When Mary and I ran the Disney HM while we were both doing the Goofy Challenge around 3 years ago (Half Marathon on Saturday and Marathon on Sunday), we had such a great time and formed such a strong bond that we have become great friends.  During the race and afterwards, we started the idea of planning to do the Dopey Challenge, which consists of a 5K on Thursday, a 10K on Friday, and the Goofy (HM and full), to complete 48.6 miles.  This is the end result of what started that day in January.

First, we needed to wait until both could do it.  There is no use one doing it without the other, especially since I wouldn't do it by myself and Mary had to plan for the right time to come down from the Midwest.  Second, we needed to plan outfits.  There is no doing Disney for fun unless you have outfits.  Third, we needed a plan.  From how we would run the races, to how we would plan the week (food, drinks, parks, etc.).  Knowing my husband would not want to spend the whole week in Orlando and rather drive on Friday to run his Half Marathon, we decided to share a room the whole week.  This took around two years of planning until finally we arrived to Orlando on Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, we had planned a Monorail Crawl, meaning we would hop on the Monorail and hit the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and the Contemporary Resorts and hit the bars/lounges there for a drink.  We did just that.  Lots of fun...and alcohol.  We also had dinner with one of my friends from a wonderful group of ladies at the Wilderness Lodge's Artist Point.  Overall, the first night was a success!

WEDNESDAY!

We went to the expo on Wednesday, as it was opening, quickly getting our packets and buying some merchandise. We were pretty efficient and by 10am we were on our way to the Animal Kingdom!  Riding Everest for the first time was a blast.  And as you can see below, it was not for the last time.  After Animal Kingdom, we headed to Epcot, where we drank around the world.  Here I am representing Britain and France in one shot:

We had dinner in Germany and headed to bed before we regretted the drinking around the world thing.

Disney's 5K Race

So, we woke up at 3:30am for this race and that's the latest race of the week.  It was hard, but we did it!  We were dressed as Stormtroopers in INKnBURN.  We were debating whether to wear this at all and for what race, since the long sleeves would be too hot for the forecasted weather, but it was low 50s when we started and cloudy, so we didn't have that many issues with it.  Here we are with my friend Mike, also sporting INB.  We had a blast.  Time for the 5K, including character stops, was around 49 minutes and finished in the dark.  ONE DOWN!

After the 5K, we headed to a breakfast with my group of friends and headed to Hollywood Studios where we met Darth Vader.  That was fun.  Or was it?

We slept early and headed to our second day!

Disney's 10K Race

Contrary to yesterday, today, it was rainy and cool, I think around 58F.  Waking up at 3am was not easy either.  We had the Lion King outfits but we were worried that our makeup would be ruin, plus running in wet tutus would not be fun.  Fortunately, they had a warming tent were we hid while Mary did our makeup (she was wise not to let me try to put on hers, LOL).  It all worked out well, but the rain was consistent from start to finish.  Time was 1:19, or something around there, including character picture stops.

My group of girls and a very tall man (and friend)....

Character stop!  I wish I had worn a Simba mane, but after the race had my hair all up on end, I'm glad I didn't.  This is one of my favorite pictures from the race:

After the race, we headed to a nap (much needed), then a late breakfast at the Wilderness Lodge again.  We joined my husband at the expo later that day, had a late lunch, and went straight to bed, forgetting that dinner should have been consumed at some point.

Disney's Half Marathon

The three of us woke up at 3am again to get ready and leave for the HM.  Today, the roads were crowded and the buses took longer.  I think we only had time to hit the potta potties and then head to the starting corral.  We said goodbye to my husband who was in H since I used one of his 2:42 POTs to get him a corral, and his PR happened too late for submission.  Oh, well.  He had a blast and ran a 2:38 with one character and Epcot spot.  He was not dressed as anything, but as an INKnBURN fan.

As you can tell, we were dressed as pirates, and we were looking forward to take a picture with Jack Sparrow, as he has always been in both the HM and the full as a character stop.  Except this year.   Time was 2:52, including character stops.  This is a PB best for Mary and Damaris running Disney together for fun.  By 16 minutes!  Weather was awesome, mid 60s and cloudy.  No real dewpoint to talk about.  Not PR worthy, but lots of fun worthy.

