Dopey again Year 2!

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What is the saying "This &^%$ is about to get real?"  From last year I had learned that the ½ marathon portion of the Dopey is really an omen for the marathon on Sunday, basically how I felt after the half would determine how I would do on Sunday.  The goal was nice and slow, to preserve as much stamina as I could for the next day.  Now I had brought with me two pairs of running shoes, a newish pair of HOKA Clifton’s and a pair of Saucony Guide 8’s.  Since the Clifton’s were light weight and I had yet to try them for a long run, I thought running in a shoe I was more familiar with, the Saucony’s, would be a good idea for the next two long races.  The weather was still chilly on Saturday morning for the race, but since this would be double the distance of the previous 10K I decided to suffer with the cold, and wear my Lulumon running skirt and pink tech shirt, with the pink sweatybands hat and pink compression socks, I was definitely VERY pink.  I also wore my Spacecoast jacket thinking I could take it off on the course and wear it around my waist. I also brought along another emergency blanket to cover my legs, in a kilt-like fashion while we waited for our corral.  

It turned out the wait was not long after all.  We had left with plenty of time, or so I thought, leaving for the bus around 4:15, the bus was there when we arrived with plenty of space, and we technically should have arrived about an hour before the race start.  Didn’t happen, traffic was inching along on Buena Vista drive, and what should have taken 5 minutes ended up taking about 30 minutes.  Thankfully World Drive itself was relatively traffic free, and we made it to the drop off at about 5:15. Since we were in a corral far far away, Corral K to be specific, we had a significant amount of cushion time to get to our corral.  For the two shorter races, the 5K and 10K it was a short jaunt to the corrals, for the longer races, the ½ and full, there was about a ½ to ¾ mile walk to the corrals, which I like to call the cattle call, as there are thousands of runners traversing this dark wooded pathway towards EPCOT center Parkway.  The forecasted high temperature for Saturday was in the mid-60’s, making the start for the ½ marathon still a little chilly, but compared to the warm and humid start the previous year, is preferred.  You can always put more on but only can take so much off right?

I have to say after this race the WDW ½ marathon is becoming one of my favorites, long enough that you get to enjoy the best parts of a WDW race, in that you get to run through Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, but not so long that it wastes your entire day like the Marathon does.  It probably also helped that this year we had run already 9 half marathons, as opposed to only 2 the year before, so half marathons were becoming more routine, and less of a challenge.  The half marathon starts on EPCOT center drive, and heads out straight for the first 2 miles on standard concrete roadways.  Right around mile 2, the course turns right onto an exit ramp and onto World Drive towards Magic Kingdom. This section is somewhat congested and the slanting road way doesn’t make the turn simple.  Once on World Drive it is an enjoyable next few miles, we passed the Magic Kingdom Toll Booth (mile 3), went through the Ticket and Transportation Center (mile 4), and then headed under the water bridge, on our approach to Magic Kingdom.  The actual turn into Magic Kingdom is not through the main gate as you would expect, but passes under a Railroad crossing and into Magic Kingdom through the backstage areas, the turn into the backstage area is approximately Mile 5.

Suzy had texted me while we were still waiting for the race to start to let us know she was on her way to the Magic Kingdom.   I wasn’t entirely sure how easy spectating would be in Magic Kingdom due to the reserved “Cheer Squad” sections, that you had to pay for.  Still Suzy found a good spot on Main Street USA and got a photo of us going by! Not an easy feat with how congested Main Street was.  The course then turned right into Tommorowland, and turns again and heads towards Fantasyland.  I was surprised Dopey wasn’t around as a character meet by the new Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, I mean you would think right?   Suzy was there again as we ran through the castle and got a pic of us with the castle behind us, a photo we had missed on last year’s run.  Another photo op we had missed last year was with the steam train and engineer on the Frontierland crossing, which is about Mile 6.  We missed it once, we weren’t missing it again!  There was very little wait and we got our photo and went.  

Here the course exits Magic Kingdom and begins its journey back to EPCOT, we passed the Grand Floridian, and Polynesian along with the Wedding Pavilion on Floridian Way.  Floridian Way is BY FAR the most congested portion of any WDW race I have ever encountered.  It’s a 2-lane road, with one lane open for car traffic, leaving only one lane for runners.  We ended up in the grass A LOT, as in many cases people were walking shoulder to shoulder along the course.  URG.  We turned back onto World Drive and the runner/walker traffic spread out with three lanes instead of just one, opening up the course for our trip back. There was a “free” GU booth which we stopped for (free flavored sugar yeah!) and then it was home free for the half.   In the last few miles the sun had begun making its presence known, I had shedded my jacket and wrapped it around my waist, and ended up sweating a little, but overall was not to bad.  We again crossed the finish line for a 3^rd time (the finish line is the same for all four races), got our medal, headed towards the Dopey tent once more, and again it was just a pass through.  I know a lot of people stressed about this, how it was different then previous years, but the way I looked at it, I wasn’t stressed about it.  Try taking my Dopey away from me and watch out. J We got our free snack box, banana and powerade and again headed for the bus to take us back to OKW.

