One Dope, One Goof and a Mickey Marathoner Take on 114.1* **: A WDW Marathon Weekend PTR (UD 12/16)

[Keels]

Hi!

My name is Keels! You probably recognize me from multiple started and immediately abandoned TRs - like my live NYE TR, my other live NYE TR and ... well, also my 2,000 posts over on the RunDisney board of the DIS.

But this time, it's going to be different! THIS TIME ... well, this time ... I promise I will make it to trip day!

The Trip:
WDW Marathon Weekend
(January 2-10, 2017)

The Crew:

I completed the Dopey Challenge over Marathon Weekend 2016 with two of my VBFFs - one ran Goofy and one ran the Marathon. For 2017, the gang is getting back together and we're adding in our Fab Fourth - my friend M!

RunDisney CVs for the pertinent members:
Me (Keels): 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon + 5K, 2015 Jingle Jungle 5K, 2015 Wine & Dine Half Marathon, 2016 Dopey Challenge, 2016 Glass Slipper Challenge + 5K, 2016 Pixie Dust Challenge + 5K, 2016 Dumbo Double Dare + 5K
B: 2013 Princess Half Marathon, 2014 Princess Half Marathon + 5K, 2015 Dopey Challenge, 2015 Dumbo Double Dare + 5K, 2015 Jingle Jungle 5K, 2015 Wine & Dine Half Marathon, 2016 WDW Marathon, 2016 Pixie Dust Challenge + 5K
S: 2015 Goofy Challenge, 2016 Pixie Dust Challenge
M: 2015 Disneyland Half Marathon, 2016 Dumbo Double Dare + 5K

There will also be three more Dopes that will make appearances during this weekend, two veteran Dopes (@Ariel484 - writer of the BEST RUNDISNEY REPORTS EVER; and @FFigawi - the guy that got me into and out of my first Dopey Challenge) and a newbie Dope but RunDisney vet - @tigger536.

The Goal:
To run a ridiculous amount AND have a bunch of fun!
Because we believe that run friends make the BEST friends, this will be our third "RunCation" for a girl's trip ... and it will be the most demanding.

For those that aren't familiar with RunDisney events, WDW Marathon Weekend is the crown jewel of the RunDisney season. And every major weekend has to have some major events - in this case, it's what RunDisney calls "challenges". These bad boys involve completing multiple races during the same weekend. Most RunDisney challenges involve a 10K on Saturday (6.2 miles) and a Half Marathon on Sunday (13.1 miles). Finish that challenge, and you receive an extra medal for your display of mettle (see what I did there?).

But because it's MARATHON weekend, things get amped up. WDW Marathon weekend in January offers two different Challenges - Goofy's Race and a Half and the Dopey Challenge.

Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge involves completing a Half Marathon on Saturday (13.1 miles) and then a full Marathon on Sunday (26.2 miles) for a total of 39.3 miles. This bad boy also gets you an extra medal for you hard work.

Dopey? Dopey is literally the dumbest (and most amazing) feat a person can accomplish. Four days, four races, 48.6 miles. That's right - to complete the Dopey Challenge, you must finish a 5K on Thursday (3.1 miles), a 10K on Friday (6.2 miles), a Half Marathon on Saturday (13.1 miles) and then wrap it up with a full Marathon on Sunday (26.2 miles). Oh, and in case you didn't know - all of these fun race times start at 5:30 a.m. - which means wake-up calls around 3 a.m. for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW. See? Totally cray.

But totally amazing.

So ... here we go!

* -- I was told there would be no math.
** -- Members and mileage subject to change

 

[Keels]

Chapters

Week 13: Let's Get This Party Started
We Have Our First Groupie!
Week 12: The Dopey Details
Week 11: Tower to Keels: You're Cleared for Take-Off!
TRAINING DAY 1!!!!!
Week 7: The Injury Bug Hits ... and Hard
The Rest of the Details
Week 6: I'm #Thankful
Week 5: Let's Get Serious
Creative Keels Update: Marathon Weekend Shirt!
Week 4: Be Prepared
Week 3: SPREADSHEET MONSTER RISES!!!

