Marathon Weekend 2026

[jrsharp21]

Alrighty, less than two weeks away! Excitement is building and ready to start packing. Ordered a new roller bag to try to fit everything I am planning on taking. Here is our less than two weeks out weather forecast.

Thursday, 1/8: High - 72, Low - 51, 10% chance of rain
Friday, 1/9: High - 70, Low 55, 10% chance of rain
Saturday, 1/10: High - 70, Low 47, 75% chance of rain
Sunday, 1/11: High - 72, Low 48, 25% chance of rain

Temps are looking good! Hoping that rain on Saturday is afternoon or just a quick shower.

 

[KCO5988]

Alrighty, less than two weeks away! Excitement is building and ready to start packing. Ordered a new roller bag to try to fit everything I am planning on taking. Here is our less than two weeks out weather forecast.

Thursday, 1/8: High - 72, Low - 51, 10% chance of rain
Friday, 1/9: High - 70, Low 55, 10% chance of rain
Saturday, 1/10: High - 70, Low 47, 75% chance of rain
Sunday, 1/11: High - 72, Low 48, 25% chance of rain

Temps are looking good! Hoping that rain on Saturday is afternoon or just a quick shower.

I'll take weather channel's predictions.. chances of rain across the four days - 24%, 16%, 12%, 24%. Hahaha! Their temps though only say low of 51/52 every day and high of 71/72 every day.

I know predications at this point can still change wildly, but for me once every day of the trip is within the 10-day forecast that's when I start getting really excited! Just gotta kick this cold asap!

 

[jrsharp21]

I'll take weather channel's predictions.. chances of rain across the four days - 24%, 16%, 12%, 24%. Hahaha! Their temps though only say low of 51/52 every day and high of 71/72 every day.

I know predications at this point can still change wildly, but for me once every day of the trip is within the 10-day forecast that's when I start getting really excited! Just gotta kick this cold asap!

Let's go with the Weather Channel on this one! LOL.

 

[marty3d]

Let's go with the Weather Channel on this one! LOL.

I'm really trying not to get my hopes on with these forecasts - other than the chance of rain, the temps are looking nice (I would take a few degrees higher on the daytime highs personally). I still have PTSD from 2017 where things looked good 3 days out and changed less than 48 hours before the (cancelled) half.

I will still pack for every eventuality.

 

[jrsharp21]

SAFD: No "real" goals for this year's MW. Really just to get through it all healthy and have fun. Now, I always say that I may just cruise but then get there and end up going race speed. For the marathon, I have always wanted to try to run in a pace group. Last year I did it for about 5 miles around the half way mark, then ended up leaving the group. So contemplating of joining the 3:45 race group and seeing how that works. But at the same time, thinking about maybe taking it a little slower and going around 4:30 pace. Probably will just depend on how I am feeling that day and how easy it is to get into the pace group without having to be packed in and standing before the start.

 

[PrincessV]

A word on rain in forecasts for this time of year from a Floridian, because I always see much confusion on the topic…

The “it only rains for an hour or so in the afternoons!” adage refers to summer storms that are created by rising heat and coastal breezes meeting and hot Gulf waters and cooler Atlantic waters and other meteorological phenomena pertaining to summer.

Rain in winter is something else entirely. This is our dry season: rain almost always only comes when connected to a front. It can be a weak front that barely drops temps at all, or a strong front that crashes us into freezing weather, or anything in between. And fronts can come with a little rain, a ton of rain, or no rain at all. Seeing the potential for a front to dip into FL is relatively easy - but just how much it might impact weather (i.e. temps and rain) is the really tricky part and is why forecasts more than a few days out are SO unreliable.

Even when a forecast looks solid and every outlet is repeating the same thing, it can be wrong. See MW 2017, when we spent the week or so before thinking we’d have a very hot marathon because EVERY forecasting outlet was indicating that… and instead, a very strong front blew in with extreme wind and rain that canceled the half and left us with frigid weather for the full.

I’m not saying don’t look at forecasts at all: I know they're good for passing some taper time! But do keep in mind that rain in a forecast this time of year is a total carpshoot: there might be a little, a lot, or none at all and you really won’t have a handle on it until day-of.

What I’m saying is this: ALWAYS BRING THE RAIN GEAR! I don’t care what the forecast shows, it’s ways worth having it handy, just in case.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Is it a really bad idea to stop running at this point and just keep up with my walking and strength training? I have my ever present itband issue and the last couple of weeks my calves are bothering me. Would I benefit from letting everything rest and calm down or will this backfire on me?

Totally stop with the runs and let your body heal from all the training. We are only ten (10!!! Can you believe it?!) days from the 5K. Your training at this point is either "in the bank" or it isn't. If you are like me, you will absolutely chafe at a couple of days of activity, but IMHO, a couple of days off (not even walking much) followed by what I think of as maintenance walks (2 to 3 miles at an easy pace, like 17-18 min/mile) will pay dividends ten days from now.
Just my 2-cents worth. YMMV

I'm totally onboard with trading some phone numbers. And for those of us with iphones, we can turn on temporary tracking for the weekend. That should be a lot easier for tracking/finding each other in lieu of a string of text messages. Saying that based on past experience with trying to find someone mid way through the marathon. And now I have the mental image of all of us showing up as moving dots on the course, like when F1 is showing where different drivers are in relation to each other....

