Marathon Weekend 2026

[camaker]

Would anyone like to volunteer to host SAFD next weekend? DW and I will be in Scotland celebrating our 20th anniversary next weekend, so I may not be able to post in a timely manner.

 

[Erika10021]

SAFD:

When I was turning 50, I decided I wanted to have a real vacation (with work, kids and too much debt, it just got moved to the back burner for many years). I narrowed it down to two possibilities: Paris or WDW. I decided I wanted to go where people would be happy to see me, so I decided on Disney (figuring that people in Paris didn't like tourists). That vacation was the most amazing time I had had in my adult life and WDW became a place where we went more and more. A few years later, my husband said "you know, they have races there, should we sign up for one?" We got shut out of the 10k so we signed up for the springtime challenge. We never ran before signing up. We started by going to a local track. Those first few runs were barely 2-3 laps. A couple of years later and we have run every runDisney race at WDW since then, finishing all but the marathon last year. We have also gotten my husband's youngest son and my sister running. What a difference it has made in our lives.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

SAFD: my dad first discovered runDisney by accident, back in 2003. He’s a life long athlete and took up running after college.

When we lived in Boston, he had six weeks of break between semesters (he was a professor for thirty years, now he’s retired), and my senior year in high school, he was getting a little bit of cabin fever after my mom was back at work and I was back in school. He decided to take a long weekend at Disney World, and it just so happened to be Marathon Weekend. He kept seeing sign sin the hotel lobby about a bus schedule to the expo and start line, so he asked a cast member.

Fast forward to the next year, he had signed up for the half, and since I also now had six weeks of semester break, we all went down to cheer him on. I was getting ready for my first college season and enjoyed getting some of my training runs outside with no snow.

He loved the half, and knew he wanted to return the next year and so the first year of some new challenge: Goofy’s race and a half! My mom did the half tue next year, and I continued to go with them to do my preseason prep in the warmth.

Once I graduated college, I did eventually find my way to running. It had always been something I had to do for my athletic career, and I never enjoyed it. Well, enter runDisney. My first race was in 2010, the first year of Wine and Dine, and I did the 5k, which went thru MK. I was hooked, and my first half was Princess 2012. I’ve since done multiple 5k’s, 10k’s, and half marathons on both coasts.

 

[Dopey 2020]

SAFD I was a Disney fan but was in my late 30s before we finally made it to the parks with our 4yo daughter. Then it was every year in the parks and a Disney Cruise for our 20th anniversary. At the same time I was recovering from shoulder surgery and found that there was a 5K on Castaway Cay. Being that I was very limited as far as exercise and physical activities I started jogging and we did it. Until then I thought people that ran for fun were crazy. Talking with folks there I found out about runDisney and that was the end of it. My wife and daughter decided it was not for them after a couple 5ks and I decided the opposite. Now after 18 marathons, one ultra, and Dopey #7 coming up I can without a doubt say that Disney made me a runner.

 

[Naomeri]

SAFD: I was a Disney fan who kind of hated going to the parks because I was so out of shape that I was miserable after just a couple days. So during the pandemic, I discovered virtual races through Yes.Fit, which were cumulative distance medals, so I started walking more. And then I started looking for other virtual medals I could earn and I found the 2021 runDisney summer series, and decided to try running it using run/walk intervals and learned that I could actually run without hating it. I signed up for the 2021 W&D virtuals, and the 2022 MW 5K/10K/Half virtuals, and did my first in-person event at 2022 Princess Weekend, and I've been doing at least 2 in-person race weekends per year since then.

 

[JackosinDIS]

SAFD: I was a big Disney fan with no interest in running at all. However my DH is a very keen runner (not quite so keen on Disney), and doing MW was just my cunning plan to get another WDW trip by telling him that he could run a marathon through the parks!
However, I also had to sign up for a run to make this work…. 9 months later and I appear to be running 13 miles a week… how did that happen?

 

[RuntheMouse]

SAFD: I became aware of runDisney when I found the DisBoards back in 2021. There was a thread that came up about the races coming back after Covid. We signed up for our first 10k at Wine & Dine that year and then everything but the full for marathon weekend. We were hooked and ended up with the perfect season. We’ve now settled on MW being our thing and we’ve been back every year since!

 

[matt and beth]

SAFD: 2014 DW and I ran Princess Half to raise funds for Noah’s Light now Dragon Master. Our DS had a brain tumor when he was four. By 2014 we were in the clear and wanted to give back. As a family we loved Disney and Noah’s light was raising funds for pediatric brain cancer. DW and I joined up and were excited to give back. I promised DD I’d go back and run with her when she was old enough. Fast forward a few years and we are now running our 5th Dopey. We still pick a charity on occasion

 

[col1]

I was a Disney fan prior to running a race. In January 2003 I decided to finally stop smoking at the age of 32. My DW had a health scare the previous year and had quit but I had struggled with it. We had been taking the kids to WDW & DLP from around 1997.

I decided best way to keep from giving in to smoking was too do something I could not achieve if I continued and also telling everyone I knew I was doing it !!

For some reason despite never having ran a step I signed up for the full marathon and found a training plan and a log book, got some cheap training shoes and other gear.

I found the WDW team penguin group on Yahoo groups who were a source of inspiration and encouragement. We met before the race and I still have a copy of that picture.

I finished in just over 6 hrs and I found it a very challenging experience but I returned numerous times over the years probably 10 events or so between WDW and DL California.

 

[marty3d]

SAFD: I've been a Disney fan longer than I can remember - before moving back to Canada as a kid, Disneyland was my "local" park and we'd be there every month.

As for running- I had run track in high school - but never more than 5k. By the time I had kids and started a role where I was travelling a lot in the mid "00s, my exercise went downhill and my weight started trending in the wrong direction. I had to find a sport I could "fit in" to my schedule and easily keep up with when I was on the road. Running seemed to be the right choice but it was tough to get motivated. Then sometime in 2007 I heard about runDisney races. I don't remember exactly how - might have been a podcast - but now I finally had a goal - the 2009 WDW Half Marathon. Long story short - I finished the half thinking it would be a "one and done" and I'd never run anything more than a 10k again. We hadn't even left the parks when I told my family I wanted to do the full within 5 years. It did take 5 years but I ran it in 2014 - then I said I wanted to go Goofy within 5. I ran Goofy in 2017 (I ran the cancelled half around Crescent lake). Then it was on to Dopey before I turned 50 - that was supposed to be 2021 - but finally ran it in 2022 (and 2023 and 2025). runDisney was the catalyst I needed to really enjoy the sport of running - which led to me finally running the NYC Marathon this year. Looking back I don't think it ever would have happened any other way. Now I'll be doing Goofy in January (which will be my 7th Marathon) and I'm seriously considering running a local marathon in May. And if I'm lucky enough to win the Chicago lottery...

 

[radiodome21]

SAFD: My knowledge of runDisney was limited. I knew that they had marathon because I knew people who ran it. I thought they were crazy. Running was never my thing. During the pandemic I ran a 5k every weekday because our gym was closed. But that was about as far as I could go. I stopped running once the gym reopened.

Then in 2024 one of my wife’s friends and sometimes running buddy begged us to sign up for the wine and dine half marathon the night before it opened for registration. She said we could do the run because runDisney had training programs. I said sure, since I liked the idea of a challenge. So the next day about four hours after the registration opened and closed I logged into my runDisney account to sign up . So after that I learned my lesson. Later in the year I signed my wife and I up for this years SS 10k and then again this year I got us into the Wine & Dine HF.

I’ve been doing the Galloway method that I did find on the runDisney website for the 10k. I followed it pretty close I but didn’t run well during the race. Lots of rookie mistakes that have been corrected . But now I love running. I’ve done a few other races in Chicago this year and I signed up again for the SS 10k. Plan is to also sign up for future races. I signed up for the Chicago marathon lottery and assuming I won’t get in then I’ll try for next year’s Disney marathon. I definitely want to do a different Disney HF too and so does my wife. The SS 10k was the first running goal I’ve ever had. Since then I’ve spent tons of $$$ supporting this new habit and have another spending bucket to give to Disney.

And I love it.

 

[The Expert]

SAFD: (Apologies to those who have heard this story a thousand times.) I'm a lifelong Disney fan, and thanks to grandparents who moved to Florida in the early 70s, I've been going to the WDW parks since I was a young toddler. I was fairly active through college -- softball, cheer, dance -- but HATED running and avoided it at all costs. I was vaguely aware that Disney had races but never paid much attention to them.

DH and I had decided May was getting too hot and crowded, so we tried February for our spring DVC trip. On our first day, there were all these people wearing medals at the MK. Intrigued, I decided to look it up and found out we had overlapped with Princess weekend. I also learned that there were 5K races, and that you could WALK them and WEAR COSTUMES. Mmmmkay, now I'm interested. We really enjoyed going that time of year, so when we booked our spring 2016 trip, I discovered that the 5K was happening the day before we flew home and I signed up. When I realized how early the bus pick-up was, I nearly bailed, but decided to at least do it once. I wore a horrible, cheap, scratchy tutu, randomly ate leftover mac and cheese before boarding the bus, broke every rule of etiquette on the course with my willy nilly bursts of running and walking, but I had a BLAST! I was hooked, but also disappointed at the then-rubber medal and vowed to someday bring the Kessel Run medal home.

I immediately went home and started Couch-to-5K. I signed up for a few local races and started doing run/walk intervals, then dove in the deep end in 2017, doing Princess, Tink at DL, and Disneyland Paris runs. I did Star Wars several times and just kind of jumped in when I loved a theme here and there, or when I was going to be at WDW anyway. Somewhere in 2018 or 2019 I got up the courage to go to some of the meetups, though I had frequented this board since 2015.

I did not do Marathon Weekend until 2020, when I signed up for the 10K and my first full marathon (it's a miracle I've done three more after that horrible heat). I did virtual races through Covid, and finished my first of three Dopeys in 2022 . I'll mark my 10th runDisney anniversary and 50th rD race at Princess 2026. I never thought I'd do a marathon outside of Disney, but I've signed up for Chicago 2026. Disney is 100% to blame!

 

[marty3d]

Would anyone like to volunteer to host SAFD next weekend? DW and I will be in Scotland celebrating our 20th anniversary next weekend, so I may not be able to post in a timely manner.

I can volunteer if no one else has jumped in. Happy anniversary! Sounds like it will be a great vacation!