 

[Keels]

The Plan

The Dates: January 2-10, 2017
The Resort: Beach Club/Beach Club Villas
The ADRs: California Grill, Yak & Yeti, CRT, Tokyo Dining, Il Mulino, Captain's Grille, Hollywood Brown Derby, Teppan Edo, Chef Mickey's.

Travel Plans:
Plane Tickets - Keels (Doesn't Need); Angela (Booked!); Beth (Booked!); Mercedes (Not Yet)
Park Tickets - Keels (AP); Angela (Booked!); Beth (AP); Mercedes (BOOKED!)
MDE Tags: Arrived!!
First Set of MagicBands: Shipped!!
Second Set of MagicBands: Closed for Personalization

 

[Keels]

The Training

The Genesis of a Training Plan
Day 1, Week 1

 

[Ariel484]

 

[Keels]

13 Weeks (91 Days) To Go:

13 weeks from now, the group will begin ascending on Orlando! Well, except for me. I'll be there about 10 weeks from today, but that's a different story for another update.

So, let's check in and see what's happening!

By The Numbers:
33: Days Until FP+ Day
92: Days Until the WDW Marathon Expo
96: Days Until the WDW Marathon
162.7: Total Miles run by the four of us over the course of four days

#SquadGoals:
What's everyone up to this week?

Me: Still hoping for a return to training the week of October 17 - so that's two weeks away, which will give me 11 Weeks to prepare for the Dopey Challenge. Currently, my plan is to follow an altered version of the Higdon Novice 2 Marathon program with at least one semi-simulation weekend of back-to-back, maxing out at 18 miles with no taper period. When I trained for 2016 Dopey, I followed the Higdon Dopey plan which was VERY heavy on the back-to-backs ... I wished I'd focused more on just the marathon. So, that's what I'm going to try this time around. The Higdon Novice 2 plan requires four runs a week - two short, one intermediate and one long - as well as a mandatory cross-training day.

S: S is a physical therapist, and she's currently in Haiti on a medical mission trip. Yup, you read that right - she's in Haiti when monster Hurricane Matthew hit earlier this morning. She's been in communication with everyone and is doing OK - though the road that leads into town and their clinic was not paved, it's now been washed out ... so there's a concern about her group being able to get out of Port-De-Paix and back to Port-au-Prince and the airport on Sunday to travel home. They closed the clinic today (Tuesday) because of the storm, but have been keeping busy by building prosthetics to shorten the backlog. They saw over 150 patients on Monday, which was an incredibly large number with the impending arrival of the storm. Many of the patients they see walk for days to visit the free clinic. If you're curious about what's going on, you can learn more about the STAND Haiti Project by viewing updates on their Facebook page.

B: B is the rock star runner of the group. Why is that? Well, she leaves Friday for Chicago to RUN THE CHICAGO MARATHON!!! That's right, we're going to have World Major finisher in our group! This is a little bittersweet for me, as we were supposed to run Chicago together until the injury bug hit me HARD and took me out of pretty much any physical activity. I know she will just crush the Marathon though!

M: M was the late-comer to our group ... as in, she just registered for the Marathon two weeks ago. She's mostly in planning and early training mode right now - basically waiting for a good price drop on plane fare to Orlando. I've been watching daily for her, so it should happen sooner rather than later. She was slated to have her longest run ever this past Sunday (16 miles), but ended up capping it at nine miles because of pain in her knee. But with a quick refigure of her training plan, it was no biggie. She was originally following the Official WDW Marathon Training Plan which calls for a long run of 26 miles ... which, after discussing with B and myself, we all decided that that was a big NOPE. Personally, I understand the thought process behind it - but I think it's excessive, especially knowing how the course was structured. 22 or 23 miles for a max run for a first-timer at WDW should suffice. Why? If you can make it to Mile 23, you enter Disney's Hollywood Studios and have essentially made it to the "safe zone" and will likely not be swept (YES! There is ONE LAST SWEEP POINT right outside DHS in the bus loop, which is at roughly 23.5 miles). Also, leaving Hollywood Studios it becomes really easy for a runner who is also familiar with Walt Disney World to quantify the mileage left - you run alongside the lake by Boardwalk, then you kick around by the Swolphin, Yacht & Beach Club, and then you're into the World Showcase! Around World Showcase, down to the #BlessedBall, through a gate to the Gospel Choir, around the corner and ... finish line!

