I Can't Believe I Ran the Whole Thing: A 2016 Dopey Challenge Trip Report

[cavepig]

I did some planned walk breaks for the half (and lots of unplanned in the full) and as long as I was far over, it didn't seem to matter what side as runners could easily get by in the middle. And want to hear something funny, a pacer was passing me during the Full and she hollers out "walkers in the middle, runners on the outside, we'll be going to our walk in 30 seconds." So, they weren't moving to any side at all for their walk and they were a huge group.

Yes mylars would have been great, I chill up fast too, but had luckily thrown one in the gear check bag to use.

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

I did some planned walk breaks for the half (and lots of unplanned in the full) and as long as I was far over, it didn't seem to matter what side as runners could easily get by in the middle. And want to hear something funny, a pacer was passing me during the Full and she hollers out "walkers in the middle, runners on the outside, we'll be going to our walk in 30 seconds." So, they weren't moving to any side at all for their walk and they were a huge group.

Yes mylars would have been great, I chill up fast too, but had luckily thrown one in the gear check bag to use.

That is really interesting about the pace group! But it makes sense. I passed a couple pace groups during Space Coast Half (don't ask) who were doing much the same thing and I can see why they just stay in one big group - any movement to one side or another could be really dangerous.

I found out after the marathon that there were mylars at the medical stop outside the massage tent. But more on that later!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 4, January 9 - Mickey Waffles, 'nuff Said

Once we'd finished the half marathon, it was our plan to go to our room to collect our resort cup and head to Old Port Royale to obtain some Mickey waffles. Scoff all you like. I used to scoff. Then I tried the things and I don't know what Disney puts in them - let's call it pixie dust - but they are totally addictive and if you are in need of breakfast, they will soon be all you can think of. So we walked over to Old Port Royale from Aruba (yeah, yeah, you know) which was also a decent part of the plan to keep the ol' legs limber and moving.


Also? There was bacon.

I actually prefer the mini-waffles they put out for kids, but the giant one works, too. This was the best-tasting waffle I'd ever had. So yum. BRF had ended up getting a breakfast quesadilla instead at the last minute, but she said it was good, too. Once full, we headed back to the room to deconstruct costume, clean up the room a bit (BRF was checking into a room with her husband after the marathon the next day), work on the finishing touches to our marathon costumes, and just generally take it easy. Showers, of course, were also on the agenda for the day. It was a truly lazy, laid-back day and I got a lot of reading done, a hobby that had taken a backseat during marathon training. BRF took a nap.

Later in the afternoon, I helped her put her Belle costume together, or at least make it more Belle-like and I had to iron a component of my costume. So nothing terribly interesting happened the rest of the day. Around 5 or so, we walked back to Old Port Royale for dinner and both of us ended up getting a chicken Caesar salad, and it was delicious and exactly what I needed. I figured I'd done a pretty good job all week of slowly carbing up that I was ready for the marathon, nutrition-wise. I was also packing many Gu's, a Clif bar, and some gummy bears (because of scary blood sugar crash) and in addition to what rD offers on-course, I felt like I'd be fine.

Bedtime was early once again but we were ecstatic at the prospect of only one more pre-dawn rising.

Next Up: Alice in Runderland

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Awesome trip report! I'm still working my way up to a 10k after a few years of playing with 5ks. I'm a little in awe of marathoners!

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm with you- as long as you throw up a hand and double check your side views (so to speak) I don't think it's really safe to also be weaving across the cross to the right to walk. But, there's always some big personalities on the course who'll always be right- ya know? Such a pretty medal! I don't really understand the reasoning behind when rD decides to give out mylers. Some weekends you hear that it's freezing and no mylers but others not as cold and mylers all over the place!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Awesome trip report! I'm still working my way up to a 10k after a few years of playing with 5ks. I'm a little in awe of marathoners!

Thank you! The 10K is actually my favorite distance - you feel like you get a nice workout in without it taking up your whole morning (for me, anyway, my 10K pace is usually in the 11 min/mile and my half/full pace...is not). I never felt the inclination to run a marathon until I did it as part of the Dopey Challenge!

I'm with you- as long as you throw up a hand and double check your side views (so to speak) I don't think it's really safe to also be weaving across the cross to the right to walk. But, there's always some big personalities on the course who'll always be right- ya know? Such a pretty medal! I don't really understand the reasoning behind when rD decides to give out mylers. Some weekends you hear that it's freezing and no mylers but others not as cold and mylers all over the place!