After the race, we met with my husband, had breakfast and hubby went back to Miami, while Mary and I tried to relax and nap as much as we could.  We had a late dinner reservation and had some drinks at some of our spots from the Monorail Crawl, while also meeting my group of girls for a drink as well.  We went to bed at 11pm after packing and getting ready for checkout...at 3AM!

Disney's Marathon

Here it is!  Day 4.  I have done the Goofy three times and I've never felt so tired as how I felt that morning.  These 3am wakeup calls really take a tall on you!  I think the ligament I tore 20 years ago was saying WTF a lot.  But overall, we felt fine.  The forecast had improved but the start was at around 67-68F with 68 dewpoint and the dewpoint went as up to 70DP until the cold front arriving into Orlando came in and the ending dewpoint was 59.  I have to say I felt bad from the beginning.  My breathing was bad and I actually choked on a candy I took at some point, worrying Mary.  It was not until the halfway point that I could breathe better but then I was exhausted.  I tried to keep up with Mary's pace and I felt sorry she had to slow down for me in some sections, but we had a blast.

The first HM included several character stops at the Magic Kingdom.  We had a new course this year since they took out the NASCAR track where we used to run, but they did a second section of MK and I liked that better.

One of our best pictures together, behind Cinderella's Castle.

We headed to Animal Kingdom but had to pass the wonderful Water treatment plant facility and the villains section.  And there was JACK SPARROW!  Unfortunately, I damaged the picture. Either that or Jack and me didn't care about it?

We headed to Animal Kingdom, where we cross the halfway point of the race, and we were very close to the time they open the park and the Everest roller coaster.  We pass by it and noticed there is already a line of runners and the employee says, they are testing already.  Jackpot!  We are going in!  Riding the Everest during the race was priceless:

After the halfway point, we headed outside of Animal Kingdom and met with my group of friends, who had snacks, sodas, water, and best of all, KK donuts!  We, of course, took as much as we could before continuing.  I have to thank Lisa and Jenny for manning the fort at AK and having us covered!

We also saw Kristin around that area with some of the Sparkle Skirt girls.

After that, our predicted finish was around 6:32, but Miles 14-19 are pretty boring, before we head to ESPN and the stadium, so we didn't really stop around here at all.  We made up A LOT of time with this whole section.  We ran inside the stadium and headed to the Army guy.  I don't have any pictures of the guy but he did yell at me to hightail it because I was Incredible.

We headed into Hollywood Studios and started stopping for characters.  This part slowed us down a bit but we were having fun!  By the time we reached my friend at the Boardwalk, we were around 1.5 miles from the finish, if not less, and all I could think of was that Mary promised me a margarita in Mexico at Mile 25.5 and that I didn't have to run after that, so I pushed through.  I was tired!

Thanks, Christina and the rest of the ladies for having us covered at the Boardwalk with snacks and candy.

And there we were, Mexico!  We purchased our margaritas and walked to finish.  The runners were passing us by saying: why didn't I think of that?  LOL.  We ran at the finish (probably the last 0.20) but the 0.25 break between Mexico and that made us fly.

And yes, I crossed the finish line with margarita in hand.

I am buying all my pictures.  I have a lot, and they are all great.

We finished in 5:59:45, very happy to have broken 6 after all the stops, rides, and funnery.  This was a PB for fun.  I said I would only do one Dopey and done, but if Mary insists, I have to go back one day.  Thanks for reading!

Awesome job, ladies!

Congrats for surviving the week.  Glad you had such a Fun PB.   Thanks for sharing.

Definitely a unique experience.  I'm glad you made it so much fun.

Two crazy ladies.   Drinks, donuts, rides, photo stops, and they still almost beat my recent marathon times.

Looks like pixie dust was everywhere.  Love the outfits (although Mary might need some long sleeves - its a household thing) and that you both made it fun.  Disney is not about race times but memories.  Heck, at that cost it better be.

Now remember... what happens at Disney....... stays at Disney *got that Brett!!!*

I loved seeing all the FB pictures during the week.  It looks like you and Mary had an absolute blast.  Thanks for sharing.

So Mary and you found a way to go on vacation and eat and drink to your hearts' content without even gaining a pound because of all those miles you ran together. All while looking brilliant in your cute outfits... I bow to you, ladies, you are geniuses! Congratulations on your four races! I greatly enjoyed following your adventures as they were unfolding last week. They added colors to my otherwise bleak winter week. :-)