[Break – Break – Currently at Los Angeles International Airport on a 12 hour layover]
So a mere $550.00 later and with the help of my boss, I’ve been officially entered into the 2016 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in Florida to run 48.6 miles of “fun” in the Dopey Challenge.
I will, along with a number or co-workers who are much better, faster, stronger runners than I, have the honor of attempting to complete a 5K, 10K, Half and Full Marathon in a four day period; January 7 though 10, 2016. I must be out of my bloody mind!
Almost didn’t happen though registration opened while I was traversing airport security on the first leg of our family trip to the Philippines; (the trip has rapidly become a nightmare of unfortunate events, but that I will save for another time.) Because I was in route I didn’t have the means or time to register for the race; my boss was texting me blow by blow results “I just got in to the registration queue!” he exclaimed “The wait is 18 minutes to get on to the server!” He reports. I tell him all I have is my phone might be 16 hours before I’ll be able to register I say: man hope there will still be slots!
He generously offers to not only register me and pay the registration (for which I can pay him back later,) he’s already cranked up a second computer and tells me he 25 minutes in queue for that registration, time enough for me to get him my information.
While I’m dealing with having to reroute our flights because our plane is going to be an hour late getting in due to fog in San Francisco, (go figure fog in San Francisco) he pings me with “WE’RE IN!!!!! WOOHOO!!!” I sigh and say at least some good news today…. As of 6:12PM PST / 9:12PM EST the Dopey Challenge is 99% sold so there is a good chance I wouldn’t have been able to get in had it not been for my great boos.
Scared and excited and REALLY hoping you guys, my fellow bloggers can offer some help and advice that will help me survive this……
Running After 60 
I would say to simply find a nearby oval or sporting ground, and run two laps of it twice a week, followed by a light stretching routine. After two weeks, make it three laps, then after another two weeks, add another lap. But I would say to limit it when you get to 10 laps, as you don’t want to wear your body out before the event!
Thanks for liking my blog post about running and the letter R, too!
Best…
Jed Kemsley
You have plenty of time to prep for it. Don’t go all out too soon. Find a plan and follow it.
Thanks Paul i think it’s going to be an endurance thing for me so since I’m not trying to win anything I was thinking of just working in endurance rather then speed
Cool boss! And good on you for taking the plunge… looking forward to reading all about it over the next few months. All the best!
My brain keeps repeating oh man, oh man, oh man what did I just do!! Lol – I hope it’s not as humid as it is here in the Philippines; I about died in yesterday’s run here. Thank you for your support ! You guys are great!
good luck and go get ‘me Bill! I agree with Paul. You have plenty of time so take that time to build your endurance gradually. I have a friend who did the dopey and he worked his way up to doing back to back long runs (21.1 & 35 km) to ready him for the challenge. It is largely participatory, meaning given the demands of the Dopey it’s usually a case of completing the races and not going for PB’s, so take it easy out there. I think a lot of people walk vast stretches of these races as we’ll.
One cave are, there are some training tips out there for the Dopey that would have you believe that running a few kilometres a couple of times a week is more than enough to prepare you (at least that’s what my Dopey running friend had seen). Don’t kid yourself. That’s a recipe for disaster. It’ll take some hard work. But you can do this Bill! And your blog followers will be cheering you on every step of the way 😃
Thanks for the vote of confidence !! I did see that there is a training section at the website, I plan to check it out when I’m back from the Philippines. Did my first philippine run yesterday oh man!!! The smog made my chest hurt and I could only do 4 miles and I got lost which was interesting. Blog to follow soon. As always you are an inspiration and I really appreciate the advice you and the blog community provide. It’s really the only real support I get except from my wife. Most think I’m nuts and try to discourage rather then entourage me.
*caveat not cave are
This is incredible! You have loads of time and plenty of support. Having never do e a marathon myself I am not in a position to offer any qualified advice. But slow and steady wins (finishes) the race seems a
It’s a bit intimidating because it’s all four in four days. At this point all I want to be able to finish 😁
Good motto to me. Really looking forward to hearing all about your training and success!