My Favorite Things
(One in an occasional series of my favorite things about WDW Marathon Weekend!)


(Me, S and B the night of the Marathon ... 26.2 miles running and 13 miles DAWT later!)

So, if you read the entry post of this PTR you probably noticed that I've run quite a few RunDisney races in the past 12 months. So far, I've participated in every weekend except for Avengers, either Star Wars and Disneyland Paris. WDW Marathon is by far my favorite RunDisney weekend of them all (Tink Weekend is No. 2 for those playing along at home!).

Why? So many reasons! WDW Marathon weekend this year was filled with multiple firsts for me - it featured my first Marathon, it was my first RunDisney Challenge, it was the first time I met my "coach" in person - he flew in from Iraq to see me finish the marathon!!! - and it was the first time that I actually ran a race with people - S and B.

So, each week in these update posts, I figured I'd highlight some of my favorite things about Marathon Weekend (for first-timers to RunDisney, some of these things overlap and stay consistent for other RunDisney race weekends too!).

Starting with ...

No. 13: The Race Shirts

(2016 WDW Marathon Race Weekend participant shirts)

So - when you sign up for a race (or a Challenge) with RunDisney, you get a pretty cool race shirt. The shirts for the 5K are unisex cotton shirts, but the shirts for 10K, Half, Full and Challenges are tech shirts by Champion in both men's and women's cuts.

And for Marathon weekend, the shirts are long-sleeved (yay!) ... and feature this neat detail on the sleeve:

(Long-sleeves on the WDW Marathon Weekend participant shirts)

See those little logos? Those indicate which parks the race passed through! Epcot for the 10K, Epcot and Magic Kingdom and then ALL FOUR PARKS for the Marathon, Goofy Challenge and Dopey Challenge. Pretty sweet, huh?

Next Week:
Stay tuned for another exciting installment. Will M finally have a plane ticket? Can we start planning for FP+s yet? See you next week!

 

[jhorstma]

So I'm lurking, following and reading - I luv reading these marathon week posts - takes me right back there!

 

[fallonkendra]

Following along! We were at Disney for Marathon weekend last year, my boyfriend ran in the 10km. We happened to be in Epcot on the morning of the full marathon, and we were both so inspired by seeing the thousands of people so close to the finish line that my boyfriend decided to get back into distance running (he previously ran a half marathon back in 2013, but then scaled back to 5 and 10k's), and he is currently training for the half marathon in January 2017 and a goal of the full marathon in 2018. I've never been very physically active (mainly due to health reasons - I had severe activity-induced asthma as a child that would leave me huffing and puffing just from walking too fast, and then Crohn's disease for the past few years. But, I recently had my Crohn's medication changed, I've been feeling better than I ever have before and I'm registered for my first ever 5km this January at Disney

Looking forward to reading more! I love the shot of the sleeves on the shirts from last year! I don't think we even noticed the Spaceship Earth on the arm of my boyfriend's 10km shirt...

