Dopey Challenge

Jo R

RunDisney races are fun and known for their endurance challenges that combine multiple running events over several days. Last January I ran the Dopey Challenge: a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon over four days for a total of 48.6 miles. 

The 2016 Dopey Challenge was an event I was looking forward. The previous fall I ran Chicago in 3:44:19, New York in 3:47:55, and the NYRR 60K in 5:50:55. Dopey would be a challenge but with the right training I felt I could still run a good marathon.

 

Running through ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex during last 10K of the the Walt Disney World Marathon

One thing that I like about the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend is that it motivates you to run through the holidays. I followed the New York Flyer’s Run SMART Project Marathon Training Program that Head Coach Brian Rosetti had composed for my fall marathons and used it to train for Disney. My plan was to run the 5K fast, take the 10K easy, run the Half extremely gently, and then race the Full. However, as John Lennon has said “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” The 5K started at 6am with more than ten thousand participants and was a very crowded race. It was hard to run fast during the first two miles and during the start of all races due to crowding. The 10K also had ten thousand participants and started a 5:30am. The Half and Full started at 5:30am and had about twenty thousand participants with the Half being more popular at 21,505 runners.

With Flyer Anick J after running the 5K.

 

Running into a runner dressed as Peter Pan during the Half.

A runner with tattoos on his calves of every runDisney event series.

Yet, despite the crowds and early starts I still enjoy runDisney events. Many runners dress in costume and there are characters on the course that add to the carnivalesque atmosphere. When it was time to run the Half I enjoyed being able to stop, take pictures, and soak it all in. Often other costumed runners provide the most entertainment. There was the man dressed as Ariel the Mermaid, Peter Pan, and the man with the tattoos on his calves of every runDisney race series.

Marathon runner Heather Schulz (heather_runs74) who placed 6^th in the marathon. Her Instagram posts are very inspiring. 

However, when it came time to run the Full I was influenced by the running attire of HeatherSchulz who I follow on Instagram. Heather is a professional runner from Orlando who placed third in the 2015 WDWM. When running the race this year and I looked forward to cheering her on during the out and back section of the course.  

  

With my Dopey Challenge finisher’s medal

The WDWM is one of my favorite marathons to run. The course is mostly flat and I enjoyed running through all four Walt Disney World parks and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. There are also a lot of stretches on the highways between the parks that are easy to run on. Unfortunately, the weather was a very hot and humid 70 degrees the day of the race and my legs felt tired from the 10K and Half. When I started running I knew the race was not going to be a PR and it was a real challenge to finish the last 10K. But I did it and finished in 3:49:05- about three minutes slower than my goal time but five minutes and fifty seconds faster than when I ran the Goofy Challenge in 2015. According to the Orlando Sentinel the marathon winner Fredison Costa had the slowest time in the 23-year-old race history in 2:33:24. Natasha Yarmeczuk finished in 2:52:23 and was the only woman to run a sub-three hour marathon.  

 

A whole lot of bling! Dopey Challenge finisher’s medals.

After completing the marathon, I was awarded a Goofy Challenge medal for running the Half and Full along with the Dopey medal for finishing all four races. The Dopey series is a great endurance challenge that’s also good training for the Comrades Marathon in South Africa this spring. If I have one regret it’s that I didn’t train with Goofy Inspired long runs over the weekend: running 10 on Saturday and the 20 on Sunday. Next year I’ll be back but this time only Goofy. 

-Jo R.