The morning was about 65 and somewhat humid to start but within an hour the temps started dropping and the humidity went away. I went out a touch slower than my goal pace to see how my legs felt after the previous 3 days of running. Coming out of Magic Kingdom at mile 7 I was feeling pretty decent. GI issues prompted a stop right at mile 9 after the race track, but then from there to the halfway point I started feeling significantly better.

At the 13 mile mark, I saw on my Garmin I was under 2:00 (not accounting for the bathroom break) and felt great, so I made the decision to shoot for my PR. I cranked up my pace to a low 8/mile. Got to the WWoS complex and got stuck behind a pace group for a significant portion, but finally passed them at about mile 19. At 20 I took a picture of the mile marker and sent it to my wife and got ready to do work. Miles 20-24 flew by and I felt amazing considering all I had done up to that point. Took another mile marker pic at 24, sent it to my wife, and geared up for the last 2 miles. I made 2 quick photo stops in Epcot with characters, left the park past the Gospel Choir, and saw a woman collapse about 300 yards from the finish. I stopped to help her up then turned to finish the race. My Garmin showed a time of 3:45 and change, so I knew I crushed my last Marathon time, but also knew it was a bit off compared to official time thanks to the bathroom stop. Still, I finished smiling and feeling like I could run 5 more miles.

Pre-race bathroom break to hopefully get my gut settled to keep me from having to stop on the course.

Got my knees iced immediately, collected my medals, got my picture taken, and took a walk to Race Retreat. Ate breakfast, met Bart Yasso, took a family pic with a character in the tent, then grabbed a beer for the ride back to the hotel.


Running a 5K, 10K, and Half-Marathon in the 3 preceding days, and GI distress at mile 9.


The entire Dopey Challenge experience was unreal. Finishing it upright and smiling made me quite happy. And after 50 miles of running, I was still able to go to the Magic Kingdom with my family the day of the marathon, as well as Downtown Disney for Dinner. Couldn't have had a better experience overall.