No doubt on the big personalities! I really like the half medal. Of all the Fab Five, I think Donald is my favorite because he's just so indignant! And he's one-third of the Three Caballeros. Yeah, I don't know why mylars weren't readily available after the half, because it's not like it was warm out!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 5, January 10 - Alice in Runderland

Marathon Day! And the last day to rise way, way, WAY before dawn! Our alarms went off at 2:30 and we slowly (ever so slowly) got to moving around and putting together our race costumes and stowing all our gear and snacks and such. The side pockets on my Sparkle Skirt were stuffed full: portable charger for my phone, Clif bar, gummy bears, extra gum, safety pins just in case, and chapstick. When the side pockets are full like that, I call them saddlebags. My hydration belt was full of Gu, I think I had 6 or 7 of them. I'd never go through that many and the snacks, but as I mentioned previously, my post-race blood sugar crash in November scared me.

Surprisingly, even though this was my first marathon, I wasn't nervous. I don't know if the three previous days' races had built up my confidence or the fact that I had respected the distance throughout my training, to the extent that BRF had done a mini-Dopey (3, 6, 10, 20 miles over 4 days) in mid-December, or if I was just too tired to be nervous! My legs felt great, which surprised me since I remember the day after running Princess Half, I was still having a hard time walking up and down stairs, meeting each one with a groan that DH mocked mercilessly. I had put on some Zensah calf compression sleeves for the first time after the half marathon for a few hours, so I don't know if they helped, but I decided I'd wear them for the marathon - thereby breaking the "thou shalt not try anything new on race day" commandment.

My very favorite Disney character, for as long as I can remember, is Alice. My one and only tattoo that I got well into my adulthood is my own design of a Cheshire cat. By the time I got it, my reasoning was, "I've liked it since I was 3 or 4 years old. I still like it. Chances are I'll still like it when I'm elderly, too." But I digress. I just really love Alice in Wonderland. I have most of the poetry memorized and our parrot loves it when I recite Jabberwocky. He also loves Dr. Seuss, though, so I suspect it's more the rhythm and cadence of the words more than anything else. So because Alice is my very favorite, I decided who'd be better for my very first and probably only (shhhh, peanut gallery) marathon?



But I tried to keep the costume very simple and more runner-y: basic racerback tank with eyelet sewed on for Alice's pinafore, the pinafore itself is two white bandanas comprising the top and bottom (this was the part I mentioned previously that I had to iron) so that they could be taken apart/off if need be, a Twilight Sparkle Skirt (with the music hole option so I could run my lightning cable from the portable charger to my iPhone), a Sparkle Athletic visor, Zensah compression sleeves, and arm sleeves. I prefer removable sleeves to an actual long-sleeved shirt when I run distance because they don't have to be removed over my head and such.

As I mentioned, BRF was going as Belle in her yellow ballgown (but a running costume), which proved to confuse some spectators because they thought we were both different iterations of Belle: me as the "more than this provincial life" Belle, and BRF as fancy Belle. I had no problems with this because I could see it and I also like Belle, so no harm, no foul.

And soon we were on our way to the bus stop, lather, rinse, repeat from the previous three days. We went through security for our running belts, and the line was much, much longer on marathon day than any of the previous three. But it went smoothly and we were soon in the staging area, where we people-watched and spotted a number of really great running costumes. My favorite was a guy who was dressed as Roger Rabbit.



And then we made our way to the corrals. We were again in Corral J, because for the Dopey Challenge, your 5K/10K and half/full corrals are the same. Since we'd received no mylar after the half the previous day, we'd both brought throwaway hoodies, which we promptly laid on the ground to sit on since it was fairly warm the morning of the marathon. Our strategy for the marathon was to simply finish and also have fun. Up until now, the three previous race days were my slowest times to date: my slowest 5K ever, my slowest 10K ever, and my slowest half marathon ever. And you know what? I totally didn't care. I had no time goals, other than the time limits imposed by rD and we were well within those limits, and I just wanted to have fun. My philosophy about Disney races is that they are so expensive (comparatively), you may as well get as much enjoyment out of them as possible, which is why I don't understand the people who seem to set themselves up for misery. It's Disney! Enjoy it!

This message brought to you by the Pollyanna Appreciation Society.

So the pre-race time was basically deja-vued from the previous day. We sat for a while in our corral until it started to fill up and get crowded, we stood and watched the higher corrals be released one by one to beautiful fireworks, and then we slowly trudged forward at the appropriate time to be released ourselves. Soon we'd reached the starting line, Mickey counted down, and we were off!



