Day Two of the Dopey Challenge - Expo and Parks

Day 2

Damaris and I woke up early for a 2.5 mile shake-out run to explore the resort.  We found the pool and enjoyed the relaxed pace on the paved trail.  There were plenty of runners out there doing the same.  Next was the expo at 10:00.  We arrived early as we had heard that the Dopey merchandise would sell out in the first few hours.  So we stood in line in the rain (so glad I grabbed that raincoat from home) until RunDisney opened the doors 30 mins early.  Guess they felt bad for us dedicated runners!  We were quick, getting our bibs, shirts (6 of them!) and purchased a few items (cup, hoodie and head band).  We were all done by 10am!

Next we drove over to Animal Kingdom park, which I haven’t been too in probably 6 years.  We enjoyed our day there, rode Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari and had an excellent lunch at Yak and Yeti (pad thai noodles with a Pink Himalayan drink). 

Next up was Epcot where we were planning on doing our best to drink around the world showcase.  I grabbed a Croissant Donut in Canada, a hot apple cider with Bushmill’s Whiskey in England and a glass of chardonnay in France.  Whew, I needed to slow down some!  So we walked and enjoyed the sights of each land we passed – Morroco, Japan, Italy (3 wine sampler there!) and America until we arrived at Germany, where we had dinner reservations at the Biergarten.  We were pretty hungry while we waited so we devoured a pretzel and did some window shopping.  Soon our table was ready and we enjoyed the grapefruit flavored beer (really, really good!) and the huge, meat-heavy buffet.  I could have eaten my weight in the cheese soup with pretzel bread – so, so good.  It was getting late and we had an early wake-up for the 5k so we did some shopping after dinner and left soon after.  

Walt Disney World Dopey Challenge Epic Adventure

Day One

Four races for a total of 48.6 miles in 4 days at Disney World, what could be more fun?  This was my thought a few years ago when the official Dopey Challenge was announced by RunDisney.  I had just run the “unofficial” Dopey a few months before this (a 5k followed by a half and full marathon) and had the time of my life.  So when Disney announced that they were making this an official event and adding in a 10k to make it 4 races, I knew I had to do it.  Only problem?  Money, of course.  RunDisney events are expensive with flight, hotel, food, spending money and of course the registration fee.  My BFF, Damaris, vowed to wait to run this challenge until I could save enough money.  So, I started a savings plan and after 3 years, I had the money and was thrilled to go!  Here is a blog about our adventures that week.

Tuesday: 

We decide to arrive at WDW on Tuesday.  My flight left at 11:30am so I got the kids on the bus and headed to the airport.  In typical Mary fashion, I was very early and sat around for a few hours but I always feel better if I’m at the gate.  Flight on Southwest was on-time and my connection in Atlanta was also simple.  I called Damaris when I arrived in Orlando and she picked me up as she was driving in from Miami.  We were very excited to start our fun girls week!

We arrived at our hotel, the Disney Port Orleans Riverside Resort, a resort designed to look and feel like rural Louisiana, and checked in.  Looked like Disney left all their Christmas trees and decorations up which was cool as I’ve never been there during the holidays so I was really excited to see all the splendor.  Our room was nice, it had been recently renovated.  I love the attention to detail and themes that Disney puts into everything they do and this room was no exception.  But we didn’t want to waste time in the room so we quickly changed and took the Disney bus to Magic Kingdom where we hopped on the monorail for our first adventure, The Monorail Bar Crawl!  This was a new thing for us both but the idea is to stop at each of the hotels on the monorail and visit their bars for a drink.  Sounded like an exciting way to kick of our week.  First stop was the recently renovated Polynesian Resort.   We found the Tambu Lounge on the second floor and quickly ordered their signature drink, the Lapu Lapu, a rum based drink served in a pineapple!  It was quite yummy!  We also ordered some AH-MAZING BBQ pork nachos with pineapple chunks.  We seriously inhaled those in minutes.  We left our first stop with full bellies and smiles on our faces. 

Next up was the Grand Floridian, the most elegant hotel on Disney property.  We walked around a bit to check it out and then found our way to the Mizner’s Lounge, a classically themed bar next to the live jazz band.  Damaris had a Salted Carmel Manhattan and I enjoyed a Mizner Cooler, gin mixed with cranberry juice.  It was delicious.  We enjoyed the hotel but felt it was a little “stuffy” for our taste so we drank up and moved on to the Contemporary. 

