I’m a bit frazzled. The LA Wildfires rage and I’m back home running the Walt Disney World Dopey Challenge. My apartment building though is under an emergency evac adjacent “warning”, right on the line of the mandatory evacuation order. Friends are dealing with shelters and fallout. And here I am dressed up like Waldo to run a 5K around Epcot Center. Maybe that’s absolutely, categorically, unquestionably on brand for the craziness of the new normal of the 21st Century. But man am I already kinda stomach-twisted, guilt-fueled, confused, and all-around a mess of it, ya know?
The sands of time continue to dribble down… and though I feel helpless here in Orlando, I’d be just as if not MORE helpless if I were in LA. And so the post must go on…
Expo pics from yesterday which was amongst the least well-organized and efficient efforts since this whole “runDisney” experience began. I’m here this year because I’m “Perfectly Dopey” — that is I’ve run every Dopey Challenge since its inception in 2012. But this expo has pushed me to consider ending my streak — the bloom is off the rose, the fun is missing, and I’m more annoyed than overjoyed. Maybe it was the red-eye flight to get here… or maybe it was something to do with the aforementioned Los Angeles wildfires… or maybe I’m a grouch all the time and not just most of the time… or maybe, just maybe, the runDisney team dropped the glass slipper, shattering it, and lost the magic.
This morning which had people all abuzz with cold temperatures being the lowest ever for the race really weren’t. I’ve been here for WAY colder mornings and WAY worse wind chill. But I suppose if you’re trying to make the new algorithm and break through the noise of war in Ukraine, war in Israel/Gaza, the apocalypse of California, the ice storms of middle-America, the impending destruction of democracy at the hands of a billionaire oligarchy, then it being a bit chilly in Disney World is the way to go. Was it cold? Yes. Hovering around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and when the wind blew it did cut to the bone. But again, I’ve been here during WAY worse conditions.
Some pics though as it’s a blog requirement: