Marathon Weekend 2026

[dobball23]

@dobball23 One question you should ask yourself is what do you have lined up after Dopey? Like if you do it, albeit slowly, and have to take 8 weeks off, does that mess up the rest of your 2026?

Now if you do decide you want to do it you are more than welcome to tag along with me for the Half Marathon. My knees have not been great so i am hoping to survive. I will be doing 2 minute run/ 1 minute walk intervals. when i do run it is about a 10:15 pace so still much slower than you but hopefully not so slow that you make anything worse.

Good thought process. I would like to keep running throughout 2026, and don't want to miss out on future runs. My next thing I'd likely aim for would be a half marathon in early May. Then likely a marathon in the fall and/or Dopey in 2027 to make up for this year! (I wouldn't have planned on Dopey in 2027, but after the last week, it is creeping into my head).

I'll keep your offer of running with you for the half in mind as my plan for Dopey becomes clearer. That shows how great this community is!

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

@dobball23 I don’t know if this helps once you already have shin splints, but it’s worth knowing for future prevention. I used to get shin splints all along, and since I’ve done this warmup before every run, I’ve not had any trouble at all:

Keeping your heel firmly on the ground, tap your foot as fast as you can for about 30 seconds, then switch and do the same with the other foot. You can feel the front of your lower leg get warmed up and then those muscles are ready to go. I can’t remember where I read that tip—maybe Runners World—but I swear by it.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Good thought process. I would like to keep running throughout 2026, and don't want to miss out on future runs. My next thing I'd likely aim for would be a half marathon in early May. Then likely a marathon in the fall and/or Dopey in 2027 to make up for this year! (I wouldn't have planned on Dopey in 2027, but after the last week, it is creeping into my head).

I'll keep your offer of running with you for the half in mind as my plan for Dopey becomes clearer. That shows how great this community is!

I've had shin splints twice. The first time was when I started training for my very first Half (at Disney, thank you...) and was running in worn out shoes, which I didn't appreciate at the time. Gave myself about ten days off and bought myself my first really good pair of running shoes. Problem solved.
Didn't have shin splints again until earlier this year when I was re-awakening my legs to running after rehab. In this instance, they weren't severe because I just backed off on the runs and made the walk intervals a bit longer and I think some post run/walk ice packs. After a week or so, they quit trying to manifest themselves.

Based on what you've said in the past on how fast you are, my 2-cents worth is simply quit running now to let yourself recover, and then take the Dopey easy so that you can do your other races later in the year. IMHO, you'll still finish faster than most of us, and with rest and maybe the exercise listed above, you may have minimal splits for MW.

And I would also enjoy having some running company for the half, or even part of it. That said, 10:15 may be a bit faster than I can maintain for that distance. Looking at my notes, my rD pace for the half will be more like 12 min/mile, which is my pace plus some photo stops.