@jillinastoria The first MW is an experience in drinking from a fire hose, so to speak. Best advice I can offer is to take it all in as much as possible, don't sweat the small stuff (it's all small stuff), take a ton of photos, and feel free to ask any of us if you have a question.

Choke points: My recollection from last time is the ramp after exiting Epcot at the beginning of the race. IIRC, half the road is coned off, plus it is dark, plus the pace groups kept widening and narrowing as they went in and out of walking and running. I think I was behind a 30/30 pace group, and that short interval plus the narrow course made it difficult to get around them. Plus the path from HS over to the boardwalk area. I had one year that someone was (I think) pacing a friend and taking up most of that sidewalk and making it very difficult for the rest of us to get around them. Not trying to sound insensitive, but they didn't seem to have any awareness of being a moving roadblock.

The "reverse course" will be new to me, so it'll be interesting to see how the GF to MK path goes....

 

[PrincessV]

still have PTSD from 2017 where things looked good 3 days out and changed less than 48 hours before the (cancelled) half.

Right?! I just spent a week at WDW/UOR in early December, and brought EVERYTHING: shorts, tees, jeans, sweaters, down jackets, umbrellas. Wound up using them all lol!

 

[marty3d]

Right?! I just spent a week at WDW/UOR in early December, and brought EVERYTHING: shorts, tees, jeans, sweaters, down jackets, umbrellas. Wound up using them all lol!

I was VERY happy they opened the Merch tent before the marathon - both for protection from the (below freezing) wind chill and so I could buy a running jacket as I had packed for the forecast (hot). If I recall correctly they were still forecasting a hot Sunday when I went to the expo because otherwise I would have bought a jacket at that point. Lesson learned.

 

[PrincessV]

I was VERY happy they opened the Merch tent before the marathon - both for protection from the (below freezing) wind chill and so I could buy a running jacket as I had packed for the forecast (hot). If I recall correctly they were still forecasting a hot Sunday when I went to the expo because otherwise I would have bought a jacket at that point. Lesson learned.

Yep, I had nothing packed for that kind of cold. I didn’t OWN anything for running in that kind of cold, lol! My only saving grace was that I brought calf sleeves in case I might want them for recovery: adding them to capris at least saved my lower legs! I did have throwaway layers of bulky fleece stuff that I should have kept on longer than I did. And an old airplane blanket I kept in my car’s trunk got wrapped around my legs sarong-style for a while. My plan up until the day before was a tank and skirt!

 

[KellyKateri]

Did I just panic add a 6-pack of gloves to my Amazon order after reading this just now… maybe…

 

[KCO5988]

Does anyone know how early they'll let you queue at the entrance to EPCOT? Thinking about just hanging out at the finish line cheering for a bit after I do either the 5k or 10k and then hitting EPCOT for EE to rope drop guardians to save me $$ of buying an ILL. I'm staying at Pop so going back to the resort first will put me on the wrong end of the park via skyliner at opening.

 

[LSUlakes]

without catching the plague.

I was not successful in avoiding it this year. My son was the first one with the Flu and he also had Strep. Started getting better and thought we were all good.... It started last Monday for me and by Christmas Eve and Day I was down hard. Still not 100% and have not run in 8 days including getting in my last 20 miler. Not feeling great about my race goals now.

 

[KellyKateri]

Oh boo!!! I didn’t think of that. Ugh.

You can join when you land though! I do remember doing that last time as spots were still available when I landed (not sure on the time) but again YMMV, but there’s always the 1PM!

 

[jrsharp21]

Does anyone know how early they'll let you queue at the entrance to EPCOT? Thinking about just hanging out at the finish line cheering for a bit after I do either the 5k or 10k and then hitting EPCOT for EE to rope drop guardians to save me $$ of buying an ILL. I'm staying at Pop so going back to the resort first will put me on the wrong end of the park via skyliner at opening.

I think you can line up as early as you want. I remember back in the early days of ROTR at DHS, people were lining up at 3/4am.

 

[rick1zoo2]

SAFD: I am hoping to complete my first Dopey. Last year when we started the Dopey, we knew we were "undertrained" for the marathon but thought we'd see how far we'd go. By mile 18 or 19, I was thinking we would actually make it through (I guess we were better trained than I thought). But then I had my accident and had to take a DNF. My new race goals are always, in order of priority: (1) don't get hurt; (2) finish; and (3) have fun.

Marathon Weekend last year was the most amazing experience, none of the other race weekends can compare. Like what Mr. Incr3dible said: this is the Superbowl of RunDisney!

SAFD: My main goal is to make sure that we finish the Dopey! This means making sure you avoid all traffic cones. But seriously, we have learned so much in the past year and did a lot of good training to prepare so I am looking forward to having all of that work pay off.

 

[Herding_Cats]

If you have a re-bookable rental car, I just rebooked through Costco (again) and saved $45.