Once again, I'd mentally broken up the course: to MK toll entrance, to MK proper, through MK, stretch between MK and DAK, DAK, Osceola Parkway, ESPN WWOS, DHS, DHS to Epcot, Epcot, finish. We did our now-standard half mile warmup and as we were going, I was so not feeling it. I mean, my legs felt fine, my lungs felt fine, I had a bit of a headache but no big deal, and there was nothing wrong with me, per se. I just felt like blah. Hard to explain but it was a meh feeling deep in my core. This went on for a mile or so and then right around two miles I realized I was developing a blister(s) on the third and/or fourth toe of my right foot on top. Uh oh. It was at this point I gave myself a mental slap upside the head - instead of thinking, "is that a blister? that's a blister. OMG how do I have a blister before mile 2? how is it going to feel in 24 miles? Ow, it hurts already. I hope it doesn't pop." etc. etc., I started thinking in mantra form: "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." This went on for at least a quarter mile if not more. And you know what? That I'm-Not-Feeling-This sense went away completely. I blithely passed the stilt walker and hot-air balloon (same as from the half marathon, just with less fog).

Up until this point, BRF must have been feeling the same way because we had zero conversation for the first few miles. But once my attitude had been adjusted, I set about to picking up her spirits. We passed a character stop (Chicken Little and Ugly Duckling) and I almost stopped, but could tell that if I mentioned stopping there might be some running partner drama. So we kept going. By the time we reached the MK toll way, it seemed like she'd finally gotten out of her funk and we were back to our old routine.


Blurry Mike Wazowski full-sized puppet. He looked cool, but we didn't stop, obviously.

I have more photos of the MK toll area, but it looked pretty much the same as during the half, just less fog. And then we were onward again! Ralph and Vanellope were out at the same spot as during the half, and instead of Mr. Oogie-Boogie, Jack and Sally were out at the Nightmare Before Christmas character spot. Their line was super-long, though, longer than the previous day, so I just enjoyed seeing a projected Zero flying in and among the trees. And then it was on to TTC, through the cheering crowds and past Mile 4, out towards the Contemporary, down under water again, up the steep hill and then Space Mountain came into view.


Blurry, because I'm running. You can also see a blurry Mile 5 marker just beyond the Mickey ears sign. The previous day, it had been more difficult to see Space Mountain due to all the fog.

Soon, we were backstage at MK and deja-vued again with bursting into the park to see spectators and Christmas decorations!


No fog today, but still very overcast.



Then it was through Tomorrowland again. I said to BRF that Buzz Lightyear would probably be out today since I wasn't dressed as him, but he wasn't, it was Lilo and Stitch. We skipped them and ran towards the Mad Tea Party. Today, the character stop was before you reached the attraction, which seemed better for race traffic. Alice and the White Rabbit were out, BRF asked if I wanted to stop, but for some reason I did not. I probably should have, but I didn't, so what can you do?

At this point, the route through MK varied a bit from the half: instead of banking left around the Mad Tea Party towards the carousel, we headed back into New Fantasyland!



Ariel was out with Sebastian near her Grotto, but we kept going because it was one of those things where we didn't see her until it was too late to pull over to the right. But up ahead near Belle's Enchanted Tales, I noticed a character stop AND there was a break in the crowd, so since BRF was Belle, we pulled over for a photo op with...Cogsworth!



While in line, I mentioned that I was going to regret not stopping for the White Rabbit, but that I didn't want to get yelled at again. A girl in front of us turned around and said, "Someone's always going to yell about something. Run your own race." Thank you, wise person, you are so right. We only waited maybe 2 or 3 minutes in line, Cogsworth was so cute, and I guess he thought I was Provincial Life Belle, because after the photo (and sidebar: the CM took roughly 8 photos with my iPhone, that has never happened, it's usually just one and you're stuck with whatever they took!), he took my hand and made a kissy noise. Too cute and that, along with being in the park with the music and ambiance, was invigorating and lifted my spirits. I think BRF felt it, too, because her mood suddenly changed as well.

Next Up: The Long Haul

 

[emilyindisney]

Cogsworth is an awesome stop! I totally agree- run your race, follow kind runner etiquette and have fun! If everyone else does the same there should be no issue lol I can't believe how many cool characters were out on the course! So interesting to hear/see how it varies from year to year. Sounds like a good race so far. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I hate we missed Ralph and Vanellope when they were out at DHS (we just didn't take a trip during that period). I would have to stop if I saw those two out during a race. Cogsworth is so cool!

 

[ZellyB]

Yay for the start of the marathon! Adorable Alice costume (even if you were mistaken for Belle a few times). The Cogsworth shot is fantastic and hey, the mistaken identity worked in your favor I guess.

I hear you on the mentally down part. When we did Goofy, I remember at points during the marathon just being sort of over the whole thing. Maybe it's the lather, rinse, repeat nature of the challenges or something and we only did 2 races and not 4. Like you, it passed and there were plenty of moments that were magical, but I do think those down points are pretty normal. Anxious to hear more.