Since the races were getting longer with each day we didn’t make it back to the room this time until about 11AM, I began to ice everything down, I bring a box of sandwich bags and get ice from the hotel and make my own ice packs this way.  I know many take ice baths, and I’m sure they work but I just can’t get myself to sit in a bathtub full of ice water… so ice packs it is.  I iced down anything that was even remotely sore, for me ankles and Achilles which are always my two trouble spots. 

After relaxing a bit we took showers and I started snacking on the snack boxes provided, pretty good this year, goldfish, tortilla chips and cheese, and my favorite squeeze packages of cinnamon apple sauce, yum.  Our decision for food today had been discussed a little over the previous days. I knew I didn’t want to do too much walking, so our tentative plan was to take the OKW boat to Downtown Disney and get good carb-loading food options at Wolfgang Puck’s Express.  I really chowed down, mac and cheese, and chocolate brownie, I knew I would need all those calories and then some on the next day, not to mention the 20 some miles I had already ran.  After eating we did do a little shopping, Jeff got a Dopey 48.6 mile cell phone case for his Iphone 6+ (to add to his pile of cell phone cases he already has), checked out a few of the other shops including Art of Disney and the LEGO store and headed back to OKW.  Following my rehab plans from the previous year my next stop was the hot tub, One nice advantage to OKW is that each quiet pool has it’s own hot tub, both Jeff and I spent about 20 min. there, and then headed back to the room.  The ice earlier and heat later seems to have worked well these last two years, and certainly helped ease a little of the soreness I had so I think that is our plan going forward.

Over the last week I had followed the weather forecast for Sunday.  If I had a choice I would have preferred warm weather on the shorter races and cool weather on the long Marathon, because if it turned out to be the predicted warm and sunny we would be miserable for the last half, as it takes approximately 6 hours for us to get through a Disney Marathon.  The forecast was a high of 78 and various chances of rain and cloudiness.  I knew I couldn’t expect temperatures to change much in 24 hours, but I was hoping for cloud cover, which helps immensely!  I laid out my running gear one more time, and this time was a little more serious, no more worrying about the temperature at the start, and more thinking about the temperature around noon. I decided on a semi-translucent Nike tank top, a black lulumon running skirt, compression sleeves, purple sweatybands hat, and SPI belt which I filled with cliff shots, and a second pack of Spark.  I also gave Suzy a bag of pretzels to hand to us around Animal Kingdom, as I found that I probably was having probably hyponatremia (low sodium) on previous marathon races.

It was still a little chilly so I did still bring another emergency blanket, wrapped over my bare shoulders. We left about 10-15 min. earlier this morning for the bus due to horrible traffic the day previously… it was worse, but again due to our outer rim corral assignment (K) we made it with plenty of time, and didn’t have to wait around long.  I had also made the decision to change out shoes, as I mentioned previously the ORIGINAL plan was HOKA’s for the first two shorter races and Saucony’s for the longer two.  I had worn Saucony’s the day before for the ½ and seriously felt like I was wearing bricks on my feet afterwards.  So I decided to take a chance and run the marathon in my lighter HOKA Clifton’s.  GOOD CHOICE.  The moment I crossed the starting line I could already feel how much lighter my feet felt, and that was only with a 2 oz. difference between the two types of shoes.

The first 8 miles were basically a repeat of the previous day, but I began to notice around mile 4 my right ankle telling me it was there, it wasn’t necessarily pain but it worried me, with over 22 miles left to go.  It was about that time that I began to feel really stupid about doing a fast 7 mile run right before leaving, because it had felt a little sore then too.  Overall I didn’t find the first 8 miles as congested as on the half, but I had made the decision no to do as much swerving on Grand Floridian drive as I had the day before too to help my ankles and avoid the rough mud and grass. It was right after mile 8 that the marathon and ½ marathon courses diverge.  The marathon headed us onto the WDW Speedway, the sun was out at this point, but overall the temperature was holding steady in the low 60’s and I hadn’t started sweating, good signs. 

