Sunday, February 4, 2018

If Running Is Hard, Run More (Dopey Challenge 2018: 10k)

The 10k easily held the scariest moment of the entire Dopey Challenge. While sauntering around the course during the 5k, Tasha and I chatted about what characters we would stop for. Tasha had never stopped for a character during a RunDisney race, whereas I had stopped for a couple through Wine and Dine Weekend. We were in the last corral for Marathon Weekend, which stressed both of us out a little bit, especially for the half and the full marathon. We basically decided that we weren't going to stop for characters unless we both felt like we were maintaining a decent pace, far enough along in the race that we could make up time if we needed. My #1 character stop was Meeko, and hers was Robin Hood.


Lo and behold, just over a mile in to the 10k, we saw Meeko. The line wasn't too bad, so we hopped in and, of course, Meeko goes to take his break. I'm sure he was gone for only 2 minutes, tops, but it felt like an eternity. We got the picture and as we were walking away, we saw the balloon ladies (the unofficial pacers) and the sweeper bikes (the official pacers). Tasha shouted "RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!" at the same second I started running and honestly, I think it was the fastest either of us moved all weekend. Our 2018 Dopey Challenge Survival Plan of just walking (AGAIN) went right out the window, and I don't think either of us had any regrets.


We learned a lot during Marathon Weekend. But I think our biggest takeaway was probably the importance of Mylar blankets. On Thursday, we were doubters. There's no way that a piece of foil (essentially) was going to make us feel warmer.  On Friday, we tried it. And by Sunday, we were firmly pro-Mylar blankets. I don't understand how they work, and frankly, I don't care, but at a 28 degree windchill, it was basically a godsend.

And I felt like a burrito, which made me laugh harder than it should have.

Corral waiting-- with Mylar blankets this time. 
Besides the realization that Mylar blankets are a godsend and the Meeko fiasco, the 10k was pretty tame. The course was almost exactly the same as the 5k from the previous day, except they added three extra miles of running on the road at the beginning. Since I wasn't winded at all by the time we got into the World Showcase, I was able to FaceTime some of my friends who decided to take a road trip on the one weekend a year that I couldn't go.


Tasha and I spent many miles talking about how we should pose for photos, but then each time we saw the lime green PhotoPass tents, we just froze and fell back on the favorites-- arms up, thumbs up, mouths wide open. Throw in a couple of dance parties and the classic "I hate everything about this" face and you've got yourself a 10k.

If It Scares You, It Might Be a Good Thing To Try (Dopey Challenge 2018)

Have you ever had a great idea, commit to it, and then are like "WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!"

That's how I felt about the RunDisney Dopey Challenge. Because it's just that-- dopey.


It's 48.6 miles over the course of four days throughout the Walt Disney World Property. It starts with a 5k on Thursday, then continues to a 10k on Friday, a half marathon on Saturday, and concludes with a full marathon on Sunday. And yes, it's every bit as daunting as it sounds.

But last January, when I saw that my friend, Tasha, had run her first RunDisney marathon and I was at the beginning stages of my running career AND I knew that I was going to be moving to Orlando over the summer, we started chatting about the races we've done and how we'd definitely have to do RunDisney races together. One thing led to another, and because a year is totally enough time to train, the next thing we knew we had both signed up to run the Dopey Challenge.

The four courses that would label was "officially Dopey"
I'd like to say that we were fully and properly trained and 100% prepared for these races. But we weren't. Not even a little bit. Our "2018 Dopey Challenge Survival Plan" included two things-- finish all the races and get all the medals. Timing wasn't even on our radar; we just had to finish.

There was the promise of these beauties waiting for us at each finish line. And honestly, for a couple of the races, knowing that a shiny medal was at the end was enough. 


From the first of the year until the Expo, which was the day before the 5k, I went back and forth between thinking "I HAVE SO MANY REGRETS" and "We'll be fine, we'll be so fine." Post Expo feelings were definitely "I have so many regrets and I might die, but I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can."


Ready or not-- Dopey Challenge 2018 was finally here.

. . . . . .

And as a side note, or a PS, or whatever you would like to call it. I took this picture at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party in October, knowing that I would be completing the Dopey Challenge in just a couple of months.



"I think the Dopey Challenge should be renamed to the Seven Dwarves Challenge. Dopey because signing up was a dopey idea. Bashful because I don't even consider myself a runner, but I still signed up to do something so monumental. Sleepy because 2am wake up calls, four days in a row are the WORST. Grumpy due to sitting in our corrals for almost two hours in the freezing cold while we waited for the races to start. Sneezy due to the colds that have been going around. Doc because I learned so much about myself. And HAPPY because I did it!! (And now it's over!!)"

A 20 Minute Mile is Just As Far As a 6 Minute Mile (Dopey Challenge 2018: 5k)

Due to the fact that we live in Orlando, Tasha and I just drove ourselves to Epcot each morning of the Dopey Challenge. We were actually there before any of the resort buses arrived each morning, so on 5k day I was able to walk up to every single character with no wait. 

What's up, Fab Five?
Since the corrals were close to our cars and the 5k is untimed AND it was cold, we got all of the pictures we wanted and then went back to our cars until the last possible minute. Honestly, I think the race had actually started and we were still sitting in our toasty, warm cars. With the corrals and the wave releases that Disney does, we probably could have stayed in our cars another 15-20 minutes, strolled out around 5:50ish, and still had the pleasure of standing in the corral in the cold.


The 5k was incredibly relaxed, if not freezing. In following our "2018 Dopey Challenge Survival Plan", we walked the entire race. And let me tell you, it was boring. Not the conversation or the characters or the atmosphere or seeing the lights of Epcot all lit up-- that was all awesome. But we both wanted to RUN and knew we shouldn't. I think we strolled around the course with a solid pace of 20 minutes (or more) per mile. 

At all three mile markers throughout the course.
Three miles while never moving faster than a leisurely stroll doesn't allow for much time to warm up. And, honestly, I don't think either one of us actually got warm at all. We did our best through solid dance moves and posed laughing photos, but it was a bit of an uphill battle (Not literally, it was Florida, after all.) with a windchill that never broke 30 degrees. 




We high fived each other while crossing the finish line, but PhotoPass wasn't able to get one photo of us together. So our pictures made us look like big nerd high fiving nothingness. Problem solved-- kind of.


PhotoPass served us well over the course of 48.6 miles. And although they weren't able to get a picture of us high fiving, they did capture this gem. Which, honestly, kind of sums up our whole weekend, so you can imagine the Tom Foolery that took place.