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Cogsworth is an awesome stop! I totally agree- run your race, follow kind runner etiquette and have fun! If everyone else does the same there should be no issue lol I can't believe how many cool characters were out on the course! So interesting to hear/see how it varies from year to year. Sounds like a good race so far. Can't wait to hear more.

I totally agree! And I also liked that the course characters varied from previous years. Whenever I sign up for a new rD race, I search the previous year's race recaps from bloggers to get a sense of what characters might be out. It seems like 2016 was about halfway the same as previous years, so there were some really nice surprises!

I hate we missed Ralph and Vanellope when they were out at DHS (we just didn't take a trip during that period). I would have to stop if I saw those two out during a race. Cogsworth is so cool!

One of my regrets is not getting a photo op with Baymax and Hiro when they were out at DHS before the Animation Courtyard was converted to Star Wars. But getting a photo op with both Vader and Chewie there almost makes up for it.

Yay for the start of the marathon! Adorable Alice costume (even if you were mistaken for Belle a few times). The Cogsworth shot is fantastic and hey, the mistaken identity worked in your favor I guess.

I hear you on the mentally down part. When we did Goofy, I remember at points during the marathon just being sort of over the whole thing. Maybe it's the lather, rinse, repeat nature of the challenges or something and we only did 2 races and not 4. Like you, it passed and there were plenty of moments that were magical, but I do think those down points are pretty normal. Anxious to hear more.

It's good to hear that the mental down is normal, it was tough to get out of, but I'm glad that I did!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 5, January 10 - The Long Haul

After the awesome Cogsworth character stop, it was time to go through the Cinderella Castle again. After the previous day's non-Castle photo (other than stopping for a posed one), I was really hoping to get a great running-through-the-castle shot like I had for Princess. Except my expression in the PHM castle shot was, shall we say, less than attractive! Plus, the castle is not lit up for PHM, so I was ready for photographers by plastering a Miss America-worthy smile on my face. Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff were up on the balcony again, Elsa was making it snow (or snoap) again and another runner yelled, "Thank you, Elsa!" and she looked down to reply to him, "You're welcome!!"

The pace through the castle during the marathon was faster than the previous day, but it still wasn't a running pace. We went through and as we approached the exit, CMs were directing runners both ways down and out of the castle! What? BRF kind of broke left (the newly opened exit) and so I followed her down the ramp, where there were no photographers. We circled around the stationary castle photo op and back on course just past the photographers stationed at the bottom of the other ramp. So no castle photo for me at all during the marathon.


I love how the people front left here are so happy! That's how you run Disney, my friends!

Now here's the part where I get a little personal, maybe a bit TMI. So I'm going to hide it as a spoiler and if you choose to read it, you only have yourself to blame!

Spoiler: TMI

As is my luck, I was on the verge of having my monthly visitor. I have a medical condition that makes my monthly visitor rather - let's say - noticeable and sudden. So of course, I was panicking a bit about an unannounced arrival and had supplies stashed in the back zippered pocket of my Sparkle Skirt just in case. I told BRF ahead of time that the marathon may require more bathroom stops than we usually do. She was totally understanding.

After entering Frontierland, we made a pit stop in a real bathroom (the one between FL and AL), knowing that there wouldn't be another one until DAK, and everything went fine. Though I will say that putting a Sparkle Skirt back on after sweating in one is almost like trying to put a wetsuit back on after being in the water. We did comical adjust-Spandex dances and were finally back on our way out to the course. Woody was not out in Frontierland, but the Country Bears were, and not having any sort of feeling either way about them, we continued on past Splash Mountain where Br'ers Bear, Fox, and Rabbit were all out. I should have stopped for that one, too, but instead chose to be thrown in that briar patch, metaphorically speaking.

And soon we were exiting MK, where I saw the coolest thing ever: the steampunk dragon from Festival of Fantasy (I really need to see that parade) with smoke coming out and a HUGE line. Ugh. So I snapped a few photos and we continued on.


So cool!

At this point, we were back on the same course (for a while anyway) as the half marathon, so there was that stretch to Grand Floridian with Mary Poppins and Bert again, the Mickey golf cart with Donald instead of Goofy, and then the golfers with the fake alligator. I don't really remember much about this stretch because the overall mood was somewhat somber, probably because we still had 18-19 miles to go! But I did see some cool Star Wars-themed spectator signs.