Exiting the Speedway at mile 9 we started heading towards our next park, Animal Kingdom, I generally consider the next 3 miles the 2^nd most boring portion of the WDW marathon, as it weaves through the back areas, water treatment plant, and a massive Animal Kingdom backstage area.  At this point, I knew if it was sunny and hot it would mark the beginning of a miserable 2^nd half or 13-15 miles, thankfully it was anything but, the sky had become overcast, was threatening rain with a slightly cool breeze and comfortable temps.  As we passed mile 11.5, we picked up a “free” banana, and I also applied some “free” bio freeze to the sore ankles.  I also noticed how many runners were surrounding the medical station, laying down or sitting, or stopped stretching out.  I was thankful that I seemed to be in better shape at the moment, and hoped both my body and the weather would hold out!  I also texted Suzy at this point to let her know we were about to enter Animal Kingdom’s backstage.  I almost immediately received a text back saying she was waiting near Kali River Rapids, I was unsure where this was on the course, having only run once through Animal Kingdom on the previous year’s marathon, but I made a point to really watch for her. 

Animal Kingdom is probably the shortest distance of almost any park that the Marathon transverses, literally you enter at about mile 12.5 and exit before 13 miles, weave through Asia and Expedition Everest, past Dinosaur and out of the park near Primeval Whirl.  I knew when we crossed by Everest we had missed Suzy, so I stopped, called her quickly, while doing so noticed the hundreds of runners passing by and crowds surrounded the course would make finding her at this point virtually impossible, and we would waste a great deal of time doing so.  So I texted back and said we would continue on.  Turns out I had no reason to worry as she found her way to the front of the park, about a half mile further on, and was able to catch us then!  A nice side note is that we were able to pick up my baggie of pretzels for later on in the race.

A lot of people dislike the next 3-4 miles, which heads pretty straight down Osceola Parkway towards EPSN Wide World of Sports.  It is pretty flat, boring, and right out in the sun with no shade.  I know at some point if we continue to run Dopey that I will experience how truly hellish this strip of road can be, I mean no shade around 11a.m. or so?  Thankfully our experience was completely different.  We mixed our 2^nd pack of Spark about Mile 14, and not soon after it began sprinkling.  I was thankful; even if it did rain the rest of the entire race, way better then hot, sunny and 80 degrees!  I had done several practice runs in misty to pouring rain conditions, and two half marathons in the pouring rain, so rain no longer scared me.  It obviously scared those running around us… people were “stop the rain!” and I was like “NO!, I like the rain!”  The streets weren’t really slick except for the paint dashes and overall it was pretty nice running experience.  What really terrified me was waiting next, ESPN…

In 2014 we also ran the Dopey, and though Dopey wasn’t my first full marathon, it was not a great marathon experience.  I quite literally felt like I was running in a near collapse haze during EPSN, which adding to the shear boringness of EPSN (its 3 miles of empty fields) makes it my least favorite part of the Disney marathon.  By the time we had reached mile 17 and the entrance into EPSN it was downright raining, it felt quite good actually, yet they were also giving out cold wet towels in ESPN, which felt nice too, being able to wipe down my face. 

IN 2014 we had run the marathon at a 2:1 (2 mile run, 1 mile walk) pattern until mile 13, when we switched to 1:1, at this point we were still at 2:1 and feeling good, well at least decent.  Was EPSN still boring? Absolutely, but I didn’t feel at Mile 20 the need to lay down and die, and that made for a MUCH BETTER experience.  Exiting out of EPSN at mile 20, we looked over towards the entrance (its out and back for a short period) and saw the balloon ladies coming. Last year this freaked me out, this year I became the consoler, as several ladies around us seeing the same thing became concerned, I knew at this point we were 3 miles ahead of them and even if we had to walk the next 6.2 miles we would be fine and explained this to those who were concerned around us.  I think it helped. 

Also at this point I dug out my pretzels and began inhaling them, I think after 4 marathons I might have found a good option for low sodium at this point in the race, as I never really ran into a wall during Dopey this time.  At mile 21 we started our walking mile and I took the opportunity to text Suzy again, I had texted her last about mile 14, and thought the Beach Club area would be a good vantage point and allow a reasonable amount of time for her to get there and get a spot.  Suzy had texted me that she was there now, and I was just updating her as to our position.

