I did it! 5K, 10K, Half-Marathon, Marathon in four consecutive days. Done. Got the hardware. Got the official times. Got the pictures. All of it. I friggin' did it!But it wasn't easy. It was fun. It was challenging. It took more sweat and effort than I've ever put forth in a race. And it was completely worth it... Not just for finishing the four races, but the entire experience. It was just incredible. Pull up a chair while I tell you about it.
My last scheduled training run was Tuesday, January 6th. It was supposed to be an easy 2 mile "shake the legs out run" as prescribed by Hal Higdon's training plan. However, that Polar Vortex (or whatever that thing was called) plunged some serious cold weather all the way down to south Louisiana and I woke up to temperatures in the teens on Tuesday. I don't own any running gear for weather that cold and tend to hibernate when temps get into the 20s, so I blew off the run to stay warm and pack for the trip. Packing was fun... bringing not only clothes to go to Disney parks, but also gear to run 4 races. By this point I had been tapering, started carb-loading, and was excited to be going to Walt Disney World, so I was a ball of energy that needed an outlet. It would come soon enough.
We left Abita Springs and headed to New Orleans Airport early Wednesday morning. When we got to our gate for our flight to Orlando, we started playing "spot the runner". I even met a guy with a purple elf hat embroidered with "Dopey Challenge 2014". Denis (my wife's district manager and the guy that talked me into this foolishness) and his wife showed up shortly thereafter and soon enough we were wheels up on our way to South Florida. Just before takeoff, I tweeted "I'm on a plane full of Dopey people". When we landed, 110% Compression tweeted me that if I can get the people on the plane to sing Small World, they'll give me a free pair of socks...
"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears."
#SorryNotSorry
I got the free socks too. Thanks!
he same thing, and all of us had that "we're really doing this?" look on their faces. I managed to get through the entire expo picking up all of our stuff and only got annoyed once. We left the Expo and then headed to Epcot for dinner at Teppan Edo and to take in a few rides. I met up with someone I'd been talking to on the Facebook Dopey Challenge group, Bob G. from Wisconsin. We had hoped to be seated together for dinner but it didn't happen. After eating, Brynn and I rode Soarin', then the three of us went through The Seas with Nemo one more time before heading back to the hotel so I could be ready for the first of 4 ridiculously early mornings.
1/9/14 - 5K
Thursday morning my phone's alarm went off at 4AM. This was the latest I'd sleep until Monday. I got up, got dressed, ate a Clif bar, and headed downstairs to get on the bus to Epcot. The buses dropped us off about a half mile from the staging area for the race, so I took the time for the walk to soak up the energy in the air. It was an interesting vibe as out of the ten thousand registered entries for the 5K, seven thousand were Dopey runners. It's not normal seeing Boston Athletic Association and Ironman Finisher tshirts at a 5K... It's just not right. But there were several.
Within the Facebook group, a guy from Canton, OH (Robert W.) became the unofficial celebrity of the group and I saw someone wearing a sign with his name on it pinned to the back of their costume. Yes, costume. Along with the BAA shirts and M-Dot shirts were lots of crazy costumes. And here I was in a generic Saints race shirt. I introduced myself to the woman with the sign, and we walked to the staging area together and met up with other members of the group. Finally about 5:45 AM they called us to our corrals to get ready to start the race. I saw Denis there and we enjoyed people watching while waiting to start. At about 6 AM they sent us to the starting line for the National Anthem and the race start. Since we were Corral B, we only had to wait a couple minutes to go.
