A little background here. Heather ( @eeyorepoohfan ) and I had grown very close over time and we were texting one evening that she was thinking of running the Dopey Challenge, all four races – 5k, 10k, Half, and Marathon, over four days. Well, we told her that if she ever did that, that Kathy and I would fly down to support her and cheer her on. Little did we know that shortly after that, she would let me know that she had signed up in a temporary moment of insanity! True to our word, even with a family December trip planned and in the works for mere weeks before the Marathon Weekend, we worked with our bosses and work schedules and booked a trip to go see her and cheer her on! The only person I have ever planned an entire trip around and for! We spent all spring/summer/fall cheering her on her runs, texting her and helping to pull her through especially the longer ones where she kept going longer and longer than she ever had before, feeling every pain with her when her legs and back would seize up at times, celebrating every triumphant run. And so, less than three weeks after returning from our December trip with the family, Kathy and I were off again, heading Home to meet her and her husband and sister who were running the Dopey also. And so our trip begins….

Thursday Friday 1/4/18 1/5/18

This is it! The Heather trip! Never before had we taken an entire trip around one person but we promised if she ever signed up for the Dopey Challenge that we would be there. And I never break a promise. We had been looking forward to meeting Heather for months now, helping her through her training runs, anticipating that first hug. Due to work constraints we knew we couldn’t make it down for the 5K. We did receive the text that she and Ryan and her sister Teri finished in a good time that morning! It was freezing down there that morning! We got the room text that afternoon, before even getting to the airport! We were in the 50’s section, ground floor poolside, the building that runs along Hourglass Lake. We wouldn’t need to worry about pool noise this trip, now with as cold as it was! Our flight was at 8:20 in the evening, after our runners would have gone to bed for the evening to be ready for the 10K. It was 8 degrees but thankfully clear when we boarded! Brrrr! Thankfully with the clear weather we made good time and made it to the resort by about 12:30. Boy is it quiet at that time of night! Including Magical Express! Our room was a king bed, we had never had one of those before! We fell into bed and got up very early to get ready to go see the finish of the 10K. Heather knew we were having a late flight in and told us not to get up for the start. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Grab & Go since they were open early for the race. We were dressed in full winter gear, and after still freezing in parts of December Kathy got smart and brought and wore thermals! The low at WDW that morning was 33 degrees! Then when we went out thinking we could catch a bus to Epcot we found out they weren’t running until the finish! Well that just wouldn’t do so we called a cab. He got us to Epcot in good time and we staked out a spot at the stands to wait for the finish. Heather saw me after they crossed the line and came over to the fence to give me a high five! After they went through the tents we finally embraced in just the biggest hug ever! That first time seeing my sister was SO AWESOME! I don’t know how long we held onto each other and really, it didn’t matter. It was just so right! I don’t think we ever wanted to let go! We finally did though and got hugs with everybody else and made our way to the buses for us to head back to Pop and they head back to Riverside. We got around for Animal Kingdom and headed there.

We were able to meet Mickey and Minnie and also Russell from Up while Heather and Ryan got ready to come to Animal Kingdom. We browsed the shops just a bit and then they were arriving! It was really nice to meet up with her sister and niece for the day too! We all rode Safaris with our FP’s together! Our first ride together! It was the best Safari ever I think! Of course, before that, while going through the line, she had to give me my first forehead flick. Unfortunately her fingers were still cold and she didn’t really feel them or how hard she flicked me! Yowch! We went and had lunch at Satuli Canteen where Kathy and I got the bowls. It was very good! They really have good meals at AK! The three of us had FP’s for Everest so we went to ride that. Ryan had Heather and I ride together! That was so awesome! So cold but so awesome! Thank you Ryan! We met back up with her sister and niece as we had split for them to do a few other things. We all got to go to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, something none of us had done for quite a while. We got to meet Rafiki while over there for a bit. Once we were done there we all rode the train back and saw the 3:00 FotLK show. Oh my gosh, I love that show! And seeing it with Heather made it perhaps the best performance I’ve seen of it ever! It was time for some caffeine to keep everybody going so we got that and browsed just a bit until it was time for our Flight of Passage FP’s. It had “warmed up” to the point we were able to get some pictures without jackets and just sweatshirts, yea! One of the theatres for FoP was down so that made a 300 minute standby line! Uh, no thank you! As it was we waited quite a while in the Fastpass line! Standby was literally not moving at all! While in line Heather helped us plan what to do for the Half the next morning, with times to be where to hopefully see them. Oh my gosh, what an incredible ride! I just love that ride so much! After we rode it though Kathy was done. D-O-N-E! So we made our way out with her sister and niece while Heather and Ryan stayed for a dinner at Satuli. We got back to Pop and I just put Kathy in bed for the night. I went down and got myself a Dole Whip for supper. Yes, a Dole Whip…at Pop Century! My dreams have come true! I texted Heather that I was too tired to chew and Ryan was the same way! So needless to say I was in bed shortly after, ready for another early morning, no, middle of the night wake up!

Steps: 24,564
Miles: 11.0