Right after 21 the marathon exits onto World Drive, and was my mental “I got this” moment last year. This year I was still feeling pretty good, though Jeff was a little fatigued, so we ended up walking about a ½ mile up the overpass hill, and past the 22 mile marker (which by our plan we should have ran).  As the road turned into the Hollywood Studios at EPCOT Resorts Blvd, we began running again, and it also began raining again, so none of the street of America performers met us in the Hollywood Studios backstage area as they did in the previous year.   We headed into the old Backlot Tour area next, and ran through the old costuming tunnel; in the previous year this was a simple dark tunnel, which was nice on a sunny day.  This year, most likely due to the Backlot Tour be axed, the costume tunnel featured strobes, fog, colored light DJ the whole nine yards.  Pretty cool.  Mile 23 was right at the exit of the tunnel and the course then turned onto the Streets of America.  The rest of Hollywood Studios went by as a blur, and soon we were exiting the gate and headed towards Boardwalk and our final destination EPCOT!  Funny enough as we were exiting the park, an EPCOT bus was parked waiting for riders, and there was a split second though about climbing aboard and taking a ride for the last 2 miles!  Those would have been some FAST split times!

Mile 24 came up quickly and it was about this time, with only 2 miles to go that time seemed to stop and the distance seemed to crawl by…  We meet up with Suzy at Beach Club, she was sitting there with a long time spectator of the WDW Marathon, she also had two cold bottles of Coke, 100% calorie fully loaded, (and found out later it should have been flat), but tasted great!  We rested a few minutes but soon enough we off running again. 

Jeff and I had been talking and he was filling tired, and my feet hurt like crazy, Jeff wanted to walk Mile 25, but we compromised and walked part of the mile, and ran about the last ½ (my feet hurt less when I am running).    I had learned from the marathon in 2014 that Mile 25 seemed to take forever to reach,  this year I knew exactly where it was, in the France Pavilion.  I shared this little nugget with runners along the way, since by that time you just want to finish.   As we entered World Showcase you could see all the way across to Mexico, and it seemed like an eternity to reach.  As we moved forward we crossed into China, and Mulan and Mushu were there together, I had thought at the time it was a regular park Photopass stop (EPCOT was open to the public by this time), but it turned out to be a Marathonfoto, and it was a great photo!  We also caught up with another runner dressed up as Lilo (from Lilo and Stitch) we walked with her for a bit, before she split off at Germany for a beer.  A tradition for marathon runners is to make stops along the course, whether it be at McDonalds on Osceola Pkwy for a McFlurry, A ride on Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom or an adult beverage in EPCOT.  I think one of these at least is a must try for next year.:)

We started running again right after Mexico, on the bridge heading for Future World, by this time the rain had stopped and the sun was out, it was getting pretty toasty but with only ½ mile left it was a non-issue, but thinking back it would have been HELL if more of the race had been in that weather.

Soon enough we crossed through Futureworld, and the turn for the exit out of EPCOT was approaching, we passed the hallelujah choir, and then ran down the chute for the finish line.   It was a great feeling, and for the 2^nd year, I still have to say that though Dopey is expensive, it is worth all $500 of the registration fees.  Looking back I think this year was by far a better experience, as I wasn’t hurting near as much as I was the previous year. We received our Marathon medal, and then headed for the Dopey tent for our Dopey and Goofy medals.  The cast members verified us against our original photo from the expo, confirmed we had completed all four races and received all our finisher medals.  Our next stop?  The Bus, we had advised Suzy that we were heading immediately for the bus back to OKW.    The previous year, once back in our room we were dead to the world until the next morning, this year we still took a nap, but were able to get up get something to eat and relax in the hot tub later that evening.  I believe overall our training was improved over the previous year, and offered a better experience.  OF course the weather worked out for us too!  So the question this year of whether we would come back for year 3?  Not much to question this year, we will be back for more in 2016!

I Think Disney has Taken this Frozen Thing Too Far... Dopey Day 1 and 2

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Thursday morning’s 5K was scheduled to begin at 6:15, our Dopey bibs showed corral C, Suzy was Corral E so we planned on starting with her, so she would have someone to run with.  I believe we left for the bus stop around 4:30-4:45, it was a short walk from our room which was great,. All of the four races drop off at the EPCOT parking lot and the first two start there as well, we arrived this morning around 5-5:15.  To say it was cold is an understatement.  

First, let me explain Jeff and I are from the Kansas City, MO area, I have run in colder temperatures, however, we WERE NOT used to sitting in the cold wind, for an hour and a half prior to the race starting!  In the past when we have arrived for a Disney race there are multitudes of runners mingling, taking photos, stretching, having fun at the D.J. stage, etc.  There was NONE of that this morning.  Runners were huddled, almost zombie-like around wind breaks and tents.  Once we made it to Corral E we did about the same, each corral was literally a huddled mass.  The emergency blankets? Turned out indispensable, but we were still cold!  The moment we saw runners in Corral C go by, it was hard not to want to run out and join them!  FINALLY time was up for Corral E, it was only once we started that I realized how cold I had just been, I was sluggish, and my legs, feet and hands felt like blocks of ice!  

