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. 

Cardio Is Hard-io: Part 2

Not only did I decide it was a good idea to start killin' it at the box three days a week, I decided that I was going to start running on the reg. New year, new me-- or something like that, amiright?

It started out innocently enough. It was November and I was feeling pretty homesick. I wanted something that was from the States. I needed something that was from the States. It might have been a randomly placed Facebook ad, it might have been a spam email, I don't know how the thought of the Cleveland Turkey Trot crossed my mind, but the fact is that it did. 

I looked at the website, figuring that was as far as this thought was going to go. I mean, I live in Brazil. It's pretty difficult to do a 5K in Cleveland from 5,000+ miles away, right? Wrong. The Cleveland Turkey Trot was also being offered virtually which essentially means that you pay the money and run the distance wherever you are around the world. 

So I paid the money, completed the distance, got the medal and the shirt, and haven't stopped signing up for races since.

"Cleveland" Turkey Trot 2016

After the Turkey Trot, I quickly found myself running in the Circuito das Estações: Verão, which was my first live race besides the Color Run I ran in San Pedro Sula, Honduras a few years back. It wasn't as easy as I would have liked, but I also didn't die. Which might not be the best criteria when talking about how much you like a hobby, but haters gonna hate. I do it for the medals anyways.

Circuito das Estações: Verão 2016

And since it's approximately ten thousand degrees with about 3429% humidity all day, every day in Hell de Janeiro, I joined the gym down the street so that I can run on the treadmill instead of outside.

Since then, I've completed a handful of other races. Which are really nothing to brag about, but yeah, I'm going to do it anyways. Waking up early on a Sunday morning is already a feat in itself.

February: Circuito do Sol- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March: Circuito das Estações (Outono)- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March: Athenas 6K- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

April: Serie Delta (Etapa EUA)- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

 I had poured water on myself, I wasn't that sweaty, okay?

April: Color Run- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

April: WRun 4K, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In following the example of my one my friends, I thought it would be a good idea to do "12 Months of Races". AKA, complete a 5K or higher each month for the year of 2017. I've done live races for the months of February, March, and April, and a virtual New Years run for the month of January. I don't know if a virtual run counts, but it's my challenge, so yeah, it counts.

....It's crazy the things that you get yourself into because you are bored and need something to do.