Announcing the biggest marathon race of the year

After I recently posted the dates of the Run Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon and Walt Disney World Marathon and the registration announcement… I kept thinking about it. I miss the running races a lot. It’s been two years since I ran with Covid and got moving and on my feet. I love Disney races! I love fashion racing!!

Seems obvious that I should run at least one of the Disney races, right?

Well there are also a lot of speed bumps I had to consider as well…cost (very expensive), travel and appointments/schedule.

The Wine and Dine Half Marathon was crossed off the list because the dates are too close to another race I selected. And I’ve run it before, so I felt fine with this.

But I kept going back and forth about the WDW marathon. (I also ran this race but I was sick, it was so fast and grueling a long time ago.) I knew I had to decide soon because these races sell out! (It usually sells out within hours, or a few days at most. So it’s worth noting that it hasn’t happened yet. We can talk about possible causes later.)

Note – I was really considering doing the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World for a few reasons. For those unfamiliar with the challenges of the Walt Disney World Marathon – there are two.

There’s the Goofy challenge of running a half marathon and a full marathon over the weekend for the Walt Disney World Marathon. These are consecutive races on Saturday and Sunday.

The Dopey Challenge is the biggest challenge of all Run Disney races. Competitors who sign up for the Dopey Challenge run 48.6 miles during a race weekend where they complete all four races – 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon.

I’ve texted my friends from Run Disney who’ve been to the races a few times. I checked the race registration site to see if it was still open. I talked about it with Diego (he’s a good listener, but not helpful in making a decision).

I finally remembered I had a tool for this and grabbed a decision diary to help me decide.

Really the only thing holding me back was the cost – it’s the most expensive race I’ve ever thought of. Plus the cost of travel. It is very frustrating because I live near Disneyland in Anaheim. So, unlike someone who thinks “travel” when it comes to Disney – I don’t. And while I love Disney and Disney races – I’m so happy to enjoy Disneyland and California adventures and don’t feel the need to go cross country to Disney World – unless it’s about running.

Really, Unless to run It is a universal tie-breaker for most of my rules!

In the entire decision process, I was just thinking about running the Dopey Challenge because I figured – if I’m going to travel this way, I want to make it worth it! And if I’m going to do the Dopey Challenge, it has to be now since I was in good shape for a few and a half marathons in the months leading up to it.

So, I wrote the best case and worst case to run the race and realized that cost was the main thing holding me back.

But when I really thought about it – I’ve saved a lot of money on racing in the last couple of years. I would usually spend a lot more than the cost of the Dopey Challenge on races, travel to the races and associated costs.

In addition, I really wanted to go on vacation – another thing that had not happened in over a year. And all the places I want to go are still subject to Covid restrictions and/or appear to travel back and forth with restrictions, so it’s risky to book travel.

Reasons to run the Dopey Challenge:

I’m in good shape to run a few marathons and half marathons leading up to the WDW Marathon anyway. So I’d be in good shape to practice for the Dopey Challenge (instead of starting from no running).
If you’re traveling to Florida to do one race (I was thinking the full race at first)…it’s technically cheaper to run 4 races in one trip than to come back again.
None of my running buds seem to want to run this in the future – so if I wanted to do it, I had to do it now.
I can run / walk 5 km and 10 km (or 10 and a half km) and take a bunch of fun photos with the characters! I love those.
The Dopey Challenge was made for me – I’ve been back to back-to-back races before. I love fashion racing. I am a fan of Disney.

Reasons for not running the Dopey Challenge:

I might die.
beloved.

Ironically, the list of “negatives” cancels each other out because – if you die, who cares if you spend a bunch of money on a running trip, right?

I slept on it another night and decided this morning to go for it. I have registered for the DOPEY 2022 Challenge.

Yes I did it! I’ll run a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and a Full Marathon on one weekend, days in a row, dressed up at Disney World. Sounds wild, but I’m excited.

I don’t know anything else yet. I don’t have a training plan, travel reservations, or most importantly – running fashion, yet. But the first step is setting a goal. And in this case – it’s a smart goal because it’s specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-sensitive.

I will design a great Dopey Challenge training plan that will take into account – current physique, amount of time I have to train, races already registered to run, additional challenges of 4 races in a row, etc. You won’t have a time goal for any of these races as the Disney races often have a lot of running/walking and it’s hard to get out quickly in the first few miles. I’ve heard they offer fewer sheds, so it may be more crowded. And of course, the photos are bound to stop! Therefore, the focus should all be on the finish and the fun.

All I know now is – I’m on record and need to design my training plan ASAP because this race challenge requires extra training time! I will be sharing more about training and planning soon. If you have any questions – ask me in the comments or at InstagramRunEatRepeat

I’m going to put together a page with all my Run Disney races and running fashion posts, but if you want more great content right now – I’ll link to some of them below.