With the current state of 2020 events being cancelled, runDisney has finally opened up the registration for their virtual runs for the summer and released all the sign-up dates for their upcoming races up to Princess Weekend 2021. I wasn’t planning on signing up for the virtual races but considering there’s really nothing to do now and all I do is run everyday anyway currently, I might as well. It’s not like I’m spending my money on anything else other than food, groceries, bills, student loans and my mortgage. So I signed up not only for the virtual races, but all 3 of them so I could get 4 medals total; 1 for each race and a challenge medal for completing all 3, similar to the Princess races and their Fairy Tale challenge medal.

It’s funny because I went from originally just trying to consistently run 5k every day last year to currently running around 9-10k every day. I try to run for at least an hour every day. When I was training aggressively, I was able to run 10k in an hour but with no pressure or imminent deadline to train, this past month I scaled back and have been running at a slower, easier going pace to give my legs a bit of a break. I’ve lost my speed, but I’ve gained in stamina and endurance; I’ve been feeling better at running for longer periods of time. I don’t feel as terrible as I usually do during the run anymore. Usually I’m out of breath, tired and sweaty and wanting to die. l’m still sweaty, but lately, I’m feeling good, breathing better and feeling like I can go for even longer if time permits. I’m enjoying the longer distances now. It’s true what they say, slow and steady wins the race.

I really hope this strategy helps though because in seeing all the release dates for race registrations, I went back and forth but ultimately decided I’m going to bite the bullet and ::DRUM ROLL PLEASE:: attempt to run the Walt Disney World Marathon in January! Pending I make it through registration, that is, hahaha. I’ve learned that trying to register for races is actually harder than trying to get comic con tickets, but hey, this is what I’ve been training for, right?

May 7th is my first shot at signing up for this, with May 12th being my back-up if I don’t make it through the first round of sales. I was on the fence because I’m so scared of setting a date for this goal because it makes it all the more real. I also wasn’t really planning on tackling this on til more towards the end of 2021 but realized why not? The sooner I get it over with, the closer I’ll be to working on the next goal: the Dopey challenge in 2022. Besides, I don’t want to run my first marathon towards the end of 2021 and then take on the Dopey challenge that close back to back since it’s in the beginning of January. I need to give myself a break in between each stupid thing I do, lol. I figured a year between each new goal is a good amount of time.

My other concern that had me on the fence about doing the marathon in 2021 is that I still want to do the Princess weekend in February. Unfortunately Disney trips aren’t cheap and two runcations back to back would be expensive, especially while still paying my student loans and mortgage ball and chain. But when I talked to my hubby about my concerns, he was a little more encouraging and was like why not? So in order to do both and save a little bit of money, I think I’m going to do a quick weekend trip of just the marathon (especially for my first marathon, I’d rather focus on just the one race than burn out running all the other ones beforehand) and spend the rest of the day in Magic Kingdom and then fly home the next day. I’m not going to make a big trip of it, and save the parks for the February Princess weekend trip since that’s when I would be doing all 3 races and thus more reason to do more park days. This way I can do both race events back to back and stay on budget.

And speaking of budgets and saving. My goal for 2021 is going to be save for an even bigger Disney trip for 2022 when I take on the Dopey challenge (I know, I know, when is she going to go somewhere else?). The Dopey Challenge is taking on all 4 races - the 5k, 10k, the half and a full marathon. It is not only going to be a HUGE undertaking physically and mentally, but financially. The price of the races alone is painful. On top of the price of a trip. And fingers crossed, I’m hoping I can tackle on a cruise at the end of it for the Disney Castaway Cay Challenge, for an extra two medals. And then, because I’m completely insane - hopefully go to Paris in the fall that year to run their half marathon to earn not only their half marathon medal but an additional challenge medal called the Castle to Chateau challenge medal, which is only given when you run a half marathon in the US and in Paris in the same calendar year. How did this get so big so quick? Oh man. 2022 is going to be one ambitious year. I’m hoping it won’t be too bad because that’s also supposed to be the year I finish up my student loans so hopefully it’ll help free up some of my funds to do all this.

Thinking about all this absolutely terrifies me. But it’s also exciting in a weird way. I need to set some new concrete goals down to help keep my mind off things, as well as give me motivation to work on something during this quarantine. And laying down this timeline helps me plan out everything I want to do and hopefully work on a training program to realistically reach these goals. But that’s what I was saying earlier. Slow and steady wins the race. A few years ago, a mile around the block was too much for me when I started. Last year I worked on running 5ks daily til it became regular and a piece of cake. This year 10k became my new norm. I can run them easy peasy now without hating myself. I don’t plan on running half marathons daily as my new norm in my regular workout routine but I do hope that I can work on longer runs becoming easier so that the Dopey challenge is more doable when doing the half and a full marathon back to back. My legs were definitely sore after doing the 5k, 10k and half marathon this year in the Princess races, but it was definitely not as bad as they were the first year I did a half marathon by itself, so the recovery itself is improving! I also found that the 5 and 10k really helped me warm up for the half marathon so hopefully I can get to a point where a full doesn’t feel as grueling. I figure as long as I keep increasing my distance slow and steady over time, every week, I should be on the road to completing my first full marathon in no time. And then one day, I’ll be able to complete the Dopey challenge for that coveted picture holding all 6 medals in front of the castle. Ah, the things I do for the mouse.

To think, in 2018, I was NOT a runner at all. I am, in no way, fast at all, but for right now, I’m not focused on speed, as covid19 has humbled me into putting my qualifying time goals on the backburner since there are no real races to run to work on qualifying time to submit for any races. For right now, to work on these long term goals, my game plan is to take it slow and steady and keep building my stamina and endurance to be able to go to the distance, for lack of a better, less cheesy term. I’ve never anything longer than a half marathon so I worry about the dreaded “wall” some people hit when going longer distances. I’m going to listen to my body and what it needs, in order to meet these goals. I’ll definitely outrun the pacing requirements but I don’t to run too fast and burn out before the end. As they say, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” and as such the strategies are different to complete them successfully. They’re even clearly outlined in Disney’s own training program online! Speaking of which, their marathon training is a 29 week training program. Which means I’m not that far off from starting my marathon training if I score a spot to do this in January. Time is precious! Let’s go!

P.S. It’s a totally weird mixed feeling of fear and excitement in crushing this goal. I have this problem every year as I pile another ambitious mountain climbing goal on top of another. I guess it’s because I’m so scared of failing, but hey, if there’s no risk of failure, it wouldn’t be worth much of anything right? Here’s to the next two years of terrible decisions!