We soon diverged from the half marathon course by going deeper into the woods, so to speak. It was on this stretch that I remember seeing the hag from Snow White at her cauldron (like during TOT 10-Miler) and then up ahead were some fireballs! Who on earth could that be? Turns out it wasn't someone on earth because it was Hades! Now when I ran the 2014 TOT 10-Miler, I'd dressed up as Megara and had hoped to have Hades as a character stop, but alas he was only up above on an overpass before entering DHS at the end. Bummer! So a big part of me wanted to stop just because it was so cool, but on the other hand, we weren't even halfway through the marathon, we had a decent pace going on, and I was a little afraid that if I stopped I'd have a hard time going again. As we passed, it seemed that was the right decision because while it appears that Hades is giving a big old bear hug to this CM, I'm guessing it was more in line with a wardrobe malfunction.



Not long after this, we spotted Shan Yu looking quite scary! At this point we're still on a backstage road of Disney with not a lot happening and we started talking about the dreaded WWOS 3-mile loop that everyone says is way too long for that particular venue. So I said we needed to come up with conversation topics for that stretch and then launched into my Linda Richman impression (you know, Cawfee Tawk): "The Civil War was neither civil, nor a war. Discuss." That had BRF in stitches and she said I should have saved that for later. Oh well, the horse was out of the barn then!

It just seemed like the stretch between MK and DAK took forever, probably because it was almost 5 miles of just backstage roads. We soon turned right onto yet another road and noticed up ahead that there was a switchback. At the switchback, there was a camper with a couple "touristy" folks with microphones encouraging us to go an extra 10 feet or so to their cone, rather than the official marathon cone, so that we could say that we'd run a marathon-plus. Oddly enough, very few people took them up on their offer. Though they were quite entertaining. Jafar was out on course somewhere around here and then I want to say there was a banana stop.

Now I knew that there would be banana stops because I'd read the event guide, but I remember thinking "ew, who wants to eat a banana in the middle of a marathon?" And I am here to tell you, me. This person wanted to eat a banana in the middle of a marathon. It was one of the most delicious bananas I'd ever eaten, easily top five in my life. Amazing how your perspective changes.

Nearly backstage to DAK, a lady approached me to tell me that she'd noticed I wore my Sparkle Skirt with the zippered pocket in the back and that she'd only seen one other person at Space Coast Half (which was probably me!) wear it that way, and as a result she learned that the skirts are reversible. I always find it funny, the conversations you have with random people in the middle of a race, and my Sparkle Skirts have...sparked a lot of those conversations.

Next Up: Climbing Everest
(spoiler alert: I did not ride the coaster)

 

[ZellyB]

So sorry you didn't get a shot coming out of the castle. I got an amazing one the first time I ran the marathon, but the two other times, not so much. I've never known them to split people off to the left though. So strange.

Sounds like they definitely had some new options for characters. I know I was sort of disappointed after running it three years in a row that most of the characters for repeats. Hades is on my list of characters that I'd love to get at some point. I tried to talk my husband into going as Megara and Hercules at one point but he was uninterested. LOL

Bananas during marathons. Best.thing.ever.

 

[cavepig]

Love your marathon report so far. That Cogsworth picture is great. It was Lumiere when I went by, I guess sometimes they were together. That Hades picture is funny, "hmmm, something wrong here" It was just the backdrop when I went by. Can't wait to read your finish, It's fun reading others experiences! When I went through the castle I think it was everyone to the right, wonder when they changed it to both sides.

 

[emilyindisney]

The lady whose first in line waiting for Hades has a 'what the heck is going on here' look on her face, haha!

I continue to be impressed that rD included not only a lot of their 'staple' character stops but so many new ones. Must have been cool to see all the villains out after MK. Sort of like a nod to ToT!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

So sorry you didn't get a shot coming out of the castle. I got an amazing one the first time I ran the marathon, but the two other times, not so much. I've never known them to split people off to the left though. So strange.

Sounds like they definitely had some new options for characters. I know I was sort of disappointed after running it three years in a row that most of the characters for repeats. Hades is on my list of characters that I'd love to get at some point. I tried to talk my husband into going as Megara and Hercules at one point but he was uninterested. LOL

Bananas during marathons. Best.thing.ever.

I'll admit I'm disappointed about no castle shot, but oh well! First-world problems and all that. I'm glad you got a nice one! Yeah, I think the split was a last-minute decision to alleviate the congestion inside but they didn't have it set up properly before they did it, because when we got to the bottom of the ramp, we pretty much ran right into the folks getting their posed castle shots and it was a bit of a mess.

Hades and Meg would be an awesome couples costume! I'm trying to talk my husband into doing a 5K with me at Disney (they don't even time them!), but we'll see. I've got Star Wars Dark Side and then Pixie Dust Challenge coming up and then my bank account is going to need time to heal. I was hoping to do Jingle Jungle 5K with him, but I'm already planning on Star Wars Light Side next January, so maybe I can talk him into the 5K for that! A friend gave me a BB-8 running skirt for my birthday, he has an x-wing pilot tee already, so I told him we could go as Poe Dameron and BB-8. We'll see!

