Marathon Weekend 2026

[Baloo in MI]

SAFD:
I have always enjoyed medals. I don’t pick races based on a medal. Specific to runDisney I enjoy wearing the medal in the parks after the race, congratulating other runners and talking to total strangers about the race. It is a sense of community that I attribute to the medal I guess. I do hang them on a medal rack because I enjoy looking at them when I pass the utility room. They become memories. Honestly it is not so much the medal and how it looks but more the feelings and memories the medal symbolizes for me.

I really hope these medals are not as big as the pins make them out to look. If that big then it is race shirt only in the parks and the medal can stay in the room!

 

[Erika10021]

SAFD: I swear I didn't even realize we'd get medals when signing up for the first runDisney event. At the end of the first 5k, I thought they were handing out cookies and tried to refuse it. I really like most of the Disney medals and have them all hung up in shadow boxes, along with the bibs from each race. However, the Disney medals are way too heavy to wear around, I do wish they were slightly smaller or lighter. I don't think I'd sign up for a race just because of the medal offered.

 

[PrincessV]

@WDW 4 ME I have had ITBS issues on and off too. Most recently it screwed up my Chicago Marathon training block in 2023. I agree with all of what everyone said, especially:

• Don't try to just run through it, you'll only aggravate it more
• Strength training is the best inoculation long-term, especially your glute medius
• I have scoliosis just like @PrincessV and just like her, my wonky mechanics must not be contained by a stability shoe. I just let my body go with the flow. Yet another reason why strength training is important
• I have had success when it's just a little flare-up (i.e., BEFORE I have tried to power through and made it worse), foam rolling all the way down the side of the affected thigh. It hurts like a mofo and I made sounds I have never made before, but after a few sessions it really worked.

Oh yes, the foam rolling! I didn’t even think to mention it because it’s just part of my running routine now. Before and after every run. Afraid to stop because I don’t ever want ITBS to come back again lol!

 

[nancipants]

SAFD: Medal design isn't a huge deal for me, I just like having them, especially for "big" races (my first half, my first marathon, my first challenge). I do prefer a simpler design, though. My marathon medal is on a separate stand near my ear hat.

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: medals mean very little to me, outside of my marathon medals. I enjoyed the ceremonial feel of having one put around my neck at the end of a hard race, but rD just hands them to us in a plastic bag now, and honestly? It feels very meaningless to me. I usually just shove it into a pocket and carry on. For several years, I sold my rD medals and donated the money to charity, but more recently, they haven’t been selling, so I finally bought a desktop medal holder and threw a bunch on it in my work office. I still don’t really care about medals, but will concede that they look nicer there than piled into a shoebox! If I had the option of a discounted registration by declining a shirt and medal, I’d be all over it.

As far as design, I’m VERY much Team Simplicity: no color overlays, no moveable parts, just something basic, classic, elegant, and not the size of a dinner plate.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

SAFD: I’m on the same page as everyone else. I enjoy medals for the memories attached, and love them for Disney races and wearing around the parks after. But I too wouldn’t choose a race just for the medal. I want to display my medals but just never get around to doing it so they just end up laying around after the race.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I keep having to remind myself that I'm not running Dopey this year. Because yeah, as others have said, it looks like some of these are going to be pretty big.

But also, the "gotta have them all" in me kind of wants to do the 10k on my own and then buy the 2 missing medals off someone. Which is ridiculous because I still don't want to run this month.

 

[SheHulk]

Medal Monday?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Medal Monday?

I have to work, so probably.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Medal Monday?

I mean, those pins leaked, so I say why wait any longer now?

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

SAFD: medals mean very little to me, outside of my marathon medals. I enjoyed the ceremonial feel of having one put around my neck at the end of a hard race, but rD just hands them to us in a plastic bag now, and honestly? It feels very meaningless to me. I usually just shove it into a pocket and carry on. For several years, I sold my rD medals and donated the money to charity, but more recently, they haven’t been selling, so I finally bought a desktop medal holder and threw a bunch on it in my work office. I still don’t really care about medals, but will concede that they look nicer there than piled into a shoebox! If I had the option of a discounted registration by declining a shirt and medal, I’d be all over it.

As far as design, I’m VERY much Team Simplicity: no color overlays, no moveable parts, just something basic, classic, elegant, and not the size of a dinner plate.

Yeah, I agree with the handing it over in a bag thing. Feels less special.

 

[Naomeri]

Better shots of the marathon weekend pins from a video from the 2026 pin preview that happened at Coronado

 

[The Expert]

From those pin pics, it looks like just the challenge medals are the larger, full book style and the individual race medals are regular size/shapes.

 

[fatmanatee]

Well if the plan is to do a 10:00 scheduled post... not happening today.