Our goal for this Dopey challenge was to repeat the 2:1 (run 2 miles walk 1 mile), pattern we had used last year, but to continue that hopefully all the way through the full marathon too.  For the 5K instead though we decided to run 1-mile, walk a mile, run a 1-mile.   The course itself starts in the EPCOT parking lot and spends the first mile circling around EPCOT’s extensive parking lots.  About ¾ a mile in the course heads under Test Track, and at almost exactly one mile enters EPCOT at the Norway pavilion and heads around World Showcase. Pretty much by the time we headed into EPCOT I was much less of a frozen Popsicle.  We stopped at the Morocco pavilion for the real bathrooms, and then continued through World Showcase, through future world and across the finish line for the first time. Overall,  it wasn’t a bad time, except for the COLD, I definitely won’t forget it that’s for sure.  

Prior to the race weekend, there had been a lot of discussion as to how Disney would verify runners for the Dopey challenge.  In 2014 we received a bracelet for the 5K, 10K and ½ marathon, for this year, I had heard varying stories.  One was that they would match us at the end of every race with the photo we had taken at the EXPO, and/or they would verify our time and make sure we were under the 16 min mile pace.  Which normally would not be a problem, but it certainly alleviated any desire to stop for character photos on the 5K, since it was such a short distance. 

In the end for the 5K and actually the two following races, we just walked through the Dopey tent, no one stopped us to verify anything.  We picked up our typical snack box, banana and powerade and headed to the buses to take us back to POR.  There was a massively long line for the bus back to POR but Disney had multiple buses lined up so overall it was really quick.  The biggest problem we encountered is when we arrived back at our room, and none of our magic bands worked to open the door!  So there we all were, it was frigid, we had a dining reservation in an hour and half and all I was to do was get warm.  Wasn’t going to happen.  I volunteered to run back to the registration desk, and they sent a runner out to let us in.  I didn’t see any major reason to fix the magic bands for POR since we would be moving out and over to Old Key West in a few hours. 

After getting showered and dressed we got everything loaded up, into the car, and headed for Wilderness Lodge for breakfast.  Originally I think my plan was Whispering Canyon breakfast on Friday morning, but I had changed it the day before, and scheduled an Kona Café breakfast the next morning, great idea!  For Whispering Canyon it was Jeff, Suzy, Mark and myself.  When we were seated we found out our server was Jeffro, (hope I am spelling that right), The three of us have been eating at Whispering Canyon since prior to our wedding in January 2002, and we had had Jeffro as our server several times over the years, like always it was good fun.  I loved the table next to us who had NO IDEA what would happen when they asked for ketchup, and then ended up with about 30 bottles.

So it was about noon at this time, and we decided to head over to our next home away from home, Old Key West.  Jeff and I are DVC members, since 2007.  As DVC members we can book our home resort at 11 months and non-home resorts at 7 months.  Hoping to get a resort other then our home OKW I waited until 7 months, finding nothing available other then OKW… I booked OKW. To put it bluntly we had stayed at OKW a few times previous and never had a good experience, plus due to excessive borrowing the previous year, we were limited on the # of points we had available, so OKW it was. I was a little bummed about it, but I think everything did turn out okay in the long run.  We would be staying at OKW until Tuesday morning, and then moving over to BWV standard view for the rest of the 5 nights of our trip.

One thing I have always had particularly good luck at is requests, I know they are never guaranteed, but most of the time I get what I asked for, either that or I am pretty easy to please.  At OKW I had requested Peninsular Road, to be somewhat close to the Hospitality House, AKA primary marathon bus pick-up spot. When we checked in at 12:30 our room wasn’t ready (no surprise), but we were told we were building 45, which turned out to be a good location, about a 5 minute walk to the hospitality house.  I did find out later on that Disney ran the internal shuttle through the entire resort for marathon weekend runners, so all that mattered was that we were close to a bus stop, not something that was advertised AT ALL, but good information to file away for the future.

So since we knew our room wouldn’t be ready for awhile we headed out to the nearest Target store to stock up on snacks, bagels and Coke to stock our room.  The trip was over quick and I checked back with registration when we made it back at about 1:30… room still wasn’t available.  We put the cold food (milk, cheese etc.) in the cooler in the car, and then headed out to explore the resort and Community Hall.  Since Suzy had never seen Beauty and the Beast (TRAVESTY!) I just had to borrow the DVD from community hall, I LOVE the fact as members can borrow DVD’s free, and the selection is actually quite good. 