Love your marathon report so far. That Cogsworth picture is great. It was Lumiere when I went by, I guess sometimes they were together. That Hades picture is funny, "hmmm, something wrong here" It was just the backdrop when I went by. Can't wait to read your finish, It's fun reading others experiences! When I went through the castle I think it was everyone to the right, wonder when they changed it to both sides.

Thank you! Yours is really great, too (I'll head over there in a bit). It's funny how the character experiences change even within the same race! They literally added the left option just as we got up to the castle exit. But as I said above, it wasn't terribly well-organized, I think the race could have benefited more if they'd had it set up with cones and photographer(s) before they released everyone down the left ramp in a mad scramble.

The lady whose first in line waiting for Hades has a 'what the heck is going on here' look on her face, haha!

I continue to be impressed that rD included not only a lot of their 'staple' character stops but so many new ones. Must have been cool to see all the villains out after MK. Sort of like a nod to ToT!

I think that that area between MK and DAK was definitely a tribute of sorts to ToT! But I hope that they bring that race back sometime, I need to make up for last time's IT band issues that just made me cranky the whole time! Which is no way to go through a Disney race!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 5, January 10 - Climbing Everest

I forgot to mention that as we banked right into the backstage area of DAK, there were animals out and about. Normally, I'm all about the animals, but because we were on the right at the turn and the animals were on the left, it would have meant cutting across traffic. So we looked, but didn't touch. I remember seeing an owl, a snake (I think it was a ball python, but it may have been a small boa), a ferret, a pig, a donkey, and some others. Some of them had race bibs, too! Cute. As we entered backstage DAK, we passed by where the rhinos live. I grew up in a rural area of the Midwest, so I am well aware of the different types of manure smells. Rhino manure smells a lot like cow manure, which is much, much better than pig manure!

And this has been your lesson in the scent echelons of your basic barnyard manure.

We passed by several backstage areas of DAK, where many CMs were out with cowbells and other noisemakers cheering us on. Whether they're paid to be there or not (I don't know if they are), it's still awesome to have a cheering CM squad. And soon we entered the park backstage of Harambe Market, one of the newer areas of the park, which was really nice and soon made our way uphill towards Asia.




Blurry shot of Baloo and King Louie as we were running by.

Along the way, many people were stopping in front of the Tree for a selfie. We did not, and I'm not even sure why. But once again, being in the parks was invigorating just because of the characters, the music, and the energy levels. I think we arrived in DAK right around 9am, so there were even a number of guests walking around. We soon wound our way towards the gibbons (I didn't see any, bummer) exhibit and unfortunately with the construction walls up, there was no clear view of Expedition Everest like I had for Wine & Dine Half (at night, it was gorgeous). So we ran around the corner and then towards Everest. Back when we first signed up for Dopey, I told BRF that I wanted to ride Everest because how cool is it that you can ride a roller coaster in the middle of a marathon?!? BRF is not a rides person, so she wasn't terribly thrilled with the idea, but she said she'd wait if I decided to ride it.

And then reason stepped in. It was my first marathon. It was part of the Dopey Challenge. Everest wasn't even at the halfway point in the race. A roller coaster could potentially tweak my back out and I didn't want to ruin my chances of all that sweet, sweet Dopey bling if I couldn't finish the marathon because I'd done something silly. There was also the matter of getting in and out of the coaster cars. So I eventually talked myself out of Everest. I think that if I ever do the WDW Marathon, and as long as it's not part of a challenge, that will be my top priority. Because I still think it's awesome that you can ride a roller coaster in the middle of a marathon!


Someday, maybe.

Then we ran past the Nemo theater and into DinoLand, U.S.A. I thought it might be cool to get a photo with Sue the T. rex (it's a replica of the T. rex skeleton that is housed in Chicago's Field Museum), but she was kind of off the race course, so we continued on. For some reason, Br'er Bear was the character stop in DinoLand.



Then all too soon we were exiting the park, where there was a water stop. BRF had been alternating Powerade and water or just water every other stop, but I was only getting water because I don't care for the yellow Powerade and also had done no training runs with it as a component. But I managed to swallow a Gu (I think my second) and washed it down with the water. I'd also run with my hydration pack, but I think I only ended up drinking maybe a swallow or two. Disney really does a great job with the water stops, to the point where I've now run a few races and think I can maybe give up my hydration belt crutch. Maybe. Everyone was complaining about the humidity by this point, but BRF and I kind of looked at each other and continued on. We'd trained in the heat AND humidity since April and really didn't get a break from the heat until the day of the 10K! I will say this about training in Florida humidity: it really does toughen you up, even though it's incredibly frustrating to be training for 8 months and not really see your pace improve because of it.