 

[Keels]

Following along! We were at Disney for Marathon weekend last year, my boyfriend ran in the 10km. We happened to be in Epcot on the morning of the full marathon, and we were both so inspired by seeing the thousands of people so close to the finish line that my boyfriend decided to get back into distance running (he previously ran a half marathon back in 2013, but then scaled back to 5 and 10k's), and he is currently training for the half marathon in January 2017 and a goal of the full marathon in 2018. I've never been very physically active (mainly due to health reasons - I had severe activity-induced asthma as a child that would leave me huffing and puffing just from walking too fast, and then Crohn's disease for the past few years. But, I recently had my Crohn's medication changed, I've been feeling better than I ever have before and I'm registered for my first ever 5km this January at Disney

Looking forward to reading more! I love the shot of the sleeves on the shirts from last year! I don't think we even noticed the Spaceship Earth on the arm of my boyfriend's 10km shirt...

It's so funny that you mention being inspired by the Marathon runners in Epcot - I was in the SAME EXACT PLACE in 2014, and I found myself standing there shouting encouragement to people I'd NEVER met before and I was so psyched for them.

I think that's what ultimately fueled me when I decided I wanted to run my first-ever half marathon - and I wanted it to be at Disneyland! But what did Carousel of Progress teach us ... "Man has a dream, and that's a start" ...

I'm so excited to hear you both are participating in January! It's truly an AMAZING weekend packed to the gills with some of the best and happiest runners you will ever encounter.

And that's GREAT to hear about your Crohn's medication - I wish and hope each day continues to be better for you going forward!

 

[Keels]

We Have Our First Groupie!!

As if I wasn't a lucky enough girl to have friends that want to spend their precious vacation time away from work running races, I've got a freaking ROCK STAR group of friends back here in Texas that want to come out and support us as we run - early mornings and all that!

This year, my dear friends Adam and Mel came out to Orlando for a weekend of touring breweries with my husband - culminating with spectating the Marathon on Sunday. They were outside of ESPN when we came through the Boardwalk area - and Adam had an ice cold beer waiting for ... after he shouted out a REALLY LOUD soccer-style cheer about us "kicking the marathon's a$$". I know a large group of runners stopped to listen to his cheer - because there was a definite ROAR of the crowd when he was done. Talk about awesome.

So, it just so happens that one of our closest girlfriends - who also happens to be Adam's sister - will be joining us! I'm so thrilled. Angela is my sportsball buddy, so even though she has zero interest in running - she's a GREAT cheerleader. And it will REALLY come in handy to have her manning the cooler with our Mile 24 "Reward" Cocktails right outside Beach Club.

Angela will arrive on Thursday morning and take DME while S and I nap after the 10K. So, she'll be around to spectate the Half AND Full - as well as join us for DATW!

So, that brings our "Fun Bunch" number up to 11!

 

[pixarmom]

Following along - how fun! Although the race shirt photos make me grumpy - the 2016 Marathon shirts are so much cuter than my 2015 Marathon shirt. Fingers crossed for 2017.

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

Getting in early on this one. DW and I hope that you're recovering well. Maybe some day we'll do Marathon weekend. I'd like to see a challenge like the other weekends added: 10k and 1/2 marathon. But all those shirts are tempting.

Hope to see you at W&D.

 

[Keels]

Getting in early on this one. DW and I hope that you're recovering well. Maybe some day we'll do Marathon weekend. I'd like to see a challenge like the other weekends added: 10k and 1/2 marathon. But all those shirts are tempting.

Hope to see you at W&D.

I leave for Orlando next week - so I'll be around during W&D! I'm volunteering at the Expo on Thursday and I'm a course monitor for the 5K on Friday! Hope to see you!!

 

[tigger536]

I leave for Orlando next week - so I'll be around during W&D! I'm volunteering at the Expo on Thursday and I'm a course monitor for the 5K on Friday! Hope to see you!!

Love this PTR ! So excited for Marathon weekend!!!! So glad that you are healing well.

Also, yay to Wine and Dine!! I'll be in both those places!

 

[Keels]

Love this PTR ! So excited for Marathon weekend!!!! So glad that you are healing well.

Also, yay to Wine and Dine!! I'll be in both those places!

