Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for? (comments welcome)

[nancipants]

Oh what did 19 year old you get?!

I can imagine what my 19 year old self would have picked. Probably a butterfly or a sunflower.

I am such a chicken though, I will stick with the sharpie.

It’s the Rebel Alliance insignia on my right ankle. I have been a nerd for a long time.

 

[The Expert]

For real. I want one that says “I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.”

Ohhhh tempting!

There's a tattoo place at Universal if you're up for a post DATW road trip. We know all the best decisions are made during DATW.

I actually have intentions to get an rD tattoo at some point. This would happen if I wasn't going to the airport for a 6pm flight on Monday. But maybe on another Disney trip? I'll be there in April for the SS 10K!

It’s the Rebel Alliance insignia on my right ankle. I have been a nerd for a long time.

I have the same on my wrist!! We'll have to compare during one of the meetups if we're not all covered up.


I had a needle phobia my whole life and never thought I'd get one. Then my heart dog, Mr Fox, died about 8 years ago and my very first gut instinct was to get a tattoo to honor him. I have a fox looking at snowflakes on my inner arm and I LOVE it. The process was so fast and easy, it actually cured my needle phobia! A few years later I got the Star Wars one and I added a single-line tattoo of the Grand Teton mountain range on the outside of my other arm. I actually have a doc on my phone for tattoo ideas now.

 

[superchime]

It’s the Rebel Alliance insignia on my right ankle. I have been a nerd for a long time.

Oh! That’s a good one!

 

[superchime]

Ohhhh tempting!


I actually have intentions to get an rD tattoo at some point. This would happen if I wasn't going to the airport for a 6pm flight on Monday. But maybe on another Disney trip? I'll be there in April for the SS 10K!

I will be there in April too, and unsupervised for that weekend.

I have the same on my wrist!! We'll have to compare during one of the meetups if we're not all covered up.


I had a needle phobia my whole life and never thought I'd get one. Then my heart dog, Mr Fox, died about 8 years ago and my very first gut instinct was to get a tattoo to honor him. I have a fox looking at snowflakes on my inner arm and I LOVE it. The process was so fast and easy, it actually cured my needle phobia! A few years later I got the Star Wars one and I added a single-line tattoo of the Grand Teton mountain range on the outside of my other arm. I actually have a doc on my phone for tattoo ideas now.

Aww, Mr Fox What a sweet tribute.

 

[azrivest]

I actually have intentions to get an rD tattoo at some point.

I've had a tattoo design in my head for over a year now:

Small Mickey ears with 48.6 in one corner and something representing each of my kids inside the ears: a lightning bolt for Dash Parr (my oldest has ADHD and will just never stop) and a heart of Te Fiti for Moana (my youngest is the most independent and bold spirit I have ever met. Nothing phases her)

I'm just too chicken to go through with it...

 

[superchime]

I'm just too chicken to go through with it...

Are you coming to Springtime Surprise?

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I've had a tattoo design in my head for over a year now:

Small Mickey ears with 48.6 in one corner and something representing each of my kids inside the ears: a lightning bolt for Dash Parr (my oldest has ADHD and will just never stop) and a heart of Te Fiti for Moana (my youngest is the most independent and bold spirit I have ever met. Nothing phases her)

I'm just too chicken to go through with it...

That's a great idea! Do it!

If you can run a marathon, you can handle getting a tattoo

(ETA, I got a tattoo well before running a marathon, and the marathon was way harder!)

 

[The Expert]

If you can run a marathon, you can handle getting a tattoo

THIS!

 

[superchime]

5k day and guess who I saw after the race!

 

[nancipants]

Your son looks either very amused or embarrassed.

 

[superchime]

Your son looks either very amused or embarrassed.

Haha, probably a little of both (plus sleepy). He's such a good sport. I offered to let him skip that picture if he wanted, but he scooted in there anyway.

 

[superchime]

I had the best weekend ever! Seriously could not have asked for more. Ok, maybe I could have done without the rain on Saturday. I plan on writing up detailed race reports when I get home, so just a few thoughts for now while I procrastinate packing.

First of all I loved seeing some familiar Dis faces and meeting more of you in person. I am glad I'm getting over my hesitance to go to meetups because this really is the nicest bunch of people on the internet and it makes the race weekends so much more fun.