So back to Hospitality house, 2:30, no availability, so we sat in the den area next to check in, and sat, and sat… Now I had signed up for room ready text messages and never received it, so by 4:30… I was a bit frustrated.  Went up to the desk, guess what? Or room had been ready for some time, yet I never got the message.  GRRRR…

We made it to our room, 1^st floor studio, great location as mentioned previously, room was in decent condition, no mold, door locked, all that stuff you think would be expected but we had had issues with at OKW in the past.  I spent the next hour or so unpacking since we were at OKW until Tuesday it was to become our own personal marathon central, I also laid out all my running clothing for the 10K on Friday.  We decided to order pizza for dinner, since there were no carb loading options to speak of at OKW, though Olivia’s is usually pretty good for food generally. I frequently read the DIS boards for information and updates on Disney and DVC, and many there had mentioned using Flipper’s Pizza in the past, so I gave them a call, and they delivered food pretty quickly (about 45 minutes), very inexpensive too when you compare with normal Disney food prices.  We watched the movie while we ate and then headed to bed right around 8 P.M.

In the fear that we would oversleep I not only set the alarm clock on my iPhone, Jeff’s iPhone but also set a wake up call.  The 10K start time would become the norm for the next three races at 5:30 in the morning.  My goal was to be at the bus stop between 4-4:15 am, so I was set to get up around 3:15-3:30.  That ended up working well, got dressed, still wearing long running pants, short sleeve top, running jacket and emergency “tin foil” blanket.  Overall the temperature wasn’t much warmer then the previous day, but thankfully there was VERY LITTLE wind, so we didn’t quite freeze as much. 

Again with our Dopey bibs we were assigned corral C, but Suzy, with this being her first 10K, was in the last corral, Corral F, and we again were starting with her for moral support.  This was our first time in the last corral, and hopefully the last time, it was rather daunting starting a race when the first group of runners was already finishing, and before the race started we could already see the pink in the sky from the rising sun.  My primary complaint about the last corral is how congested it is!  The course leaving EPCOT is not terribly narrow but we spent about the first mile running in the grass or dodging walkers, nothing wrong with walkers, but when you plan on running the majority of the course its frustrating. 

We headed out under EPCOT tollbooths, underpass, and then onto the roadway and then made a sharp U-turn to head back towards EPCOT.   Our goal again was run 2 miles, walk 1 mile, and repeat. At this point we were about a mile from the start and could look down and see the very last runner/walkers heading out, we also saw the balloon ladies, and the sweeping crew.  I was truly surprised that there was already a walker behind the balloon ladies in danger of being swept…

At this point the 10K followed the 5K route and headed under Test Track then into EPCOT’s World Showcase.  Instead of heading the rest of the way around though the 10K exited at the International Gateway and then headed for the Boardwalk.  The next mile circles the Boardwalk and then heads back, allowing Mile 4 and Mile 5 to pass right by each other, separated by cones only.   This highlights another aspect of racing that really has begun to bother me, race cheating.  I first saw this at a local 10K which was a double out and back, where a runner “won” 1^st place in their division by only running one segment of the out and back.  At Disney, we saw a few actually jump the cones from Mile 4 to Mile 5, basically skipping a mile in the 10K.   Personally I think the only people they are cheating are themselves, and I guess they could be doing it for the “bling” at the end.  But really? Why pay the fees? It’s not like Disney races are cheap?

Overall the rest of the 10K was uneventful, but fun, which is why I love Disney races, they aren’t about speed they are more about enjoying the journey.  The three of us were hoping to cross the finish line together, but ended up being cut off by a few speed demons, which ruined a perfectly good picture, but what can you do? Seriously though what is the point of running that fast in the last corral?  You aren’t going to win?!

After the 10K we made it to the bus, it was a shorter line this time, we were dropped off at the Hospitality House and made the quick walk back to our room, to shower and get ready for breakfast at Kona. Since Kona is a MK resort we decided to take a bus to MK and then catch the monorail to the Polynesian.  Jeff and I are HUGE Polynesian fans and are hoping to add on to the new DVC there soon, but we also wanted to take a look at the new lobby.  

