Dopey Challenge Review - Part Two - 5k

I woke up 5 minutes before my alarm which was set for 0300. I was impressed I did because I took melatonin the night before to make sure I slept. I'm not used to going to bed so early and when I know I have to be up for something important like this, I usually wake up hourly and I knew I needed rest. Surprisingly I wasn't feeling super tired, I felt decently rested and ready to get going. I was still a little nervous not knowing what to expect for my first runDisney race. There was a lot going on and several things I needed to remember.

I made an electrolyte drink in my room and drank it while I got dressed, did my hair and prepped my run belt with chapstick (it was cold!) and a recovery drink for later. Temperatures were in the mid-50s which is actually perfect running weather for me but was definitely cold while we were standing around beforehand. I packed a Mylar blanket in my run belt too just in case I got too cold standing around in my corral. I wore capri pants with calf length compression socks, a long sleeved tech shirt and zip up top. I ate a Honey Stinger waffle for energy and took a banana and Honey Stinger gel with me to eat in the corral. We had to be there over an hour and a half before the race actually started.

The start line

I got to the bus stop at 3:40am and there was already a line of people and 3 buses waiting. I was on the bus 10 minutes later and arrived at the Epcot parking lot at 4am. I was less nervous about the bus situation having "practiced" the day before by going to the Expo. When I got off the bus I followed the mob to the staging area. Those with bags had them searched while the rest of us walked into the staging area. It was pretty overwhelming when I got there. So many people! There was a map of the course and some signs with directions, DJs playing music, characters, a bag check, a Joffrey's coffee carts and port-o-potty city. I met up with some other friends who were running Dopey near the Joffrey's cart and that calmed my nerves a little.

While waiting to go to the corral I ate my gel and my banana and used the port-o-potty so I wouldn't have to deal with that later. I stretched and then we made our way to the corral. I was glad I had friends with me because the area confused me and I think I would have wasted time trying to figure it out by myself with everything going on and all the people everywhere.

We were at the front of our "wave" (group of 1,000 released from the corral)

There was some amusing entertainment as the race began, commentators got everyone hyped up for the start of each corral and pointed out some of the unique and funny costumes. This is where I made my first rookie mistake. I couldn't figure out where they would release the corrals to go to the start and the side I picked was not the closest. I thought they would release from the front of the pen but they released from the side so we ended up further back in the corral. Not a big deal but that added up when I realized just how long it took to get all those people moving! I had heard there were more runners for the later races so thinking this would be the smallest race, I was shocked when it took us 30 minutes after gun time to cross the start when we were only the second corral!

I crossed the start and hit play on my Epcot Entrance Loop music. This race had a lot of backstage areas where there wasn't a whole lot of music. I saw a bunch of characters including Frontierland Chip & Dale, Gepetto, and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't interested in stopping for any of them as the lines looked long so I kept going. For some reason this race felt kinda long at times even though it was the shortest and my training runs are almost a mile longer. But I was enjoying myself, especially as I got to the World Showcase. It was unbelievable to be running there, to see the countries lit up and an empty, sleepy looking Epcot as I ran through the pavilions.

I crossed the finish line around 6:40am (this race wasn't timed and I didn't time myself) was so wrapped up in taking in the surroundings and trying to take in that I was really there running through the parks that when I crossed the finish line I forgot all about getting a medal and was surprised when someone handed me one! Although 3.1 miles has gotten pretty easy for me now, that medal still felt special and like a big accomplishment because it was my first runDisney race. I felt amazing!

Cue my second rookie mistake. After getting my snack box, water and Powerade, I skipped the photos because I didn't know you could hold up a paddle saying "5k - I did it!" All I could see was a super boring looking gray backdrop and what looked like really long lines. I didn't see what the point of that was and I kept moving. I'd heard the lines for the buses would be nuts and I didn't want to wait for 30+ minutes to get back to my resort. I was ready to take a shower! Well the next day I realized about those photos and wish I'd stopped because I bet the lines weren't as long as they looked. That's the only paddle picture out of the 6 that I don't have. I also didn't know that the pre-race characters are still there at the finish. I skipped them in the morning because the lines were all over an hour from the moment I got there but had no idea they were still there after each race until 10k day. Thankfully I found that out before it was too late!

I got to the bus stop at 6:50am and made my recovery shake. I was on the bus 10 minutes later (nowhere near as bad as I thought even though the line looked awful) and I was in my resort room at 7:15am. I made good time! I showered and got dressed before leaving for Magic Kingdom. I got almost to the bus stop when I realized I'd left my medal in my room. I went back to get it and as I returned a bus pulled up. Perfect! We made it to the park just 30 minutes after rope drop and I proceeded to get a well deserved (or at least that's what I told myself) breakfast waffle sandwich at Sleepy Hollow.

I was on cloud 9 all day and enjoyed taking pictures with my medal. I was also super glad I had more races to come. First, I wasn't ready to give up this runner's high, second, I was so nervous about figuring everything out - finding my corral, getting to the bus stop on time, etc., that I didn't feel like I really took it all in and enjoyed it so I was glad for an immediate second chance, and third, now that I'd gotten my feet wet and knew what I was doing, I was ready for my next three races - as intimidating as they still were. I was also ready to see more of Walt Disney World than just the World Showcase.