The 5K course was decent, although there was a nasty choke point at about the half mile mark that brought the pack almost to a standstill. Once we cleared that we were in good shape on a nice wide course headed to a back entrance into the World Showcase. Seeing the World Showcase at 6 AM was an interesting experience. Many people even stopped to take pictures. There was a photo stop with the ants from Bug's Life just outside the entrance to World Showcase, but I passed it with the intention of just running my race. But at the 1.5 mile mark (just outside the Germany pavilion), there was Dopey! I started looking for the end of the line when Bob G. saw me and let me jump in with him. So I got my picture with Dopey, the only picture I had to have. I went on from there to finish the 5K in uneventful fashion. My time was 35:00 which is extremely slow for me, but I've never gotten to meet one of the Seven Dwarfs at a 5K either. Most importantly I was done with the first race and still healthy and ready to go for Friday's 10K.Garmin data below:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/429666591
1/10/14 - 10K
Friday's race was a bit different. The distance doubled while the start time was 45 minutes earlier. This time, the course went out on the highway outside Epcot, then doubled back before looping through World Showcase, then out on another loop around the Boardwalk area before coming back into Epcot through Future World and out a service entrance to finish again in the parking lot. The earlier start time meant waking up at 3:15 instead of 4:00 (ugh). The split between 10K runners and Dopey runners was about the same as the 5K, as was the pre-race staging and corralling.
When I got to the Epcot lot, I passed through Runner Check-In and headed to the designated meet-up spot for the Facebook group and made an effort to be a bit more social than I was on Thursday. I chatted with some people I talked to on FB and Twitter as well as with a woman I knew way back when in college. I even had my first Robert W. sighting of the weekend. After a little while the group started dispersing for their respective corrals and I met up again with Denis. It was a touch warmer that morning, and still humid.
I got a good start and felt strong early in the race so I stepped up my pace a bit. I treated the run as a bit of a speed workout where I'd run hard for bit, then back off a bit. I wasn't being structured or rigid about anything. I just wanted to have some fun on the boring part of the race until I got into Epcot where I hoped to get a couple more character pictures. We took a similar route into Epcot as the day prior and outside the China pavilion I stopped for a picture with Mushu, the dragon from Mulan. I was informed later that day by a friend from grammar school that seeing him in a park is a rarity, so I was glad I got the pic. The best part of the route was the loop through the Boardwalk area. That's probably my favorite non-park area of WDW and I love seeing it lit up at night. I stopped for a couple other quick pictures (Genie, Chip and Dale, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum) and finished in 1:04:11. I still felt good after the race, but opted to go directly to the bus to head back to the hotel. Because I had to get Brynn ready for the Kids' Race and the Mickey Mile.
Garmin Data Below:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/429666603
Kids' Race and Mickey Mile
Later Friday Morning, I picked up Brynn and we headed to the ESPN WWoS complex for her races. The Kids' Races were sprint races where the distance was age dependent. The Mickey Mile was open to all kids under 13 (and parental escorts). Brynn was excited for these races and looked forward to getting her "medals".
First up was the 100M Diaper Dash, followed by the 4-6 year olds in the 200M dash. We got into the third heat and Brynn was ready. I told her to just run and I'll hang behind her and meet her at the end. She ran hard for the 200M, but missed Mickey Mouse at the end and was kind of bummed. We grabbed some gummies, a banana and a couple cups of water after and headed to get her post race medal photo taken before finding some shade to cool off.
The mile race was a challenge for her. We had run a few times and gotten up to 9/10ths of a mile but on those runs she held her pace back and was content running along side me. We had also run at night when it was cool whereas now it was noon and pushing 80 degrees with no breeze. But she still wanted to run the race and wasn't griping about being hot, so we lined up at the start.
This race was funny. We left the start at a really easy pace for both of us until a little boy who looked to be about 7 or 8 passed Brynn. Then she took off in a full sprint, caught and passed him, and held the sprint for about another tenth of a mile before she blew up and had to walk. So we walked a little ways until he passed her again and she took off after him again. The second burst got us into the baseball stadium where she took a walk break to watch the cartoons on the jumbotron while we walked around the warning track.
Yes... cartoon break in a race.
