It’s been a few weeks now since the rumors about the new RunDisney Dopey Challenge began flying all over the internet.  After completing the 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon, I had a vague plan to take a year off from marathon weekend and train for the 2015 Goofy Challenge.  The Goofy Challenge involves running the Walt Disney World Half Marathon one day and the Walt Disney World Marathon the next day.

Then, we heard about the Dopey Challenge.  We heard about the SIX shirts and the SIX medals we’d come away with after completing it.  It didn’t take long to make a decision… we’re both in!

Both of us are thinking about more than just the bling.  We’re thinking of a long year ahead making sure we’re properly trained to run a 5K, a 10K, a half-marathon, and a marathon on 4 consecutive days.  For Jen, training will mean building strength, speed, and endurance beyond what it took to finish the 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon in the heat & humidity in 5 hours & 16 minutes.  For Paul, training will mean running more than 16 miles for the first time ever and learning to pace himself not only for a 26.2 mile race, but four days straight of early mornings & racing.  We’re looking at November & December marathons closer to home so Paul can run one at “real” race pace before putting it as the 4th day of 4 races.

We registered early.  We’re Disney Vacation Club owners, Annual Passholders, and Disney Visa Cardholders, so all three of the advance registration systems were open to us.  Like many taking on the Dopey Challenge, we’ve not heard a lot of positive responses from local friends & family.  Most are saying, “you are crazy!” and all we can reply is “yes, we are!”.  To make it even crazier, Paul recently mentioned how bling we’d score if we used the 2014 RunDisney Dumbo Double Dare to earn our Coast to Coast medals…