Our racing friend/coach, Mark meet us again for breakfast (or as he called it Brunch).  Of course being in corral A and running 7 min miles (UGH) this was the 2^nd meal of the day for him.  :P  I wanted to try the Tonga Toast that I had read about for years, and it didn’t disappoint, I don’t want to even think about the calorie content in them though. (Tonga Toast is French Toast stuffed with Banana and covered in Strawberry Sauce!) After breakfast we wandered around Polynesian checked out the shops and outdoor pool construction and bungalow construction. It was getting chilly outside though, and the wind wasn’t helping much so our plans to visit EPCOT was veto’d, as we were there for an entire week after the marathon and had plenty of time to ride our favorites.  We instead headed back to the room, took a nap and then got ready for our last ADR (Dining reservation) for that evening at Via Napoli, yep more carb loading!  We all had the vegetarian lasagna, which was good, and I made sure to fill up with water, the warm forecast for marathon Sunday was weighing heavy on my mind…

We really are just Dopey... Dopey Year II (2015)

Last year, just as we finished the inaugural Dopey challenge I remember the very first thought that followed the “OMG I finally crossed the finish line” was “I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN”.  Ha Ha Ha.  Funny thing is, only a few hours later I was beginning to change my mind, and as you might be already realizing this, I did decide that Dopey a 2^nd time around may not be so bad, especially if I trained better for it.

In retrospect, though my training may not have been everything I dreamed of, it was certainly improved over the previous year. In 2013, we ran mostly 5K’s, a few 10K’s two half marathons and one full marathon prior to Dopey 2014. In 2014 I doubled my amount of running and almost quadrupled my number of half marathons to nine total, and ran the more difficult Kansas City Marathon with a 1 hour PR.  By the time December 2014 rolled around  when I ran my last 20 mile practice run I was becoming delusional, was it possibly that 20 miles was starting to feel less daunting? 

Another difference for this go around was that it wasn’t just Jeff and I running all four races by ourselves.  Jeff’s sister, Suzy joined us this year and not only ran the 5K and 10K with us (which was great for pacing purposes), but was our cheer squad along the routes for the half marathon and full marathon too!  

Of course nothing ever goes as planned.  In October I had gone in for a routine mammogram. As I was expecting, I was called a few days later for a second follow up mammogram and ultrasound.  I wasn’t freaking out yet, as this was for me, pretty normal.  I was told I had a very small calcification in my left breast, that was 90% chance benign, and only a 10% chance of being pre-cancerous DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma  in Situ).  They sent me to a breast surgeon who then sent me in for a needle biopsy to find out what we were dealing with.  I was told I would receive the results in 2-3 business days.  So you can imagine how I took it when I got a call the next day, I had DCIS, I fell into that 10% statistic, and I completely freaked out… I made an appointment to see the breast surgeon for the next Monday, and the first question out of my mouth was… how is this going to affect my Marathon coming up? (I always call Dopey a marathon because everyone knows what a Marathon is, not everybody knows about the Dopey challenge).

Since my calcification in my breast was only 3mm (tiny) Doctor cleared me for running the Dopey and going on vacation.  My next step was an MRI just to double check and make sure nothing else was in there, and thankfully it showed clear.  Of course I did stress quite a bit about going to Florida still, wondering if it was REALLY a good idea after all.  After numerous stressful moments, Facebook posts, and discussions with my significant other, I decided to go ahead and go.  As I look back… I think it was a VERY good decision.

Our plan was the fly in the Tuesday morning prior to the WDW Marathon expo which opened Wednesday, check in, have a little fun in the parks before the four days of sleep, eat, run, repeat, repeat, repeat began… 

This was also our first time visiting Orlando without renting a car at all, Jeff’s sister came up from her home in Miami and picked us up from the Orlando airport. Since we were the first flight of the day we arrived around 10:00 and from there we headed to Port Orleans Riverside (POR) for our first two nights, checked in, and got something to eat at POR food court.  It was about 11:00 at this point, and our room was ready so we drove over, parked and moved everything in for the next two days.  We had a Royal room booked at POR, simply because it was the cheapest room option available at POR at the time I booked it using the Annual Pass discount.  The room was a great location being only about a five minute walk from the main building, food court and all important bus stop. Overall for the rest of the trip we found all of our rooms were a good location and an easy walk to the bus stop. 

Since Tuesday was the only day during our trip I was able to get a fast pass to the Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train that determined our park for the day.  We decided to take the bus to Magic Kingdom, which was quick, and arrived at the park around noon.  If we were using the old ticket FP system there is NO WAY we would have gotten three different fast passes, we would have been lucky to get one.  Overall, I prefer the new FP+ system, the only problem I encountered a few times during our trip was how slow the Disney iPhone Ap worked to reschedule FP+. Later that evening we had a quick dinner at Casey’s and headed out just as Wishes was starting around 8PM.  The bus was quick and we soon made it back to our hotel room, and set the alarm to get to the WDW marathon expo at opening at 10AM. 

