Half Marathon Feb 2026

Austin, TX
Mississippi Blues
Gulf Shores, AL
Las Vegas
Woodlands, TX

The Publix A1A Half in Fort Lauderdale is an option. Flat, humid, and miserable. Run it every year and every year say never again.

Probably doing it again in February though.

I think Gulf Shores has 3 or 4 half marathons between December and March.

I’ve done the Big Beach Half three years in a row, solid race and well produced. Only elevation is a ramp at mile 11 to cross the beach highway. My only knocks on this race is crowd support kind of sucks and maybe 2 miles or so is on a wooden boardwalk (not a huge issue honestly).

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It’s on Sunday. So even though you have Mic Ultra as a title sponsor, no beers at the end of the race.

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Are you saying beer can't be served in Alabama on a Sunday?

Pardon my ignorance

Seaside School Half - Seaside, FL
Donna Half - Jacksonville, FL

Both in Feb, I assume both have good support.

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I’d like to go to something with good crowd support

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Not Feb but late January. Louisiana marathon/half in Baton Rouge had a Mardi Gras atmosphere to it with tons of people along the route cheering and giving out doughnuts and Jell-O shots lol.
Great after party as well.

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I’d like to go to something with good crowd support.

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I did the Rock n Roll Half in Vegas few years back. It has good crowd support, especially once you get towards downtown. You also have to dodge the drunks and homeless walking across the streets as that section isn't barricaded (or at least it wasn't few years ago).

I think they moved the date back too to later or earlier in the year.

fricking right. I was just talking to my daughter who’s a freak runner that now that I’ve got off my lazy arse I wanted to start setting some goals. 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, then hopefully the Austin triathlon in May. I trained for that when I was 26, but even though I was in great shape, I started too late and got hurt. (It’s that open water swimming that’s the killer. Once I started training for that hard core, I had to cut back on the biking/running, and fricked my knee up when I switched it back up. Didn’t have a great plan.) But I was doing the Olympic one, and I think there’s a shorter one.

I like the idea of having incremental challenges to complete. I’m 47, though. Just started walking/running hills a couple weeks ago. Up to an hour and 15 minutes/day after barely making 15 minutes on day one. I think all those are doable by the end of May if I remember I’m 47 and not 25. That dumb arse thinking has set me back 10 times in the past 20 years.

Don’t care about times yet, just want to finish. Been telling my son we’re going to Spain and running with the bulls when I’m 50. So I’ve got a few years to get fast enough to not get gorged. Wouldn’t be the worst way to go, though. Better than dying in my bed of about the 4 co-morbidities I was a week from being destined to be before I woke the frick up, stuck a needle of TRT in my thigh and got to moving.

I’ve always lifted, though, and supplemented with cardio. But I’ve got 2 torn labrums, and broke several ribs a couple years ago and went from right around 190 (I’m 6’0”) to 151. Had some stomach shite that kept me from
being able to eat enough along with not lifting.
Back up to to 170 now, but need to put on some upper body mass (my legs get big quick, chest and arms, not so much).

Anybody got a good recommendation on how to gain mass while still increasing cardio to hit these race goals (just finishing them, basically)? I’m gonna throw on a weighted vest in a couple weeks to be more efficient with the walking/running. Just not sure how I need to be lifting.

Anyway, OP, great idea on having a target race. I’ve been thinking the same. Good luck to us both. It ain’t flat or in the summer, but I might be targeting Austin for that half marathon in February unless somebody who knows something comes in and tells me I’m ridiculous and will kill myself trying to make that.

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Anybody got a good recommendation on how to gain mass while still increasing cardio to hit these race goals (just finishing them, basically)?

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Prioritize one and go from there. Sounds like gaining mass is the priority, so find a lifting routine geared around that and slowly introduce running as cardio two to three times a week. It’s nearly impossible to gain a lot of mass and get be a competitive runner all in the same training block (don’t fall for Nick Bare “hybrid athlete” BS, he’s not natural). You have to periodize training.

If the goal is to just finish a race, a basic Couch to 5k/10k/HM running plan would get you there.

Hell yeah, man. That’s awesome.