You know the drill ... you + me * Trader Sam's = awesomeness!!!!

 

[tigger536]

You know the drill ... you + me * Trader Sam's = awesomeness!!!!

It's a plan!

 

[Ariel484]

You know the drill ... you + me * Trader Sam's = awesomeness!!!!

That looks like math...


...

 

[Keels]

12 Weeks (82 Days) To Go:

12 weeks from now, the group will begin ascending on Orlando! Well, except for me. I'll be there about nine weeks from today, but that's a different story for another update.

So, let's check in and see what's happening!

By The Numbers:
24: Days Until FP+ Day
82: Days Until the WDW Marathon Expo
86: Days Until the WDW Marathon
162.7: Total Miles run by the four of us over the course of four days

#SquadGoals:
What's everyone up to this week?

S: S returned safe and sound from Haiti and is slowly getting back in to a normal routine again. She's back on training next week! Prior to Haiti, she ran a half-marathon in a PB time (in the POURING rain), so Haiti was essentially her "rest period" before ramping back up to training.

B: B CRUSHED the Chicago Marathon with a near-40 minute PR! She's taking a couple of weeks off before ramping mileage back up for a local 10-miler, followed by the St. Jude Half in December. She has a time-goal for the St. Jude Half as well.

M: M is dealing with a little bit of an injury/nagging pain, but is still plugging away towards the Marathon.

Me: Because I'm a semi-narcissist this week, this update is going to revolve largely around me!!

So, for those NOT in the know, I've been officially down with a stress fracture in my left ankle and a grade II sprain of my right hip since the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend over Labor Day Weekend. In fairness, I'd been experiencing hip pain since the middle of July and had really just tried to train and strengthen through it. Unfortunately, that was not to be and the hip injury ended up me putting way too much weight and strike-force on my left ankle (which, is surgically-repaired because I was born with a clubfoot ... but that's a longer story for a different time).

At this point, I've been shutdown for six weeks and completely non-weight baring for four weeks. BUT a bright spot! Last Friday, I had my first underwater treadmill session with no setbacks, and on Wednesday, I had my first REAL treadmill session! 15 minutes at a quick walking pace - it's not much, but it's definitely something!

So - Friday may possibly be my last day of supervised PT, if all things go as planned. This would be GREAT - it means that both my doctor and PTs are in agreement that I may return to training AND on a plan of action for me to follow between now and the 11 weeks remaining until Dopey.

To prepare, I've printed out copies of six different training plans - a couple as-is, but most altered - to take with me to my session tomorrow. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to come back and post an updated training plan on the training section above!!

In other news, this is the time of year when Mr. Keels and I pack up our fur-family of three dogs, close down our house here in Texas and head out to Florida for a few weeks to visit friends. My parents still live in Orlando - five miles exactly from Disney Springs - so it will be nice to get back to some fun times at WDW. I haven't been since Princess Weekend in February! Even better? B and her husband are coming in town at the end of October for Food & Wine Fest and MNSSHP - it will be great to see B since our plans for Chicago Marathon were scuttled due to my stupid injury.


(B & Keels: Last seen together at Disneyland during Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend ...)

On top of that, I'll be doing something new-to-me as a RunDiser - I'll be volunteering during Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend!! I'm working three very different shifts that I'm super excited about! I'll be doing one day of pre-race, on-course set-up (this is during the week, a week before the race weekend), I'm doing a day of volunteering at the Expo (Thursday afternoon - hopefully handing out bibs!!) and then I'm an on-course monitor for the 5K on Friday morning! I'm really excited to see a race weekend behind-the-scenes as I have a real interest in Race Direction and overall logistics of a large-scale race weekend. So, this will be a great chance to see all that stuff first hand!

My Favorite Things
(One in an occasional series of my favorite things about WDW Marathon Weekend!)

