Nothing Special's Dopey Challenge

This was a little different kind of trip, but definitely an adventure!  If you've followed my trip reports here you know that Lesley and I are Disney fans.  Early in January we made our 9th trip to Walt Disney World (our 5th as empty-nesters).  But the point of this trip was a little different!

Disney has running events at their parks, with Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World being the flagship event.  On the first weekend in January they have a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon and a marathon.  They also have the Dopey Challenge for people who want to do all four.  So that's what I decided to do, 48.6 miles total in four days!

The on-line registration for this year's even was a bit of a fiasco, and I actually wasn't able to register for the Dopey Challenge because the shorter races had filled up.  So I registered for the Goofy Challenge instead, "just" the half marathon and marathon.  But Disney also lets you register for "virtual" runs, so I registered for the virtual 5K and 10K.  That gave me all of the races and all of the shirts and medals, except the Dopey shirt and medal

So I couldn't run in the actual 5K and 10K races, but I ran those distances on the correct mornings, and then ran the half marathon and marathon in the in-person races.  I guess that made it a virtual/reality Dopey Challenge!

I'm a runner, but I'm not young anymore, and I rarely run farther than 3 miles, so this was a stretch for me.  I trained for it (obviously!) and the 5K, 10K and half marathon all went really well.  I did finish the marathon well too, but it was a lot harder than I expected (probably due to my unrealistic expectations).  I was still moving well at the end when I was moving, but if I stopped it was impossible to get started again.  So I ended up running the last three miles with no stops.

I did realize right away in the half marathon that this was not going to be a race so much as an event.  I had hoped to be under 4 1/2 hours in the marathon, but realized that this wasn't a place to get a good time, it was a place to HAVE a good time!  So I made time to experience the event and take pictures.  I still finished in 4:53, so I was very happy with how I did.

After spending four days running we spent the next four days walking around the parks!  Actually that wasn't a bad way to recover.  I took it a little slow, especially early in the week.  And it was definitely better than the people who jumped on a plane to fly home on Sunday right after the marathon!

I made a video to share with friends and family.  It's a little long, and it's not great camera work (video as I was running mixed with still pictures).  So feel free to not watch it!

Bob - Wow!  That sounds like a huge challenge!  Even in my prime I couldn't have done that.  

I'll watch the video later as I'm headed to church now, but I'm impressed.  

Wow! Didn’t watch all of it, but pieces. Looks fun (if you like to run).

Good job!

Nothing Special wrote

It got up to 8°F this morning so I went for an 8 mile run!  (Our wind finally died down too, which is the biggest factor.)

And here I thought it only got down to about -15°F here.  Look what happened to my jugs of RV antifreeze that say they protect down to -50°F!....

If it doesn't jump out of the photo, that's air space at the now bottom of the jug.  It's frozen solid!  I guess that means the antifreeze in my water lines is also frozen.  I'd be worried about that, but it's the same thing I've done every winter since we've had the motorhome, so I guess it's OK.

That was from this post in the FORD Lounge thread.  And this trip is why I was running 8 miles in 8° weather at Christmas and looking at the antifreeze in my motorhome.  Typically I don't go running if it gets below about 15° - 20°.  I can do it, but it's just not worth it.  But training for this event I needed to get the miles in.  And I won't run on a treadmill.

As for the antifreeze, I didn't have any trouble with the water system, so I guess I'm OK.  But when I rewinterized it (before leaving Disney World to drive home) I blew the antifreeze out of the lines when I was done.  I just don't have confidence in leaving te lines full of antifreeze anymore, but I figure it's still better to have whatever residual there is be antifreeze rather than water.

... and thanks to both of you for the compliments!  

I do think that a LOT more people could do this if they chose to.  While it is a physical feat, it's really not that physically unreachable.  But distance running definitely isn't for everyone.  I find longish runs (up to about 10 miles) to be relaxing.  That may not be true for you!  And in addition to being a physical challenge it's even more a mental challenge.  It takes a serious commitment to complete the training, and then again to complete the event when you really want to stop.  Not saying that others can't do that, but it's more the reason that not many people actually do something like this, it simply isn't worth it to them.  There were a lot of people in the event that didn't look like distance runners, but even old and overweight they were able to complete the 48.6 miles!  I don't think I have the dedication some of them have!

So again, I don't want to brag, and I really don't think that what I did was really anything more than what a lot of people could do (I'm really Nothing Special!).  But I won't be falsely humble here either.  This was a big deal and I'm proud of what I did.  So again, thank you!

Ok, I just watched the whole thing and all I can say is WOW!!!!  You are in fantastic shape to be able to do that.

It was fun watching you go through the parks since we were just there ourselves.  I found myself saying "Oh, that's Germany", and "That's where Holly took off with Isla to the emergency room".

But I cannot imagine running that far.  I ran in high school and have considered myself in fairly good shape - until COVID.  Now my chest gets tight if I get out in cool temps.  Maybe I just need to push myself and really exercise the lungs?

Anyway, I'm really impressed.  That is so far beyond anything I've ever been able to do, even in my youth.  

Gary Lewis wrote

....  Maybe I just need to push myself and really exercise the lungs?....

Like I say with rockcrawling, I'm not going to say what anyone else SHOULD do.  People are different, what works for one doesn't necessarily work for someone else.

Another way I've put the distance running thing is that running a long distance is a two-step process:
   1) start running
   2) don't stop
and often the first step is the hardest one!

My son says the same thing differently, that the hardest part about running is tying your shoes!  He sent me a text after I had finished the 5K and said I was 25% done!  In spite of what I just said, it really didn't feel that way!  So I'm definitely not saying that everyone should be as Dopey as I was!

I thought I was doing quite well at 75 years of age to have followed the kids from 4 to midnight in Disney World and then followed them again the whole next day in Epcot.  Janey's Apple Watch showed 10.23 miles in Epcot, but we don't remember what it was in DW.

So maybe you and I have different dafynitions of "extreme sports"?  I'm happy making it to the top of a pass in Colorado and walking 10 miles at Disney.

... and I'm only 58.  I expect I'll be happy with "just" walking around Disney for a couple days when I'm 75 too!