Anyway, the course then looped around to the DAK parking lot, where we went past the screaming throngs at the park entrance (that was cool and totally lifted spirits, too!) and then exited the parking lot to Osceola Parkway. I'd run this road a few times in night races (W&D, ToT) but running it in the daytime is really different because you can actually see your surroundings! We soon hit mile 14 and at this point, I told BRF that I'd planned to eat my Clif bar at Mile 16. She thought that that was a good idea and that maybe at that point we'd switch up our intervals. We'd been doing 2 minutes run/1 minute walk, but to give us something to look forward to, we'd switch up to 2 minutes walk/1 minute run. And I have to say that that was a sound strategy because our pace was still in line with the first half of the race!

On Osceola Parkway, I don't remember seeing much for characters, but that's understandable since it's a public road with a median. However, we started seeing small signs that said things like "Caution: Dead End Ahead" in spooky font. I was hoping it would be - and then it was! The gravedigger guys from Haunted Mansion. Man, they are a bit creepy. I've seen a lot of runner photos where they'd lie down amongst the graves, and that sounded hilarious, but also a very real possibility of not getting up afterwards. And so we continued on.



Not too much further was our Mile 16, just before an overpass, if I remember correctly. And on that overpass, there were people handing out hot and fresh McDonald's french fries!! Oh my gosh, that looked and sounded so good, you guys (as I've said before in this report, give me some french fries and I'll be your BFF. I'm cheap), but we still had nearly 10 miles to go, so I sadly, sadly passed on them. But runners around us did confirm that they were indeed hot and fresh. By this point, we're nearly to the turn off to ESPN WWOS. There may have been a character stop near here, I don't remember. Then it was on to the dreaded WWOS!

At Mile 17, just before the turnoff into WWOS, there was a DJ playing The Village People's YMCA. And guess what? Runners were doing YMCA as they ran, on both sides of the road (the other side was folks getting to Mile 20). That was awesome (say that in Chris Farley's voice).



The Village People had once played the Flower Power Concert Series during Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot and we had been schooled in the proper "M" formation. Most people do it wrong, and this is straight from the horses' mouths, y'all!

Next Up: What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is a-going on here?

 

[emilyindisney]

More than half way there! Woo! I think I saw in another race report that they weren't letting runners get down on the ground at the Grave Digger stop- perhaps it was too slow with everyone trying to crawl their way back up?! Haha! We laid down (and road Everest) at Goofy last year (clearly we threw all your running inhibitions out the window) and had a great time. Not as terrible to get back up as we expected lol!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 5, January 10 - What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is a-going on here?

When last we left off, BRF and I were about to head into ESPN Wide World of Sports (WWOS - sorry, I use a lot of acronyms in my profession and it spills over sometimes) after just participating in a huge running version of YMCA. So fun, I highly recommend it. Just an example of how music can really uplift you at unexpected moments. I should also say that in training, I'd done most of my long runs with BRF having one earbud in playing my runDisney playlist. That way, I got my music but could still chat with her and hear the interval beeps. For the entire Dopey Challenge I did not use earbuds/music at all! But I digress yet again.

WWOS is probably the most dreaded portion of the marathon, based upon what I've read and heard from past veterans. I definitely was not looking forward to it because it was my least favorite portion of my 2014 ToT run. For that race, WWOS just seemed so congested with people, people, PEOPLE and the winding and twisting through the facilities made me feel like I was going nowhere fast. So long story short (too late!) I was also dreading it. Maybe it was that mental preparation that it was going to be three miles of basically nothing that helped, maybe it was various components that happened along the way, I don't know, but I'm going to just say it: I didn't hate WWOS.

Upon entry, volunteers were handing out wet sponges and at that point of the race I felt like I had so much road grit and who knows what else on my face that it was nice to feel somewhat clean. I sponged off my face, my neck, the back of my neck and it felt wonderful. I hung on to that sponge for nearly the entirety of WWOS and sporadically continued to wipe off my face for that 2-second glorious cool feeling. A lot of people in past races have said to hang on to that sponge for the remainder of the race, but I just couldn't see me running while holding a sponge for 6-9 more miles!

Anyway, within WWOS there were many character opportunities and lots of sporty music (like from Jock Jams for the olds in the audience here) was piped over the loudspeaker. About mid-way through, I heard On Wisconsin! and so I sang along at the top (OK, just middle) of my lungs, which I'm sure annoyed people, but it amused me and BRF. And I was amazed that I still remembered the lyrics of a song I had to learn in the 4th grade. It was also invigorating for some odd reason. Keep this in mind for later, that I learned that singing while running was invigorating, though you may have already figured that out with the half marathon Rob Base incident.


Mickey!


