RunDisney's Infamous Challenge
Back when I was in highschool, I was a part of my school's cross country team. Funny enough, the running was my favorite part of being on the team, since it was an excuse for me to not only relieve the stresses of my day in a healthy way, but also find time to hang around with some of my closest friends. It wasn't just a sport for me, it was a lifestyle, and from what it seems, almost everyone I had made connections with in the running community feels the same way.
In recent years, I have become a little bit out of touch with running, for a variety of reasons, but it doesn't stop me from looking back to those days fondly, and inspire me to pick it back up again. Thinking back to my days in highschool, I can remember when my interests in running and Disney had converged when I found out about this little thing called RunDisney.
Among the variety of amazingly creative races, that allowed runners and athletes of all sorts to actually run through the parks as part of the race course, there was always one that stuck out to me as the ULTIMATE challenge for me as a runner. That is the Dopey Challenge.
To anyone outside of the running community, and probably even some people within it, this challenge would seem like an insanely uninteresting and crazy, but to me as a probably a little Cross-Country-crazy highschooler, it seemed like a dream! Those who participate in this challenge do it over the annual Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, and must complete a series of increasingly longer races each day.
On day one, it starts simply enough, running a 5K. The next day, things take a turn, and the runner must complete a 10K. The next day goes a step up from there, and runs a half-marathon. For the final challenge, and the most intimidating of them all, the runner attempts a marathon. This is a crazy feat to accomplish for anyone, even with the proper training, but I just found the idea of it so fun to try!
While I may not run as much as I used to, running is something I would like to implement back into my life, and maybe one day give one of these races a shot.
