My biggest race of the year is always the second weekend of the year. I figure if I get the hard stuff out of the way early in the year, the I can sail through the rest of it. This year is sort of an exception, because I have to get married in the middle of it… you know, move in with someone, be a wife. This is not easy stuff we are talking about!

So back to the reason for this post: Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend! I was a complete idiot this year. I signed up for the Dopey Challenge, which involved running a total of 48.6 miles over the course of 4 days. I have never done this before, but the plan from the beginning was to run with friends, as I knew that slow and steady would be the best strategy. This is a struggle for me, because I have the mindset to put my head down and trudge through. I knew going in that I would need to hold back for the sake of the team.

We started with a 5K on Thursday bright and early at 6:15 am. My friends and I had decided to run 3/1 minute intervals, so slow and steadily, off we went. It was a successful race, through the back entrance of Epcot, around World Showcase, and back up to the parking lot where we started. It was a short, but enjoyable and fun race, and a great way to kick off a weekend of running.

Bruce, Me, Julie and Darren… My running buddies!

Friday was much of the same, but a little bit longer (10K distance) and started a little bit earlier. The group had decided to decrease our intervals to 2/1. The course was very similar, but extended the first 2.5 miles through the roads outside the front of Epcot. It was again an easy run, and I pushed it towards the end, finishing strong.

Day 2: Bruce, Julie, Me and D$

We knew Saturday was going to be a big test. The distance was 13.1 miles. Darren’s knees weren’t feeling great, and to be perfectly honest, a few of us were having some trouble getting rid of waste (if you get my drift). Our intervals were scheduled to be 1/1, and as we started our trek to the Magic Kingdom, it was obvious that at some point we would have to separate. We stayed together through mile 9-10 ish, then Bruce and I unleashed the beast and finished by abandoning out intervals and running the remainder of the way. I felt very strong after the race, but my heel was extremely sore.

Sunday morning came quickly, and let me tell you, knowing that you have run 3 races already, but you aren’t even halfway done with the total distance you are running (at this point we had completed 22.4 out of 48.6 miles) can be an overwhelming thought. Our intervals were scheduled at 1/1 again and we started out at target pace through the first 6 miles. We had to pull teeth for quite a few miles after that, trying to keep the group together. Once we got to mile 16, and had spent much of the last 6 miles walking, standing and waiting for fellow Team Kitchen Sink members, it was clear that continuing on was the only option. Bruce and I once again took the lead, pushing the pace, and finishing stronger than we had started. It took us over 6 hours to finish, which pains me a little bit to say, but I can tell you that I felt very confident in my training. Had I run at my training pace, I am certain that I would have PR’ed .

AH! Finished…

With lots of running, thousands of people, travel and very little sleep surrounding me, I headed back to California with a fever that reached 103.4 and lasted for about a week afterwards. Two weeks out at this point, I am still recovering physically from the flu, but I am getting back to normal.

I doubt that I will ever run the Dopey again. It is very time consuming to train for, plus I am fairly certain that married life will bring new challenges to contend with. I am so happy that I got to experience it though. It makes training for a regular marathon seem quite easy. On to bigger and better things in the coming days!

I just posted my new training schedule on the running calendar page. I am planning for another marathon in Oklahoma City in April at this point and am excited to start my new February schedule.