We had two choices of bars here, the Outer Rim on the first floor, and The Wave Lounge a few floors below.  The Outer Rim was busy with no seating so we found the Wave Lounge and bellied up to the bar there.  First set of drinks was water and then a Glow-tini for Damaris (with a LED plastic ice cube that turned her drink colors) and a Pina CoLAVA for me.  Yummy!  From here we took the ferry over to the Wilderness Lodge Resort, which is my favorite resort on property.  My family stayed there 6 years ago and I fell in love with the Great Northwest Lodge theme.  The four story fireplace in the lobby, the stream running through the lobby, the amazing food at the Whispering Canyon Café and the huge pool are some of the highlights that I was excited to see again.  We were meeting up with one of Damaris’s friend’s, Shelia for dinner at the Artist Point

Wilderness Lodge Lobby

Restaurant.   We found Shelia at the Territory Lounge and were quickly seated for dinner.  I had never been to the Artist Point but had read very good reviews about it.  We were eating late and it was pretty empty.  The multi-grain bread that was served was excellent and I also very much enjoyed my Cornish Hen and a glass of Pinot.  After a wonderful meal with lots of conversation, the three of us headed to the bus stop and returned to our hotels.  It was a perfect way to kick off our first day.

Drumstick Dash "Move your feet so others can eat"

"Sure, spin the wheel, maybe you'll win a prize" is what I told Kylie when she asked to spin a prize wheel at the Women's Half Marathon expo in September.  Well, lucky girl won a free entry into the Drumstick Dash, a Thanksgiving morning race in Broadripple, a trendy neighborhood in Indianapolis.  I've run it a few times before but have opted the last 2 years for the more local and much smaller 5k in my town.  But, free entry is free entry so Drumstick Dash it was.   We both entered for the shorter route, 2.7 miles instead of the 4.5 mile full length route.

Thanksgiving morning came and we were out the door by 7:15.  Broadripple is in the middle of the city, not convenient in the slightest from our town so I wanted to leave plenty early.  Plus, parking is always an issue and we needed to get our packets.  The drive into BR was easy and I was pleasantly surprised to find plenty of street parking and even more surprised to find that the meters were free because of the holiday!  This day is turning out better and better!  

We walk about 1/2 mile to the high school to pick up our packets.  This was very well organized, which is good since 17,000+ runners/walkers were pre-registered for this race!  It's the second largest race in Indiana!  And certainly the biggest that Kylie's ever run in.  We stopped for a quick picture and hit the gear check tent to store our packets.  Temps were mid 40's so we went back into the gym to stay warm.  Kylie proceeded to "vlog" (video blog) for the next 20 mins while I watched the crowd. 

About 8:30, I got us up and outside to find the starting line and our pace area.  Kylie was very surprised at the size of the crowd and started to get really excited about the race.  We ran into some of her friends from school and hung out with them while we waiting for the start.  A lady near me recognized my Ink N Burn Holiday shirt and we struck up a quick conversation about our shared love of the brand.  I was super excited to wear my new Holiday shirt and cable knit tights.  Aren't I festive?!

Soon we heard the announcer count down and we were off!  Kylie ran like a bat out of heck, as usual, and I just tried to keep her in view, not an easy task.  Her shoe came untied so we pulled over to tie it and then kept running.  About a 1 mile into the race, she started getting really hot (she was wearing a long sleeved tech shirt and a short sleeved on under it) so we stopped again to take off the long sleeved shirt.  She's doing pretty good, running most of the way.  The course turns off of the main road and into a neighborhood, so there was some crowd support along the way here.  Several playing loud music for us runners to enjoy.  About mile 2, we saw a sign for "Selfie Station" ahead so we knew we had to stop for that!

Soon after our quick selfie, we saw the turn for the short course and took that side street.  I was surprised to see Scott, one of my Hood to Coast teammates, here so we did a quick catch-up (hope you get into Western States, Scott!)   Kylie started to walk again here but her friends caught up to her and they all ran to the finish together.  The short course is untimed but according to my Garmin, we finished at 27:50, not bad for a very crowded race and several stops along the way.  

We grabbed our banana and other snacks and I got a free Starbucks (thanks for sponsoring!) and we walked around to cool down and grabbed our bag from gearcheck.  Ran into another few friends and decided to walk back to the car.  

So, all in all, it was a well-organized race with proceeds going to Wheeler Mission in Indianapolis.  I'd recommend it to anyone.   And I think Kylie has caught the Thanksgiving race bug with me.  Yea!