When we left the stadium she again took off in a full sprint for about 50 yards and blew up again. A lady saw her do this and looked at me funny when she started walking. I just smiled and said "She's a Gallowalker". (Runners get this joke)
With about 8/10ths of a mile left Brynn was done. She didn't want to even walk the finish and looked for a tree to sit under. I offered to piggyback her a little ways but realized we were just about at the gate for the track where the finish was. I told her she had to finish on her own feet to get her medal and more importantly her high-five from Mickey. She then dug deep and got one last burst of energy, finally figured out how to hold a strong pace and ran the last stretch of the race without stopping except to slow down to get her Mickey high-five. Then she collected her second medal, hammed it up for her finish photo, and let me know she was ready to go to the pool and then to the Magic Kingdom. We both wore our medals from the day to dinner at Be Our Guest and she was excited to show them off to The Beast. So much fun!
1/11/14 - Half Marathon
At the Expo we received
two race bibs... One green and one grey. The green was for the 5K and 10K and grey for the half and full marathons. When I got back from the 10K, I swapped the bibs on my belt to make sure I wouldn't forget to in the morning and then tweeted a picture of the bib with "Shit just got real". Because it did. I was half-done by days at this point, but still had nearly 40 miles of running left and two races in which to do it. Yea... It was real.
When trying to come up with a plan for Dopey I initially thought I'd try to PR the half and then run the full in tourist mode taking pictures and having fun on the course. But after the Gulf Coast Half where I turned in my second fastest half-marathon and then having major calf soreness in the days following, I figured that was a recipe for spectacular failure. So I resorted to Plan B... Play for the half and race the full. (The downfall of that was I feared another month of painful recovery like after my first marathon last February.). Plan C was to play around both days, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, so racing the full was the route I'd go.
By now the early mornings were getting to be sort of Groundhog Day-ish. Again I awoke at 3AM, headed to the bus and found myself in the parking lot earlier than any human should be in a Disney parking lot. Luckily I had sprung for Race Retreat at Denis's suggestion so I headed to the RR tent to eat breakfast and try to wake myself up. I sent Denis a text telling him where I was so we could meet up and walk to the corrals together. When they called for the second set of corrals (E-H) it was time for our walk. The walk from the parking lot to the corral was probably 1.5 miles. We got there about 20 minutes later, wished each other good luck, and went off to our spots to wait until start time. I met up with another guy from the Facebook group, Charles, in our corral and we chatted about his injured foot until it was time to start.
When the race officially started, there was a spectacle of fireworks set off above the starting line. And then another when corral B left. And C. As well as D. Also with E.
But none for corral F. I figured 5 sets of fireworks was enough and that's why we didn't see them. But 3 minutes after we left... BOOM BOOM BOOM!!! Bah!!
I ran the first 3 miles a touch slower than my goal marathon pace, maybe a bit too fast. But shortly after the 3 mile mark I came across a display of a couple cars from the Speedway and a character from Darkwing Duck, so I stopped for a quick picture. Then about 3/4ths of a mile up the road there was a fairly elaborate display with Jack Skellington and Sally from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. Since my daughter LOVES Jack I figured I should stop for a picture with him. By now I'd lost a couple minutes and I wasn't even at the 5 mile point heading into the Magic Kingdom, but I was killing my legs either. So I decided I'd stop for as many pictures as possible through MK and then run back to Epcot.
Except I'd slowed my pace down so much that when my wife got the texts at the splits and saw how much it dropped off she was somewhat concerned. Whoops. 
I even stopped in the long line for a picture with Donald and Daisy outside the castle as well as Cinderella just inside the backstage area where we exited the park. It was fun to be running a half-marathon and not giving one iota about time or pace or nutrition... Just run a little ways, get a pic, run some more, get another pic, etc. Until Denis caught up with me. That was about mile 8 outside the Polynesian Hotel. I left him at a picture stop and ran back to Epcot at my original pace that I started with for the race.
I finished the half marathon an hour slower than I ran the Gulf Coast Half. But I wasn't beat up or hurting at all. I felt really good actually. I walked through the runner finish area, finally met Robert W., and we chatted for a while until my bus showed up.