My first Dopey and first marathon were so much better than I was expecting. I remember walking past the marathon finish line on the way to the corrals Sunday morning, really not sure if I would cross it or not, and I'm still kind of in shock that I finished. I enjoyed probably 90% of the race, due in large part to DopeyBadger keeping me on pace and out of my head. I would not have had the race I had without him. I also had family and friends supporting me along the way and that helped so much too. Things went so well that I honestly wonder if I should quit while I'm ahead. At any rate, I'm definitely not going to attempt another Dopey until I can get a bit faster because the balloons were not far behind me for most of the race and hot on my heels by the end.

But I learned that I can commit to a Really Hard Thing and make it happen, even when I'm doubting myself the entire time. That's definitely something that's going to carry over into my regular life. I love the Carrie Fisher quote "Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What's important is the action. You don't have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow." I also learned that I can't necessarily do hard things alone, and that needing help doesn't make the accomplishment any less significant.



Taking pictures in Magic Kingdom today, someone gave me a bow. I would not have said that I'm a bow person (I'm embarrassed to admit how many tries it took for me to get it right side up), but it's pretty darn cute. So maybe this weekend I also learned that I can be a bow person?

Anyway, I'll definitely be cheering for the back of the pack at next year's marathon, but before that I'm looking forward to Princess weekend!

 

[nancipants]

That's my favorite Carrie quote, too. It was so nice hanging out with you at meetups this weekend, and I'm so glad you had a great marathon! Can't wait to read more about it.

And see you at Princess!

 

[GollyGadget]

Congratulations!

 

[azrivest]

Taking pictures in Magic Kingdom today, someone gave me a bow. I would not have said that I'm a bow person (I'm embarrassed to admit how many tries it took for me to get it right side up), but it's pretty darn cute. So maybe this weekend I also learned that I can be a bow person?

Slightly jealous of that bow haha. I thought about ordering one on Etsy since my daughter's a cheerleader but they were slightly too expensive for my usage of it.

Congratulations on Dopey!!

 

[superchime]

2025 Marathon Weekend Trip Report

Tuesday Jan 7 - Travel day and park day.
We had an early flight so we were able to spend a good amount of time at Epcot. Had lunch at Biergarten, went to OKW when our room was ready to unpack and put away groceries, then back to Epcot at night for dinner at La Creperie. I spent more time on my feet than I wanted that day but I wanted to spend time at the parks with my family before the races started.



I may have had more than one of these little beauties.


The Christmas decorations were pretty but I was very done with Christmas music.




Wed Jan 8 - Expo day. My app locked up just as the virtual queue opened so I ended up with a pretty high boarding group. I went over when the expo opened anyway, and I’m glad I did because I got there before the lines were wrapping around the ball fields! I don’t usually go to the expo on day 1 so the crowds were a new experience for me. Again, more time on my feet than I wanted, and I ended up eating a Mickey pretzel for lunch, so that was less than ideal. But I said hi to Jeff Galloway and got all of the things I needed and a few things I probably didn't.

 

[superchime]

Marathon Weekend Trip Report

Thurs Jan 9 - 5k day.
My 15 year old son was running this one with me, and we had decided to swap our planned costumes for onesies, which was the right call. I was Clara Cluck and he was Ratatouille. I was so surprised when I was checking instagram from our corral and saw that Clara Cluck was one of the pre/post race characters! We had a nice stroll around world showcase and stood in line for Clara after the race was over.



Fri Jan 10 - 10k day
Another cold one and I was missing my onesie. I had on a bunch of layers and ended up not taking off any of them. This was probably my worst race of the weekend because I just could not get warm and I guess this caused a change in my gait because by the end of this race my foot was hurting in its usual spot and I was starting to panic that the rest of the weekend was going to suck. This is my favorite 10k course, though.





The Hurricane Hanna meetup was the highlight of my day. It was so great to see everyone and put faces and real names to screen names.

Another less than nutritious lunch but I made up for it at dinner. Our room had a full kitchen and I had ordered groceries so I had pasta for dinner.

 

[superchime]

Sat Jan 11 - Half Marathon day.
I actually made it to the light pole meet up this morning, which was great. I headed over to my corral just as the rain started. I had packed a poncho so I sat down and made a little cocoon for myself, but the rain managed to sneak under it and by the time the race started my lower half was soaked. I stopped at the first medical tent to put vaseline on any areas that I thought might chafe.

