Play the Dopey Challenge 2022 (Disney World Run Series)

You just signed up to play the Dopey Challenge! I have no buyer’s remorse…or should I say, runner’s remorse—yet. I’m excited and a little tired because there is so much to do before I take my first course! So, I’ve put together a run Disney to-do list to get organized.

First, if you do not see My last post announced the Dopey Challenge 2022 and/or are not familiar with the Run Disney events – let’s talk about what the Dopey Challenge is…

Run Disney is the group responsible for organizing all the happenings at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. (Disneyland events are currently on hold and have been for a few years now.) So, when you see something referred to as a “Disney Run,” it could be any of the in-person or virtual races they organize.

The original and largest running event organized by Run Disney is the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January. It features 4 different races – 5 km, 10 km, half marathon and full marathon. Each race is on a different day during the so-called ‘WDW Marathon Weekend’ but it really starts with the fair on Wednesday, the races start on Thursday and run (pun intended) through Sunday.

So The weekend’s Disney World Marathon runs are – 5K on Thursday // 10K on Friday // Half on Saturday // Full on Sunday.

The dates for this year are January 6-9, 2022.

The Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge also known as Goofy Challenge is a half marathon run and a full marathon. get it? A race and a half?? Except in this case it’s Half and a Race because the half marathon is before the full marathon.

The Dopey Challenge is the biggest weekend challenge of the Walt Disney World Marathon. To complete the challenge, contestants must complete all weekend races. And remember – they’re on consecutive days!

Dopey Challenge = 5K on Thur // 10K on Friday // Half Marathon on Sat // Full Marathon on Sun

I just registered to run Dopey Challenge 2022 as announced here.

And that brings us to my to-do list to get ready and organized for this epic marathon running challenge!!

I think due to many unknowns and cancellations of races in the past year, Run Disney opened registration for this race much later than usual. I’ve seen people post about training at ‘WDW Marathon 2022’ and ‘Dopey 2022’ – before race registrations were open. This is because it takes longer than a marathon to train for long-distance races. I guess they were just hoping to get in before they run out and start training!

Race Weekend is about 20 weeks away – and that’s about how long it takes to train for a marathon (not to mention the challenge with multiple races)! So, designing a training plan for Dopey is one of the main things on the list.

[RUN TIP: The time you should train for a half marathon or full marathon depends on your current fitness, health/injury history and goals for the race.]

Dopey Challenge Training Plan – I will design a custom plan to run a Dopey Challenge that runs within my 20-week timeframe and schedule. (I’m a RRCA Run Coach and have experience running back-to-back races.)
Nutrition and meal plan – Part of the training plan will include keeping track of meal planning to make sure I stay healthy while training. Losing weight isn’t my main goal at the moment, but I have extra weight in quarantine that I’m happy to lose as part of this process. My primary focus in meal planning for marathon training is making sure I am well fueled for recovery because I believe the reason for my broken feet was in part due to poor nutrition and refueling with vitamins/minerals along with periods of time from long distance running. (Note – this isn’t the only cause. We can talk about it again, but it doesn’t run in my family, and I’m not in the usual risk groups for early bone density loss.)
the hotel!! I need to make hotel reservations quickly because I’ve heard that the best sites sell out fast and prices are going up!
Trip – I need to catch flights, not feelings and book that too! (Praying that the world keeps getting better and Covid goes out of the way to race this weekend so it won’t be a thing by the time I’m on my way to Orlando!)
Special costumes!!! I’m excited to discover 4 running outfits since I’ve run 4 races in this challenge. I want to start with this item on the list, but I won’t. I haven’t even started brainstorming yet, but I will definitely blog about it when I find out.

There may be other things to do but these are the most urgent at the moment. Stay tuned for more!