This week, I'm going to be writing a little bit about my specific race weekend experience - the 2016 Dopey Challenge. This is going to be more condensed, but hopefully helpful for first-timers doing Dopey, Marathon Weekend OR a RunDisney Challenge in general. For a more in-depth recap, my pal @Ariel484 wrote an AWESOME one from Dopey in 2015. You can read it here.

So, anyway, I present to you ...

12. The Dopey Details!


(Your friendly PTRer with the Dopey Medal concept art at the 2016 WDW Marathon Weekend Expo)

So, unlike most RunDisney race weekends that cover four days (Expo, 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon), the addition of a Marathon to the running slate adds in an extra RunDisney Day. So, for those participating in the Dopey Challenge, your schedule looks like this:

• Wednesday: Expo - REQUIRED to be done on Wednesday. You pick up your bibs, have your photo taken for photo verification upon completion of the challenge, pick up your massive bag of race shirts and fight with other RunDisney diehards for official merchandise
• Thursday: 5K. This is the "latest" starting race during WDW Marathon Weekend ... a whole 30 extra minutes to sleep in! The race course runs exclusively at EPCOT and is traditionally themed to Pluto.
• Friday: 10K. The second race of Dopey is also run exclusively at Epcot - but this race also includes a loop around the Boardwalk and Epcot resort area. It's also the last race in the small corral set-up of Marathon Weekend (Corrals A-F).
• Saturday: Half Marathon. This race kicks out to World Drive, more than doubles in field size and hits the big boy corral setup (Corrals A-P). It traverses the property from Epcot through Magic Kingdom and then back to Epcot.
• Sunday: Marathon. The big one. All four parks. Wide World of Sports. 26.2 miles.

(Quadruple the fun equals double the bibs! #Math)

Four races with two different corral setups means ... two bibs! In 2016, the orange bib was for the 5K and 10K, while the purple bib was for the Half and Marathon. The bib numbers were the same, though! Look how happy ole Dopey looks on the bibs - surely he hasn't ever run 48.6 miles over four days!

Anyway. And with that ... we're off to the races!!


(The last rubber 5K medal produced for Marathon Weekend!)

5K Thursday: Going in to the Dopey Challenge, I had run four total RunDisney races (two at Disneyland, and two at WDW) but no Challenges and my WDW races were not on the "traditional" WDW course (Marathon and Princess share the same course for 5-10-Half). So, these races were all new to me! I loved the 5K and felt fast, happy and ready for the weekend. I didn't stop for any character pictures, but I did do some awesome nighttime selfies in the World Showcase. I definitely ran this race A LOT faster than I wanted to (that will be a theme during this weekend, unfortunately), but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Finished the race, got my cute Pluto medal, walked to an empty Dopey Challenge tent and then went on my way. 3.1 miles down, 45.5 miles to go ... it's on to the 10K!


(Rain, rain, go away ... well, I guess I will just PR today!)

10K Friday: Why, yes, that's me sporting a poncho in the corrals. It was a rainy, rainy, rainy, rainy morning for the 10K. I ended up running nearly the first two miles with the poncho on - until I became frustrated and just said screw it. I tossed the poncho and took off. I was happy that I'd decided to run in a hat that morning, even though it was unlikely I would still be out on the course for sunrise. Going in to this race, the plan was for my husband to run and just head to the car to sleep while I finished and hopefully waited in line for a picture with Dopey post-race. Well, the rain put a complete damper (ha ha, jokes everybody!) on those plans. By the time I hit the Boardwalk, I was officially over being wet and out in the rain. So, what happened? I ran the TWO FASTEST MILES I've ever run. Ever. Like 3:00/mile faster. My husband, who had started the race in Corral B (I was in E), had just changed shirts and laid down in the truck when about 10 minutes later I walk up ready to drive home. 9.3 miles down, 39.3 miles to go!

Friday was probably my second-favorite day of the weekend - one because of the race (I LOVED the course, despite the rain, and obviously felt GREAT) but also because B and S were arriving today to join for the rest of the races for the weekend! Fun in the parks, wine tasting at Hollywood Brown Derby and a delicious dinner at Kona, it was time to hit the sack for ...

