Marathon Weekend 2025

[Baloo in MI]

I have the consult with the surgeon in the morning. Nervous about surgery, nervous about how much damage I may have done, nervous about being able to get back to running in that I'll always wonder if I'm about to break it again. Prayers please.

I just wanted to wish you a successful surgery and recovery. I totally get the angst of wondering how bad it actually is, will the surgery work and can you recover and return to running without a reoccurrence. In 2019 I blew out my paroneal tendon. My first doctor tried to heal it by putting me in a boot, 6 months later I had surgery (second doctor who was a runner was all the difference). Surgery was a success, PT took time but really worked. I ended up missing the 2019 MW, but in 2020 was able to run Dopey.

All this to say, be patient, follow your doctors orders, be diligent with PT and you will run again. Being worried about injury reoccurrence is legit. I had a few incidents where I was positive that I had messed my ankle up again. But each time a talk with my PT and following their guidance led me right back to running. I started with just slow walking, then faster walking, then some running and eventually embraced the run/walk method and have been running consistently since then.

They say there are two types of runners those who have been injured and those who will be. Welcome to the former club…. But you got this!

 

[The Expert]

Thanks for this. Surgery is scheduled for Tue afternoon next week.
I've been worried about whether too much time has expired since the injury, and how badly I've injured myself (pulled my hamstring right off the top attach point, apparently), and if it is repairable. And I freely admit that even after I'm cleared I'll be worried about reinjuring myself, at least for a while. Glad it isn't just me.
Met with the surgeon this morning and he seemed fairly nonchalant (in a good way) about the surgery, recovery, and going back to being fully active. Sounds like it'll be just under an hour of operating time and appx 3-inch long incision and I'm back home in the afternoon. Then recovery and start PT in about a month. I'm lousy at being inactive, so I'll be going stir crazy with idleness, but easier to do when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm still not looking forward to surgery, but I can now better see the path forward. Target now is MW 2026. Thanks for listening. BTW, rD did de-register me from MW and sent an electronic gift card that is a defacto partial refund and which will get consumed by an entry fee in the future....

You definitely got this! Glad to hear rD softened the blow a bit with at least a partial refund.

 

[Tall Todd]

Thoughts on what the pacing might be for the 4 hour Marathon group?

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

This gives me hope as I am currently following a training plan that uses this philosophy with a long run that will max out at around 3 hours. And I am very slow -- a back of the packer for sure! This will be my first full marathon and I am terrified!

Stay at it. I think my longest training run has been 12-13 miles using my lazy strategic training of a lot of shorter distances to build stamina. Check in my signature for a link for some light reading. It won't necessarily provide you a fast time, but it will get you to the finish line, which is the goal. I'm not saying to use my HARM method, just peruse it as additional data.
Definitely stick with your training plan and you'll finish. As someone who had the same concerns for my first half (and again for my first full) three things will help on race day: your training, the energy of the environment and your fellow runners, and the defacto rest breaks if/when you stop for character photos.
I won't see you at the finish line this year, but I'm sure other members of this forum will.
You got this.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

Thoughts on what the pacing might be for the 4 hour Marathon group?

Looking back at last year's pacer sheet that was published, the 4:00 group went out of Corral B and did a 2:00/:30 ratio.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I just wanted to wish you a successful surgery and recovery. I totally get the angst of wondering how bad it actually is, will the surgery work and can you recover and return to running without a reoccurrence. In 2019 I blew out my paroneal tendon. My first doctor tried to heal it by putting me in a boot, 6 months later I had surgery (second doctor who was a runner was all the difference). Surgery was a success, PT took time but really worked. I ended up missing the 2019 MW, but in 2020 was able to run Dopey.

All this to say, be patient, follow your doctors orders, be diligent with PT and you will run again. Being worried about injury reoccurrence is legit. I had a few incidents where I was positive that I had messed my ankle up again. But each time a talk with my PT and following their guidance led me right back to running. I started with just slow walking, then faster walking, then some running and eventually embraced the run/walk method and have been running consistently since then.

They say there are two types of runners those who have been injured and those who will be. Welcome to the former club…. But you got this!

Thank you to you and the others sharing your experiences with this. It does help to put my mind at ease, or as much as it's going to be. I truly appreciate it.

 

[The Expert]

This gives me hope as I am currently following a training plan that uses this philosophy with a long run that will max out at around 3 hours. And I am very slow -- a back of the packer for sure! This will be my first full marathon and I am terrified!

There are lots of us that will be back there with you! Feel free to join Team Not-So-Fast on this thread.

 

[bpr2002]

Thank you, @Mr_Incr3dible , for the encouragement. Good luck to you on your healing journey.

Thank you, @The Expert , I'm happy to join Team Not-So-Fast. I may be slow, but I'm stubborn and won't give up!

 

[Herding_Cats]

So. With the announcement about the new tower at the Poly....are we thinking this may impact some of the DVC availability for MW as people scramble to modify some or all of their stay from a different resort to the new tower? Or is this going to be a non-factor since it was already open for cash bookings back in June? Not sure how the availability works out for that, but I'm curious if it'll shake things up.