My plan with the first three races was to take it as easy as I could without getting swept. DopeyBadger was messaging with me through this race to help me set a pace that was comfortably easy but still ahead of the balloons. The area around the Poly/GF was dark and crowded and puddly. Running through Magic Kingdom was amazing. Since last year’s half was shortened, I hadn’t run through MK since my first half marathon in 2023 and I was really too anxious to fully enjoy it that time. So this time I really tried to soak it all in and enjoy the moment. The crowding was better and I was able to actually run through the castle, and I stopped for a photo because I was sure I wouldn’t have time to the next day.




The clock face held up through MK but then the handle started coming loose. I had planned to leave it after the park anyway so I said goodbye to it at a mile marker and headed on to finish the race.

I had brought some fuel with me for this race and I'm glad I did. The Precision Chews that treated me well during training were not so great during this race. Knowing this, I was able to swap them out for something else for the marathon.

The rest of the day was dedicated to recovery and marathon prep. Our room had a gigantic bathtub, which I took full advantage of. And my family got me compression boots for Christmas so those got quite a bit of use this weekend too. Finally felt like I was back on track with nutrition, too.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Woohoo! Congrats!

 

[superchime]

Sun Jan 12 - Marathon Day!

I set my alarm for 1am, which is just ridiculous.

Lots of people say you should’t run your first marathon as part of Dopey, and that makes a lot of sense from a physical perspective. But I was in a routine now from my three previous early mornings, so I feel like I was less stressed than I would have been if the marathon had been my only race.

Less stress doesn’t mean zero, though. I jittered around at the light pole for like 2 minutes then headed for my corral so I could be near the front, because I knew I needed as much buffer as possible. I ended up in the first wave of E, which was the best I could hope for. I also decided to do all I could to stay warm that morning so I had on my running tights with sweatpants over top, a blanket and mylar and fleece headband, three extra layers on top. I was toasty.

I was also prepared with affirmations on both hands:


(hehe, a little self-fist bump there, nice).

The first few miles were fine. I stopped in the USA bathroom to ditch the sweatpants. There was a huge pile of clothes on the tables there, so I wasn’t the only one with that idea. One benefit of the previous three days of racing was that the mile markers seemed to just fly by. I was not going that fast but you know how the first time you go somewhere it seems to take forever, then in the future it doesn’t seem that long? Anyway before I knew it we were passing the Poly and heading into Magic Kingdom.

We hit Magic Kingdom around mile 9, but because I had been there earlier for the half it didn’t seem that far. Another quick bathroom stop (shout out to the tomorrowland bathrooms for zero wait) and I was shocked to see no line for castle photos so I hopped over for one.



The whole time, Dopey Badger had been messaging with me, helping me stick to a pace that was safe from balloons but would still hopefully leave enough in my tank to finish the race. As I crossed mile 14 I messaged him that this was the farthest I’d ever run and he told me no, that was just the warmup. You’re at mile 0 now, start your long run on tired legs just like you’ve done in your training runs. This was exactly what I needed to hear at that point.

Back in a better headspace, I was looking forward to seeing my husband and son at Animal Kingdom. On the way there I was surprised to see characters with no lines so I stopped quickly for Captain Phasma and Rey. I started to feel a little lightheaded at this point, the sun was up and I had shed my two outer layers. I only stopped for a second but getting hugs (and that Coke) from my family gave me another boost.



(it's no finish line beer but it'll do nicely)

It was a bit alarming to come out of Animal Kingdom and see that no more people were going in, but DB said I was still ok and in DB we trust (I'm thinking about putting that on a t shirt), so I switched to my LFG playlist, drank as much of the coke as I could, and got a second? third? fourth? wind. Heading into Blizzard Beach felt like meeting a celebrity. I was still fueling as planned but I was so tired of the salt stik chews by that point that I just ate a straight salt packet and called it good. Balloons were going into BB as I was heading out.

And this is the point where I was so very done running. I had been stopping every few miles to stretch my quads and calves and I felt about as good physically as I could hope for at that point. I was just ready to be done. Dopey Badger again pulled me out of my spiral. A friend also messaged me at that point and distracted me. Everything between Blizzard Beach and the Boardwalk is a bit fuzzy, but I did have fun giving high fives on the boardwalk.

I know people were disappointed about them cutting World Showcase from the end of the marathon but at this point I was just very glad to be almost done. I saw my family again in Epcot, then my husband managed to get to the finish line to see me finish too. I looked behind me and didn't see balloons so I grabbed a quick picture with Olaf, then I was done! I was a marathoner! I was Dopey!




My only goals for this race were to finish on my own two feet and with a smile on my face.
Done and done.