Saturday evening we went to Chef Mickey's for dinner. The food was fairly mundane which was perfect for my needs. Then while Shellie and Brynn looked around the shops, I went to the bar to catch the end of the Saints game. We had a little scare soon after when the captain of the boat back to our hotel said the weather was making them park the boats for the night as a cold front was coming through with a rough line of thunderstorms. We lucked out however when his dispatcher said he was clear to make one more run before the weather got bad. It wasn't long after that I was sound asleep for final day. The Marathon.Garmin Data Below:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/429666630
1/12/14 - Marathon
The morning of the marathon started even earlier than planned. I woke up at 2:30 AM and could NOT get back to sleep for anything. I killed some time reading about the Saints game until 3ish, then got up to get ready for the final bus. I made my way downstairs and was on the bus by 3:30, eating a Clif bar and drinking a bottle of water. Shortly after we were back to the Epcot lot again (Groundhog Day) making our way to the runner check in. I headed to the Race Retreat where I met up wi
th some more people from the Dopey Challenge Facebook group and we tried to burn off nervous energy while not falling back to sleep. About 4:45 we got the call for corrals A-H to head to the start area. Denis had finally showed up by then, so we stopped at bag check to drop his bag and then started the walk.
I could feel the nervous energy in the air on the way to the corrals. There were twice as many runners as there was the mornings of the 5 and 10K, some were fresh and tapered and ready to gun for a marathon PR. Others were running their first 26.2. Some were running their second race in as many days for a Goofy Challenge medal. And there were about 6000 other Dopeys looking to get their final race in four days underway. We saw Robert W. again and he was a ball of nervous energy as he was shooting for a Boston Marathon Qualifying time. After running 22.5 miles over the 3 previous days. Somehow I managed to take even longer to get to the corral as the day prior which meant I only had to hear "The Cupid Shuffle" once instead of twice. And "What Does The Fox Say" got cut short for pre-race announcements. It was shaping up to be a good morning.
I planned to run comfortably for the first half of the race and assess how I felt at the 13 mile marker before deciding how I'd handle the sec
ond half. I wanted to go out at about an 8:45 pace which I thought I could carry nearly the whole race and it would get me comfortably below my sub-4:00 time goal. My nutrition plan was to eat a Gu at the first water stops past the 5, 10, and 15 mile markers, and then eat one or two Clif blocks at each water stop thereafter with another Gu around the 20 mile mark. I thought the extra calories coming in steadily from the Clif blocks would keep me from hitting the feared "wall". I also planned to walk the water stops, grab one Powerade and one water, drink all the Powerade and chase it with a gulp or 2 of water.
At 13 miles if I felt strong, I'd push my pace and and shoot for a sub 4:00 finish. If not I'd step back and take it easy and just finish. If I felt bad or fatigued or like something catastrophic was going on, I'd start walking some and hope to not get swept. But the way I felt Sunday morning I knew that wasn't going to be the case.
The way the course is laid out, it almost works out to a 5 mile run followed by seven 5Ks, each with their own unique aspect. It was a good way to mentally break up the course into manageable chunks instead of "ohmygod I've got 17 miles left". The course started on the highway outside Epcot, headed to the Magic Kingdom, out a back door past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian resorts, around the Speedway, through the Animal Kingdom, then through WWOS, followed by the final stretch through Hollywood Studios, around the Boardwalk, and finishing through World Showcase and ultimately out Epcot to the finish line. I even made a playlist and timed it through the sections so properly themed music played at appropriate points on the course based on my target pace.
Finally around 5:53AM the fireworks for Corral F went off for us to start. I was at the back of the corral and had to pick my way through a crowd initially to find a hole to run in. I settled in to a pace a touch faster than my goal but the cool front was coming through, temps were dropping and I was feeling great.
