The Schedule
I have three Disney weekends planned for right now. Here goes:
Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend
Oct. 18 - Nov. 18, 2017*
Nov. 2 - RunDisney Health & Fitness Expo
For RD newbies, this is an event held at Wide World of Sports where all participants of the race weekend pick up their bibs, race shirts and shop various vendors that are set-up to sell merchandise for the race weekend!
Nov. 3 - Disney Fall Feast 5K
I ran this course back in 2015 back when it was called the Jingle Jungle 5K, and last year (2016) I got to participate as a bike/course monitor! I'm excited to do this race one last time, and to experience the course without construction walls from Pandora.
Nov. 4 - Disney Wine & Dine 10K
Disney 10K course are generally my favorites (I'm a fan of the 10K distance), so I originally (pre-medal) registered for the Challenge because I was under the impression it would be the same course as the WDW Marathon/Princess Weekend 10K course (my favorite RunDisney course EVER) ... but, it's not. So, yay new course?
Nov. 5 - Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon & Post-Race Party
Another new course for me, but I'm just treating it as my last supported training run before my Ragnar Relay legs the following weekend. Also, #BLINGS.
Post-race,
@mbwhitti and I will check in to Yacht Club (Club-Level BABY!) and enjoy some time poolside at Stormalong Bay before we head into Epcot for some F&W time and the Post-Race Party! When we ran W&D Weekend in 2015, the race was at night and once you finished it was straight into #PartyTimeExcellent ... so, this will be another new-to-us event.
The following week, I have friends coming in for Food & Wine Festival and to see Boyz II Men as part of the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. Then, it's off to run Ragnar. Take a week to recover and then drive home. But it won't be long until we're back on the road for ...
New Year's Eve at Epcot!
The husband and I are pretty much experts at NYE at Epcot (excuse me while I pick up that #HumbleBrag that I just dropped), so we have a pretty set routine that we follow and religiously stick to.
Hotel: Swolphin (booked on Marriott/SPG Points)
ADRs: Spice Road Table, Chefs de France
Goal: To booze and have fun!
It's good that I get all of my partying out of my system on New Year's Eve and have a few days to recover, because RIGHT after that ... we head into:
2018 WDW Marathon Weekend
Jan. 3-7, 2018
This will be my third Marathon Weekend, and for the third (and final!) time I'll be participating in the Dopey Challenge.
For as much as I love going Dopey - I also HATE it. I'm a night owl and those four early a.m. wake-up calls are MISERABLE. And because Dopey is four races over four days, I have to cut back on park time as the week goes on ... which sucks, since every year we have quite a few friends that come in for the long weekend to run/spectate/play in the parks.
It's LITERALLY a five-day marathon (that involves a marathon) ... it starts with this:
(Four races calls for two bibs because double the fun! #NoMath)
Jan. 3 - RunDisney Health & Fitness Expo
Here, I'll pick up my TWO bibs (one for the 5K and 10K, another for the Half and Full Marathons), and my SIX race shirts (5K, 10K, Half, Full, Goofy and Dopey)
Jan. 4 - Walt Disney World 5K
An early morning fun run around Epcot!
Jan. 5 - Walt Disney World 10K
An even earlier, even longer fun run around Epcot and the Epcot Resorts - where my friends will be waiting to give me a beer at Mile 5.
Jan. 6 - Walt Disney World Half Marathon
The 13.1-mile "Calm Before the Storm" ... the first of TWO races that will involve running through the castle.
Jan. 7 - Walt Disney World Marathon
AKA - WHY THE HECK AM I DOING THIS AGAIN I HATE MARATHONS AND THE NUMBER 26 AND OMG THERE IS THE FINISH LINE CAN WE DO THIS AGAIN?!?!?!?!
Which ends up with me in the parking lot at Epcot like this:
(Beer has never tasted better or colder or more fabulous than when you're drinking it in a parking lot with three medals)
Hotel: Beach Club Villas
ADRs (in no particular order): Spirit of Aloha Luau, Jiko, Yak & Yeti, Monsieur Paul, Il Mulino, STK, Kimonos
And with that ... my RunDisney career will be over! I'll likely spend Monday celebrating my RunDisney retirement by (yet again) DATW.
* We drive from Texas to Florida to spend time with my parents, so we generally stay in Florida for a few weeks with our dogs to make the 18-hour drive worthwhile.