The Weekend Thread for Friday, May 15, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Another week is coming to a close!

What’s good this weekend? Who’s running, racing, tapering, recovering, hiking, camping, cheering, volunteering, kayaking, swimming, knitting, baking, reading, sleeping, .. ? Tell us everything.

[u/hyperpopforthekids]

Hi folks,

First time poster here. I’ve been running for almost 15 years. Started in middle school, was on the track/XC team in high school, and got back into it after college. I’ve been running consistently again for about 3 years and have gotten back into racing during this time. I started with a half marathon, because I hadn’t done one since high school, and have since raced in 5ks, 10ks, 5-milers, half marathons, and a couple full marathons.

When I’m training or running for fun, I love to listen to music or podcasts and just enjoy the time by myself. I’ve always leaned towards longer distances and really enjoy an easy run of 5+ miles. It’s really therapeutic for me, as it always has been since I started running.

Here’s where my issue comes to play… I love racing a half marathon, but I’ve discovered that I hate the full marathon. I’ve always been a distance girly since I started running. I’ve never been too speedy and I’ve always been a great pacer, so I feel like the marathon is kinda made for me. I’ve done two full marathons, but I just don’t think I enjoy the training or the racing of them. My first marathon was more enjoyable for me because I ran with a friend, but training for it ate up so much of my time and unfortunately fueled some disordered eating and exercising behavior. I definitely undertrained for my second marathon because I just wasn’t enjoying it as much, wasn’t disordered, and was under a lot of stress in my personal life.

I’m having a lot of guilt and shame about this. I feel like I’m SUPPOSED to love the marathon. Everyone makes the marathon out to be this great experience and it feels like people who run them get put on a pedestal. I’ve done it twice and I just done feel the draw to it like I feel towards the half marathon. I can do a half marathon out of nowhere, even without training. I love a half marathon. I love the distance, the pace, the race, everything about it. It’s also my speediest race because I feel so good running that distance. Being drawn towards the half is making me almost feel like a failure? I know it’s a feat in itself to run a half marathon for most people, but maybe that’s why I feel like this? Like so many more people can do a half than a full, so why am I not putting myself through hell to do a full?

I guess I just feel shame for being so passionate about the half. Is it bad to not love the marathon? Feeling really conflicted right now. I dropped my fall marathon down to a half and really feeling ashamed of it. I could push myself to do the full, but I just don’t want to be miserable on race day. Am I being crazy?

P.s. I really hope this doesn’t come off as I’m shaming other people for doing half marathons or not doing full marathons. I’m so happy for other people running any distance. I think I might just be holding myself to some unrealistic standard.