Tag Archives: runDisney WDW Marathon

Dopey Challenge 2020 Recap (Part One)

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We registered, we trained, we ran and…just like that it was over. Was it everything we’d hoped for? It was all that and more. For those of you who’ve completed a Dopey Challenge, hopefully these posts will bring back happy memories. For those of you with Dopey hopes for the future…here’s how it went for us.

Dopey Challenge 2020 Recap (Part One) – a.k.a. The Easy Part

Let’s talk about the expo and I’ll get to the actual running in Part Two.

The runDisney race expo was the first thing on our arrival day agenda. We got there by around 10:00 am on Wednesday morning. If you want to really fit in with the other participants at the expo, you need to wear a shirt from a previous runDisney event. You’ll see hundreds of them. We don’t generally care much about fitting in so we chose comfy civilian attire.

The expo atmosphere is full of both pre-race excitement and somewhat frantic expectation. The latter belonging those on the hunt for the extremely popular race merchandise. More on that in a second.

After having a few runDisney events under our belts, we’ve developed somewhat of an expo tradition. As with many of our traditions, this one involves beer. We pick up our bibs and shirts first then celebrate that accomplishment with beer while we look around the vendor booths at the expo.

We usually don’t buy much, but the vendor booths are fun and sometimes we find something too good to pass up. If you need any last minute gear, there’s usually a great selection of socks, arm bands, fuel belts, shirts, sunglasses, earbuds and the like.

Fun fact: If you’re doing a multi-race challenge, your picture will be taken when you pick up your race bib(s). This helps the runDisney folks make sure you get the correct medals. They snap your photo as you hold your race bib in front of your chest. I always feel like I’m having a prison mug shot taken and I really expect hear the photographer say, “turn to your left”. But they never do.

After we satisfied our thirsts and expo shopping urges, we headed for the building that houses the runDisney merchandise. This is the stuff people go nuts for. They wait in super (not exaggerating here) long, crowded lines just to get into the part of the building where the merchandise is sold. Then it’s a free-for-all while folks seem to be grabbing up armfuls of stuff. I wanted to get swept up in the moment! I did! But found I wasn’t a fan of the shirt designs or colors. I did find a car magnet and a couple of pins I thought would be nice to have, but then I saw the check-out lines and realized I didn’t want that stuff bad enough.

We may have left empty handed, but our curiosity was completely satisfied. And we had built up a terrible thirst. So we grabbed more beer and sat on a bench in the sunlight taking it all in. As our cups emptied, we realized we were completely starving, so we headed for the buses, returned to Bay Lake Tower, dropped off our bags and hopped on the monorail to Epcot in search of lunch.

In Part Two I’ll be covering the first three Dopey Challenge events. Please check back soon!

Dopey Challenge 2020 – Choosing a Training Plan

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We’re fast approaching the Wine and Dine Challenge and before we know it, we’ll be closing in on January’s races. We’re putting in lots of miles (truth!) and building our endurance, speed, and strength (I like to think so anyway). We’re following the training plan we selected after a couple of weeks of research back in late summer. How did we decide on this particular plan and what is it? I’ll explain.

Dopey Challenge 2020 – Choosing a Training Plan

The most important aspects we considered when deciding on a training plan were that it needed to be both adequate and realistic. We want to be prepared for our events and complete them in relative comfort. We also don’t have unlimited training time and need quality training versus a large quantity of miles. We can fit in long runs on weekends and prefer the longest of those be scheduled on Sundays. We also have time for speed work, tempo runs, and strength training, but in relatively limited time windows.

There are a lot of free training plans available on the interwebs and as I plied my mad Google skills on the hunt for race prep perfection, I quickly became overwhelmed. Information overload! I kept coming up with new plans to run by Joseph and he, never having completed a marathon (or the associated training for said event), kept agreeing to whatever new idea I presented. To narrow down the choices, I went straight to Dopey veterans for advice. First I found 2-3 Dopey Challenge Facebook groups (I like this one and this one the best) and then I searched for some tips on YouTube and BOOM! Just like that we found Hal Higdon’s Marathon Training – Dopey Challenge plan. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!

This plan is exactly what we needed. Plenty of rest days, plenty of tempo runs and time for speed work. The maximum miles per week reaches 42.5 which sounds like a LOT but is manageable. We can get it done without killing ourselves or taking days off from work. We just finished week 5 of the 18-week plan and we’re feeling strong and optimistic (after escaping from one large angry dog!). An important component to this plan is that in a few weeks we will start to run consecutive days of short, medium and long runs to get ourselves ready for the actual challenge of running a 5K, 10K, half, and full marathon over four days. That’s what makes this plan perfect. Hal Higdon, you’re the bombdiggity!

If you’re interested in watching our YouTube version of this info, check it out here (our little channel could use some love). If you are training for a runDisney event, I’d love to hear from you!