Dopey Challenge
So I just added "Complete the Disney World Dopey Challenge" to the Life List.
A few things about that...
The event lasts four days at Epcot, and is held in January. The 2017 races are already sold out, and it is July. Besides, even if they weren't, my sister is expecting her second child this coming January. So competing in January of 2017 would be out of the question.
The earliest would be in 2018, a solid year and a half away. Even then might be a stretch.
I'm of the mindset that anything worth doing is worth overdoing. In this case, I'd compete in every single event they offer.
Time to backtrack a bit....
The Dopey Challenge is the name given to a four day running shindig held at Epcot in Orlando. Officially, it is called the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. There are four different races for people to pick and choose from, and Disney gives people the option to compete in multiple ones. Doing all of them is the Dopey Challenge.
Picture this: you'd run a 5k on Thursday... then, you'd run a 10k on Friday... then, you'd run a half marathon on Saturday... and to top it all off, you'd run a full marathon on Sunday. All 26.2 miles. That's the Dopey Challenge.
Now, for anyone that wants to skip the 5k and 10k, that's fine. Doing just the half and full is called the Goofy Challenge. But again, anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
The marathon at the end would be the toughest, no question. I have still never even attempted one, let alone finished one. Pounding out a half marathon recently that was just 1:46:04 has gotten me thinking that I could pull it off.
The best part, of course, would be bringing home the medals for it all. Even though there are four races, if you complete it all, you get six (!) medals. See, you get one for the 5k, one for the 10k, one for the half, and one for the full. That's four. But there are two extra ones. If you can do the Goofy Challenge, as in just the half and full, you get a medal for that. And, there is a special one if you complete them all. So you get the four race medals, plus the two Challenge medals.
Pretty good goal to work towards, if you ask me!
Here are the issues...
First is financial. Registration for the Dopey Challenge is $560. Even cheap flights from Maine to Florida with Jet Blue are around $350, and that's if you book flights long in advance. Decent hotels at Epcot aren't cheap either. Five nights at a resort like Epcot? You're looking at $700, minimum. Plus all the food I would need. And I'm pretty sure I'd have to purchase passes just to get into Epcot, and God knows how much that costs. Same for a rental car to get around the area for five-six days.
I'd be looking at forking over two grand at the bare minimum in order to pull this off.
$2,000. That's a lot of zero's. I'd probably have to take out an additional credit card, put all the expenses and costs on the one card, and spend about six months paying it off. Not the best option, but unless I come up with better ideas, it might have to be the one to go with.
Second issue. I've never done a marathon before. I need to run one to prove to myself that I can pull it off. Not to mention, they require legitimate past results so they know were to place me at the starting lines for the races. I know for a fact I could do a 5k/10k/half all in a row. I'm not going to say it would be "easy," but I could do it. Adding in 26.2 miles on a fourth day would be rough.
Third issue. The times in the morning. Make no mistake, I am *not* a morning person. Even as a military veteran, I'm still not a guy that is "up and at them" when the sun comes up. As much as SSgt Thomas and TSgt Eaton got the days going at the crack of dawn for six straight weeks, plus getting up early at Peterson AFB, plus getting up early while in Afghanistan, mornings are just not my thing. And the website of the challenge clearly lays out that if you want to catch the shuttle and make it to the starting line on time, you'd have to be out the door and on the bus by 4:00 in the morning. That is 4:00 am at the absolute latest.
Getting up when the alarm tells me to get up (at the 3:00 am) five days in a row might be the biggest challenge of them all.
Money? I'm sure I can figure out a plan to make it all work. Training? I love to run, and I've had a marathon as a goal for a while. Getting up early? Well.... we'll see about that.
But man, adding six more gold medals to the collection would be one of the biggest accomplishments of my entire athletic life.
Tell me I can't do something, and I'll be happy to prove you wrong.
A few things about that...
The event lasts four days at Epcot, and is held in January. The 2017 races are already sold out, and it is July. Besides, even if they weren't, my sister is expecting her second child this coming January. So competing in January of 2017 would be out of the question.
The earliest would be in 2018, a solid year and a half away. Even then might be a stretch.
I'm of the mindset that anything worth doing is worth overdoing. In this case, I'd compete in every single event they offer.
Time to backtrack a bit....
The Dopey Challenge is the name given to a four day running shindig held at Epcot in Orlando. Officially, it is called the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. There are four different races for people to pick and choose from, and Disney gives people the option to compete in multiple ones. Doing all of them is the Dopey Challenge.
Picture this: you'd run a 5k on Thursday... then, you'd run a 10k on Friday... then, you'd run a half marathon on Saturday... and to top it all off, you'd run a full marathon on Sunday. All 26.2 miles. That's the Dopey Challenge.
Now, for anyone that wants to skip the 5k and 10k, that's fine. Doing just the half and full is called the Goofy Challenge. But again, anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
The marathon at the end would be the toughest, no question. I have still never even attempted one, let alone finished one. Pounding out a half marathon recently that was just 1:46:04 has gotten me thinking that I could pull it off.
The best part, of course, would be bringing home the medals for it all. Even though there are four races, if you complete it all, you get six (!) medals. See, you get one for the 5k, one for the 10k, one for the half, and one for the full. That's four. But there are two extra ones. If you can do the Goofy Challenge, as in just the half and full, you get a medal for that. And, there is a special one if you complete them all. So you get the four race medals, plus the two Challenge medals.
Pretty good goal to work towards, if you ask me!
Here are the issues...
First is financial. Registration for the Dopey Challenge is $560. Even cheap flights from Maine to Florida with Jet Blue are around $350, and that's if you book flights long in advance. Decent hotels at Epcot aren't cheap either. Five nights at a resort like Epcot? You're looking at $700, minimum. Plus all the food I would need. And I'm pretty sure I'd have to purchase passes just to get into Epcot, and God knows how much that costs. Same for a rental car to get around the area for five-six days.
I'd be looking at forking over two grand at the bare minimum in order to pull this off.
$2,000. That's a lot of zero's. I'd probably have to take out an additional credit card, put all the expenses and costs on the one card, and spend about six months paying it off. Not the best option, but unless I come up with better ideas, it might have to be the one to go with.
Second issue. I've never done a marathon before. I need to run one to prove to myself that I can pull it off. Not to mention, they require legitimate past results so they know were to place me at the starting lines for the races. I know for a fact I could do a 5k/10k/half all in a row. I'm not going to say it would be "easy," but I could do it. Adding in 26.2 miles on a fourth day would be rough.
Third issue. The times in the morning. Make no mistake, I am *not* a morning person. Even as a military veteran, I'm still not a guy that is "up and at them" when the sun comes up. As much as SSgt Thomas and TSgt Eaton got the days going at the crack of dawn for six straight weeks, plus getting up early at Peterson AFB, plus getting up early while in Afghanistan, mornings are just not my thing. And the website of the challenge clearly lays out that if you want to catch the shuttle and make it to the starting line on time, you'd have to be out the door and on the bus by 4:00 in the morning. That is 4:00 am at the absolute latest.
Getting up when the alarm tells me to get up (at the 3:00 am) five days in a row might be the biggest challenge of them all.
Money? I'm sure I can figure out a plan to make it all work. Training? I love to run, and I've had a marathon as a goal for a while. Getting up early? Well.... we'll see about that.
But man, adding six more gold medals to the collection would be one of the biggest accomplishments of my entire athletic life.
Tell me I can't do something, and I'll be happy to prove you wrong.