We made it to race number 2 of the Dopey Challenge. And I think I laughed more during this race than I have at any Disney race ever.
Let me start with our costumes. Somewhere months back when discussing if we’d do Dopey Challenge I made a deal with Laura I’d run as Elvis, the costume she wanted. She had run as Elvis back in 2015 and said it was so much fun so why not agree. Getting Robert to agree was much more difficult. It’s not a typical Disney theme so it was hard for him to get why we went for it. But over time and nagging, nagging and some more nagging he agreed and boy did he bring it.
Us ladies made our own sequined belts, we used Sparkle athletic skirts, red leggings, white tanks and we ordered capes and sunglasses from eBay. We disneyfied our look with custom ears that Laura made us. Robert went for the full jumpsuit as the wig truly made the look. So Elvis now had his “Elvetts”.
As we’ve mentioned in previous posts about this weekend or as you may have experience it was COLD. We really had to adjust our costumes. Bye bye tank tops, matching compression calf and arm sleeves. Hello layers and layers of shirts and pants. As well as hot hands hand warmers, feet warmers and body warmers. Thank god for those.
We made our way to the race start. Luckily our friend Leslie had her own car so we made a point to get there before the resort busses. This gave us the opportunity to get many character photos before the lines got crazy.
We also had time to dance a bit in front of the stage. Which helped us warm up. It was so fun and so many people wanted photos with us and especially Robert. It is amazing how a race costume can change you’re race experience. It took me years to enter the costuming world of running but now it makes it so much more fun. Of course I don’t take the running part too seriously.
We made our way to corrals and we started in corral A. Like the 5k they started the race with waves. It basically felt like one huge line of people. Allowing so many to go at a time. This kept us constantly moving which given the temperature probably was a good thing. The vibe was fun but you could tell not the same and I really think it had to do with weather. The announcers, people in the crowd ect were really just trying to stay warm.
Finally we were off. The first half of the 10k is somewhat a boring stretch. It’s basically all roads outside parks. They did have some character stops. We skipped the first two. Pocahontas and Miko, and Flik and Atta. As we passed mile 2 we saw a long line and decided to wait as it was the old hag from Snow White over her cauldron. One drawback is we had finally warmed up and waiting in that line got us cold again. But totally worth it. We got a great pic.
We made our way toward Epcot and into World Showcase and we came across two of Roberts favorite character. Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. The line was crazy long but we all agreed it was a must do. To the crazy person in line with no shirt I hope you are okay!! Our photo turned out great except I think I was so cold I forgot to pull down my neck warmer. 😂
At this point we were hearing buzz the balloon ladies were close. We also ran into our other friends Shannon, Leslie and Kimberly. We had more Elvettes to add to our crew. We made our way through World Showcase and headed toward the Boardwalk. We decided to pass character stops, Pinocchio, Marie and Genie since we spotted the balloon ladies. They eventually passed us a bit and given the traffic and gridlock while running through The Yacht and Beach club area I think this was a smart decision. We were all laughing the whole way and to me that’s better than any character stop.
We did see one more character photo and I was giddy over the fact they had Duffy available for photos right before we headed to Spaceship Earth. Poor Duffy is no longer around for photos in parks so a rare glimpse of him made my day. Luckily the line wasn’t long so we stopped.
We also stopped just before Spaceship Earth to attempt a Joyful jumpshot. I’ve learned these rarely turn out. Especially in a group. This one made me laugh. We all got air but as you can see, not the best photo when you can’t see us. I also kicked poor Kimberly in the shin. At least the Elvis wig didn’t move.
Next it was on to the finish! The crowd had thinned out quite a bit and we were definitely near the tail end of the race but we were having too much fun to care.
I’d like to point out how gorgeous the 10k medal was this race. I love polka dot Minnie ribbon. Great job Run Disney and i want to give a shout out to all the photopass photographers out there as well. They did a fantastic job.
Afterward, Rob, Laura, and Shannon enjoyed a beer while Leslie and I headed to the van to get out of the cold. This is when we discovered that Leslie had a flat tire. A flat, FLAT tire! Laura, Rob, and I had the Cigna Blogger Meet Up at 12:00 so we walked to the park bus area while Shannon and Leslie stayed at the Epcot parking lot until help arrived. This is when some hilarity began as the result of Rob’s wayward wig and many strange glances, which you can see more of in our 2018 WDW 10k video recap!
We also talk about this race in great detail in Episode 35, Part 3 over at the Joyful Miles Podcast!
Now what about you? QOTD: Did you do the WDW 10k or any other race during runDisney’s 2018 WDW Marathon Weekend? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below!
