have our sights set on DH and DD doing "just" the 5k. I'm likely to go waaaay down the rabbit hole on costumes for this one. DH is firmly against me running Dopey for the 4th year in a row, and I'm pretty much on the same page as well. Taking DD with us will change a lot of how we do things on a trip, so I'm planning to try for Goofy and only 2 wake-ups.

That also means I can run the HM with The Expert, and the full with nacipants!

 

[nancipants]

DH came home from work today talking about DVC points....how many do we have, where can we book, what resorts are in our "budget" and so on. So that's where he is after our discussion last night. I called member services and moved some points around, and we are now booked Tuesday to Tuesday at Saratoga.

After a lot of points and counter-points last night, we have our sights set on DH and DD doing "just" the 5k. I'm likely to go waaaay down the rabbit hole on costumes for this one. DH is firmly against me running Dopey for the 4th year in a row, and I'm pretty much on the same page as well. Taking DD with us will change a lot of how we do things on a trip, so I'm planning to try for Goofy and only 2 wake-ups.

That also means I can run the HM with The Expert, and the full with nacipants!

 

[accm]

DH came home from work today talking about DVC points....how many do we have, where can we book, what resorts are in our "budget" and so on. So that's where he is after our discussion last night. I called member services and moved some points around, and we are now booked Tuesday to Tuesday at Saratoga.

After a lot of points and counter-points last night, we have our sights set on DH and DD doing "just" the 5k. I'm likely to go waaaay down the rabbit hole on costumes for this one. DH is firmly against me running Dopey for the 4th year in a row, and I'm pretty much on the same page as well. Taking DD with us will change a lot of how we do things on a trip, so I'm planning to try for Goofy and only 2 wake-ups.

That also means I can run the HM with The Expert, and the full with nacipants!

Is there a reason why you're not planning on doing the 5k with DH and DD? I feel like that's going to be a pretty special race that you wouldn't want to miss.


And then at that point what's one more early wake up?

 

[The Expert]

I really struggled with the constant “do it for the ‘Gram!”-ness of this past MW. I don’t know how to define that, exactly, but there was a vibe… and it left me feeling very off.

The announcers aren’t helping. They were really hyping up the “panic crafting” that was apparently trending on Instagram leading up to the race. Most of the people they were pulling for interviews were part of those groups.

Several times this past weekend, I felt like I did back in high school, where all the popular influencers got all the attention and I'm off on the sideline with the weirdos from Drama Club. Thankfully, I stopped caring about being popular in middle school.

(I don't necessarily have anything against "influencers" (I really hate that term). I like seeing their costumes and reels on Instagram and sometimes they give good advice about runDisney or running in general. And some of them are super nice! But others have a "do it for the 'gram" vibe that comes off as very inauthentic, and that's what annoys me.)

YES! Allllll of this!

That also means I can run the HM with The Expert, and the full with nacipants!

Also, I KNEW IT!!!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Is there a reason why you're not planning on doing the 5k with DH and DD? I feel like that's going to be a pretty special race that you wouldn't want to miss.


And then at that point what's one more early wake up?

This is 100% why. Because it would sent me down the trail to “why not just do Dopey.”

But we will see. I have 2 weeks to be convinced by DH that we should *all* do it. Even if I don’t run, I’ll come in the morning to do the meet up, cheer at the start, cheer and the finish, etc.

 

[nancipants]

I am 100% NOT bringing my kid, though. He whines enough when we walk around the block and would want to stop to play the drums and watch the trains and go on the playground.

 

[marty3d]

This is 100% why. Because it would sent me down the trail to “why not just do Dopey.”

But we will see. I have 2 weeks to be convinced by DH that we should *all* do it. Even if I don’t run, I’ll come in the morning to do the meet up, cheer at the start, cheer and the finish, etc.

Please don’t! I need at least one other person to hold out on Dopey!

 

[The Expert]

Please don’t! I need at least one other person to hold out on Dopey!

I'm solidly NOT doing Dopey! Signing up for the sake of one registration over three was a tempting thought, but I can't justify the extra cost. The whole point of my every-other-year plan is to NOT have to do marathon training every year.

 

[camaker]

Registered for my bib through the Scott Carter Foundation this morning, so Dopey Redemption Tour 2026 is on! Now I just have to get to the point where I can start running again...

 

[sandam1]

Please don’t! I need at least one other person to hold out on Dopey!

