Dopey Challenge January 2018 Day 6

@starbee I think Ryan was freaking out more than I was about the bus situation. I just kept saying that with how many buses are still on the road, they have got to leave the very last corral open longer than usual to try to let people start the race. The blessing was that we were on a nice warm bus and I think that helped me at the start of the race! Teri was freezing and shivering by the time we got to her. We got dropped off at the bus drop off, so our walk to the start was the normal and correct way to get to the corrals. There really is a mile walk from the bus drop off! I have no clue if the people who opted to get off their bus and make a run for it actually made it to the start or not. That hairpin was my least favorite part of the entire course! But otherwise it really was fun! Yes, you can use the restrooms in the parks! As long as it’s along the race course, they will be open for all the races! They have porta pots along the roads and typically are near all water stops. They mark all water stops on the course route when that’s released. So at least every 1.5 miles there will be water and porta pots. I opt for the regular bathroom whenever possible. But I’ve used MANY porta pots in my racing career! You absolutely know how to dress appropriately! I never had the opportunity to go to the Adventurer’s Club! I was underage the one time I was at Pleasure Island. The next time I went to WDW, all the clubs were closed! But I had read about it and seen pics so I knew exactly who/what the props and people were! Teri and Ryan stopped for a lot of character pics and still finished in 6 hours! I try not to come to a complete stop too often when I run distance because it’s really hard to get moving again. So I opted to just to do run by selfie pics instead. There were many lines that had less than 10 people in them. But I was at the point that I just wanted to keep moving towards the finish line! They have a lot of the same characters out at the half and the full. They just add in even more for the full. So you could split your time and do some during the half and then do some during the full! I do wish that I had stopped for a few more. But in that moment I truly just wanted to keep moving forward. I was feeling really good and wanted to stay that way! Ryan kept making Teri stop since she was starting to get into pain (from the car accident months before). So he was keeping her safe and feeling good. He would make them stop for character pics, made sure she grabbed water and fuel too! I noticed that a lot of the character lines were shorter the higher the miles you reached. The early on characters had much longer lines. But the characters late in the race had minimal lines. When I run our half marathons I rarely stop for any characters pics at those either. Usually just a run by selfie. But some people stop for tons of characters just fine! I just know my body and didn’t want to get into a situation in which my body decided it didn’t want to run anymore. I was so stinking excited that I hit my time goal! I truly didn’t think I would hit it since I was behind target at my half marathon check in point. But I just kept on moving and then did negative splits for my last 3-4 miles! They were actually my fastest miles of the entire marathon!

Yep! I believe that happened at another race in the last couple of years! There was a bus delay and tons of runners were stuck on buses on the roads and they held open the last corral so that everyone could at least start the race! I ALWAYS have to use a porta pot at the race start area. I leave the room before 3:30am and the race doesn’t start until 5:30. So the nerves kick in! But on the course I prefer the actual bathrooms for sure! Oh cool! I don’t think we realized that there were clubs that allowed underage guests! It was the days before a lot of internet usage! The nice thing with marathon weekend is that you are doing 4 races! So you can stop for 1-2 per race and get several great pics! The shorter races have longer lines though, just a heads up. But those are easier ones to stop for. But if the lines aren’t too long, I think you can stop for a couple at the longer races! I was super impressed with my negative splits too! After calculating the miles left in the race and where I was on time, I realized that if I just ran a bit more, I could finish in under 7 hours! That’s where my training paid off and I could tell I didn’t push myself to my max pace at any point (which is a good thing in the Dopey challenge).

@starbee I seriously cry when I read it and look at the pics! Scott and Kathy were beyond amazing! I was so grateful to them! I was panicking a bit about the because I couldn’t find one! I carefully carried it by the stick while it stayed in the wrapper! I unwrapped it just before the finishing stretch at the end! But it was soft and melted very quickly when I started eating it! It held up just long enough!! The were such an amazing surprise!! I felt so bad for Teri too! On marathon day the roads get really backed up since there are detours and fewer driving lanes available due to runners on the roads. But I was sad for her that it messed up the opportunity for her to see either event. That stinks about the dessert party! We had a bus delay issue when we were trying to get to the d-cot meet up! The time for the Disney Springs bus just kept bumping back. Fish and chips was perfect! The salt and grease were amazing!!