Well, this was supposed to be a milestone marathon for me.
And it was… but in a different way than I originally had envisioned.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been so dehydrated and battered as I was with the 91% humidity and low 80s temperatures of this event. I was exhausted from lack of sleep over the last few days to go to the previous Dopey Challenge events, and despite glasses and glasses of water and Crystal Light infused water yesterday, it all took a toll today.
There was A LOT of walking on this one. Special shout out to Nick Tarvin, a guy I met several years ago on the Dopey Challenge, who supported me and wouldn’t leave me behind — you’re a scholar and a gentleman, Nick, and you got me through to the finish. I’m just sorry you had to take an added hour or so on your clock time to do it!
On top of the struggle on the course itself, I really couldn’t catch my breath after the finish (a tough, tough 4:40 for me). I sat down on the concrete and Nick made sure I wasn’t going to pass out. I felt like I was mostly ok and it was just a short drive home… but stumbling to my car, I was breathing like Miles Dyson in Terminator 2:
When I got home, I was STILL breathing that way and I think totally freaked out my mom. I was freaked out too. But a couple bottles of Powerade Zero and a whole bunch of salty tortilla chips later and I seemed to calm down a bit. But sweet pete, that’s the worst I’ve run in ages and the worst I’ve felt post marathon in even longer. Yowza.
And yet… I still snagged some decent photos. I was faking it in a lot of them — trying to keep it together so that this might one day be a “funny” story about how awful I felt… and not a story about how try as I might to destroy Cyberdyne Systems, the sequels would negate my sacrifice.
But on with the photographs!
The pre-race snafus!
The Marathon was supposed to start 30 minutes earlier than the other races — 5 AM. So runDisney told us all to be at EPCOT no later than 3:30 AM. I got there at 3 AM and it was already pretty busy…
I opted to get a quick photo with Dopey (as I am, ahem, PERFECTLY DOPEY). I told him though that I was Sleepy and Grumpy. He told me I should be Happy when I’m running. Oh, how I wish that had been true.
After trekking to the corrals, we were told at 4:57 AM the race officials were waiting for the all-clear and so we would be held for “just a few short minutes…” that turned out to be 24 minutes. The race announcers vamped as best they could… as did Mickey and the gang… but it was like waiting to board an aircraft and being told the flight was delayed in 3 minute increments.
I found out later people were having a hard time getting into the parking lot — maybe that’s because they didn’t realize the race was supposed to start at 5 AM and they were supposed to be at EPCOT no later than 3:30 AM. RTFM, as internetizens sometimes say — Read The Freakin’ Manual.
The course had some surprises for character sightings and some repeats…
But I was already feeling the effects and needed to take a break at Goofy’s Abandoned Campsite:
They revamped the course this year to cut out some miles on Osceloa Parkway and at ESPN Wide World of Sports. So whereas in previous years we’d be out of the Magic Kingdom by mile 7, today we exited the park backstage at mile 12.
I told these guys I didn’t know about them but I was dead tired. ZING!
It was a long stretch then to Animal Kingdom, but there were more than a few photo opportunities along the way.
And when we got to Animal Kingdom, I met some local celebs… including Sparkle Poptart (her handler may have told me what type of animal she was, but I was so delirious I have no memory… family odds are on a possum).
By this point, or maybe long before then, I was holding my side and feeling the annoying loathe handles that have only grown more flabby as time has gone by. That further demoralized me, as did the direct sun, and my general exhaustion. My shoes were so water logged that each step began to hurt, the pruney skin providing extra surface area to develop blisters. That’s TMFI — or as internetizens might say “Too Much Freakin’ Information.”
On the plus side, I came across my all-time-favorite “Lost Disney” feature — the cast of the sadly defunct Adventurer’s Club. I got to tell them how much I miss them.
A change in the route this year had us running through Blizzard Beach, one of Disney’s water parks. Too long of a stretch circling their parking lot but inside we did get tempted by water features — what I wouldn’t have given to dip into the wave pool or the lazy river.
And because this was “BLIZZARD” Beach, who else should we see but Olaf!
At this point, it was probably mile 22 and I was done, or as the internetizens might say, “dunzo.” Ninety-nine percent of what was left was walked by me. It just wasn’t going to happen. Again, Nick tolerated the slow-down and cheered me on. It was a VERY short run through Hollywood Studios — only a sliver really. I suppose Disney wanted to keep Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge easily accessible to paying guests. I was super bummed that a CastMember at the turnstiles wouldn’t let Nick check in for a backup boarding party FastPass for Rise of the Resistance. C’mon, Disney CM — the guy was at mile 23 of a marathon and was going to your park right after a shower at his hotel. Let him have a backup FastPass!
What remained of the course was a slog through the Boardwalk resort area and a final loop through EPCOT’s World Showcase. I tried to pull images from the “live photo” video feed to hide the fact that I was hunched over and in agony with the Princesses of their Worlds… but I could do nothing about my bad hair day, my bulbous stomach, or the pained fake-smiles.
As tough as the day was, and as I walked ever so slowly toward the finish line, I heard somebody shout my name with that delight Aussie accent. Tina of the TravellingFit team spotted me and mere feet from the end, I ran over to grab a quick selfie. You can see how happy I was to see her… though that may have partly been for just the moment’s respite from my slow death march.
Having made it to the finish and collected my “challenge medals” as part of the Dopey Challenge, I grabbed a quick selfie with Nick and thanked him profusely for putting up with me. Not my best day… not by a long shot. I heard later on runDisney modified the course as the weather conditions got too dangerous. Considering how much Nick sacrificed for me to finish, I’d really have been bummed if we didn’t “officially” finish. So small victories, or as I recently blogged about, SVs.
Nick and I will return to the Dopey Challenge in 2021. Well, Nick will for sure. Right now my only future plans is to try and take a nap.