A year ago, my wife and I completed the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World. For those unfamiliar with the Dopey Challenge, it is a four day challenge as part of the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. It consists of running a 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and full marathon on consecutive days. It ends up being a total of 48.6 miles! It was an absolute blast and I am so glad we completed it. With that said, there are many reasons why you should participate in a runDisney event but, as with all things WDW, you need to plan well in advance and understand how to sign up.
Why You Should Run
1. It is just so much fun! Depending on which race you enter, you get to run through one or more of the theme parks. The 5K and 10K that we ran had us run through the World Showcase and Future World at EPCOT. It was really cool to be able to run through the parks without guests and see the sun come up as you ran past Spaceship Earth. You also get to see backstage areas that are usually off-limits. There are also photo opportunities with many characters that you typically don’t see in the parks.
2. Get in Shape. Because you have to sign up for most runDisney events months in advance, it gives you plenty of time to prepare to participate in the event. As you can probably tell from the picture above, my wife and I are not what you would call typical “runners”. That is the great thing about runDisney events. When we signed up for the Dopey Challenge, we were not running all the time. By signing up, it forced us to train. Some might not like that pressure but we enjoyed it. Secondly, there are people of every age, size, and shape at these races. You do not need to be intimidated or embarrassed because you aren’t the quickest or smallest. Everyone we met during the weekend was encouraging without exception. You will be among a group of people that will not judge. The fact that you are out there and ready to participate means you committed to yourself and your health and that’s all that matters. Lastly, all runDisney events are walker friendly. RunDisney’s official training consultant, Jeff Galloway, supports the idea of run-walk-run. The idea is you run for a short period of time, walk for a short period of time, and then run again and continue with that pattern. With the exception of the elite athletes, the vast majority of participants did some combination of run/walk or completely walked the course.
3. The Medals
The medals that runDisney gives out are some of the coolest medals anywhere. Just take a look at our haul from the Dopey Challenge.
Important Information to Know
1. You need to sign up early. runDisney events are already scheduled through 2017. Most races sell out extremely quickly so you need to be at a computer and ready to pay. runDisney provides early entry access to Disney Vacation Club members and Annual Passholders. You should take advantage if you are either. The window for these early signups is usually two weeks prior to the rest of the public. As you can see from the event list below, most events go on sale eight months in advance of the scheduled event. There are typically multiple events in any given weekend. Be sure to look over the details and sign up for the correct event.
2. Participating may change the rest of your vacation. Because these races are either very early in the morning (the half and full marathon started at 5:30 AM for us) or very late at night, it will affect how you tour the parks or even when you eat. If you are participating in a 5K or 10K, there may be less of an effect, but for those doing a half or full marathon, you need to get your rest. You will need to keep this in mind if you are traveling with children or have friends with you that may not be participating in the running events.
3. You need to go to the Expo. After you sign up for an event and pay your entry fee, you will need to go to ESPN Wide World of Sports for the Expo to pick up your race packet. If you are staying off property, you will need to provide your own transportation to the Expo and races. If you are staying on property, transportation is provided via buses. An important detail is that not all Disney resorts may be considered race resorts. During the Walt Disney World marathon weekend, all resorts were considered a race resort however that is not the case for all events. It is important you check with Disney directly or through your travel agent.
4. Pick a theme you like. As you can see from the various events listed, there are different themes to their events. Perhaps you enjoy the Disney princesses, well, the event in February might be for you. Perhaps you are a huge Star Wars fan, well, the Dark Side weekend would be for you.
As with anything involving Disney, just have fun! You will not regret signing up!