I'm sticking with my "no."

I just got back from Princess last night so the themes came out while I was in Florida. I like them quite a bit - and I'm slightly frustrated that runDisney pulls out the cute Dopey designs on the years that I'm NOT running it - but they didn't sway my race registration plans. If anything, the ease of recovery after "just" doing the half marathon this weekend reinforced why I'm not doing the marathon.

 

[nancipants]

My friend responding to a post about me doing the marathon: You told me to tell you never to do it again.

Me: It'll be fine! I have a friend who agreed to run with me!

Her: You know I'm not doing it, right???

 

[KSellers88]

Question for all the Dopey experts...am I going to feel like death if I bring my 5 year old with me and run Dopey? My mom will also be with us for backup, but I am a bit unsure if we should all go or if I should just go solo. I have done the full and several half marathons at Disney before and brought them, but I have not done a challenge since he was born.

 

[SheHulk]

Question for all the Dopey experts...am I going to feel like death if I bring my 5 year old with me and run Dopey? My mom will also be with us for backup, but I am a bit unsure if we should all go or if I should just go solo. I have done the full and several half marathons at Disney before and brought them, but I have not done a challenge since he was born.

Oh my gosh it feels like just yesterday you were telling us on the boards that you were expecting! 5 years old!

 

[KSellers88]

Oh my gosh it feels like just yesterday you were telling us on the boards that you were expecting! 5 years old!

He is currently 4, but will be 5 in October. It has FLOWN by.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Question for all the Dopey experts...am I going to feel like death if I bring my 5 year old with me and run Dopey? My mom will also be with us for backup, but I am a bit unsure if we should all go or if I should just go solo. I have done the full and several half marathons at Disney before and brought them, but I have not done a challenge since he was born.

I think this is going to be a solid "it depends" kind of thing. How do you operate with less sleep? Are you going to be dealing with any kind of serious (3+hr) time-zone changes for this trip? How will potentially early bedtimes impact the people you are traveling with? Will you be tempted to 'hit the parks hard' with your 5yo being there? Rope-drop to fireworks kind of park days? How involved is your mom willing to be with bedtimes or possibly keeping DS out of the room (if you are a nap person)? If your kiddo is really dependent on you for bedtimes or in the mornings (my DD has to be touching me most of the time still) that could be tricky for you too.

We are planning on bringing DD with us for the first time since 2022 and she will be 6 when we make the trip. I'm not planning on Dopey this time, but if I were I would be staying in a minimum of a 1br (have kiddo and other adult sleep in the bedroom) if I could afford it. Just Friday and Saturday night if it's not affordable for the whole time, so I'm not waking them up in the morning every day. For me, DD would be 50/50 if she would go back to sleep and that would make for a horrific day for the rest of us. Especially when the marathon *starts* at 4:30 now and I get up a 1:45am to get ready.

Plenty of people bring their kids for race weekends, and it's definitely doable.

 

[PrincessV]

Hypothetically, if one were to want to register for multiple races but NOT a challenge, what is the plan of attack these days? Aim for the one you want most first, pay and see if the other/s is/are still open? Do the one most likely to sell out fast first? Do them all in one swoop?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Hypothetically, if one were to want to register for multiple races but NOT a challenge, what is the plan of attack these days? Aim for the one you want most first, pay and see if the other/s is/are still open? Do the one most likely to sell out fast first? Do them all in one swoop?

yes.






Ok. My real answer is that if you get "in" within the first 30min of registration opening, do it all in 1 transaction. If you get in past the 45min mark, get the one you want the most, pay, then go back for the others.

 

[accm]

Question for all the Dopey experts...am I going to feel like death if I bring my 5 year old with me and run Dopey? My mom will also be with us for backup, but I am a bit unsure if we should all go or if I should just go solo. I have done the full and several half marathons at Disney before and brought them, but I have not done a challenge since he was born.

I’ve done Dopey twice with my kids. The first year we also had family that doesn’t come often, so wanted to enjoy the parks. I was dead. I almost talked myself out of waking up for the half, and then spent the majority of that day in bed (my extended family went to universal)
The second year it was just my husband and my two kids. We go often enough that we can take the weekend pretty easy. That made a huge difference.

So I guess it depends on what you want to do outside of the races. If you’re not planning on hitting the parks hard, and your kid is ok with relying on your mom, you should be ok