 

[WDW 4 ME]

With the caveat that I am not a medical professional, only another runner who’s battled ITBS, a few thoughts that I hope will be helpful…

1. DO NOT PUSH THROUGH ITBS PAIN!!! The pain is caused by inflamed bursas and they need to be allowed to calm down. Continuing to put tension on them won’t allow that to happen. When I had a particularly bad case, I stopped doing any activity that aggravated it for a week, then started walking and running again, but only to the point when pain began, then stopped. That enabled me to start building distance again without re-aggravating the ITBS.

2. ITB straps. I find them to wildly helpful! They effectively put tension in one spot to lift the offending tendon away from the problematic area. I rarely need it anymore, but it helped a lot to get through training when ITBS hit mid-training cycle.

3. Think about what you run on. I live in FL, where every surface - roads, sidewalks, paths, even dirt trails - is cambered for storm water runoff. The only time I’m ever running on a flat surface is on the treadmill. This means that even in neutral shoes, one leg or the other is always accommodating an outward lean from the running surface, which… puts tension on the IT Band, much like stability shoes do. I make sure I vary this so that one leg isn’t taking all of that cambered load by alternating sides of the sidewalk regularly. (The roads at WDW are VERY cambered, so this also helps prep for that.)

I promise, ITBS can be overcome! It just takes time. Hang in there!

Thank you! I’m feeling so discouraged so the support is comforting!

I definitely drop my training down when it is flaring up. Usually take off a full week, like you mentioned. I haven’t taken time off this time, other than reduce my runs from 4 to 3. And run until it starts hurting and then stop. It’s just so bizarre as I can run 10 miles with no issues and then the next run I have to stop at mile 5. I also drop my walking miles way back and switch from using weights during my strength training to body weight or light resistance bands.

I think I have used an IT BAND strap before. Actually during the springtime surprise on the 10 miler. Which was one of the worst pain cave runs I’ve ever had. The uneven ramp around mile 5 or 6 literally took me out. The strap did not make a difference. But maybe I’m using the wrong thing???

 

[WDW 4 ME]

@WDW 4 ME I have had ITBS issues on and off too. Most recently it screwed up my Chicago Marathon training block in 2023. I agree with all of what everyone said, especially:

• Don't try to just run through it, you'll only aggravate it more
• Strength training is the best inoculation long-term, especially your glute medius
• I have scoliosis just like @PrincessV and just like her, my wonky mechanics must not be contained by a stability shoe. I just let my body go with the flow. Yet another reason why strength training is important
• I have had success when it's just a little flare-up (i.e., BEFORE I have tried to power through and made it worse), foam rolling all the way down the side of the affected thigh. It hurts like a mofo and I made sounds I have never made before, but after a few sessions it really worked.

I feel like I’ve foam rolled so much, I have wear patterns in my yoga mat from it! lol!!! My PT tried a massage this past week and she said my band is so tight it literally feels like a bone. I’m such an overachiever!

 

[WDW 4 ME]

consider doing aquajogging while you go through the PT/rest period

Good idea!!! Thank you!!

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: Medals... I really do agree with so much of what has been written already so I'll keep mine short(ish).

• What do medals mean to me? A tangible reminder of the run I just completed. I still love putting it on after the race (BTW - it's not just rD that just hands out medals as you finish- I don't think I've been to a race post-COVID that puts them on for me)
• Are they a draw (or turnoff) for a race? Yes and no. I won't run a race/ race weekend just for a medal. That being said - sometimes the rD weekend theme can get me to do an extra race. For example, I was "just" going to register for the Marathon for MW 26 and the theme made me decide to do Goofy (and could have pushed me to do Dopey if it wouldn't have been logistically impossible)
• Would I prefer if they were a surprise at the finish line? Yes! (but usually not realistic anymore)
• What do they mean after the race is done? Mostly a reminder -and yes, they all go up on a rack. - I have lots of space on that wall in my office - though looking at it right now reminds me I need to buy a new rack for my non-Disney races.

 

[SheHulk]

SAFD: I would never change my mind not to run a race because I don't like the medal, but I can be persuaded to run something for a very special medal. Like, I ran the Princess half in 2024, a race I would not have traveled for that year (it was inconvenient to my schedule), just so I could get the Coast to Coast since I ran the DL half that year, and I knew I'd never do that again. I like my medals but they do sit in a bag in my closet. It's a goal of mine to someday get the ambition to work out a display for my favorites.

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: I would never change my mind not to run a race because I don't like the medal, but I can be persuaded to run something for a very special medal. Like, I ran the Princess half in 2024, a race I would not have traveled for that year (it was inconvenient to my schedule), just so I could get the Coast to Coast since I ran the DL half that year, and I knew I'd never do that again. I like my medals but they do sit in a bag in my closet. It's a goal of mine to someday get the ambition to work out a display for my favorites.

I forgot the Coast to Coast - that's the exception for me - I also ran both MW and DL in 2024 - something I wouldn't have done if not for C2C.