A look at the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside:

 http://allears.net/acc/g_PortOrleans-RoyalRooms.htm

Wednesday

EXPO day! Last year, a friend of ours Mark, who is our unofficial running coach, and also SUPER FAST, had done packet pick-up for us, we simply mailed  him the authorization form, and he handed us the bags of stuff when we showed up that morning.  This year, this was not even possible as Disney had changed the rules were you had to pick up your own packet, bibs and shirts, probably due to people selling their bibs if they were unable to race.   It took us a little while, as we first picked up our bibs in one location, then had to go to a separate location, wait in line again and pick up our six shirts.  With Dopey each of the four races gets its own shirt, along with the Goofy challenge and Dopey Challenge shirts.   I had seen pictures of the shirts online, and thought they looked better in person, he only one I wasn’t super crazy abut was the dark green Dopey shirt? 

Now it might be because we didn’t actually pick up our racing gear the previous year, but I still have to think that the EXPO, though it spanned two large athletic buildings was a zoo, it was NUTS.  After picking up our bibs and shirts, we wanted to head over to the RunDisney merchandise area to pick up a few things.  Because paying $500 a piece to race, and getting six shirts simply isn’t enough…

Disney, I have found, has this amazing ability to want you to spend every cent to your name and smile about it it seems.   In prior years RunDisney had one large merchandise area in one location. This year there were two locations for official merchandise, with one in the Josten’s Center and a smaller location in the HP pavilion.  I guess it would sort of make sense if they had the same merchandise, but we found different jackets and shirts in both locations.  This makes ZERO sense.  I ended up getting the women’s jacket, magnet and a few pins in one, and Jeff ended up getting the men’s jacket (which I actually like better) as well as the Dopey “I did it” shirts in the other.  One other point I have found that I detest is that many non runners swarm the RunDisney merchandise on opening day and buy huge loads of this limited edition merchandise to sell for a profit on EBAY.  This makes those who REALLY ARE runners have to paw over the leftovers it seems. Disney doesn’t seem to care because they still make their money, but its frustrating for runners because much of the merchandise runs out in the first day or in many cases the first hours. I believe, as do many others, that Disney should either limit the amount of items one person can purchase, or allow the first few days open to runners only. 

Suzy was also interested in checking out the Sparkle Skirts Booth, since we had looked at them at the Tower of Terror 10 Miler expo.  After checking the map we found out that they weren’t there, which seemed kind of odd.  So with bib pick up and shopping done, we headed back to the bus, we didn’t take pictures with the race art as we had done the previous year, thinking we would be back to the expo… didn’t happen. 

After making it back to the room, took out all the shirts and 2 bibs, and took the obligatory photo. Our next stop was Hollywood Studios, we had an ADR that night for Mama Melrose at 4:30, plus we had several FP+ set up for today.  We ended up missing our Star Tours FP and I wasn’t able to reschedule it, but did make it for Toy Story Midway Mania.  Prior to FP+ we were lucky if we rode it once every other trip now its common to for us to ride it every time we visit Hollywood Studios thanks to FP+.  Next up was dinner at Mama Melrose. Jeff and I had eaten here many years ago and found the food rather sub-par, but it was many years ago and the reviews looked good so I figured it was worth another try.  In the end I wasn’t totally thrilled with what I had ordered but, everyone else, suzy and Jeff enjoyed their food.  I would definitely go back, but also definitely order something different.

With carb loading done for the day, we headed over to Tower of Terror for our 2^nd fastpass.  I am not a huge fan of drop rides, but will ride with Jeff so he doesn’t have to ride alone, as it is his favorite ride, Suzy took my place this time though so I sat it out.

Afterwards we did a little shopping since I have found many of the shops at Hollywood Studios carry different merchandise then anywhere else on property, soon after we headed for Suzy’s car as this was one park were It was almost as easy to drive as it would be to ride the bus.

Originally since we were staying at POR we had wanted to stop by and see Yehaa Bob, which we had seen many times before, but by the time we got back to POR it was around 9 pm and I still had to get everything ready for he following morning, decide what I was going to wear, and actually get up early for the first morning of four.

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The weather forecast for Thursday morning was upper 30’s with a wind between 15-20 mph, so I was expecting chilly, and laid out my running pants, jacket and shirt.  I had also on a whim bought a 10 pack of emergency thermal blankets off Amazon about a week prior for only $6, we would find out soon that that was probably the best decision!