Goofy on the track. I actually had to walk the entirety of the track because the bouncy-rubbery material was hurting my knees. That sounds completely nuts, but I think it's because we'd strictly trained on pavement/concrete so the "give" in the track material was making my knees do things they hadn't done on a run before.


On the back portions of WWOS, these guys were "fishing" and acting like your stereotypical redneck. I believe Tim McGraw's I Like It, I Love It was playing at this point. Many people were singing along which made me feel better about the late-in-the-race-song-delirium.


And I had to get a photo with my favorite chipmunks. There was no line, so why not?

I think the baseball field was after this, and while running around that with a pep band playing music, we heard BRF's name on the loudspeaker! Very cool! Soon, we were also exiting WWOS and coming up on Mile 20. At this point, we looked over to the opposite side of the road and there were already sweeper (literally road sweepers) vehicles cleaning up the road and I had a mild panic attack. But then I realized that they were 3 miles behind us and at a 16-minute/mile pace, that was 48 minutes ahead at minimum. So I relaxed and we soon turned back on to Osceola Parkway, where there was a water stop and Don't Stop Believing was piped over loud speakers. So I'm sure you can guess what happened next: SINGING!

Then it was up the exit off of Osceola to DHS! The cant of the ramp was again really annoying but we somehow managed. And then we heard him. Sarge. The first time I'd seen him was during the 2013 Wine & Dine Half, but I think because we were in the second-to-last corral and also slower runners, that Sarge wasn't feeling very, um, motivational during that race experience. I just remember it because I was disappointed. But then during Princess Half in 2015, he was doing his thing and it was awesome, so I knew for the marathon, just as with the half the previous day, it was something to look forward to. And it was! He was saying things like, "this is the best photo op you'll have all day!" and then he singled out a poor walker dressed as Aurora, saying, "Your nap is over, Sleeping Beauty!" I kind of felt sorry for her, but I'm sure it'll be a great race story for her later on.


See? Totally motivating Aurora up the hill.

Not long after this, we were on backstage roads behind DHS. I could see the Tower! And as we turned in to the backstage gates, there was a runner on the ground in the median grabbing on to some of the shrubbery (one that's nice, but not too expensive!) and several medics were standing over him. They checked on him and said, "Why are you hugging that bush? You don't even know it." which was kind of funny and alleviated the scariness of seeing another runner down. I guess the humidity (something I take for granted) really got to some people, so I hope that he was OK.

And then we entered backstage DHS, where there was chocolate. Dove chocolate! Normally, I really like the milk chocolate, but it seemed like a bad idea while running, so we skipped the chocolate handouts. If it had been cooler outside, I would have grabbed a couple to keep for later, but I'm sure it would have melted and made a huge unsightly mess had I done that.

Then it was through the dreaded disco tunnel. During ToT 2014, they'd projected bright, colorful, funky patterns on the floor here, there were disco balls, and loud music which all together made me feel dizzy and woozy during that race. Luckily, there were no projections this time, and everyone seemed to be running or jogging through, so we were through in no time.



We then came upon Boo from Monsters, Inc. with no line, so we grabbed a character photo op with her. So cute!



During the pre-race festivities, it was announced that Cedric King, who was a vet who'd lost both legs in Afghanistan, would be running the marathon. We spotted him in DHS and it looked like he was having a tough time because he'd stopped and his two accompanying runners were asking him if he was OK. We passed him, and then not long after passing him, we heard applause. We were so glad that he'd started up again. And suddenly any aches or pains we may have been feeling at that point seemed rather inconsequential by comparison.



It was also sad to see the remnants of the Osborne Lights knowing that they were no more. But on the Streets of America, in addition to the spectators, there was Sinatra singing New York, New York. So yes. I sang along with him on the Streets of America. It was a surreal feeling because I remember also trying to do kicks like the Rockettes to this song which didn't really work out so well for me since we were running a race!

Then it was out to Hollywood Blvd and exiting DHS!



Up Next: 1.23 Miles to Beer!

 

[cavepig]

The animals at AK are one of my favorite parts and I'm so bummed I didn't do any pictures with them. It and a train picture were my only 2 wants this time around, but I at least got a train picture in the half.

Yeah, I didn't mind Wide World at all this time, it actually went fast for me. They had more characters out there this year too which was nice to see.

Glad you got an RV picture, I didn't get any so it's fun to see.

I know when I saw the sweeping and end of race when I left Wide World it kind of scared me, but then I was like wait I've got a buffer of time here as they still have those 3 miles. I passed Everest at 9:10 according to my picture, so probably like a couple or so miles behind you.

I wanted to save Dove's for later too, but yeah would have been a melty mess. I ate the chocolate last year surprisingly.