Two friends of mine thought 4 days of running races, increasing the distance each day would be a great idea. The next thing I know, I was signed up for the Dopey Challenge at Disney World.
TRAINING
My great intentions led me to find a training plan, which I never followed. My training ended up being, running as much as I could and learn to run on tired legs. Time allowed me to run about five times a week, I would often split up the runs so I would do back to back long runs twice a week and then add another shorter easy run in there, occasionally with intervals. I had no rhyme, reason or rhythm to this training, however in the end, it worked out okay. Due to my lack of training, I really had a short week long taper.
The Dopey Challenge is held in the beginning of January, which is a crazy time right after the holidays and I work a lot around that time of year. I didn't have a race plan and was lucky to actually show up a day before the race began. On the bus from the airport to the hotel resort, I spoke with a guy who had ran the Dopey Challenge in previous years. I asked about suggested ways to approach the race and he said to consider 'running' the 5K, 'racing' the 10K, 'running' the half-marathon and whatever you have left, use to 'race' the marathon... this is the advice I implemented for this race.
GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THIS RACE
The hardest part of the Dopey Challenge for me was waking up at 3:30 A.M. each morning and dealing with the crowds of people who were also racing each day, anywhere from 10,000 to over 20,000 people running in a race, all on the same route. Disney does a great job putting on this event, but the crowds were still hard for me to manage, ultimately, I personally do not like crowds, especially while trying to run and/or race.
CORRAL PLACEMENT--
If I recall the time I used was somewhere between 1:54-2:00 hrs for a half marathon and this is a target time to be in a corral with folks who aren't overly slow. My friends were further back and we had issues with folks walking and it was difficult the first few miles, so if possible, find a low time so you don't have to deal with such odd crowds and slow movement. The corrals where I was placed were decent as far as people who were at that pace.
DAY 1: Running a 5K
The 5K was 3.1 miles of fun, running with my friends Kelli and Rebecca. We were all use to running longer races, so it was a very relaxed race for us and we enjoyed the experience with no pressure on a certain pace or time. After this race, we still had 45.5 miles to cover in the next 3 days. Of course we felt great after the 5K so we decided to spend a day enjoying Animal Kingdom, of course we were slightly concerned about being up on our feet all day as we had a few miles to run in the coming days.
DAY 2: Running a 10K (in steady rain the whole race)
TIME: 54:52
AVERAGE PACE: 8:43 min/mile
HEART RATE: 163 BPM average
PLACE: Age Group: 53 of 950, Gender: 228 of 1029
Mile 1: 8:50
Mile 2: 8:49
Mile 3: 8:40
Mile 4: 8:44
Mile 5: 8:51
Mile 6: 8:34
The 10K, 6.2 miles, was a distance I had not raced just as a running event in almost 5 years. Per the advice I decided to follow, I was going to race this distance, in the midst of the 10,000+ people, so I went solo to my corral to be at the pace of the people. As we slowly inched to the start line, I noticed a guy with a Chattanooga Triathlon Club visor on, I did not recognize him and thought, maybe I've seen him once in my life, I was president of the club and all, so I should know him, right? I introduced myself and we were both excited! We trotted out at the start of the race with another 1,000 people by our side and had not discussed running together, but we did end up running the whole race together, IN THE RAIN and IN THE CROWDS and finished with 54:52. We talked the whole race and held a very steady pace. Thanks to Sam for a great 10K!
DAY 3: Running a Half-Marathon (13.1 miles)
This race I ran with friends and it was a day to take it easy, we stopped for pictures and enjoyed the day together. As part of my dopey challenge strategy today was to take it easy so I would have some legs left for the marathon the following day.
I started in a corral further back than I was placed and this was difficult at the beginning, it was very crowded and many people were walking to start with. We kept a fairly steady and slow pace for the day and this was intentional and I would recommend. Running through Magic Kingdom was a highlight and there is so much to see on the course that the miles fly by!
TIME: 2:36:41
DAY 4: Running a Full-Marathon (26.2 miles)
TIME: 4:27:45
AVERAGE PACE: 10:00 min/mile
HEART RATE: 158 BPM average
SPLITS: 5-mile: 51:36, 10-mile: 1:41:40, 1/2 marathon: 2:13:29, 20-mile: 3:23:29
PLACE: Age Group: 132 of 1734, Gender: 791 of 2644
Mile 1: 10:14 Mile 10: 9:31 Mile 19: 9:52
Mile 2: 9:51 Mile 11: 10:11 Mile 20: 10:19
Mile 3: 10:11 Mile 12: 9:55 Mile 21: 10:06
Mile 4: 9:43 Mile 13: 9:43 Mile 22: 9:40
Mile 5: 9:54 Mile 14: 9:56 Mile 23: 10:12
Mile 6: 9:44 Mile 15: 10:08 Mile 24: 10:19
Mile 7: 10:11 Mile 16: 10:04 Mile 25: 10:09
Mile 8: 9:30 Mile 17: 10:08 Mile 26: 10:15
Mile 9: 10:07 Mile 18: 10:09
My goal for the marathon was to be consistent throughout the race and push myself without getting injured. I decided to run alone for this race and that ended up being great. My mile time splits were within 30 seconds per mile, so consistency happened and my overall marathon time was within 12 minutes of when I did a 'stand-alone' marathon without other races. I was hoping to keep my time under 5 hours and I easily did that. The stranger who suggested my race strategy I followed was brilliant and I would recommend to anyone racing the dopey challenge to do the same.
I met a fellow Delta employee around mile 8 and we ran together for about 5-6 miles and then I kept going at my consistent pace, the company and conversation was great to keep me moving. From Mile 21 and forward it was very much a mental focus time, it was challenging but I was able to focus and saw one mile at a time, one foot in front of the other, I was focused on staying consistent and it was a deep focus and that worked well. The mind is powerful, especially in races like this.
Again, there was a lot to see on the race course and that helped the miles pass by, I did stop in Hollywood studios to take a picture with the guys from Monsters Inc, there was no line and I thought, why not?! It was fun and I'm glad I took 30 seconds to stop. Finishing this race was emotional, knowing that I had completed 48.6 miles in 4 days, the finish line experience was magical and meaningful. I did something (mainly run a half marathon one day and a full marathon the next) that I wasn't sure how I would make it happened, determination ultimately took me to the finish line.