Unfortunately that night, my refillable mug stopped working and that took some time to get fixed, so I ended up not getting back to my room until 8pm, despite getting back to Pop Century at 7:25pm. Lights out was much later than I anticipated at 9pm which made me nervous for the earlier wake up the next morning.

Minnie Mouse the Main Attraction - February

The second collection in this year's Minnie Mouse: The Main Attraction series has been released today. The collection features Minnie Mouse honoring a new beloved Disney parks attraction each month throughout the year. Each series will be released on the third Saturday every month for a total of 12 collections.

February's collection is inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean and includes a Minnie Mouse ear headband, plush, pin, mug, hip pack by Loungefly, and a MagicBand. Items have been released at the Disney Parks, Disney Store, and online at ShopDisney. (Please note MagicBands are not sold at Disney Store locations).

We've also been given a preview of March's collection themed to The Mad Tea Party. Next month's collection will release on March 21.

This series is proving to be much more popular than last year's Disney Wisdom series, but still not quite to the level of Mickey Mouse Memories - yet. As this catches on I expect it will reach an equal level of crazy. The Minnie ears from February's collection sold out online within hours and instantly at my local Disney Store.

ETA 02/16/20: One day after release it appears the ears and Loungefly hip pack have both sold out online, with the plush, mug and pins still remaining. 

ETA 02/29/20: Two weeks after release the plush is still available online and at the Walt Disney World Resort

Disney Store Friends & Family Weekend

It's another Friends & Family weekend at the Disney Store and ShopDisney.com! Receive 25% off your order when you shop online at ShopDisney.com and use the code DISNEYPAL. Spend $75 or more and you'll also receive free shipping - no additional code needed.

If you're shopping at your local Disney Store, check your email for the in-store coupon to receive 25% off your purchase. Please note: Minnie Mouse the Main Attraction is excluded from this promotion. Other exclusions may apply. Offer ends Monday, February 17, 2020.

Dopey Challenge Review - Part One - Expo Day

Let me preface this by explaining where I was at physically before I signed up for Dopey and what my motivation was. I had wanted to participate in a runDisney event since probably 2014 or 2015 when I first found out this was a thing. I had always wanted to do the Expedition Everest Challenge or the Tower of Terror Ten Miler because those sounded the most fun. Well, those both ended a while back and I hadn't really given it much thought since. I was well versed in 5K and 10K races but both were becoming pretty easy and I was looking for a new challenge.

Considering runDisney
I knew a couple people who had completed the Dopey Challenge so I knew about it and thought one day maybe I would do it. Well, two of my friends started to talk about registering for Dopey so I started considering it too around January/February of 2019. I considered other races, really I just wanted to complete a runDisney event but couldn't decide which. I didn't want to do a 5K or 10K because those were getting easy. I considered the half marathon but still thought I didn't want to go all that way for a half. I knew I wanted to complete the full marathon. But did I want to stick to just that? There was also the Goofy Challenge (half and full marathon) or the Dopey Challenge.

Choosing to be Dopey
I decided if I'm going to Disney to race, I should probably go big or go home, and I decided I would run the Dopey Challenge. For those unfamiliar, the Dopey Challenge is all 4 races over marathon weekend: 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles), half marathon (13.1 miles) and full marathon (26.2 miles) for a total of 48.6 miles. I did a ton of research and decided in March 2019 that I wasn't getting any younger, this would probably be an easier undertaking while I was childless, and if I signed up for 2020 I'd have two friends going for moral support. When registration opened in April, I signed up the first day. Many people were shocked when I told them. "But you've never done a half or full marathon before". I know, but there was also a time when I couldn't run a quarter mile and now I run 4 miles three times a week. You have to start somewhere.

Training
I was already running before I registered and I had been solidly for over 2 years. I was also training for another 10K the same month I registered for Dopey. Immediately after that race was over, I started on the official runDisney Dopey Challenge training plan in April 2019. Overall, training went well, but I'll be honest - you can't win them all. Some days I skipped my run, other days my run completely sucked and I questioned why I was doing this at all. But for the most part, my runs went great, I could see amazing progress, I was enjoying myself and I felt a sense of accomplishment. Each milestone gave me more and more confidence in undertaking Dopey. Especially when I completed my first half marathon, which gave me a qualifying time to submit to runDisney as proof of my pace for corral assignment during Dopey. Corrals for the half and full marathon are A-H and I was thrilled when I found out in December that my pace had earned me Corral E. My two friends also received the same corral assignment.

Expo Day
When the trip finally came, the first order of business was to attend the Health & Fitness Expo at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. This is mandatory as the Expo is where you pick up your race bib, which is not available for pick up on race day. Furthermore, you have to show ID to pick up your bib to prevent bib scalping, so each runner must be present at bib pickup. You can't pick up bibs for other people.

We stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort and each Disney resort offers a bus service from the resort to the Expo and back. Buses started running at 9:30am and we arrived at the bus stop right at 9:30am. There were two buses already lined up and they loaded the first one and off it went, then they began loading the second bus which we got on. The line looked crazy long at first but I'm sure people were lined up prior to the buses running. The line constantly moved once the buses started. We were on our way at 9:40am and arrived at the Expo at 9:55am. Pop was a perfect resort because it was close to both the Expo and the starting line of the races.

The Expo opened at 10am and we went straight to bib pickup. I probably should have gone to the Disney merchandise section first, and I was advised to do so in my runDisney research, the bibs weren't going anywhere but people go nuts for the Disney merch. I didn't because I wanted to see my race shirts before deciding what merchandise to buy. I didn't want to get something too similar to something I already had plus I figured I would need to exchange my shirts for a different size. By 10:25am I had picked up my race bib and shirts, had my photo taken (Dopey Challenge participants have their photo taken with their race bib to verify it was them completing the races), and exchanged my shirts. I stupidly ordered the wrong size and after trying my race shirts on in the bathroom, confirmed they didn't fit. There were a couple of Dopey photo ops at bib pickup but the lines were long and I really didn't care to wait in them since the photo ops were just props.

Shirt Exchange
Exchanging my shirts was kind of a mess. The volunteers at the Dopey shirt pick up (different location to all other race shirt pickups) told me I had to go to another building to exchange. I headed over there and it was the building with all the vendors. We took a peek but I wasn't interested. Everything was regular non-Disney running brands that you can get anywhere. I didn't want to waste time there when I have an amazing running store down the street. I like to support local anyway. I found the shirt exchange booth and was told it was for all shirts except Dopey. The Dopey shirt exchange was where I just came from. Ugh. So I walked all the way back to the first building. There were no signs stating where the exchange was. I went back to the shirt pick up to ask and a volunteer rudely said that was shirt pick up and I clearly had my shirts. Thankfully another volunteer pointed to the end of the table and said I could exchange them there. I needed a women's medium and they had one bag! I tried them on in the bathroom just to be sure - perfect fit. Thank goodness! Now on to the Disney merchandise.

runDisney Official Merchandise
On the way to the building with the Disney merchandise I stopped for a Joffrey's. I hadn't had my morning coffee yet and after that debacle I needed some! By this time it was 10:45am, the Expo had been open less than an hour. We had to line up just to get admittance to the Disney merchandise area - I had been warned. We waited 50 minutes but thankfully it wasn't so bad because it gave me time to drink my delicious mocha.

I got inside and there was so much awesomeness! I wanted to take a picture to show how amazing it was but I also wanted to get done with my shopping fast after waiting so long so I didn't take any. I went down every aisle, picking up things I was interested in as I went so as not to miss out. I didn't really hold back because this would be a one and done event. I wanted to make the most of it and not have regrets. I decided what I wanted and then we joined the checkout line. I was afraid I'd have to wait almost another hour to check out but thankfully it was only 15 minutes. The damage wasn't as bad as I thought thanks to Annual Passholder discount! I got a marathon and Dopey "I did it!" tech t-shirt, a Dopey Challenge jacket, Dopey car magnet, Marathon Weekend 2020 Minnie ears,1st time runner pin, Marathon Weekend 2020 mug, shoe ornament, and a Marathon Weekend 2020 Tervis. My husband got a t-shirt that said "Sleepy Challenge 2020 - I did it! I slept while you ran!"

Pre-Purchased Merchandise Pick Up
After that I needed to pick up some merchandise I had pre-purchased during registration. I got a Marathon Weekend 2020 jacket and Magic Band. The pre-purchase pick up line was an absolute joke. By this time I was done and wanted to leave but the line took another 50 minutes to get through. I couldn't believe it. People have already paid for this stuff, you should hand it over and move along, why is it taking that long? Check out with 2 baskets took 15 minutes and they had to ring me up. I was getting hangry. I picked up my merchandise and moved along to the final booth at the end of the pick up line. Once again my genius self ordered the wrong size. The women's medium didn't fit me either but the Cast Member was nice and exchanged it for a men's small which fit much better.

I'm glad I pre-ordered the Magic Band because I didn't see those at the Expo so I wonder if they were only available for pre-order. The jacket however I absolutely did not need to pre-order and had I not ordered the Magic Band, I could have saved myself over an hour by NOT pre-ordering the jacket. I wanted to be out of the Expo by 1230 and I would have been if not for the disastrous pre-order line. We took a few pictures outside then left the Expo at 1:45pm.

Preparing for the 5K
We spent the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom after the Expo and had a delicious pre-race dinner at Yak & Yeti. We left the park at 7pm and arrived back in our resort room at 7:25pm. I was sad to miss the Tree of Life Awakenings but I knew it had to be done and I was proud of myself for curbing it and not letting temptation get the better of me. In the room, I got all of my clothes ready for the next morning, but my bib on my shirt, prepared my pre-race fuel, set a "wake up" alarm, a "you really need to wake up" alarm, and an "oh snap if you don't get up right now you're going to be late" alarm, and went to bed at 8:25pm in preparation for the early wake up call the next morning.