I knew Shellie and Brynn were getting up early to see me in the MK, so when I got in the park, I drifted left to run along the barricade to look for them. The crowds at oh-dark-thirty were AMAZING!!! I haven't seen crowds like that on a barricade since marching in Mardi Gras parades in high school. Everyone was cheering and high-fiving runners. The boost from that was great, except I didn't see my wife and kid. I then made my way around the carousel and to the castle where I stopped for a quick picture before running along the second set of barricades. Again I looked for Shellie and Brynn but missed them. I did see Denis's wife Jen though and told her hi. On my way out MK I did stop for a quick picture with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. I was about 6.5 miles in and was running solid. The next landmark was the Disney Speedway at about mile 8. The course took us onto the track for a lap where there was a car show set up. Entering the track was tricky because the ramp going under the racetrack was extremely steep. I was concerned I'd bust my ass going in but slowing down was almost impossible. I was relieved to have to climb out. Running the racetrack, however, was fun. They displayed the cars from the Richard Petty Driving Experience, the Exotic Driving Experience, and had a mini-car show on the race surface. I slowed to check out all the cars. Very cool. Fortunately we left the track through a gate on the main straightaway and didn't have to go through that underpass again.
Leaving the track I had the same issue I seem to alway have on long runs around mile 9. Unfortunately the only choice I had was a row of porta-potties instead of the park bathrooms like on my training routes. So, yea. And I lost a couple minutes there.
After that we hit a section of road I'd never seen that took us to a service entry for Animal Kingdom where were greeted not by a Disney character but by a ewe. Not any ewe either, but one that knew how to sit and shake hands. He was pretty cool. The rest of the run through Animal Kingdom was quite nice as well. It's a beautiful park with plenty to look at and stay distracted. The exit of AK was right at the 13 mile mark where I did a quick self-assessment. No pain, legs felt good, weather was great, and according to my Garmin I was a hair under 2 hours. I figured it was safe to go for the sub-4:00.After Animal Kingdom the course led to ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex. This was, by far, the worst 3 miles of the course. It meandered all over the place, got too narrow in several spots, had too many turns, and seemed to never end. Even running on the baseball field warning track wasn't fun, as I got stuck behind the 4:00 pace group and couldn't pass them. Finally after 2.5 miles of torture the course left WWOS and headed to Hollywood Studios. And passed the magical 20 mile point.
There's several tales of lore of the 20 mile mark on a marathon. It's where the infamous "wall" pops up. Some say a marathon is a 10K with a 20 mile warm up. Others say the halfway point of a marathon is the 20 mile marker. Your training will get you to 20 miles, but your guts will carry you the last 6.2. And at this race it was between the worst part of the course and the best. Perfect.The playlist I put together worked out really well. I figured out what point in time I'd hit 20 miles, and set Macklemore's "Can't Hold Us" as the song to come on at that point. It's the perfect 20 mile song. It's upbeat, driving, fun, and was just what I need to hear at that point. I stopped for a quick snapshot of the mile marker, sent it to Shellie with "45 minutes" to give her an idea of how much longer I'd be. 45 minutes was obviously optimistic at best. Doing the math to figure out an accurate finish time wasn't happening.
From the 20 mile mark the course went over an overpass to a back entrance at Hollywood Studios, through Hollywood Sudios, out the front gate to the walking path that leads to the Boardwalk, around the Boardwalk into Epcot, and on to the finish. I was cruising at this point. I was passing people left and right, never got passed, and still had the energy to high-five people in the crowds and cast members on the course. I expected to fade but it never happened. I even passed a guy on a hand cycle before coming out Hollywood Studios.
The walkway from HS to the Boardwalk was where I saw the 24 mile marker. I took a quick snapshot of it and sent it to Shellie with a text letting her know I'd finish in about 15 minutes so she would be looking for me. I grabbed my last Powerade and water of the race and started in on the last 2 miles. I went down the path, over the bridge, and in front of the Beach Club towards the Epcot service entrance where...
DOPEY!!!A motivational genius put Dopey at the 25 mile mark just before the course goes into Epcot. I'll mess with characters with my daughter, especially face characters, but by myself I may only wave. But this day... I ran to Dopey, gave him a bear hug, and got a picture. Dopey high-fived me and gave me a thumbs up as I ran through the gate into the park. I was just about a mile away from finishing the Dopey Challenge. I couldn't believe it. I was pumped and excited to finish.