Half Marathon Saturday: S and I were the ones running today, while B would be utilizing a ChEAR Squad wristband to spectate. Holy crap - it was foggy today. Like CRAZY foggy:


(Obligatory Castle Selfie)

Other than the fog, the race was relatively uneventful. I felt strong, I was having a blast ... and then something odd happened. Around Mile 9, right after an area referred to as Cone Alley, I decided I was done - done with the Half Marathon, at least! I was ready to face the beast. I was ready to take on my VERY FIRST Marathon. 22.4 miles down, 26.2 miles to go ... and yes, I know I'm terrible at #Math, but that's not even halfway to Dopey just yet!


(S and I feeling "Ducky" with our half marathon medals! Also, our manicures were on point that day ...)

Marathon Sunday: It was here. The day I'd been preparing for - MARATHON DAY. The only thing that stood between me and my badass Dopey Challenge medal was just a little trot across 26.2 miles. We woke early, well-rested and ready. Well, as ready as we could be for a race when it's already 70 degrees and 100% humidity at 4:30 a.m.! YIKES.


(The three Mouseketeers are ready to run!)

And with that, we were off! I'll spare y'all the details - the highs and lows of the race - but instead, I'll wax poetic for a little bit.

I know it's going to sound crazy, but Marathon Day was easily a Top-3 day of my life. It was hard, grueling, fun, amazing and filled with every emotion you can squeeze into one day. During that race, I hit the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And I did it with those two crazy ladies by my side. Finishing a Marathon always takes a little something from you - emotionally, physically, literally or even a combination of all three. Back home in Texas, before I left for Florida, I had a little going-away get-together with friends - and even though they were all excited for me, it was also the first time I had extreme doubt that I would be able to finish the Challenge. It wasn't for lack of effort or training or WANT - it was just fear of the unknown. Fear of the course. Fear of the distance of the Marathon. Just ... fear. I'm a crier - for reasons both good and bad - so my stress, nerves and accompanying emotions ALWAYS manifest in tears. And, yes, I did almost cry at one point during the Marathon (that's a story for me to share over drinks) ... but when I got to the Finish Line - the ONE THING I could 100-percent count on to happen ... didn't. I did not cry. No tears! Nothing!

Every race weekend, I tend to wear item that has my nickname on it - in this case, it was my Mouseketeer shirt that said "Keels" on the front. As we're racing down the finishing stretch, I hear RunDisney announcer Rudy Novotny yell out "And here comes Keels! She's about to finish the Marathon and complete the Dopey Challenge! Go Keels!" It. Was. Amazing.


(OMG, OMG you guys! I'm a Marathoner!!!)

Making It Challenge Official: So, I finished all four races and I within the required pace requirement (in faster than a 16:00/mile in each race). So - what was next? I was headed BACK to the Dopey Challenge tent. And this time? THERE WERE PEOPLE HERE! Cocktail rounds blocked the passage way into the tent, each manned with Race Officials with laptops. They checked my bib number, made sure that I looked the same as my photo taken at the Expo (red face, sweaty-self and all) ... and then I heard the magical words "Congratulations on completing Dopey! Go get your medals!"

Everything after that was a blur ... but I had done it. I had done what I previous felt was impossible. #KeelsDidDopey


(26.2 miles run? Check! Three medals? You betcha! Ice, cold beer? FINALLY!)

Oh yeah - Dopey Challenge finishers ALSO get the medal for Goofy's Race & a Half Challenge! So, 26.2 miles and three medals. And that was it for me - I was ready to party and celebrate with my friends!

So, there you have it folks. A complete review of the 2016 Dopey Challenge in one post.

Always remember - It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Up Next: Will we have a training plan??

 

[Keels]

That looks like math...


...

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I love your recap of the races. I have been getting really nervous about running the marathon but you give me hope that it can be fun!