(Proof photo while I wait for MarathonFoto to finish sorting pictures from the races)
But then there was Belle... So I got a quick picture with her. Belle's cute. Really cute.I finished the loop around World Showcase, passed through Future World and then out the side gate past the gospel choir at mile 26. Right before we entered the finish chute, I saw a woman who looked kind of wobbly bend over, then try to squat before collapsing backwards. I helped her up and some guys that looked like they were with her thanked me and helped her to the side. I hope she's OK, but she looked really bad there.
Finally, in the bleachers I saw Brynn and Shellie just before I finished. I waved to them, ran over to say hi to Minnie Mouse, and crossed the finish line in an official time of 3:54:17... which was a nearly 7 minute improvement over my first marathon. A volunteer put my medal around my neck and pointed me towards medical where I got ice packs put on my knees. I then went through hydration to get a bottle of water and Powerade before heading to the Dopey/Goofy line where they verified the wristbands, awarded the Goofy and Dopey medals, and took the official finisher's photo. I met up with Shellie and Brynn shortly thereafter and we headed to Race Retreat so I could get some food. We sat with Denis's family and talked with them for a little while until Jen got the runner tracking notification saying Denis was at mile 20. I wanted to see him finish, but I wasn't waiting another hour, so we made our way to the exit.
On the way out I saw Bart Yasso at the Runners' World area. Bart followed me on Twitter a few months ago, so I had to go say hi. He was very welcoming and even took a picture with Brynn and me. Garmin Data Here:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/429666660
Somehow I managed to find the energy to go to the Magic Kingdom with Shellie and Brynn. They split off to take a monorail while I grabbed a beer and then headed to the buses. I asked the volunteer at the bus to my resort what time it was leaving so I'd know how long I'd have to finish my beer. She saw the Dopey medal and told me I could do anything I wanted, so I took the beer on the bus. Walking the MK was probably pretty smart as I haven't dealt with nearly as much muscle soreness as I did after RnR last February.
The people I met from the Facebook Dopey Challenge group were all great. Bob G. and I crossed paths several times throughout the weekend. Brent T. and I talked for a while on the bus post-marathon. Saskia, Amys E. and B., Alison, and the other ladies couldn't have been more friendly. Charles M. amazed me with gutting out the half on a broken foot. And Robert W. turned out to be the best sport putting up with his pseudo celebrity status. I owe everyone of those people from the group a big thanks for simply being awesome. Especially the admin of the group, Heath and the guy that seemed to bring out the silliness in everyone, Carl N. You guys rock. BOOM!
And not that anyone will read this that I'm about to mention, but I'd also like to mention the companies that make the gear I used to train for and run Dopey: Headsweats, Yurbuds, Oakley, Lifeproof, Tasc Performance, Nike Running, ProCompression, Swiftwik, Garmin, and Brooks Running. These companies all make great gear and I never had any gear related issues except for having to reboot my Garmin before the 10K.
I also would be remiss to not mention the inspiration from Steve Gleason. Steve's battle with ALS and the way he's handled it has been a total inspiration for me. I only hope to one day have a fraction of the grace and determination he has.
But lastly, I need to thank my wife and daughter. My wife, for putting up with the long evenings training after my already long workdays, as well as washing the pile of disgusting running gear I leave on the floor of the laundry room every day, and being understanding of planning our weekends around my training. And also for being such a good sport about me teasing her for not being at ALL THE RACES!!!
And lastly my mini-me. She's the reason I try to set such an example. I want her to see you can set crazy goals and go after them and succeed. And it's fun coming home after a 15 mile run and watching her run in fear of getting a "sweaty hug".
So what's next? Why, another half-marathon on Sunday... and one 2 weeks after that. And a sprint tri in March. And if I don't drown, a 70.3 race in April, and another sprint Tri in May. Then I'll work on getting faster with the goal of a PR at the Jazz Half in November.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. -
It's kind of fun to do the impossible. -
If you can dream it, you can do it. - Walt Disney
